Introduction

• Letter about starting child beside the road in Ethiopia.

Does my gratitude to God motivate me to imitate Christ by being compassionate and generous to others?

• Who gets the credit?
• I Corinthians 15:10-11 – Paul gave the credit to God.

Thankfulness is a command, an active behavior, an evident foundational attitude

• Ephesians 5:20
• I Thessalonians 5:16-18
• Philippians 4:6

Thankfulness is more than a momentary response to our blessings; it includes a continuing attitude of humility toward God

• Luke 17:15-16
• Daniel 6:10

Glorifying God involves admitting we aren’t the source of our blessings and developing the proper attitude toward our possessions

• Luke 12:16-21, 15
• If it’s not us doing it and it’s not for us, why do we work?
• Ephesians 4:28

A grateful attitude toward God will encourage us and move us to share our blessings

• Galatians 6:10
• I John 3:16-17
• Matthew 19:16-22
• Our gratefulness and desire to follow Christ should bring us joy as we have opportunity to share.
• Luke 16:19-23
• Matthew 25:34-40, 41-46
  • Thanks, gratitude, compassion, and sharing are not optional!

As our gratefulness helps us grow and want to imitate Christ, we become more Christlike ourselves

• We can’t fix the world, but we can find small ways to help.
• John 8:12
• John 3:16 – The greatest blessing God has ever given us!

Acts 6

• Acts 6:1 – This issue could have caused division, so it was important to resolve it. The devil is always looking for ways to divide us (Luke 4:13). Satan never stops! Note that food is not mentioned here. This distribution could be money or some other type of help. Also note that it was to help needy members of the congregation – it was not a community outreach project.
• Acts 6:3 – Seven men were appointed to take care of the task. They are not specifically called deacons. The congregation selected the men and the apostles appointed them. The men’s names seem to be Hellenistic, which would seem to be a wise choice given that the Hellenistic widows were the ones being neglected.
• Acts 6:5 – The phrase “full of faith and the Holy Spirit” seems to indicate that the men were full of the word of God – not necessarily that they already had spiritual gifts.
• Acts 6:6 – This is the first recorded instance of the apostles laying hands on people. Acts 6:8 shows that Stephen could work miracles after this.
• Acts 6:7 – Priests being converted and becoming Christians was a huge change. This no doubt caused even more fear in the remaining Jewish leadership as their numbers diminished.
• Acts 6:11 – This is the same thing Jezebel died to Naboth (I Kings 21:1-14) and the chief leaders did to Jesus (Mark 14:56-59).
• Acts 6:15 – An angel is often thought of as one who reveals the word of God, which is exactly what Stephen was doing.

Acts 7

• Acts 7:1 – The accusations were clearly false, brought up by false witnesses (Acts 6:11-14).
• Acts 7:2-7 – Abraham was obedient to God before circumcision was ever initiated as an act of obedience.

Genesis 10

• The descendants of Noah are listed.
• Shem was contemporary with Abraham!
• Genesis 10:5, 20, 31 – The first mentions of languages in the Bible.
• Genesis 10:25 – This seems to be talking about the tower of Babel.

Genesis 11

• Genesis 11:1-9 – The Tower of Babel
  • Genesis 11:4 – The people had an attitude of defiance or self-reliance in a negative sense. They were not looking to God.
  • Genesis 11:5 – “Children of men” or “sons of men” here seems to be referring to unrighteous people.
  • Note: OpenBible.info has KML files for Google Earth showing places referenced in the Bible.
  • Genesis 11:6 – The word translated “impossible” is the Hebrew word for “restrained” or “cut off.” There would be no end to the pursuit of their own desires.
  • Genesis 11:7 – The languages were confused, possibly leading to isolation of certain traits within different groups.
  • It is thought that the Tower was some sort of ziggurat. Many ruins of ziggurats are located in the Middle East, but it is not known if any of these were the Tower of Babel.

Genesis 12

• Genesis 12:1-3 – God makes a covenant with Abram, including three promises: making him into a great nation, giving him the land of Canaan, and blessing all people through his descendants (the coming of Jesus).
• Genesis 12:4 – Abram does as God commanded.
• Genesis 12:5-9 – Abram passed through Canaan to Shechem (390 miles). He had to walk through the promised land!
• Genesis 12:10-20 – Abram goes to Egypt because of a drought (232 miles to Giza). Is this what God intended? He apparently forgot the promise that God made to him in Genesis 12:2-3 and displays selfishness to protect himself. God continued to keep His promises even though Abraham forgot.

Introduction

• James 1:17

10: Living in the USA

• Deuteronomy 8:7-10
• We also have great blessings here in this land of plenty.

9: The beauty and wisdom of nature

• Jeremiah 10:10-13
• God could have made a barren wasteland, but He gave us so much beauty!
• “The mountains are calling and I must go.” – John Muir

8: The Benchley church

• Philemon 1:4-7

7: Easy access to the Bible

• Deuteronomy 17:18-20

6: Prayer

• Psalms 5:1-2
• What a blessing that we can speak to God!

5: Our ability to change

• Colossians 3:5-10
• We are commanded to repent – to change! Clearly, we can change.
• We have the ability to learn and do better if we want to!

4: Forgiveness and fellowship

• Acts 8:22-24
• I John 2:1-2; 4:10

3: A clean conscience

• II Corinthians 1:12 – Paul had this comfort.

2: Hope beyond death

• I Corinthians 15:12-19, 52

1: God’s love for us

• I John 4:16-19

Acts 5, continued

• Acts 5:25-26 – Ultimately, the people feared God and the rulers feared the people.
• Acts 5:27 – The apostles were teaching in the name of Jesus, led by the Holy Spirit.
• Acts 5:28 – The rulers didn’t want blame to fall on them.
• Acts 5:29 – Note that Peter was grouped with the apostles and had no special authority over the other apostles. Between the apostles and the rulers, who was right and wrong? God showed the apostles were right via signs and wonders (Acts 14:3; Hebrews 2:4). We should fear God more than we fear men. See Proverbs 1:7; 2:2-6; Isaiah 33:6; Proverbs 29:25; Acts 9:31. We obey who we fear. Thus, fearing God means obeying Him. Compare Acts 5:14. After Ananias and Sapphira were struck dead, more people believed than ever.
• Acts 5:32 – The apostles continue to emphasize that they were witnesses of these things. The same Greek word is translated both “witness” and “martyr.” See I Corinthians 5:12.