Jesus Fellowship: Love is Patient 11/18/15

Day 321

https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/niv/Heb.13

Hebrews 13

Concluding Exhortations

13 Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. 2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. 3 Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.

4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have,because God has said,

“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.”[a]

6 So we say with confidence,

“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?”[b]

7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

9 Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do so. 10 We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat.

11 The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. 12 And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. 13 Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. 14 For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.

15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. 16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

17 Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.

18 Pray for us. We are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way. 19 I particularly urge you to pray so that I may be restored to you soon.

Benediction and Final Greetings

20 Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

22 Brothers and sisters, I urge you to bear with my word of exhortation, for in fact I have written to you quite briefly.

23 I want you to know that our brother Timothy has been released. If he arrives soon, I will come with him to see you.

24 Greet all your leaders and all the Lord’s people. Those from Italy send you their greetings.

25 Grace be with you all.

Supplied Life Devotional by Bill Freeman

November 18th

"Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously?" James 4:5

This verse reveals that the Spirit is territorial. The Spirit knows its territory. We are redeemed property, and the Spirit is yearning jealously over every part of our being. The way we know God is in us is because He is jealous over even the most infinitesimal speck of rebellion in us, or anything spotted by the world. That is why you can never get away with it. The nature of the Spirit is jealousy. We all have had personal experiences of being jealous. We know how jealousy works. It is possessive. It watches over everything that would alienate someone we love from us.

But one day the kingdom life gets into us! And now that life is jealous over every part of us. That is why you cannot even think a thought and get away with it. You lose your peace. You do not even speak out your thought. You used to say it. But now you do not say it, and you think you should be okay. Yet you are not okay. Just a little reasoning in your mind, and you cannot get away with it. He is jealously yearning over your thought life. So you say, "But what can I do? My thoughts are thinking." Years ago, when we asked our oldest son why he did not stop running when we had told him to, he replied, "I tried to stop but my feet just kept coming." That is like us with our flesh-- "I tried to stop my reactions, but my emotions just kept reacting." So what do you do with this unchangeable source? You learn to bypass it and call "Jesus! Here it is again. Jesus, it's here!" Do not handle it yourself. Do not dare to touch your worst reaction. You are only qualified to do one thing. Go straight to Christ. He is your Savior. You are not the savior. He is the Savior. Go directly to Jesus and call and receive the supply from this Person.

Pray Until Something Happens (PUSH)

Anna, Ariana, Ariel, Georgie, Linnette, Wes, and Zoe.