Foursquare Gospel Church Igbosere (Chapel of Blessing)

OUR DAILY BREAD November 8, Sunday PEOPLE FORGET Cindy Hess Kasper Remember how the  Lord  your God led you all the way.  Deuteronomy 8:2 Deuteronomy 8:2, 10–18 Jeremiah 43–45; Hebrews 5 A woman complained to her pastor that she’d noticed a lot of repetition in his sermons. “Why do you do that?” she queried. The preacher replied, “ People forget .” There are lots of reasons we forget—the passage of time, growing older, or just being too busy. We forget passwords, names of people, or even where we parked our car. My husband says, “There’s only so much I can fit in my brain. I have to delete something before I can remember something new.” The preacher was right. People forget. So we often need reminders to help us remember what God has done for us. The Israelites had a similar tendency. Even with the many miracles they’d seen, they still needed to be reminded of His care for them. In Deuteronomy 8, God reminded the Israelites that He’d allowed them to experience hunger in t...

OUR DAILY BREAD November 7, Saturday LEAVE THE RESULTS TO GOD David H. Roper Do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.  Luke 10:20 Luke 10:1, 17–20 Jeremiah 40–42; Hebrews 4 Years ago, I was invited to speak to the residents of a university’s fraternity house. They had a reputation for rowdiness so I brought along a friend for support. They were in a celebratory mood, having just won a football championship. At dinner, chaos reigned! Eventually, the president of the house announced: “There are two guys here that want to talk about God.”  I rose on rubbery legs and began to tell them of God’s love, and the room grew still. There was rapt attention. A vigorous and honest Q & A followed. Later, we started a Bible study there, and in subsequent years many received salvation in Jesus. I recall many days like that when I “saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” (Luke 10:18), but there were other days when it was I w...

OUR DAILY BREAD November 6, Friday THE SWEETEST HARVEST Lisa M. Samra I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.  John 15:5 Isaiah 5:1–7 Jeremiah 37–39; Hebrews 3 When we purchased our home, we inherited an established grapevine. As gardening novices, my family invested considerable time learning how to prune, water, and care for it. When our first harvest came, I popped a grape from the vine into my mouth—only to be disappointed with an unpleasant, sour taste.  The frustration I felt about painstakingly tending a grapevine, only to have a bitter harvest, echoes the tone of Isaiah 5. There we read an allegory of God’s relationship to the nation of Israel. God, pictured as a farmer, had cleared the hillside of debris, planted good vines, built a watchtower for protection, and crafted a press to enjoy the results of His harvest (Isaiah 5:1–2). To the farmer’s dismay, the vineyard, representing Israel, produced sour-tasting gr...

OUR DAILY BREAD November 5, Thursday DESTROY THIS HOUSE Mart DeHaan Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.  John 2:19 John 2:13–25 Jeremiah 34–36; Hebrews 2 In Pontiac, Michigan, a demolition company bulldozed the wrong building. Investigators believe that the owner of a house scheduled to be demolished nailed the numbers of his own address to a neighbor’s house to avoid demolition.  Jesus did the opposite. He was on a mission to let his own “house” be torn down for the sake of others. Imagine the scene and how confused everyone must have been, including Jesus’ own disciples. Picture them eyeing one another as He challenged the religious leaders. “Destroy this temple,” Christ said, “and I will raise it again in three days” (John 2:19). The leaders retorted indignantly, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” (v. 20). But Jesus knew He was referring to the temple of His own body (v. 21). ...

OUR DAILY BREAD November 4, Wednesday RELAXING WITH PURPOSE Mike Wittmer Four things on earth are small, yet they are extremely wise.  Proverbs 30:24 Proverbs 30:24–31 Jeremiah 32–33; Hebrews 1 Ramesh loves to tell others about Jesus. He boldly speaks with coworkers, and one weekend each month returns to his village to evangelize from house to house. His enthusiasm is contagious—especially since he’s learned the value of taking time to rest and relax. Ramesh used to spend every weekend and most evenings proclaiming the gospel. His wife and children missed him when he was out, and they found him exhausting when he was around. He needed to make every minute and conversation count. He couldn’t enjoy games or small talk. Ramesh was wound too tight. He was awakened to his imbalance by the honest words of his wife, the counsel of friends, and somewhat obscure passages of Scripture. Proverbs 30 mentions trivial things, such as ants, roosters, and locusts. It marvels how “a lizard can...

OUR DAILY BREAD November 3, Sunday THE TREE WHISPERER Patricia Raybon That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season.  Psalm 1:3 Psalm 1 Jeremiah 30–31; Philemon Some call him the “tree whisperer.” Tony Rinaudo is, in fact, World Vision Australia’s tree maker. He’s a missionary and agronomist engaged in a thirty-year effort to share Jesus by combating deforestation across Africa’s Sahel, south of the Sahara. Realizing stunted “shrubs” were actually dormant trees, Rinaudo started pruning, tending, and watering them. His work inspired hundreds of thousands of farmers to save their failing farms by restoring nearby forests, reversing soil erosion. Farmers in Niger, for example, have doubled their crops and their income, providing food for an additional 2.5 million people per year. In John 15, Jesus, the creator of agriculture, referred to similar farming tactics when He said, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off ever...

OUR DAILY BREAD November 2, Monday GOD HEARS EVERYTHING James Banks Let it be known today that you are God.  1 Kings 18:36 1 Kings 18:25–27, 30-38 Jeremiah 27–29; Titus 3 One of the longest-recorded postal delays in history lasted eighty-nine years. In 2008 a homeowner in the UK received an invitation to a party originally mailed in 1919 to a former resident of her address. The note was placed in her mailbox via the Royal Mail, but the reason behind its long delay remains a mystery. Even the best human efforts at communication sometimes let us down, but Scripture makes clear that God never fails to hear His faithful people. In 1 Kings 18, Elijah demonstrated the striking contrast between the pagan god Baal and Jehovah God. In a showdown to demonstrate who the true God was, after Baal’s prophets had prayed for hours, Elijah taunted them: “Shout louder! . . . Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened” (v. 27). ...