Paul in no stranger to prayer, saying pray without ceasing, I pray for you always, I thank my God in prayer for you all, and “For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be…” (Col. 1:9a). We all should pray often, and we all can learn from the apostles prayer some things that we may be.

How often do we actually STOP and consider where we are in life, what we’ve accumulated and who is ultimately behind us? God, who created everything including man, did so because of His unfathomable love for us. God, who can created anything from nothing, doesn’t need anything. But He does want something. He wants you! Considering the earth and all of creation David writes, “What is man, that thou art mindful of him?” (Psalm 8:4). Fact is I am nothing (Isaiah 64:6), and that makes it all the amazing that God wants me. Let’s explore in this lesson a little about why we should be grateful for God’s immense love, for the gift of family, and the church, the family of God.

As recorded in Jeremiah chapter 36  verses 20 through 23 we see king Jehoiakim hearing the word of the Lord, and not liking what was read to him, he took “scribe’s knife and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth” (v.23). Many today are guilty of this very same thing. Not that they physically cut portions of their Bibles pages and burn them, but that they deny what is written, refuse to teach the “whole counsel of God”  (Acts 20:27). Today many are guilty of cutting portions of God’s word out of their teaching and religious practice. Now because this is a sacred text we shouldn’t tamper with it, yet the truth is that vast majorities of honest, caring, loving people tamper with God’s Word all the time.

Is Grace working for you is a good question we should be asking. Paul in his letter to Titus instructed Titus that grace does work in all believers. Now remember the only true standard of right and wrong comes from God alone, as recorded in your Bible. In this context Paul from inspiration teaches brethren that Grace is teaching us two things: (1) Deny “ungodliness and worldly lusts” and (2) Grace is teaching us we should live, “soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age” In this lesson we’ll seek to understand more about grace and how to learn from grace concerning these things.

Tonight we’ll ask a question that has been asked countless thousands of times. Tonight we’ll think on a question that we all should ask. A question that when answered can better our lives, and put foundation under our soul’s salvation. A question most never ask till it is too late. It is a simple question – yet powerfully able to motivate us toward godliness and happiness. What is this question? What Would You Do With One More Hour?

Not everyone has an attitude of thanksgiving. In this lesson I’d like to think for a time about the opposite, the positive: That is and Attitude of Gratitude, (thankfulness, appreciation, gratefulness). Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians says there are three certain things God wants the church to do: 1. That we rejoice always, 2. That we pray without ceasing and 3. That in everything we give thanks. Let’s focus today on the third point Paul makes that is; It is God’s will…That we give thanks in everything – 1 Thess. 5:18 “in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you”

We live in a world where everything seems to be changing at accelerated rates, life seems to change all the time. Little puppies become big dogs – My little boys became men, my daughter became a women. You go back to where you grew up, the old neighborhood it’s changed, the woods-no longer there, the stores closed and new ones in their place. It seems like nothing is ever the same. But there is one constant unchanging element that we all can count on–that is God.

For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things (Philippians 3:18-19). The question must be asked by every child of God. I must daily look into the mirror of my soul, the perfect law of God-His word and see if my life is patterned after the word or after the world. If after the word then I am in a right relationship with my Lord, if after the world then I am an enemy of the cross of Christ, without hope…

Two questions that people always ask, why am I here, and where am I going from here? Solomon’s answer to the first question is, “Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all. 14 For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.” (Eccl. 12:13-14). It may surprise many, but the answer to the second question is, everyone who dies, their soul will go to a place called Hades, no exceptions. But you may be just as surprised to learn that Hades–is not hell…