IF YOU WISH TO RECIEVE, FIRST GIVE: Matthew 7:12 “Always do for other people everything you want them to do for you. That is ⸤the meaning of⸥ Moses’ Teachings and the Prophets. Luke 6:31 “Do for other people everything you want them to do for you. 1 Corinthians 10:24 People should be concerned about others and not just about themselves. Philippians 2:3–5 Don’t act out of selfish ambition or be conceited. Instead, humbly think of others as being better than yourselves. Don’t be concerned only about your own interests, but also be concerned about the interests of others. Have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Do you wish to receive kindness? Be kind to another. Do you wish to receive mercy? Show mercy to your neighbor. Do you wish to be applauded? Applaud another. Do you wish to be beloved? Exercise love. Do you wish to enjoy the first rank? First concede that place to another. Become yourself the judge, yourself the lawgiver of your own life. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THIS WORD FROM GOD? PASTOR ANDRA HIGGINBOTHAM EVERLASTING SALVATION CHURCH OF GOD MINISTRIES PayPal.me/donatetochurch CHRUCH LINK: Everlastingsalvationchurchofgod.com
HUSBANDS DO NOT SCOLD YOUR WIVES. GOD TEACHES US HOW TO TREAT OUR WIVES. EPHESIANS 5:25-33 Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave his life for it. He did this to make the church holy by cleansing it, washing it using water along with spoken words. Then he could present it to himself as a glorious church, without any kind of stain or wrinkle—holy and without faults. So husbands must love their wives as they love their own bodies. A man who loves his wife loves himself. No one ever hated his own body. Instead, he feeds and takes care of it, as Christ takes care of the church. We are parts of his body. That’s why a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and the two will be one. This is a great mystery. (I’m talking about Christ’s relationship to the church.) But every husband must love his wife as he loves himself, and wives should respect their husbands. COLOSSIANS 3:19 Husbands, love your wives, and don’t be harsh with them. 1 PETER 3:7 Husbands, in a similar way, live with your wives with understanding since they are weaker than you are. Honor your wives as those who share God’s life-giving kindnessso that nothing will interfere with your prayers. A servant indeed one will be able, perhaps, to bind down by fear; but not even him, for he will soon start away and be gone. But the partner of one’s life, the mother of one’s children, the foundation of one’s every joy, one ought never to chain down by fear and menaces, but with love and good temper. For what sort of union is that where the wife trembles at her husband? And what sort of pleasure will the husband himself enjoy, if he dwells with his wife as with a slave, and not as with a free woman? Indeed, though you should suffer anything on her account, do not scold her; for neither did Christ do this. ALLOW THE WORD OF GOD TO BE A GUIDE UNTO YOUR LIFE, PASTOR ANDRA HIGGINBOTHAM EVERLASTING SALVATION CHURCH OF GOD MINISTRIES PayPal.me/donatetochurch Church link: Everlastingsalvationchurchofgod.com
THE BIBLE TEACHES ABOUT CHRISTIAN CONDUCT: PART ONE. BELIEVING GOD. MARK 11:22 Jesus said to them, “Have faith in God! JOHN 14:11-12 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and that the Father is in me. Otherwise, believe me because of the things I do. “I can guarantee this truth: Those who believe in me will do the things that I am doing. They will do even greater things because I am going to the Father. FEARING GOD. Ecclesiastes 12:13 After having heard it all, this is the conclusion: Fear God, and keep his commands, because this applies to everyone. 1 Peter 2:17 Honor everyone. Love your brothers and sisters in the faith. Fear God. Honor the emperor. LOVING GOD. Deuteronomy 6:5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. Take to heart these words that I give you today. Matthew 22:37 Jesus answered him, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ FOLLOWING GOD. Ephesians 5:1 Imitate God, since you are the children he loves. 1 Peter 1:15-16 But because the God who called you is holy, you must be holy in every aspect of your life. Scripture says, “Be holy, because I am holy.” Luke 1:6. Zechariah and Elizabeth had God’s approval. They followed all the Lord’s commands and regulations perfectly. ALLOW THESE VERSES TO BE A GUIDE UNTO YOUR LIFE. PASTOR ANDRA HIGGINBOTHAM EVERLASTING SALVATION CHURCH OF GOD MINISTRIES PayPal.me/donatetochurch Church link: Everlastingsalvationchurchofgod.com
THIS IS WHAT GOD TEACHES ABOUT COMPASSION AND SYMPATHY: 1 PETER 3:8 Finally, everyone must live in harmony, be sympathetic, love each other, have compassion, and be humble. JOB 6:14 “A friend should treat a troubled person kindly, even if he abandons the fear of the Almighty. PROVERBS 19:17 Whoever has pity on the poor lends to the LORD, and he will repay him for his good deed. GALATIONS 6:2 Help carry each other’s burdens. In this way you will follow Christ’s teachings. So if any one of you thinks you’re important when you’re really not, you’re only fooling yourself. 1JOHN 3:17 Now, suppose a person has enough to live on and notices another believer in need. How can God’s love be in that person if he doesn’t bother to help the other believer? ALLOW THESE VERSES TO BE A GUIDE UNTO YOUR LIFE. LIVE GODLY AND BE BLESSED BY GOD. PASTOR ANDRA HIGGINBOTHAM EVERLASTING SALVATION CHURH OF GOD MINISTRIES PayPal.me/donatetochurch Church link: Everlastingsalvationchurchofgod.com
THE BIBLE TEACHES US ABOUT GENEROSITY. Proverbs 11:25 A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. Psalm 112:5 Good will come to those who are generous and lend freely, who conduct their affairs with justice. Matthew 6:3-4 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. Proverbs 3:9 Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops. 2 Corinthians 9:7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 2 Corinthians 9:6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. ALLOW THESE VERSES TO BE A GUIDE UNTO YOUR LIFE. PASTOR ANDRA HIGGINBOTHAM EVERLASTING SALVATION CHURCH OF GOD MINISTRIES PayPal.me/donatetochurch Church link: Everlastingsalvationchurchofgod.com
THIS IS WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT MAKING PROMISES: Ecclesiastes 5:5 It is better not to make a promise than to make one and not keep it. Proverbs 10:19 Sin is unavoidable when there is much talk, but whoever seals his lips is wise. Ecclesiastes 5:6 Don’t let your mouth make you sin. And don’t defend yourself by telling the Temple messenger that the promise you made was a mistake. That would make God angry, and he might wipe out everything you have achieved. Matthew 5:33-36 “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. ALLOW THESE VERSES TO BE A GUIDE UNTO YOUR LIFE. PASTOR ANDRA HIGGINBOTHAM EVERLASTING SALVATION CHURCH OF GOD MINISTRIES PayPal.me/donatetochurch Church link: Everlastingsalvationchurchofgod.com
The Age of the Bible The Holy Bible is not only the greatest and best of all books, but it is also the oldest. Its history has been very difficult to trace, yet the same Divine guidance that set its authors to work to write it has made Christians delve into the mists of the past to learn all about it. We find out more about it every day through the research of learned men, and things that are now hidden from us regarding it doubtless will be revealed in the course of time. As to its authors and age, however, we know a very great deal. It was written by about forty different men and as it comes to us it took about sixteen hundred years to compose. We know pretty accurately that Moses began it about the year 1500 B.C. and that John, who wrote the last book, Revelation, finished it about the year 90 A.D., which estimate fills out the sixteen centuries. The Bible gets its name from a Greek word which means “the little books.” Gradually, in the course of many years, this word came to stand for something more than “little books,” of which the Big Book was composed. It came to mean “the book,” the “holy book,” and finally it came to mean just what it means today—the Holy Book of Books. This great work is composed of two parts—the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament has in it thirty-nine books or parts. It contains God’s account of the creation of the world, a history of the Jewish people and God’s dealings with them, a number of books written by the great Jewish prophets in which are foretold the things that happen in the New Testament, as well as a number of beautiful books of purely a religious character, such as the Psalms. The men who wrote the Old Testament discontinued working on it about four hundred years before Jesus Christ was born. The New Testament begins with the birth of Jesus and covers a period of about seventy-five years down to the time when the faith of Christianity was being extended by the men Jesus Himself chose to go out into the world and tell about it. The New Testament contains twenty-seven books, four of which are known as Gospels, because they tell particularly of the life of Jesus. Some learned men think the word “gospel” means “God story” or “narrative of God,” while some think it means “good story” or “good tidings,” because of the tidings of salvation that it brings to those who read it. I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS QUICK HISTORY OF THE BIBLE. PASTOR ANDRA HIGGINBOTHAM EVERLASTING SALVATION CHURCH OF GOD MINISTRIES PayPal.me/donatetochurch Church link: Everlastingsalvationchurchofgod.com
THE BIBLE TEACHES US ABOUT GOD ANSWERING PRAYERS: 1 John 5:14-15 ESV And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. John 15:7 ESV If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. James 4:3 ESV You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. Hebrews 11:6 ESV And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. Philippians 4:6 ESV Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Psalm 37:4-5 ESV Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. ALLOW THESE VERSES TO BE A GUIDE UNTO YOUR LIFE. PASTOR ANDRA HIGGINBOTHAM EVERLASTING SALVATION CHURCH OF GOD MINISTRIES PayPal.me/donatetochurch Church link: Everlastingsalvationchurchofgod.com
“I Just Feel Like God Isn’t Happy with Me” I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. (1 Cor. 4:4–5) Have you noticed that you have less confidence in your relationship with God on days when you wake up feeling vaguely guilty? You can’t put your finger on any one thing in particular, but there’s this nagging sense that you’ve done something wrong and that God is frowning at you. Paul would dismiss that feeling, because he knows how God operates. When God judges, he brings to light what is hidden and exposes the motives of the heart. In other words, he’s specific. He exposes something that can be identified and linked back to an equally identifiable cause. And Paul is confident that God is much better at identifying and judging those things than he himself is (see 1 Cor. 4:3–4). Jesus said something similar when he described how the Holy Spirit would convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (see John 16:8–11). When wickedness is involved, God does not bring a generalized feeling that something’s wrong. He brings conviction. And that only makes sense. If you bring a charge against someone in court, it has to be specific. You can’t accuse someone of being “a bad person.” They might be—but that’s a summary of their character based on individual things they have done. Charges are not a character assessment; they’re specific allegations. Why would God have a lower standard of specificity than we do? Think about the cross. The wrath of God that Jesus endured on your behalf was not a generalized wrath. God directed specific wrath against Christ for specific things that you would do against him and his holiness. To absolve you of those things, Jesus paid the exact penalty that was generated by each particular evil that God identified and judged. In other words, it’s not your job to convict yourself of sin. It’s God’s. And that’s a good thing, because you’d be horrible at it. None of us is very good at being good, which means that we’re not good at identifying where we are bad or the extent of our badness. Our spiritual blindness and our inexperience with true goodness mean that human judgment is superficial at best. If it were up to us, we would identify far too few things as sin and would assess far too small a penalty for them. The resulting payment would be inadequate, leaving us still separated from God. Thankfully, God examines and reveals your heart to you … which would be terrifying if he hadn’t also taken the responsibility of paying for everything that he convicts you of. Your role is to be open and sensitive to his Spirit. When he convicts you, repent. His conviction will be specific, which allows you to ask for specific forgiveness. When you’re just feeling uneasy, you can confidently push that feeling aside as you trust God to do his job. Is there something that God is clearly putting his finger on in your life? If so, then ask his forgiveness just as clearly. If there’s nothing explicitly wrong in your life but you feel vaguely guilty, ask God to either make clear what you’ve done wrong or give you greater trust that he will do so when something stands between the two of you. FOOD FOR THOUGHT, THINK ABOUT IT. PASTOR ANDRA HIGGINBOTHAM EVERLASTING SALVATION CHURCH OF GOD MINISTRIES PayPal.me/donatetochurch
