Foursquare Gospel Church Igbosere (Chapel of Blessing)

OUR DAILY BREAD November 18, 2018 Sunday DON’T STOP BUILDING! Leslie Koh The eye of their God was watching over [them] . . . and they were not stopped.  Ezra 5:5 Ezra 5:1–5 Ezekiel 8–10; Hebrews 13 When an opportunity came to take on a new role at work, Simon believed it was a godsend. After praying over the decision and seeking counsel, he felt that God was giving him this opportunity to take on bigger responsibilities. Everything fell into place, and his boss supported his move. Then things began to go wrong. Some colleagues resented his promotion and refused to cooperate. He began to wonder if he should give up. When the Israelites returned to Jerusalem to build the house of God, enemies sought to frighten and discourage them (Ezra 4:4). The Israelites stopped at first, but continued after God encouraged them through the prophets Haggai and Zechariah (4:24–5:2). Once again, enemies came to hassle them. But this time they persevered, knowing “the eye of their God...

OUR DAILY BREAD November 17, 2018 Saturday POWER OF TOUCH Lisa Samra Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him.  Mark 1:41  nlt Mark 1:40–45 Ezekiel 5–7; Hebrews 12 Dr. Paul Brand, twentieth-century pioneer medical missionary to India, saw firsthand the stigma associated with leprosy. During an appointment, he touched a patient to reassure him treatment was possible. Tears began to stream down the man’s face. An attendant explained the tears to Dr. Brand, saying, “You touched him and no one has done that for years. They are tears of joy.” Early in His ministry, Jesus was approached by a man with leprosy, an ancient label for all types of infectious skin diseases. Because of his disease the man was required by the Old Testament law to live outside his community. If the sick man accidentally found himself in close proximity to healthy people, he had to call out, “Unclean! Unclean!” so they could avoid him (Leviticus 13:45–46). As a result, the man may have ...

OUR DAILY BREAD November 15, 2018 Thursday DANGEROUS DISTRACTIONS Bill Crowder Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.  John 13:35 nlt John 13:31–35 Ezekiel 1–2; Hebrews 11:1–19 Artist Sigismund Goetze shocked Victorian-era England with a painting entitled “Despised and Rejected of Men.” In it, he portrayed the suffering, condemned Jesus surrounded by people of Goetze’s own generation. They were so consumed by their own interests—business, romance, politics—that they were shockingly oblivious to the Savior’s sacrifice. Indifferent to Christ, the surrounding crowd, like the mob at the foot of Jesus’s cross, had no idea what—or who—they had missed. In our day as well, believers and unbelievers alike can easily become distracted from the eternal. How can followers of Jesus cut through this fog of distraction with the truth of God’s great love? We can begin by loving one another as fellow children of God. Jesus said, “Your love for one...

Our DAILY BREAD  November 14 Wednesday Bound TO ENCOURAGE Kirsten Holmberg Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.  Hebrews 10:24 Hebrews 10:19–25 Lamentations 3–5; Hebrews 10:19–39 The Steven Thompson Memorial Centipede is a cross-country meet unlike any other. Each seven-member team runs as a unit, holding a rope for the first two miles of a three-mile course. At the two-mile mark, the team drops the rope and finishes the race individually. Each person’s time is, therefore, a combination of the pace the team kept and his or her own speed. This year, my daughter’s team opted for a strategy I had not previously seen: They put the fastest runner at the front and the slowest right behind her. She explained that their goal was for the strongest runner to be near enough to speak words of encouragement to the slowest runner. Their plans depicted for me a passage from the book of Hebrews. The writer urges us to “hold unswervingly to the ...

OUR DAILY BREAD  November 13, 2018 Tuesday  DUMB SHEEP, GOOD SHEPHERD Amy Peterson As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep.  Ezekiel 34:12 Ezekiel 34:7–16 Lamentations 1–2; Hebrews 10:1–18 My friend Chad spent a year as a shepherd in Wyoming. “Sheep are so dumb that they’ll only eat what is right in front of them,” he told me. “Even if they’ve eaten all the grass in front of them, they won’t turn to look for a fresh patch—they’ll just start eating dirt!” We laughed, and I couldn’t help but think about how often the Bible compares humans to sheep. No wonder we need a shepherd! But since sheep are so dumb, not just any shepherd will do. Sheep need a shepherd who cares about them. When the prophet Ezekiel wrote to God’s people in exile, captives in Babylon, he compared them to sheep led by bad shepherds. Instead of caring for the flock, Israel’s leaders had exploited them, profiting from them (v. 3) and then...

OUR DAILY BREAD November 12, 2018 Monday  WHO’SLP DRIVING? James Banks Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.  Galatians 5:25 Romans 6:1–14 Jeremiah 51–52; Hebrews 9 My neighbor Tim has a figurine on his dashboard of a “wild thing” based on Maurice Sendak’s beloved children’s book  Where the Wild Things Are. Not long ago Tim was following me through traffic and made some abrupt moves to keep up. When we arrived, I asked, “Was that the ‘wild thing’ driving?” The following Sunday I forgot my sermon notes at home. I “flew” out of the church to retrieve them, passing Tim along the way. When we met later, he joked, “Was that the wild thing driving?” We laughed, but his point hit home—I should have paid attention to the speed limit. When the Bible describes what it means to live in a relationship with God, it encourages us to “offer every part of [ourselves]” to Him (Romans 6:13). I took Tim’s response to me that day as a gentle reminde...