24 The Lord bless you and keep you;

25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;

26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. ESV

-         Lord, I ask that your blessing would be on myself and upon my family. I pray that it wouldn’t just be my famil, but the 180 and all its leaders, Res and all its members, upon those who follow you far and wide. I ask that as we seek you, your blessing would be poured out on us that we may be a blessing to those around us.

Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ. NKJV

-    Num 27:16-17;  Prov 20:11;  Acts 20:18;  1 Cor 4:16;  9:27; Eph 5:1; Phil 2:29;  3:17, 4:9;   1 Thess 1:5; Heb 13:7;  James 3:1;  1 Peter 5:3;

-         Can or should your life be followed?

-         This is probably my favorite verse in Corinthians. I love the whole idea that it is not what I say but what I do that is suppose to be the greatest witness. This is by no means an excuse not to share the gospel with my words, but it is a reminder that it needs to be more than words. If people can’t see a difference in me, why should they want what I have? Does your life and words preach the same message? Would it be a good or a bad thing if people started following your example in every area of life?

This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. 2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; 3 not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; 4 one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence 5(for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?); 6 not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. 7 Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. NKJV

-       James 3:1; Titus 1:7-9

Qualifications of a Bishop

1. Blameless

2. One Wife

3. Temperate

4. Sober-minded

5. Good Behavoir

6. Hospitable

7. Able to Teach

8. Not given to Wine

9. Not Violent

10. Not greedy

11. Gentle

12. Not Quarrelsome

13. Not Covetous

14. Who rules his own house Well

- Children in submission

- If it isn’t working at home don’t export vs 5

15. Not a Novice or new believer

16. Good Testimony or Good reputation.

-         Blameless or above reproach Gen 39:11;

-         As we look, this is a good sized list. Out of the sixteen qualifications that were listed only one of them is a skill. They need to be able to teach, all the rest of the qualifications are issues of character. Our Character is more important than our gifts. I think it is easy to get focused on our gifts, and to work to develop our gifts which is a good thing to develop but it shows that our character is much more important.

-         Lord help us to grow our character. Lord we pray that our character would always be greater then our gifts. We ask that you wouldn’t let our gifts take us where are character can’t keep us.

CHANGES: We are meeting at church in the ground floor parking lot at 2:00PM on Friday March 5th. The bus will be leaving the parking lot at 2:30PM.

Bring $12 cash that will cover your meals. Bring extra cash for drinks, snacks, and merchandise. Remember that we will be taking a school bus so pack light!

If you want to come or if you have any questions call me at 616-261-3766. I am only in the office Monday to Wednesday from 9:00am-3:00pm and then I won’t be around again until we leave on Friday! Hope to see you there!

14 The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” ESV

-       Sometimes we just need to learn to hold our tongue. It seems sometimes the only thing stopping God from doing something great in our lives is the movement of our own mouth. Josh 6:10; Phil 2:14;

2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.” ESV

-     Prov 8:13; Ex 14:4; Pharaoh doesn’t know God so there is no reason to obey him. The first step in the fear of the Lord is knowing that He exists. If someone was to look at your life does it demonstrate the fear of the Lord through obedience, or does it display that they you say you believe in a God you never give thought to? Do you think about the fact that He is and that you will give an account to him?

-         Throughout the rest of Pharaoh’s story God wants him to know that he is God. Ex 7:5, 17; 8:10, 22; 9:14, 29; 14:4, 18;

-         At first his magicians were able to do the same signs, so pharaoh begin to harden his heart, 8:19 his magicians told him this is God, yet pharaoh’s heart was already hardened. In Ex 10:3 Pharaoh is asked how long will you refuse to humble yourself before God. So it is no longer a question of if this signs are from God but the question now is who is stronger Pharaoh or God.

-         (see notes on pharaoh’s hardening his heart Ex 4:21)

2 The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.” 3 And he said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it. ESV

-         When God calls someone He knows what they have. He is prepared to do what He called you to do  with you and with whatever you have. We often want to look at all the reasons we can’t do what God has asked because we don’t think we have “what it takes”. All the reasons why God should use someone else, but God just asked a simple question, “What do you have?” And with Moses and the stick God delivered a nation, brought the 10 plagues and split the sea. What could God do if we gave him all that we have?

-         Vs 17 sent out with his staff

-         Remember that God knows what you have and wants to use it. Jer 1:5; Eph 2:10 He made you with a plan in mind of how he was going to use you.

-         God is into using what we have. 1 Kings 4:2-7;  17:12-16;  Mark 8:4; John 2:6-7;

17 But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live. ESV

-        Prov 8:13; Fearing God changed the way they lived. What was right was more important to them then what Pharaoh wanted them to do.

Ex 1:21

21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. ESV

-         Ex 1:17; Prov 8:13; God rewarded them for fearing him. Along with obeying God comes his blessing.

-      This doesn’t mean that if you follow God everything will be a cake walk. They still had to face an unhappy pharaoh. Joseph out of fear of God refused to sin with Potiphar’s wife Gen 39:9. This choice wasn’t easy, in fact it took him to jail for a few years, but even in the midst of a mess God’s favor was on him. The character that got him in prison opened up doors for him to be over all the rest of the prisoners and eventually set him in charge of Egypt. Following God is filled with a different set of challenges. You will have opposition, but you will have God’s blessing and his favor when you do things his way.

23 He will die for lack of self-control; he will be lost because of his incredible folly. NLT

23 Death is the reward of an undisciplined life; your foolish decisions trap you in a dead end. MSG

-         Sin takes the life of those who love it most.

-         Prov 11:5; unrestrained freedom ends trapped in a dead end formed by the choices it has made. Are the choices your making today going to haunt or free your future?

5 And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!” ESV

-         Hurt people don’t use sound logic. Abram did exactly what Sarai told him to do, yet she was mad about it. I think I need to remember that hurt people lose their logic. I need to remember to speak with a gentle answer. Prov 15:1 a soft answer turns away wrath, defending your case just builds for an argument. God help me to lay down my pride so I can draw people to you. Help me to value others more then myself.

-         Abraham was willing to give things up to have peace. Gen 13:8