BE
PREPARED
BREAD
1 In the
presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead,
and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2 Preach the Word; be prepared
in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience
and careful instruction. 3 For
the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to
suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers
to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away
from the truth and turn aside to myths. 2 Timothy 4:1-4 (NIV)
15 Do
your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not
need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15 (NIV)
15 But in
your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to
everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do
this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak
maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their
slander. 17 It is
better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. 1 Peter 3:15-17 (NIV)
5 Be
wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be
always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer
everyone. Colossians 4:5-6 (NIV)
15 Be
very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every
opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the
Lord's will is. Ephesians 5:15-17
(NIV)
16 All
Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and
training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for
every good work. 2 Tim 3:16-17 (NIV)
BUTTER
“The sign of our
professed love for the gospel is the measure of sacrifice we are prepared to
make in order to help its progress.” Ralph Martin
“A man’s god is that for which he lives, for which he is prepared to give his time, his energy, his money.” Martyn Lloyd Jones
“God wants us to trust Him daily with our needs.
This trust does not make us poor planners or careless with our futures,
unprepared to face what may come. Rather, it keeps our relationship with the Lord
in its proper perspective as He reminds us daily of our dependence upon Him.
God is aware of what tomorrow will bring and how we should prepare for it. He
knows the problems we will face, and He has already made provision for us to
overcome them. He asks us to trust in Him daily. Our faith in Him today cannot
substitute for our trust in Him tomorrow. If we will walk with Him closely
today, we will be in the center of His will tomorrow.” Henry Blackaby, Richard Blackaby
“The
Word of God well understood and religiously obeyed is the shortest route to
spiritual perfection. And we must not
select a few favorite passages to the exclusion of others.
Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian.” A.W. Tozer
Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian.” A.W. Tozer
“Maturity is for ministry! We grow up in order to
give out. It is not enough to keep learning more and more. We must act on what
we know and practice what we claim to believe. Impression without expression
causes depression. Study without service leads to spiritual stagnation. Most of
the time we’re more interested in ‘serve us’ than service. We say, ‘I’m looking
for a church that meets my needs and blesses me,’ not ‘I’m looking for a place
to serve and be a blessing.’ We expect others to serve us, not vice versa. But
as we mature in Christ, the focus of our lives should increasingly shift to
living a life of service. The mature follower of Jesus stops asking, ‘Who’s
going to meet my needs?’ and starts asking, ‘Whose needs can I meet?’ Rick
Warren
“Let us never
forget that the message of the Bible is addressed primarily to the mind, to the
understanding.” Martyn
Lloyd Jones
“When
the Bible speaks of ‘following Jesus’ it is proclaiming a discipleship which
will liberate mankind from all man-made dogma, from every burden and
oppression, from every anxiety and torture which afflicts the conscience. If they follow Jesus, men escape from the
hard yoke of their own laws, and submit to the kindly yoke of Jesus
Christ. But does this mean that we can
ignore the seriousness of His command?
Far from it! We can only achieve
perfect liberty and enjoy fellowship with Jesus when His command, His call to
absolute discipleship, is appreciated in its entirety. Only the man who follows the command of Jesus
without reserve, and submits unresistingly to His yoke, finds his burden easy,
and under its gentle pressure receives the power to persevere in the right
way. The command of Jesus is
hard—unutterably hard—for those who try to resist it.” Dietrich
Bonhoeffer
HEART
SAVOR
- · I am to do my best to present myself to God as one approved - one who correctly handles the Word of Truth.
- · I am to be prepared in season and out of season.
- · I am to be wise making the most of every opportunity.
