1 Peter 2

Okay! I really cheated for this one! But there was just too much good stuff!

4 You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor.

7 Yes, you who trust him recognize the honor God has given him. But for those who reject him, “The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.”t

Jesus was rejected by people! But he knew...they were "mere" people!! They were only humans. He was mistreated...but he knew! I'm sure he wasn't even worried about the pain that whe was enduring (though it was brutal and yes hurtful) but his focus was on the actual separation from the Father that he was going to face! His focus was on the spiritual things which ironically are so much more real than what we physically experience here on this earth! Where is our focus! And it's just awesome to see that though Jesus was denied and rejected by the Creator's creation....He was exalted by the CREATOR! That is just so crazy to think about...and so beautiful!

18 You who are slaves must accept the authority of your masters with all respect.t Do what they tell you—not only if they are kind and reasonable, but even if they are cruel. 19 For God is pleased with you when you do what you know is right and patiently endure unfair treatment. 20 Of course, you get no credit for being patient if you are beaten for doing wrong. But if you suffer for doing good and endure it patiently, God is pleased with you.

23 He did not retaliate when he was insulted,
nor threaten revenge when he suffered.
He left his case in the hands of God,
who always judges fairly.

Here we see an example of how Jesus lived out what was said in the first few verses and how we can live that same example in similar situations. We need to do what is good and right even when we are mistreated by our bosses and our masters and our leaders...This is so hard...but as Luke 6 talks about loving your enemy, we need to love those who mistreat us.

1 Peter 1

2 God the Father knew you and chose you long ago, and his Spirit has made you holy. As a result, you have obeyed him and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ.
May God give you more and more grace and peace.

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This is incredible to think about! God chose me long before my existence! I praise God that He has made us Holy! He has given us His spirit...without it, we wouldn't know how to live. I'm so glad that He guides me every day. I love how living a holy life, doing good and serving others is a direct result of the Spirit of God living in us! We are cleansed by the blood of Jesus...and this itself should continue to give us grace and more peace. Praise the Lord.

James 5

10 For examples of patience in suffering, dear brothers and sisters, look at the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

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It is very encouraging to think about what the prophets had to endure because they spoke in the name of the Lord. The only difference is....they spoke a message (in the people's eyes) of destruction and condemnation because of how the people were living their lives! We get to speak a message of salvation...a message of joy and deliverance! How awesome is that? Yet, so many Christians today are being persecuted because of this message of joy, the Gospel! The crazy thing is that some of these Christians probably don't even have access to the word and can read about the prophets like we can. I just read in Jeremiah that though he was taken to court and people plotted to kill him, though he was innocent...he stood firm in his faith! At the end he was saved by the witness of some of the wise men in the crowd. Uriah, on the other hand ran away in fear and was killed shortly after anyway. This only shows that the job of the prophets was not an easy one. So it definitely is good to look at their strength and be encouraged by their faith!

James 4

12 God alone, who gave the law, is the Judge. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to judge your neighbor?

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I feel like there is a theme about not judging others in James. It's crazy because I didn't see that until yesterday after my pastor preached on the same topic. These verses really are speaking to me because I feel like God is speaking directly to me. I need to really draw a line between discernment and judgement...as my pastor said, "it is like walking a balance beam, but we need to learn how to do it". I pray that God will give us all wisdom when it comes to approaching our neighbor about something we think is right or wrong. Not with attitudes of judgement and thinking we have everything together, but attitudes of humility and love. Not to prove that we are right about something, but to show a brother or sister where our heart lies and how you feel about a certain situation. I pray that God will take my pride and realize always that only God has the power to save and destroy!

James 3

1 Dear brothers and sisters,t not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly

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I chose this verse because my pastor interestingly enough included this verse in his preaching today. He was specifically talking about Matthew 7:1 which says "Do not judge or you too will be judged." Jesus warns us that we must be very careful when we are critically judging people and that we need to take the plank out of our own eye and stop focusing so much on the speck in other peoples' eyes! Many times we complain about pastors or other leaders in the church. We think that they could do something better or they shouldn't do this or that....but the truth is that we do not have the right to criticize a person's actions or preaching style..we do however have the right to judge the message and discern whether or not it is biblically sound. These teachers are responsible for either taking us closer to God or completely turning us in the wrong direction...the only other option is a teacher causing us to be spiritually idle...which is what many teachers in churches do today.I pray that God will give us discernment and continue to challenge us because in one way or another, we too will be/are teachers.

James 2

10 For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws. 11 For the same God who said, “You must not commit adultery,” also said, “You must not murder.”t So if you murder someone but do not commit adultery, you have still broken the law.

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Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God". These verses show how this is possible. Some people might think they have everything together in one area of their spiritual lives, but we all know that no one is perfect in all areas of life. We don't have EVERYTHING under control. These verses in James show us that if we stumble in one area in our lives, we stumbled in all of them. God wants us to be pure and holy....the following are some definitions of the word "Holy":

Set apart to the service or worship of God; hallowed; sacred; reserved from profane or common use; holy vessels; a holy priesthood. Spiritually whole or sound; of unimpaired innocence and virtue; free from sinful affections; pure in heart; godly; pious; irreproachable; guiltless; acceptable to God.

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God wants our everything to be devoted and sanctified for Him! Let's always remember the grace and mercy that God has on us even though we definitely come short of His glory!

James 1

27 Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.

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I love James! He makes so many great points even in the first chapter. I chose this verse because it is the verse that I am using for my support letters that I have sent out/am sending out for the Mission Trip to Ukraine this summer. We are going to raise support for 10 different orphanages in Ukraine and will be sharing our love with the orphans that we meet! I am really excited about it and am so thankful that I can serve the Lord through this mission! It's crazy to see here that true religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for others who may not be as privileged as I am...I pray that God continues to give me a heart for others and that I may walk in His will and in His love...so that I may be a reflection of His light to the world in need!

Hebrews 13

9 So do not be attracted by strange, new ideas. Your strength comes from God’s grace, not from rules about food, which don’t help those who follow them.

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There are so many ideas out there that make us think that our salvation is based on the good that we do. These are a work based gospel ideas and can easily distract us from the faith based gospel which allows us to competely depend on the blood of Jesus Christ to save us from an eternal separation from God. We need top realize that our strength comes from God's grace and not from what we do or do not do...what we eat or do not eat--as some are in the habit of thinking. Thank God for his grace!

Hebrews 12

3 Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people;t then you won’t become weary and give up.

28 Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe.

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I feel like these two verses really give us reason and motivation to strive for holiness. If we were to truly think about what Jesus went through in order to cleanse our sins and realized how underserving we are of that sacrifice...we would go through our days worshipping our Lord with our EVERY action! I just pray that God will continue to remind us of the tremendous sacrifice that He made for our lives every time that we face temptation. We have not only been promised the cleansing of our sins, but eternal life...a "Kingdom that is unshakeable"! Talk about the cherry on top of what we already don't deserve (if that makes any sense)! I really believe that if we remember these two things, we will really be able to combat all temptation! Lord help us!

Hebrews 11

1 Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.

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We've heard it over and over again...but this verse is extremely fundamental to our faith. This verse is a great memory verse...it is one that teaches us to be confident in the hope that we have received by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Our hope is in the returning of our savior and we can always count on that! Praise God!

Hebrews 10

22 let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.

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Can you imagine what it would be like to live under the mosaic law....a time where every year you are reminded of how little, insignificant, and how much of a failure you are in the eyes of God without the blood of Jesus. We would live under the shadow of our mistakes for our entire lives! Now, we live under such a promising covenant! It is such a great thing to know that our sins are sprinkled with Christ's blood and are remembered by the living God no more! Thank you Jesus for your redemption...one that lasts forever!!

Hebrews 9

26 If that had been necessary, Christ would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But now, once for all time, he has appeared at the end of the aget to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice.

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This has always been one of the most amazing chapters in the Bible to me. I really love how there is a straight parallel between the sacrifices that the priests made under the Mosaic law and the sacrifice that Jesus made for all of us. It is so powerful to think that Christ died once and for all...that unlike the priests who had to make a sacrifice once a year in order to enter into the presence of God and ask for the forgiveness of sins for himself and the people...Christ made that sacrifice once and has covered the sins of (many) people---The word many is taken from one of the later verses. I believe the word "many" is used here to demonstrate that salvation is only available to those who accept the blood of Christ. Praise God for the removal of sin in my life through the redemption brought by the blood of Jesus!

Hebrews 8

Hebrews 8:10 NLT
But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
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I love this because it shows how Gods law is written on our hearts! And I feel like it is.important to know that this is a sign that we are Gods people. When we are Gods people...the law is written on our hearts and we therefore act like Gods people....all of our actions honor God because it is His word that shows us how to live a life worthy of the call. Also...what a blessing it is to know that we fall under the law of grace and not the law of the first covenant!

Hebrews 7

28 The law appointed high priests who were limited by human weakness. But after the law was given, God appointed his Son with an oath, and his Son has been made the perfect High Priest forever.

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This verse sums this entire chapter up. What an encouragement it is to know that Christ died once and for all. He doesn't have to continue going back to the cross in order for each one of us to enter into the presence of God and receive forgiveness of sins every day/every year like these priests had to do. We also can trust that He will reign forever! Therefore, we don't have to worry about Him dying like the priests of old time did. I also really liked how it said:

"18 Yes, the old requirement about the priesthood was set aside because it was weak and useless."

This is really interesting...The requirements of old priesthood were made under Mosaic law and were therefore powerless in the eyes of eyes! Jesus' priesthood is incredible and was ordained by God for all eternity! This is amazing!

Hebrews 6

17 God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind.

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This is just incredible! The fact that God took an oath on His own name so that we may have eternal life and the assurance of it!! We know that God cannot lie...so we know that as long as we abide in Him, He will never let us go! How amazing is that? We have the assurance of eternal life, and God will never change His mind! Praise the Lord!

Hebrews 5

2 And he is able to deal gently with ignorant and wayward people because he himself is subject to the same weaknesses. 3 That is why he must offer sacrifices for his own sins as well as theirs.

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This is really important to realize. As we listen to some of the world's renowned speakers and read their books and are encouraged by the wisdom and knowledge God has given them, we must understand that all of our leaders are subject to the same weaknesses that we are subject to. So many people put priests and pastors on a pedestal and are make one of either of the two mistakes: 1. idolize that person; or 2. judge that person harshly. Yes our leaders are called to live a higher standard as directed in Titus 1, but they are still human and we need to understand that. I really liked this passage.

I would really love to talk about vs 11-14, about MANNING-UP spiritually...but I'm sure someone (Andy...haha) will cover those! Love ya'll.

-stay in the word!

Hebrews 4

14 So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe

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I think this verse sums up a lot of this chapter. There is a lot mentioned in this chapter and a lot of verses that everyone has heard and should memorize. This one stuck out to me because the rest are talking about entering God's rest by obeying God...The only way that we can obey God and enter his rest is by abiding under the blood of Jesus Christ and truly believing that he is the High Priest who has entered heaven, who gave up his life for us, and whom we owe our entire lives to! Let us hold firmly to what we believe guys and continue to get into the word so that we may walk in His light!

Hebrews 3

18 And to whom was God speaking when he took an oath that they would never enter his rest? Wasn’t it the people who disobeyed him? 19 So we see that because of their unbelief they were not able to enter his rest.

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Disobedience is directly related to unbelief. Yes, we are not saved by our being "good", trusting in our own strength and "righteous" acts, but it is evident here that our good deeds is a result of our belief in God and what He has done for us! I tell my D-Group this all the time....if we were to fully believe in what God has done for us, we would without struggle/fault follow his commandments every second of our lives! Let's dig in and ask God to give us a deeper and better understanding of what He has done and who He is... so we may continue to obey him every day of our lives!

Hebrews 2

1 So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it.

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I went with the first verse because it really is the simple truth of why we need to get into the word daily...we need to learn more and more about the gospel and the things that help us follow Christ to the up-most of our ability. If we don't get into the word we will drift away. We are like lambs who lose their way by feeding on the grass of this life--located off of the path that the Lord has paved out for us!

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Rom 10:17

Hebrews 1

Welcome to a new challenge broskies! Hebrews will be epic!

Hebrews 1:4, 8 NLT

This shows that the Son is far greater than the angels, just as the name God gave him is greater than their names. But to the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever. You rule with a scepter of justice.

These verses blew my mind!!! God is talking about/to God! Himself! Trinity. Father, son, holy spirit! There is such an amazing relationship here...one that is impossible to understand! There is only one God...so to think that Jesus is anything but God would be a sacrilege. This shows us that Jesus is God! His name is above all others! This was awesome!

Philemon

8 Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required,9 yet for love's sake I prefer to appeal to you

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Sometimes, we just know that we are right. When it comes to sound doctrine and the conviction of the spirit...we may know for certain that we are right about a certain subject. Paul as a true servant of the Lord Jesus Christ had every right to command these people to do what is required, but he for LOVE's sake appealed to them...pleaded with them. When it comes to leadership, sometimes we have to command and make sure people are doing the right thing...but to be an inspirational leader, your commands, actions, and interactions with your subordinates/team friends must be smothered in love. I like this verse a whole lot.

Titus 3

7 Because of his grace he declared us righteous and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.” 8 This is a trustworthy saying, and I want you to insist on these teachings so that all who trust in God will devote themselves to doing good. These teachings are good and beneficial for everyone.

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LOVE IT! I'm chose this one because it is very similar to the one I chose yesterday. It talks about eternal life and how knowing God's true promises and understanding his grace is what leads us to doing good...carrying out the works that are in his plan! Paul tells the people that he wants them to insist on teaching this message so that people will trust in God and do good! This is beneficial to everyone...do we understand that? Are we stepping out and sharing this amazing message we have been given?

Titus 2

1 As for you, Titus, promote the kind of living that reflects wholesome teaching

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I really like this. "Practice what you preach"...it's so true and we all know that not everyone does this. We too sometimes can catch ourselves in our hypocrisy. We need to hold ourselves to the same standards we hold others....and those standards must be biblical.

14 He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds.

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I really liked this one too because it encompasses the gospel and what it gives us! FREEDOM, PURITY, FAMILY, DEVOTION--to pleasing our Father!

Titus 1

2 This truth gives them confidence that they have eternal life, which God—who does not lie—promised them before the world began.

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The truth gives us confidence that we have eternal life. What is the truth? It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are sinners saved by grace through faith. This is the exact faith that drives us to live holy lives as we realize that we don't deserve what God has done for us! I love how this says that this truth gives us confidence of eternal life. It doesn't say it gives us confidence of great things to come, or the type of Prosperity Gospel that is telling people "Today will be a better day!"....no for those who follow Christ, especially in countries where it is illegal to preach the word of God and to be a Christian--today might just suck a little more than yesterday. But Praise the Lord we have a promise that will get us through any situation--and that is the confidence that we have eternal life...a gift we surely don't deserve! Thank you Jesus.