Be Vigilant Faith doesn’t always come to bear until we are faced with our own fallibility. When we “enter into temptation,” it often means we haven’t been vigilant—that we’ve stopped pursuing the God who has pursued us. In the aftermath of temptation, we recognize our spiritual laziness. We become wise—but remorsefully. Vigilance and complacency are illustrated in the garden of Gethsemane. In His last moments, Jesus requests that His closest disciples stay awake with Him (Matt 26:38). But while He repeatedly prays, they fall asleep. What seems like a request for moral support gets defined a few verses later: “Stay awake and pray that you will not enter into temptation” (Matt 26:41). Staying awake is associated with spiritual awareness. And their sleep is costly. Because of their spiritual sleepiness, they’re not prepared for His end, even though He had repeatedly prepared them for His death. They abandon Him, and they even deny Him (Matt 26:56; 75). But in this same passage, we get a picture of what vigilance looks like from the Son of God. Jesus anticipated His imminent suffering and death. “Deeply grieved, to the point of death,” He turns to the Father in prayer. Jesus boldly requests relief from suffering; when it is not granted, He submits to the Father’s will. Being vigilant means seeking guidance and refuge from the God who provides it. He has provided refuge, but we must seek it out. This means asking for His Spirit to equip us for discernment. While we don’t know the challenges and temptations we’ll face, He does. And if we ask Him, He will provide us with all we need to face them. Are you seeking God’s guidance today? No matter what your situation may be, pray for His Spirit to provide you with strength and discernment. HOPEFULLY YOU RECEIVED FROM THIS QUICK REFRESHER. Everlastingsalvationchurchofgod.com PayPal.me/donatetochurch PASTOR ANDRA HIGGINBOTHAM
THE LIFE AND WALK OF BELIEVERS 1 Peter 4:7–11 The end of everything is near. Therefore, practice self-control, and keep your minds clear so that you can pray. Above all, love each other warmly, because love covers many sins. Welcome each other as guests without complaining. Each of you as a good manager must use the gift that God has given you to serve others. Whoever speaks must speak God’s words. Whoever serves must serve with the strength God supplies so that in every way God receives glory through Jesus Christ. Glory and power belong to Jesus Christ forever and ever! Amen. ALLOW THIS PASSAGE OF SCRIPTURE TO BE A GUIDE UNTO YOUR LIFE. I HOPE YOU FOUND THIS QUICK REFRESHER TO BE A HELPFUL REMINDER. Everlastingsalvationchurchofgod.com PayPal.me/donatetochurch PASTOR ANDRA HIGGINBOTHAM
DO YOU BELIEVE GOD? 1 John 5:9-13 GW [9] We accept human testimony. God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony that he has given about his Son. [10] Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony of God in them. Those who don’t believe God have made God a liar. They haven’t believed the testimony that God has given about his Son. [11] This is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is found in his Son. [12] The person who has the Son has this life. The person who doesn’t have the Son of God doesn’t have this life. CONCLUSION [13] I’ve written this to those who believe in the Son of God so that they will know that they have eternal life. IF YOU CAN BELIEVE MAN, YOU CAN CERTAINLY BELIEVE GOD, BECAUSE GOD CANNOT LIE OR EVEN MAKE A MISTAKE. DO YOU BELIEVE GOD? Everlastingsalvationchurchofgod.com PayPal.me/donatetochurch PASTOR ANDRA HIGGINBOTHAM
God Does Not Treat You as Your Doubt Deserves Then [Jesus] said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” (John 20:27) Some passages in the Bible make doubt sound like the sin that God will not pardon. James declares that if you want wisdom from God, you must “ask in faith, with no doubting” (James 1:6). The author of Hebrews tells you that “without faith it is impossible to please [God]” (Heb. 11:6). What does that mean, then, if you are wrestling with thoughts such as “I don’t know if God likes me. I don’t know if I am one of his children. I really want to be his child, but I’m not sure that I’m one of the elect. I don’t know if I’m really saved”? Those thoughts kind of sound like doubt, right? So does this all mean that God is not pleased with you and that you really don’t belong to him? Let’s come at it from a different direction—let’s start with God and his character before we get to you and your thoughts. Remember Thomas, one of Jesus’s disciples? He wasn’t around when Jesus first appeared to his followers after his death, and so Thomas declared that he just couldn’t believe that Jesus was alive. Jesus didn’t get angry with him or keep his distance. Rather, he moved toward Thomas, appearing again when Thomas was present and going straight to him—not to lecture Thomas, berate him, belittle him, or even remind him of all that he had said about rising again after being killed. Instead, he offered him the proof that Thomas needed in order to believe. Jesus bent himself around the doubter’s needs. Do you see how he is comfortable around doubters, and yet doesn’t leave them to flail about in their uncertainty? He doesn’t treat them as their doubt deserves, but he nurtures their souls and leads them from unbelief to faith. So when you read passages like the ones from James and Hebrews above, read them through the filter of what God is like. He isn’t shocked at, appalled at, surprised by, dismayed by, or scared of your doubts. Instead, he has anticipated them. He expected doubt to be a real problem for many of his people, and he did something about it. He talked openly about your struggles with doubt and wrote down what you need to do. And he did that thousands of years before you even knew that you had a problem. Far from being intimidated by your struggle or disappointed in you, he gives you the help you need in order to get beyond that struggle and to be more certain of his love for you. The passages in the Bible about doubt are evidence of the heart he has for doubters—a heart that longs to strengthen your faith and end your doubt. They’re not there to give you less confidence in him; they’re there to give you more. DON’T ALLOW YOUR DOUBT TO CAUSE YOU TO SHY AWAY FROM GOD. GOD CREATED YOU; HE KNEW YOU WOULD HAVE DOUBT, AND HE STILL LOVE YOU JUST LIKE YOU ARE, PLUS GOD WILL PROVIDE YOU WITH EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO OVERCOME YOUR DOUBT. Everlastingsalvationchurchofgod.com PayPal.me/donatetochurch PASTOR ANDRA HIGGINBOTHAM
Exodus 20:12 ESV “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. Ephesians 6:1-4 ESV Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Proverbs 23:22 ESV Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old. Hebrews 13:16 ESV Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. ALLOW THESE VERSES TO BE A GUIDE UNTO YOUR LIFE. Everlastingsalvationchurchofgod.com PayPal.me/donatetochurch PASTOR ANDRA HIGGINBOTHAM
THIS IS THE WORD OF GOD Leviticus 18:6-17 GW [6] “Never have sexual intercourse with anyone related to you by blood. I am the Lord. [7] “Never have sexual intercourse with your mother. She is your own mother. Never have sexual intercourse with her. [8] Never have sexual intercourse with your stepmother. She is related to you through your father. [9] Never have sexual intercourse with your stepsister, whether she is your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter. It makes no difference whether or not she was born in your house. [10] Never have sexual intercourse with your granddaughter, whether she is your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter, because she is related to you. [11] Never have sexual intercourse with a daughter of your father and his wife. She is your own sister. [12] Never have sexual intercourse with your father’s sister. She is your paternal aunt. [13] Never have sexual intercourse with your mother’s sister. She is your maternal aunt. [14] Never have sexual intercourse with the wife of your father’s brother. She, too, is your aunt. [15] Never have sexual intercourse with your daughter-in-law. She is your son’s wife. Never have sexual intercourse with her. [16] Never have sexual intercourse with your sister-in-law. She is your brother’s wife. [17] Never have sexual intercourse with a woman and her daughter or a woman and her granddaughter. They are related. Doing this is perverted. ALLOW THESE PASSAGE OF SCRIPTURE TO BE A GUIDE UNTO YOUR LIFE. DON’T BE A PERVERT. Everlastingsalvationchurchofgod.com PayPal.me/donatetochurch PASTOR ANDRA HIGGINBOTHAM
GOD SPEAKS ABOUT ATHEISM ROMANS 1:18-32 God’s anger is revealed from heaven against every ungodly and immoral thing people do as they try to suppress the truth by their immoral living. What can be known about God is clear to them because he has made it clear to them. From the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly observed in what he made. As a result, people have no excuse. They knew God but did not praise and thank him for being God. Instead, their thoughts were pointless, and their misguided minds were plunged into darkness. While claiming to be wise, they became fools. They exchanged the glory of the immortal God for statues that looked like mortal humans, birds, animals, and snakes. For this reason God allowed their lusts to control them. As a result, they dishonor their bodies by sexual perversion with each other. These people have exchanged God’s truth for a lie. So they have become ungodly and serve what is created rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen! For this reason God allowed their shameful passions to control them. Their women have exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. Likewise, their men have given up natural sexual relations with women and burn with lust for each other. Men commit indecent acts with men, so they experience among themselves the punishment they deserve for their perversion. And because they thought it was worthless to acknowledge God, God allowed their own immoral minds to control them. So they do these indecent things. Their lives are filled with all kinds of sexual sins, wickedness, and greed. They are mean. They are filled with envy, murder, quarreling, deceit, and viciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, haughty, arrogant, and boastful. They think up new ways to be cruel. They don’t obey their parents, don’t have any sense, don’t keep promises, and don’t show love to their own families or mercy to others. Although they know God’s judgment that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do these things but also approve of others who do them. Psalm 36:1–4 There is an inspired truth about the wicked person who has rebellion in the depths of his heart: He is not terrified of God. He flatters himself and does not hate or ⸤even⸥ recognize his guilt. The words from his mouth are ⸤nothing but⸥ trouble and deception. He has stopped doing what is wise and good. He invents trouble while lying on his bed and chooses to go the wrong direction. He does not reject evil. Jeremiah 23:11–12 The prophets and priests are godless. Even in my temple I’ve found them doing evil,” declares the LORD. “That is why their own way will become like slippery paths in the dark. They will be chased away, and they will fall down in the dark. I will bring disaster on them. It is time for them to be punished,” declares the LORD. Psalm 50:16–23 But God says to wicked people, “How dare you quote my decrees and mouth my promises! You hate discipline. You toss my words behind you. When you see a thief, you want to make friends with him. You keep company with people who commit adultery. You let your mouth say anything evil. Your tongue plans deceit. You sit and talk against your own brother. You slander your own mother’s son. When you did these things, I remained silent. ⸤That⸥ made you think I was like you. I will argue my point with you and lay it all out for you to see. Consider this, you people who forget God. Otherwise, I will tear you to pieces, and there will be no one left to rescue you. Whoever offers thanks as a sacrifice honors me. I will let everyone who continues in my way see the salvation that comes from God.” THE WORD OF GOD IS NOT A GUIDE THAT ONLY TEACHES US HOW TO LIVE, IT ALSO TEACHES US HOW NOT TO LIVE, THINK ABOUT IT. EVERLASTINGSALVATIONCHURCHOFGOD.COM PayPal.me/donatetochurch PASTOR ANDRA HIGGINBOTHAM
THE RIGHT APPROACH Everlastingsalvationchurchofgod.com ‘In the beginning God.’ The first four words of the Bible are more than a way of launching the story of creation or introducing the book of Genesis. They supply the key which opens our understanding to the Bible as a whole. They tell us that the religion of the Bible is a religion in which God takes the initiative. The point is that we can never take God by surprise. We can never anticipate him. He always makes the first move. He is always there ‘in the beginning’. Before we existed, God took action. Before we decided to look for God, God had already been looking for us. The Bible isn’t about people trying to discover God, but about God reaching out to find us. Many people imagine God sitting comfortably on a distant throne, remote, aloof, uninterested, a God who doesn’t really care for our needs and has to be badgered into taking action on our behalf. Such a view is completely wrong. The Bible reveals a God who, long before it even occurs to men and women to turn to him, while they are still lost in darkness and sunk in sin, takes the initiative, rises from his throne, lays aside his glory, and stoops to seek until he finds them. This sovereign, forward-looking activity of God is seen in many ways. He has taken the initiative in creation, bringing the universe and everything in it into existence: ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.’ He has taken the initiative in what we call revelation, making known both his nature and his will to humanity: ‘In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son …’ He has taken the initiative in the rescue operation of salvation, coming in Jesus Christ to set men and women free from their sins: ‘God … has come and has redeemed his people.’ God has created. God has spoken. God has acted. These statements of God’s initiative in three different areas form a summary of the religion of the Bible. It is with the second and third that we shall be concerned in this book, because basic Christianity by definition begins with the historical figure of Jesus Christ. If God has spoken, his last and greatest word to the world is Jesus Christ. If God has acted, his noblest act is the redemption of the world through Jesus Christ. God has spoken and acted in Jesus Christ. He has said something. He has done something. This means that Christianity is not just pious talk. It is neither a collection of religious ideas nor a catalogue of rules. It is a ‘gospel’ (i.e. good news)—in the apostle Paul’s words ‘the gospel of God … regarding his Son … Jesus Christ our Lord’. It is not primarily an invitation for us to do anything; it is supremely a declaration of what God has done in Christ for human beings like ourselves. FOOD FOR THOUGHT THINK ABOUT IT. PASTOR ANDRA HIGGINBOTHAM
OUR GOD TEACHES US NOT TO LOVE THE WORLD: 1 John 2:12–17 I’m writing to you, dear children, because your sins are forgiven through Christ. I’m writing to you, fathers, because you know Christ who has existed from the beginning. I’m writing to you, young people, because you have won the victory over the evil one. I’ve written to you, children, because you know the Father. I’ve written to you, fathers, because you know Christ, who has existed from the beginning. I’ve written to you, young people, because you are strong and God’s word lives in you. You have won the victory over the evil one. Don’t love the world and what it offers. Those who love the world don’t have the Father’s love in them. Not everything that the world offers—physical gratification, greed, and extravagant lifestyles—comes from the Father. It comes from the world, and the world and its evil desires are passing away. But the person who does what God wants lives forever. ALLOW THIS PASSAGE OF SCRIPTURE TO BE A GUIDE UNTO YOUR LIFE. Everlastingsalvationchurchofgod.com PASTOR ANDRA HIGGINBOTHAM
