Mostrando resultados por autor "Rick Noyes" en Todas las categorías

I think there is a resistance within me when it comes to giving God my all, even when I know that is the right thing to do. Since the error of my way is comfortable and familiar, even when God’s blessing is withheld, I want to pretend it is for reasons other than me. In order to break this same type of resistance by the nation Israel, God uses two men to speak to the nation on His behalf. They were the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. I wonder if these two prophets can’t light our own path back to where God wants us to be in life, to understand what He wants us to do here and now. If you ...

The church is called to live for the will of God, but in reality I think that very few people know God’s will, let alone live for it. Do you want to own God’s will as your own? Then do something about it. Become a faithful student of God’s Word, in the classroom of the Spirit of God by joining with me in this study of the book of Ezra and His will can become your own.

It is a simple principle, if you neglect things the end result is ruin. It does not matter whether we are speaking of the relationships in marriage, with children, or simply the things life that demand attention for proper function. However, when it comes to the God who calls us, neglect can lead to the steep cost of an eternal ruin. The book of 2 Chronicles was written in a time when the people of God need to be reminded of that principle and since little has changed with God’s people today, this book can be a saving grace for us too.

The gospel of Mark is written like a no-frills travel log of a mountain climbing expedition, pressing on toward the summit of faith in Messiah. This gospel is also written for the skeptic, because it focuses on just the facts to challenge our thinking concerning God’s Messiah. This is a reason I find this gospel intriguing. It is the analytical approach it uses to present the Messiah in a bare bones approach of cultivating faith for any skeptic.

Everywhere you turn nowadays someone is trying to influence your thinking. Whether it is the products that we buy, the candidates we vote for, the places that we go, or the way perceive life, someone wants us to jump on their bandwagon of thought. With so many vying for the hearts and minds of people today, much of the persuasion comes cloaked in deceit. Wouldn’t it be nice to simply have the truth for once? Wouldn’t it be nice to know that there was in fact undeniable truth we could count on? If you have ever felt that way then the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Colossians is for you. ...

Have you ever felt you were inadequate? Perhaps your family excels where you do not and you feel their expectations for you are too high, because you believe they have set the bar far above your abilities. It could be, your instructors in your educational endeavors have moved too quickly for you to demonstrate competency and because you are behind your peers, you feel the weight of inadequacy.Maybe you, like me, lack the eye-hand coordination to do anything but flounder in sports. I also lack the skill to draw a straight line, to sing on tune, to solve quadratic equations, to know when a ...

The unsettling events of 2020 are mind boggling and can easily cause a person to wonder just what happened. As if the world was not already confusing and complicated enough, having the events of the past year crashing into our reality has left many people trying to make sense of a world that doesn’t make sense. Are you trying to figure out what is the point of it all? Finding meaning in life seems to be impossible, but there is nothing new under the sun and Solomon has some words of hope for us to consider. The book of Ecclesiastes is a must for anyone asking, why am I here? What is the ...

There are five post-exile books that are interwoven with Nehemiah’s narrative that help give us a clearer picture of this part of Israel’s history. They are Haggai, Zechariah, Esther, Ezra and Malachi. Nehemiah seems to be written like a diary of what happened in regard to the work that God had laid on his heart and therefore it is a very personal account. The theme of this study is going to be when we work together, but it is much more. The book of Nehemiah is meant to cause an unrest within us because we settle for what is, rather than what could be. It is meant to shame us for ...

God used prophets to reach His people throughout history. I hope this study has you wondering as do I, if we could not use a few more prophets today to call the people of God back from where they are presently. It you find yourself longing for a change from the reality that surrounds us today and the same old status quo, then perhaps you have the heart of a prophet.

When we need the big picture, Luke’s gospel is a good place to start, since he challenges our expectations, concepts, and world view. Even though Luke chronicles the ministry of Messiah to Israel, his focus is to draw out the teaching of the Messiah that has application for the church as the kingdom of God. Therefore, it has much to teach concerning life in the kingdom of the Son, to which the Father transferred us when we were called by God. I think what Luke wanted his gospel to do, was to direct the gentile believers in the Jewish Messiah, to understand the importance of His teaching ...

This study guide is going to emphasize a method for developing your abilities to do your own inductive Bible study. My desire is not so much to instruct concerning the letter to the Ephesians, although you will get that as I share my discoveries with you from doing the study together, but to teach you how to learn on your own from the Bible without having to be taught from anyone but the Spirit of God, who will lead you into all truth (John 16:13).

Have you ever had your life suddenly become a trainwreck? Maybe from a sudden death, a divorce, a turnaround in financial fortunes, a job loss, a bad diagnosis, or any other multitude of things that can happen, which can take a person by surprise, leaving them feeling devastated and broken. I would like to suggest that this book of the Bible was written for just such times. Right now, it seems that our world is turned upside-down. Many people are experiencing a loss of the familiar and face the uncertainty of what is to come. Historically, Daniel lived during the time when Jeremiah ...

The book of Jeremiah was written in a time when God’s people had abandoned their God for their own plan and purpose. That happened while the religious traditions of worship were still happening in Jerusalem. It was time similar to that of our own, when the nation and even the church pays lip service to God, but hearts are far from Him. This ancient prophecy is road sign for us today point the direction back to God for both the nation and the church. I hope you will join me in this Bible study, which speaks to the time when no one will listen.

Do you ever feel like you are failing at the most important things in life? Do you long for more in the church today? What can one individual do to really make a difference in what seems to be lacking in the life of the church today? What is it that sets our purpose and plan? What can make the depth of our relationships to be more satisfying, then the friendly we are left with today? I think all of those questions and more can be answered when we begin to look at our own devotion to the God who calls us. This little book explores what is a single-minded devotion and why it is important for ...

This started out being a book about prayer because I am taken back by how little the church today gives to this most important part of a maturing faith and instead it turns out to be zeroing in on faith, genuine faith. So then, are you tired of it? Are you tired of living a life where faith is more façade than reality? Where a fading faith must be propped up by inspirational messages and music to make you feel like you are not a failure. Are you tired of motivational speakers who prod the church to do better, when you already feel like you are spent? If you answered yes to those questions ...

I invite you into the process I use to dig out just what God has for me in this letter from Paul, so that you too may know the satisfaction of finding God’s Spirit is sufficient in illuminating His Word to your mind and applying it to your heart and life, unlike the spoon-feeding that most books on Romans provide. It is when we engage the Word of God through the Spirit of God that we will find our lives are changed as He conforms us the image of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Word of God is found in the gospel and the gospel is the theme of Paul’s letter to the Romans. It is power ...

Imagine for a moment, being told that everything you ever thought you knew about God was wrong. All of what you thought you knew was incomplete, misinformed, and incorrect. Admitting that would not only mean that your view about God was wrong, but your view of yourself and your approach to God was misguided at best and deceived at worst. The response to what you suddenly understood would mean all of life would be a new paradigm. In turn, those protecting the status quo and orthodoxy of the incomplete view would attack those embracing this new reality as outcasts, troublemakers and even ...

In many ways, the story of Job is the story of every person, because no matter who we are, at some time in life, we all suffer. The only thing that separates us is the degree of our suffering. In discussing the subject of suffering with a friend of mine, he said that for most people life’s flow is a constant series of struggles, punctuated by times of peace. I believe everyone, everywhere, at differing times of life, comes face-to-face with their own suffering. If you are not suffering now, you certainly will at some point in life, wouldn’t you like to be prepared? If your answer is yes...

Do you think the American church today is flourishing or is something else happening? Before you answer that question, I suggest that you do as I did and ask the people you know in and out of the church their assessment of the church today. If you do, I think you might find your view of reality challenged as did I. This little book is meant to challenge your thinking and awaken you to the problems that go unseen or unaddressed today in Christian circles. I think you will find it thought provoking at the least.

Have you ever had life turn out differently than you expected? You may have imagined something entirely different only to find reality little reflects what you had hoped. When that happens, then the questions that need answers are, what now, where do I go from here? What can help me make sense of it all? If that has ever been your lot in life, than know that you are not alone. History is full of similar failed expectations and one such instance is found in the last books of the Old Testament after the people of God returned to the land of promise, only to find life did not measure up to ...