CENTRAL THOUGHT Only Christians can season and give light to the world, thereby making it more habitable. Text: Matthew 5:13-16 INTRODUCTION This lesson draws inspiration from two all too common features of our existence. They are salt and light. Though only a minute fraction of the world’s population understands their chemical and physical composition and characteristics, all humans have need of them. Salt is a commodity, while light is a form of energy. According to Compton’s Interactive Encyclopedia, salt was so valuable in ancient times that it was used for money. In-fact our modern word salary is derived from it. The Latin word salarium means “salt money” and referred to the allowance of salt that was paid to Roman soldiers. “Salt is valuable as a preservative and it is essential to the health of humans and animals. Light on the other hand, is not a commodity that is tangible to the sense of touch but a form of energy like fire, wind, etc. Though it cannot be handled, humans, animals, and plants cannot do without light for a sustained period of time. Its use for plant growth via the process of photosynthesis, and our dependence on plants for our existence underscores the importance of light. It is...
Learn MoreCENTRAL THOUGHT Being alive in the Spirit is a life lived in obedience to the Holy Spirit. Memory Verse: Galatians 5:16 – “This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh”. Daily Devotional Guide: Monday: Contrasting lives. Romans 8:5-11 Tuesday: Set free from the web of the sinful nature. Romans 7:14-24 Wednesday: Walk in the Spirit. Galatians 5:14-18 Thursday: God’s demands fulfilled by life in the Spirit. Romans 8:1-4 Friday: Put on the new man. Ephesians 4:17-32 Saturday: The Spirit of sonship. Romans...
Learn MoreCENTRAL THOUGHT Being alive in the Spirit is a life lived in obedience to the Holy Spirit. Text: Romans 8:1-17, 12:9-12, Galatians 5:16-18 Introduction: There is a life in the Spirit which is unmistakably different from the life in the flesh. It is a life of faith and absolute dependence on the Holy Spirit for guidance and His leading. Being alive in the Spirit means that we are in continual and uninterrupted fellowship with the Lord. Being alive in the Spirit does not mean that we are always speaking in tongues, but tongues helps to boost the life in the Spirit (1 Corinthians 14:2). It does not necessarily mean jumping frantically in every worship service, but that could well be a part of it if it is done from a deep love for the Lord. Being alive in the Spirit is motivated by a deep love for God. It is motivated by a desire to live to honor the Lord and to please Him. There are some external manifestations of being alive in the Spirit which involves being zealous to share the gospel, giving Christian service in the local body of believers, yearning always to be in the will of God, and living in holiness. It is...
Learn MoreCENTRAL THOUGHT The Christian life is a life of integrity. HYMN: OVER THE RIVER, FACES I SEE Text: Psalm 15:1-5 Introduction: Integrity is uprightness of character, honesty, unimpaired state or soundness. It is an undivided or unbroken state or completeness. This is a virtue, which should characterize every born-again person. The Lord Jesus Christ came to give abundant life (John 10:10) to everyone who would believe in Him. Life in its fullness means favor with God; it means peace with God, blamelessness, righteousness, truth in the inward parts: it means integrity! Many people claim to know the Lord; one way to separate the professors from the children of God is probity or morality or integrity. Integrity is for the disciplined and renewed; the born again. This virtue makes a man to guard his heart from thinking evil and his lips from speaking deceit. It keeps a man’s steps in the path of righteousness. The world can speak of good but lacks the strength to do good. Everyone can speak of what is good, but few people follow up their words with good actions. Integrity makes a man to follow up his pronouncements even when it hurts him. He does this because he knows that it tells...
Learn MoreMemory Verse: Proverbs 10:9 “He that walketh uprightly walketh surely: but he that perverteth his ways shall be known.” Daily Devotional Guide: Monday: Living in truth. Ephesians 4:21-27 Tuesday: Minding your business. Leviticus 19:16-18 Wednesday: Integrity restrains from joining a multitude to do evil. Exodus 23:1-3 Thursday: Integrity in keeping your words. Leviticus 5:4 Friday: Improve daily. 1 Peter 1:4-11 Saturday: We are debtors to live for God. Romans...
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