Love is...

~Kind~


1 Corinthians 13:4 "Love is patient and kind..." Last time we focused on patience. Kindness and patience really go hand in hand. Patience is something that we use to avoid a problem while kindness is used to enhance a positive situation. Kindness is an action while patience is a reaction. Today, kindness can be  seen as generic. But let's look at what the Bible says about it. There are two aspects of kindness that I have seen in the Bible and they come from Ephesians 4:32 "Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you." Kindness is one, tender-hearted and two, forgiving. When we are tender-hearted to another we give them the truth in love. Let me make this clear, kindness is not blinding ourselves to the faults of others, nor is it lying about the faults of our brothers and sisters in Christ. When we are tender-hearted, we try to make the truth as easy to hear as possible, but we do not lie to them about it. When we operate in kindness towards others, we should be very sensitive to them, and never unnecessarily harsh. Now let's look at the second aspect of kindness, forgiveness. Forgiveness is practically the hardest thing to do, even to those we love. When we are called to forgive, we are called to forgive like Christ did for us. Christ gave His very life up so we could be forgiven! He took the punishment, He took the blame. On Him was placed the guilt of our very sinful nature. And he died so we didn't have to. When we are faced with the choice of forgiving our brothers or sisters in Christ, do we ever think of it that way? We are called to forgive them just as Christ did for us. Are we willing to give up our pride to forgive them of their sin? Whenever we are faced with a friend or even an enemy who harms us, we should remember what Christ did for us... and forgive them. 
   Kindness is an action, so what exactly does involves the action of kindness? How are we to be kind? I'm going to use the book "Love Dare" to make a point. Kindness takes gentleness, helpfulness, willingness, and initiative. Gentleness is like being tender-hearted; we speak the truth with love. Helpfulness is when we try to meet the needs of the moment. Willingness is going out of our way to compromise. Initiative is thinking ahead and taking the first step towards kindness. We are called to be kind to others because He was first kind to us. He loved and forgave us and we should do the same to our brothers and sister in Christ. 


Please email us with comments or questions at doulost2t@gmail.com or comment below! thank you :)


Abigail A.

Love is...

~Patient

  Hello readers! About five minutes ago I felt that I should do a short series on Love, specifically on the verses
1 Corinthians 13:4-7. It says: "Love it patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails..." I encourage for y'all to read the whole chapter and study it! It has great insight in how God loves His bride, the Church, and how we should love others.
  These verses first tell us that love is patient. What does it mean to be patient? In the back of my Bible it states that patience is being able to put up with problems or pain without complaining or becoming angry. Patience is also listed under the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22)! Romans 12:12 (Read verses 9-21 for the whole picture!) also talks about love being patient "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer." In Matthew 5 we are called to pray for those who persecute us. I'm going to use a quote from the book "Love Dare."  "Love will inspire you to become a patient person. When you choose to be patient, you respond in a positive way to a negative situation. You are slow to anger. Your choose to have a long fuse instead of a quick temper. Rather than being restless and demanding, love helps you settle down and begin extending mercy to those around you. Patience brings and internal calm during and external storm." Here is a story in the  Bible that shows love being patient!
   God told Hosea to marry a prostitute. Again and again this adulterous wife left Hosea. God said to him to go and show love to your adulterous wife... the woman who left you to love another. God actually said "Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods..." God uses Hosea's story to show His love for the Church.. the patience He has for us is astounding! We leave Him again and again to other idols whether it be ourselves, someone else we love etc. and He keeps calling us back to Him! It should humble us to think that we are adulterous prostitutes and still God calls us back. His love for us has nothing to do with our being easy to love, because we're not. In that way we should love others! We shouldn't love them only if they are easy to love, we should love them because God loves us and died to save us! We are like a vase overflowing with the love of God. Our love should spill out to those around us. In that love, true love, should come patience. We should be slow to getting angry with those around us. We should not complain when we are offended by someone.
  Throughout the Bible, God's people turned away from Him and God always sent a prophet or an event to bring His people back. Our love should be as such. We should always pursue to be patient with those around us, forgiving their hurtful remarks or careless deeds. We should because God did that for us by sending His only Son to die on the Cross.

 Please leave comments or questions! Email us at doulost2t@gmail.com :)

Abigail A. 

The Death of Osama

Hey readers! I have been watching the news and I've seen a lot of celebration of the death of Osama. A lot of my friends' posts on facebook were like "thank God he's dead" and "yay! Osama is gone!" I couldn't say why then, but those comments bothered me greatly. Now I understand why! We had youth group at my church today, and we talked about this subject :) In the Bible it says "Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles, 
lest the LORD see it and be displeased, and turn away his anger from him." Proverbs 24:17–18 When I read this passage, it was made clear. Osama is no different than us. He is a sinner, deserving and eternity in @#!*% ... and so are we!!! The only reason we won't be roasting forever is by the grace of God. Osama was created in the image of God, just like us. He (as my youth pastor said) most likely had tender moments with his children and wives. There was still a hint of God's image! If God had not chosen me, I know I would probably be just like Osama... maybe worse. How many people have I murdered in my heart? Jesus says that hating your brother deserves the fires of @#!*% . Even if I went my whole life without sinning, except for hating one of my brothers, I would still go to @#!*% . Of course, Jesus called me so now I am saved! There was still punishment for my sin... every single little white lie, every single little mean word (you get the picture) was put on Jesus. He was blamed for my sins! OK, so where does this leave us with Osama? Well, we know that only God can fully judge us, and that our sins our too great for us to save ourselves. We have no right at all to rejoice in the death of Osama! Osama is really just like us. When you follow the world's description of sin, you will not at all get the full picture. We place sin into categories. Murder is horrible, so is adultery. But a little white lie now and then isn't so bad. Well guess what? The Bible tells us that sin isn't just what we do... it's in our very essence. It goes deeper than the marrow of our bones. People do not want to accept the fullness of their depravity. They don't want to say that we are as horrible and dirty as someone like Osama. The truth is, we all deserve eternal separation from God. Does that make sense? It's only by God's grace and mercy that any of us can be saved! When we put all of that into the light of the death of Osama, we should be humbled that God would be merciful to us. We should feel more sympathy to the sinner. "Love the sinner but hate the sin." Now, that does not mean that I think it was bad that Osama was killed. I believe that it has saved many lives! What matters is our response to his death. We shouldn't drink beer and dance around as if we were crazy. What kind of example would that give to unbelievers? To the people in other countries? What do you think Osama's followers do after they kill someone? They dance around, drink beer etc. How are we different from them when we do the same? If you think about it, Osama died because of what we believe.... we believe it is wrong to kill thousands of innocent people. Well, Osama and his followers killed because of their beliefs. I'm not at all justifying what he did in his life time, it's just something for y'all to chew on. Anyways, please comment if y'all have anything to ask or say. thank you :)



Abigail A.

Christ Suffered and Died....

To Achieve His Own Resurrection from the Dead


Hebrews 13:20-21~
Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will. 


  The death of Christ did not merely precede his resurrection-- it was the price that obtained it. That's why Hebrews 13:20 says that God brought him from the dead "by the blood of the eternal covenant."
  The "blood of the... covenant" is the blood of Jesus. As he said, "This is my blood of the covenant" (Matthew 26:28). When the Bible speaks of the blood of Jesus, it refers to his death. No salvation would be accomplished by the mere bleeding of Jesus. His bleeding to death is what makes his blood-shedding crucial.
  Now what is the relationship between this shedding of Jesus' blood and the resurrection? The Bible says he was raised not just after the blood-shedding, but by it. This means that what the death of Christ accomplished was so full and so perfect that the resurrection was the reward and the vindication of Christ's achievement in death.
  The wrath of God was satisfied with the suffering and death of Jesus. The holy curse against sin was fully absorbed. The obedience of Christ was completed to the fullest measure. The price of forgiveness was totally paid. The righteousness of God was completely vindicated. All that was left to accomplish was the public declaration of God's endorsement. This he gave by raising Jesus from the dead.
  When the Bible says, "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins" (1 Corinthians 15:17), the point is not that the resurrection is the price paid for our sins. The point is that the resurrection proves that the death of Jesus is an all-sufficient price. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then his death was a failure, God did not vindicate his sin-bearing achievement, and we are still in our sins.
  But in fact "Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father" (Romans 6:4). The success of his suffering and death was vindicated. And if we put our trust in Christ, we are not still in our sins. For "by the blood of the eternal covenant," the Great Shepherd has been raised and lives forever. 

Christ Suffered and Died....

To Learn Obedience and be Perfected

Hebrews 5:8~
"Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered."

Hebrews 2:10~
"For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering."

 The very book in the Bible that says Christ "learned obedience" through suffering, and that he was "made perfect" through suffering, also says that he was "without sin." "In every respect [Christ] has been tempted as we are, yet without sin." (Hebrews 4:15.)
  This is the consistent teaching of the Bible. Christ was sinless. Although he was the divine Son of God, he was really human, with all our temptations and appetites and physical weaknesses. There was hunger (Matthew 21:18) and anger and grief (Mark 3:5) and pain (Matthew 17:12). But his heart was perfectly in love with God, and he acted consistently with that love: "He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth" (1 Perter 2:22).
  Therefore, with the Bible says that Jesus "learned obedience through what he suffered," it doesn't mean that he learned to stop disobeying. It means that with each new trial he learned in practice--and in pain--what it means to obey. When it says that he was "made perfect through suffering," it doesn't mean that he was gradually getting rid of defects. It means that the was gradually fulfilling the perfect righteousness that he had to have in order to save us.
  That's what he said at his baptism. He didn't need to be baptized because he was a sinner. Rather, he explained to John the Baptist, "Thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness" (Matthew 3:15).
  The point is this: If the Son of God had gone from incarnation to the cross without a life of temptation and pain to test his righteousness and his love, he would not be a suitable Savior for fallen man. His suffering not only absorbed the wrath of God. It also fulfilled his true humanity and made him able to call us brothers and sisters (Hebrews 2:17).

This Bible Study comes from the book "The Passion of Jesus Christ" written by John Piper.
Abigail A.

Sorry!

Hey everyone! I'm sorry it has taken so long for us to post. If y'all are wondering where the Bible Study went to, well, I lost the book! I'm going to keep looking for it though:D If any of y'all want to read it yourself, it's called "The Passion of Jesus Christ" by John Piper. Thank you!
Abigail A.

Christ Suffered and Died...

To Please His Heavenly Father

Isaiah 53:10 

"Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief."

Ephesians 5:2

"Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."

  Jesus did not wrestle his angry Father to the floor of heaven and take the whip out of his hand. He did not force him to be merciful to humanity. His death was not the begrudging consent of God to be lenient to sinners. No, what Jesus did when he suffered and died was the Father's idea. It was breathtaking strategy, conceived even before creation, as God saw and planned the history of the world. That is why the Bible speaks of God's "purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began" (2 Timothy 1:9). 

  Already in the Jewish Scriptures the plan was unfolding. The prophet Isaiah foretold the sufferings of the Messiah, who was to take the place of sinners. He said that the Christ would be "smitten by God" in our place. 

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities.... All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:4-6)

  But what is most astonishing about this substitution of Christ for sinners is that it was God's idea. Christ did not intrued on God's plan to punish. God planned for him to be there. One Old Testament prophet says, "It was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief: (Isaiah 53:10).

  This explains the paradox of the New Testament. On the one hand, the suffering of Christ is and outpouring of God's wrath because of sin. But on the other hand, Christ's suffering is a beautiful act of submission and obedience to the will of the Father. So Christ cried from the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46). And yet the Bible says that the suffering of Christ was a fragrance to God. "Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God" (Ephesians 5:2).

  Oh, that we might worship the terrible wonder of the love of God! It is not sentimental. IT is not simple. For our sake God did the impossible: He poured out his wrath on his own Son--the one whose submission made him infinitely unworthy to receive it. Yet the Son's very willingness to receive it was precious in God's sight. The wrath-bearer was infinitely loved.

Note from Abigail A.: Remember that God is perfect. If someone is perfect, their first choice is the best choice. God, from the beginning, planned to save His children! Nothing changed His mind. If God chooses you to be His child (if you become a Christian) God will never let you go! You are His first choice, the best choice that can ever be made <3

This bible study is taken out of "The Passion of Jesus Christ" written by John Piper. 

Christ Suffered and Died....

"To Absorb the Wrath of God."

Galatians 3:13
"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse or us--for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.'"

Romans 3:25
"God put Christ forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

1 John 4:10
"In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."


IF God were not just, there would be no demand for his Son to suffer and die. And if God were not loving, there would be no willingness for his Son to suffer and die. But God is both just and loving. Therefore his love is willing to meet the demands of his justice.
 God's law demanded, "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might" (Deuteronomy 6:5). But we have all loved other things more. This is what sin is-- dishonoring God by preferring other things over him, and acting on those preferences. Therefore, the Bible says, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). We glorify what we enjoy most. And it isn't God.
Therefore sin is not small, because it is not against a small Sovereign. The seriousness of an insult rises with the dignity of the one insulted. The Creator of the universe is infinitely worthy of respect and admiration and loyalty. Therefore, failure to love him is not trivial--it is treason. It defames God and destroys human happiness.
Since God is just, he does not sweep these crimes under the rug of the universe. He feels a holy wrath against them. They deserve to be punished, and he has made this clear: "For the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). "The soul who sins shall die" (Ezekiel 18:4).
There is a holy curse hanging over all sin. Not to punish would be unjust. The demeaning of God would be endorsed. A lie would reign at the core of reality. Therefore, God says, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them" (Galatians 3:10; Deuteronomy 27:26).
But the love of God does not rest with the curse that hangs over all sinful humanity. His is not content to show wrath, no matter how bear the curse for all who trust him. "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us" (Galatians 3:13)
This is the meaning of the word "propitiation" in the text quoted above (Romans 3:25). It refers to the removal of God's wrath by providing a substitute. The substitute is provided by God himself. The substitute, Jesus Christ, does not just cancel the wrath; he absorbs it and diverts it from us to himself. God's wrath is just, and it was spent, not withdrawn. 
Let us not trifle with God or trivialize his love. We will never stand in awe of being loved by God until we reckon with the seriousness of our sin and the justice of his wrath against us. But when, by grace, we waken to our unworthiness, then we may look at the suffering and death of Christ and say, "In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:10).


This Bible Study comes from "The Passion of Jesus Christ" written by John Piper. The next one will be up next week!!! :D Thank you!
Abigail A.

Verse/Lesson

Verse: Luke 20:1-8

One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up and said to him, "Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority." He answered them, "I also will ask you a question. Now tell me, was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?" And they discussed it with one another, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say, 'Why did you not believe him?' But if we say, 'From man,' all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet." So they answered that they did not know where it came from. And Jesus said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."

Lesson:
The religious leaders (priests,scribes and elders) came to Jesus with a question, but they didn't care what the answer was, they only cared about making him trapped in a corner (which is impassible) Do you sometimes feel like your trapped in a corner when people ask you questions? Well, one thing you can do is choose not to reply at all, just like Jesus sometimes did. Or nicely so no.

Jesus knew what the religious leaders were thinking when he asked them about John, and He knew the hardness of their hearts. This made me think how the hardness of our hearts keeps us from admitting when we're wrong and when we only think of ourselves.

Jesus said what he needed to say, and didn't say what you didn't need to say. Because I know how sometimes I say more then is necessary, maybe you do too. If you don't think this applies to you, just keep an open mind. Maybe this applies to someone close to you.

Lily M.

Verse/Lesson

Sorry we haven't posted anything for a long time, hope you like it. Comment and tell me what you think :)

Verse: Philippians 4:8-9 Finally my brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, whatever is excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me--practice these things, and God of peace will be with you.

Lesson: Purpose and ways brings us to where we need to be. As long as we are focusing on the truth, we cannot believe a lie. We again see the renewed mind of Christ described. A renewed mind brings stronger faith. The more clearly we see and understand God’s truth, the more we can apply these principles to our lives. He doesn't list rules for getting peace. Peace is a goal with the Lord, making His priorities your priorities.

Physically, many of us are careful about what we eat because we know that food can affect our bodies in different ways. If we eat junk food, then we pay the consequences. If we eat healthy food, then we usually are healthy and active. However,spiritually, are we as careful when it comes to what we fill our minds? Too often, we fill our minds with unhealthy things. if this is the case, then we will pay the consequences. At the same time, if we feed our minds with healthy thing, then we will grow spiritually stable.

Lily M.