Pursuing God with Gene Appel

We are looking at how problems have an upside we can leverage to our benefit. Problems can result in personal inspection to reveal what's really in our hearts. Consider some of the lessons Moses gives us for navigating the seasons of life.Is there a problem or challenge in your life that is causing you to do some personal inspection? It may be hard, but it's a good thing.

Have you ever had a really, really bad day? The Bible is clear that even if you love God with all your heart, you are not insulated from problems.If problems are going to be a definite part of our lives, how can you learn to see them as a friend instead of an enemy? We will discuss 5 different ways God uses problems this week.The first is discovering direction, which will be discussed in the context of Jonah. 

We have reached the end of a week exploring what it looks like to live a life that is led by God's Spirit. To walk in the Spirit is to move at God's pace, with His purpose, and in His power. If you follow Jesus, being filled with the spirit is yours for the asking! Are you ready?

When it comes to discerning the leading of the Holy Spirit, we need to know His fingerprints so we know it's really Him. Every time you sense a leading from the Holy Spirit, it's also important to test His leadings. One of the most important ways you test His leadings is to test them against the Bible, because God's Spirit will never lead you to do something contrary to God's Word. The Spirit's guidance will always be consistent with what the Spirit has revealed in God's Word.Are you willing to obey the leading of the Holy Spirit even if it involves effort or hard work? 

This week, we are talking about what it means to be led by God's Spirit. When we are led by the Spirit of God, we don't just follow rules, we follow His voice, His peace, and His presence. But learning to follow takes some practice.Several things can help us learn to be led by the Spirit. Today, we'll talk about one that seems to be self-evident, but it's one many of us struggle with. 

We are exploring the unexpected and powerful ways God leads us in our lives this week. There are two kinds of guidance when God is leading you by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit's guidance is not about personal success, but about personal transformation. We'll review an example from Paul in Acts 9.

God has always projected Himself into this world and its history through His Spirit. God is much more willing to actively lead and guide our lives than many of us are willing to believe. God is guiding, but many of us are just not listening. God is leading, but many of us are not following.This week, we are going to do a deep dive into why and how God leads us into a variety of circumstances so we can learn how to be led by His Spirit.

We've talked about several ways of looking at the Bible this week, but today we'll end on two core reminders when it comes to the Bible.What commitment should you make this summer?

This week, we've been reviewing how to engage with the Bible in a life-strengthening way. God's Word gives you hope in crisis, comfort in despair, strength when weak, wisdom when confused, guidance when seeking direction, and power to resist temptation. The Bible is not just a standard of living; its truth is a catalyst for spiritual growth. In Luke 8, Jesus tells a story of four kinds of soil, representing four different attitudes we can have toward the Bible. Which soil best represents you at this moment?

As we talk this week about developing and maintaining good habits surrounding the Bible, ask yourself if your current diet of scripture is leaving your soul satisfied.The Bible says the Word of God is spiritual food. The Bible describes itself as the water, the milk, the bread, and the meat of the spiritual life. Just like you need physical food for physical strength, you've got to have spiritual food for spiritual strength. So how do we feed ourselves on the truths of the Bible? We review four ways.

God wants your new spiritual life in Him to replace your old life permanently.When life's inevitable storms, trials, and temptations come, those built on God's Word remain solid rather than crumbling. Today, we'll review four worldly foundations and why they crumble. 

Since it's been a month since the New Testament Challenge, we'll focus this week on how you can maintain a heart for God's Word and how you can integrate it into every area of your life.When you segment your life, you live a segregated life. To have integrity means to live your life integrated, as a whole. To live an integrated life, you have to have the desire. The rest is what you do to honor it. We'll look at specific, biblical steps to help throughout the week.

As we take the final lap through Acts 1 and unpack the power the first Christians had, we discover it is still available to us today. Our power doesn't come from our level of faith, but from the One we have faith in. God makes the power of His spirit known in three ways, which we discuss today.

This week, we are contemplating the role of God's Holy Spirit when it comes to transforming and using our lives. As creations of God, we are fearfully and wonderfully made. But without power, we cannot function. Early Christians witnessed what Jesus could do and how He could change their life. Our witness is not to be narrow, but it's got to be wide. Since Jesus promised us power when we're witnessing for the right thing, the power will be there when we do. 

Jesus Christ was God in the flesh who came with power. He proved that power when He was raised from the dead. His followers had seen the resurrected Lord and the results of His life, but they had no power themselves. Chapter 1, verse 5 brings us to the promise of power. What took you through tough times? What helped you stand? It is the internal power of God, which is a confidence worth living in. 

This week, we're looking at Acts Chapter 1 and how change in life takes place. Change has a way of surprising us. Acts 1 shows us who makes that change happen and how it rolls out. Sometimes the power to change anything happens through waiting. We have to wait for God to show up, but we don't have to wait for his Holy Spirit. 

Jesus never left His corner of the Middle East, but His message permeated almost the entire globe and continues 20 centuries after He was here. Jesus challenges His followers, including you and me, to dream great dreams, to plan great plans, to pray great prayers, and obey His great commands. How big is your vision? Have you ever thought about what God could do through you to change our world in this generation? 

Today we'll review two more practical suggestions for dealing with temptation. Our short-range goal is to serve Jesus, who gave His life for us. When temptations distract us, we need to be reminded of our goal as a motivation for obedience. Not only does Jesus provide a way out of temptation, but He provides the way out of all the sins we've already committed through His death and resurrection. 

We've been exploring how to deal with temptation, how it's normal for everyone, and how it comes in a variety of forms. Temptation can be overcome. Jesus experienced the same temptations and He resisted them to prove that it could be done. Many Christians have confronted the same pressures and overcome. And we can do it too. Today we discuss four practical suggestions to help you overcome temptation. 

We are looking deeper at temptation, how it works and how to overcome it. As we walk through 1 Corinthians 10, we see another temptation the Israelites yielded: sexual temptation. Anybody who wants to live a life of purity in our society has a constant battle to control sexual desires. Temptations vary, so be alert. Paul puts grumbling on the same level as sexual immorality and materialism. Can you access which one of these you are most vulnerable to? 

This week, we're exploring how to deal best with temptation.In 1 Corinthians, Paul confessed the constant struggle he had with the temptations of the world throughout his entire life. Even Jesus struggled with temptation all of His life. If we're going to overcome temptation, we've got to see the awful consequences of sin. There are warnings in scripture about being careless in the Christian life.

In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul compares the Christian life with the 40-year journey the Israelites made from slavery in Egypt to freedom in Canaan. Most of these people never were allowed to enter the Promised Land because they couldn't resist temptation.We will review lessons about how to resist temptation, which is a normal experience.   

We are finishing a week of looking at the word pictures Paul uses to describe what will happen when we finally meet Jesus face to face. In 1 Corinthians chapter 3, he pictures our lives as we bring them to Jesus on that day like a growing plant and a well-constructed house. There is one last word picture he uses: a purified temple. 

We've been in 1 Corinthians 3:9-15 looking at how we can know what type of materials we are using in the building of our own lives in preparation for Jesus' coming. God looks to the motives of our heart, and He knows if we are doing our job to bring Him glory.These verses ought to be a wake-up call. One way or another, we are getting closer and closer to the day Paul is talking about, the day we stand before Jesus. 

We're exploring how Jesus' second coming provided a powerful motivation for Paul and how it can do the same for us. We've been in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, and today we'll discuss the second word picture Paul uses. We seek quality in every aspect of our life. How much more should we seek to use quality materials to build our spiritual life?

When Paul talks about the second coming of Christ, he doesn't talk about trying to figure out when Christ will return; he talks about being faithful until he returns and looking forward to the rewards Jesus will bring.Paul uses three different word pictures to describe what we should be like until Jesus returns, and they can motivate us to be faithful. We'll look at one of the word pictures today. 

We have long been fascinated with the second coming of Christ and the end of the world. Every generation has wondered if they were in the end times and if Jesus would return in their lifetime. Even the early church in the New Testament was concerned, because Jesus did not return as soon as they had thought He would. We do not know when Jesus will return, but we know He will. This week we will look at Paul's teachings about the second coming of Christ. 

Today is the last day of the New Testament Challenge. The Bible has a lot to say about what heaven will be, but heaven is still beyond our wildest imagination.We were made for heaven, and when we get there, we will truly be home. 

We are exploring heaven and all God has planned for those who trust Him. We've been discovering how heaven is a place of joy and laughter. Hell is not going to be parties, friends, or fun and games for eternity; it'll be eternal separation from God and others. Heaven, on the other hand, is anything but a boring place. Everything good in this life that we see now, will be perfect in the unseen life to come. It will be better than you could ever imagine.

As we continue to learn about the Kingdom of Heaven, we'll read from Revelation. Heaven will be a place of love, relationships, intellectual growth, discovery, rewards, exploration, productivity, and accomplishment. 

As we wrap up the New Testament Challenge, we will review what heaven is like. There are so many unanswered questions on earth. But heaven is a place of relational reunions and exciting learnings.

This is the last week of the New Testament Challenge. Can you believe it?The New Testament ends with an unspeakably glorious vision of the future: the Kingdom of Heaven coming to earth, or as some theologians have put it, heaven and earth coming back together again. That's not just good news, that's great news. 

When Paul made it to the end of his life, he wrote a last lecture from his prison cell. His last piece of words are keep pouring! 2,000 years later, we are still talking about Paul. What do you think your legacy will be? 

We are reading Paul's “last lecture” to Timothy this week. After Paul says to keep on no matter what, he says keep reading. All scripture is God breathed; our lives, and our families, and our careers, and our kids, and our futures, and our finances need this book's teaching and rebuking and correcting and training in righteousness. The Bible contains guidance for living your life. Paul also says keep sharing. Paul tells Timothy to preach the Word, to keep telling people about Jesus. Never miss the opportunity.

We are reviewing the latter part of the apostle Paul's life. After he is arrested in Jerusalem, one of the governors holds him at a place along the Mediterranean known as Caesarea by the sea. Paul ends up being held there for 2 years. This is where he gives his last lecture. First, Paul says to keep on. Don't quit. Keep enduring. No matter how difficult circumstances get, with Jesus' help, we can keep on. 

We are focusing on the apostle Paul this week. Initially, Paul was a committed Jew who persecuted Christians, and later became a follower of Jesus, maybe becoming the greatest proponent of Jesus and Christianity in history. In nearly every city Paul went, he would start a revival, a riot, or both, because he was so passionate about Jesus. When was the last time you just talked to someone about Jesus and what He means to your life? People may argue with you about Jesus, but they won't argue with you about your story, because your story is your story. 

This week we will look at Paul's last lecture, which is found in Timothy 2. Paul knew he was going to die. God had warned Him; the Spirit had told him. He knew he would make a final journey to Rome, and that would be it.Would you know just the right thing to say in your final moments?

We are concluding a week devoted to what made the early Christian movement explode and how any alternate vision of the church leaves you, and the rest of the world, wanting.Paul, along with Jesus and so many others, gave His life for a vision where people pursue God,  build community, and unleash compassion everywhere. 

We are examining the expansion of the early Christian movement. The early church wasn't just coming to a place for an hour to get some entertainment. They were "devoted to the apostle's teaching."There are two competing visions for the church that are common today, but neither are part of the original vision.

Today we'll look at the hardships Paul encountered as he spread the message of Jesus across the Roman world. Why would Paul endure the obstacles, the persecution, the difficult travel, and repeatedly risk His life for the church? 

God uses Paul in some dramatic ways. Paul goes on three different missionary journeys in the book of Acts. Paul opposed and persecuted the church, but then he became a part of the church, planted churches, wrote letters to churches, and died serving the church. In the readings for this week, you'll see four of Paul's letters. Take them in, live out their instruction, and encourage others with what you learn. 

For Week 8 of our New Testament Challenge, we'll be focusing on spread of the churches.In Acts 1-7, the Gospel spread through Jerusalem. In Acts 8-12, the Gospel spread to Judea and into Samaria. In Acts 13-28, the Gospel begins to spread everywhere.This is where we meet Paul. The early church would have been afraid of Paul, and yet God calls him.

This week, we've explored the book of Acts in our trek through the New Testament. At this point in history, we see the church expanding, but there is still resistance even in the church itself.From the beginning of the church there have been unnecessary barriers keeping people from Jesus. But God, in His love, refuses to leave these barriers up. We can remove the barriers keeping people from Jesus.

After arguing with God, Ananias comes and, in a tangible way, expresses the love of God to Saul.Saul literally changes the course of human history. And you may not know him as Saul, but you are familiar with his new name…Paul, who becomes the greatest missionary in the history of the world.God has given you your background and personality to be used for His glory. You are part of the plan God has to change the world, even through the life of one unlikely person like Saul. 

One of the most remarkable human interest stories in the Bible is the story of Saul, whom God uses in a fascinating way.Saul has been confronted by Jesus himself while Saul was on his way to throw Christians in jail; he is left blind and disoriented. God desires to involve us in His mission in the world to rescue and restore everyone, everywhere.

After Jesus' death, Peter and John used the power of the Holy Spirit to preach His message.God orchestrates events to grow our courage in His limitless power. Courageous compassion gives credibility to courageous words.Do you want to see God move through your life like He did through the Christ followers in the first century?

For Week 7 of our New Testament Challenge, we'll be focusing on the beginning of the church.Acts 1 and 2 are a study in contrasts. In Acts 1, Jesus ascends into heaven and vanishes before people's eyes. He has 120 followers who are weak, defeated, and overwhelmed. But in Acts 2, we find them empowered, courageous, and strong. Do you need a new beginning? Do you yearn for a fresh start? 

Based on what we've shared about the resurrection in our episodes this week, here are some questions to ponder: When did you believe in the events of the resurrection? When did you accept the events of the resurrection? When did you share the events of the resurrection?

This week has been dedicated to exploring the historical and present impact of the resurrection of Jesus. The resurrection is an event that happened and changed our world. It's how God worked in history to restore the relationship with broken people like us. What you believe about Jesus matters. Would you declare your belief in prayer for the first or hundredth time today? 

The resurrection of Jesus has been scrutinized by more historians and scholars than any other event in the history of humanity. Thomas had evidence, but what do we have? There have been many attempts for people to try to explain away the resurrection through the centuries, and people have come up with all sorts of concocted ideas in order to explain away what really happened.We hope the reality of this event will permeate lives and interactions.

We're exploring what may be the most important event in human history: the resurrection of Jesus. Today we'll look at it through Thomas' point of view. He's known as doubting Thomas, but he didn't stay doubting.