Youth BiOY

Psalm 131:1-3, Ezekiel 41:18-19, 1 Peter 1:3-23,2:1-3. 23–25, MSG) In today's passages, we see the implications of this new birth, the various stages of spiritual growth as a son or daughter of God and how ‘you may grow up in your salvation' (2:2)

Psalm 130:1-5, Ezekiel 40:4, James 5:13-18. Watchman Nee wrote, ‘Our prayers lay the track down which God's power can come Like a mighty locomotive, his power is irresistible, but it cannot reach us without rails

Proverbs 28:13, Ezekiel 38:23,39:28-29, James 4:1-10. ' As Albert Einstein said, ‘I do not fear the explosive power of the atom bomb What I fear is the explosive power of *evil* in the human heart

Psalm 129:4, Ezekiel 37:2-10, James 3:1-18. 3) The answer is yes, yes, yes

Psalm 128:1-2, Ezekiel 34:2-16, James 2:1-17. Centuries ago, when the people of God were in exile and despair, they cried out to God, “*How should we then live?*” (Ezekiel 33:10, KJV) The same question rings down through the ages

Psalm 127:1-2, Ezekiel 33:11, James 1:2-27. At any given moment, I find there are a number of different things going on at the same time In the passages for today we see five of these aspects, which all begin with the letter T

Proverbs 27:23, 28:1-5, Ezekiel 30:26, Hebrews 13:1-21. The Christian community, the church, is the community of our Lord Jesus, the ‘great Shepherd of the sheep' (Hebrews 13:20) Each local church is called to be a community of the great Shepherd

Psalm 126:2-5, Ezekiel 28:2-17, Hebrews 12:14-29. H Spurgeon pointed out, ‘three results of nearness to Jesus' – happiness, holiness and humility

Psalm 125:1-5, Ezekiel 27:33-34, Hebrews 12:1-13. In each of the passages for today, you see what you need to do in order to run ‘the race marked out for [you]' (v 1), as well as some of the results of doing so

Psalm 124:2-8, Ezekiel 24:18, Hebrews 11:23-40. This became the expression that Paton used Faith is *leaning your whole weight upon Jesus*

Proverbs 27:18-21, Ezekiel 22:29–30, Hebrews 11:1-10. The writer of Hebrews says, ‘Now *faith* is *being* *sure* of what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see' (Hebrews 11:1) St Augustine wrote, ‘God does not expect us to submit our faith to him without reason, but the very limits of our reason make faith a necessity

Psalm 123:1-4, Ezekiel 22:1-12, Hebrews 10:19-39. The writer of Hebrews encourages his readers not to be ‘quitters' but ‘to stick it out' (vv 34–39, MSG)

Psalm 122:1, Ezekiel 20:11-12, Hebrews 10:1–14. it is *irresistible*

Psalm 121:1-8, Ezekiel 17:1-24,18:26-32, Hebrews 9:16-28. ‘We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ *once for all*' (10:10) This ‘*once*' event stemmed from God's great love for us and has huge implications for your life and mine

Proverbs 27:5-10, Ezekiel 16:60, Hebrews 9:1-14. The ‘*precious blood of Christ*' (1 Peter 1:19) is stressed throughout the whole New Testament:- It makes *forgiveness* possible (Colossians 1:14)- It *purifies* you from every sin (1 John 1:7)- Through it, you *draw near to God* (Ephesians 2:13)- It brings *peace and reconciliation* (Colossians 1:20)- It *gives life* (John 6:53)- It enables you to *overcome Satan* (Revelation 12:11) In today's passages, we see different aspects of what all of this means

Psalm 120:1-7, Ezekiel 13: 1-21,14:6-11, Hebrews 8:1-13. Loneliness has been described as ‘a homesickness for God' God created you for community – calling you into a loving relationship with him and with other human beings

Psalm 119:170-176, Ezekiel 11:1-20, Hebrews 7:18-27. You come to him *through* *Jesus*, the man who is God, our Lord, brother and friend Your prayers are inspired by *the Holy Spirit of God,* who lives within your heart

Psalm 119:162-165, Ezekiel 7:1-27, Hebrews 6:13-20, 7:1-3. Faith involves trusting the promises of God God makes a promise; faith believes it, hope anticipates it, patience quietly waits for it

Proverbs 26:27-28, 27:1-4, Ezekiel 4:4-8, 5:15, Hebrews 5:12-14, 6:1-12. He does not want you to get hurt There are many warnings in the Bible and they all stem from God's love for you

Psalm 119:156-159, Ezekiel 1:26-28, Hebrews 4:14-16, 5:1-9. The priestly work of Jesus is hinted at elsewhere, for example, the ‘high priestly' prayer of Jesus in John's Gospel (John 17) and the ‘beloved disciple's' description of Jesus as ‘advocate with the Father' (1 John 2:1) But it is here in the book of Hebrews that the theme is taken up and expounded

Psalm 119:145-151, Joel 2:23-32, Hebrews 4:1-13. In the book of Joel, there is a division of destiny between those who call on the name of the Lord and those who do not (Joel 2:32) Joel goes on to say, ‘Multitudes, multitudes in the *valley of decision*! For the day of the Lord is near in the *valley of decision*' (3:14)

Psalm 119:137-143, Joel 2:12-13, Hebrews 3:1-13. However, you can see in these same scriptures that the secret to dealing with these is to ‘*fix your thoughts* on Jesus' (v 1)

Proverbs 26:13-20, Obadiah 15-21, Hebrews 2:1-18. He is both the *author* of our faith and the *author* of our salvation (2:10), described earlier as such a ‘*great salvation*' (v 3)

Psalm 119:130-135, Lamentations 3:40-41, 5:19-21, Hebrews 1:1-14. Your key to understanding God's character is Jesus Your key to life is Jesus

Psalm 119:127, Lamentations 2:11-19, 3:20-24, Philemon 4-18. Later on in the letter, Paul asks him to ‘*refresh my heart* in Christ' (v 20)

Psalm 119:114-117, Lamentations 1:1-20, Titus 3:1-14. 8,14) To quote John Wesley, ‘Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can

Proverbs 26:4-12, Habakkuk 1:2-5, 3:17-19, Titus 2:1-13. I have often heard it said that ‘the Bible is full of contradictions' It is certainly true that there are many *apparent* contradictions

Psalm 119:105-112, Jeremiah 52:31-33, Titus 1:1-9. There is a line in the film *The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel*: ‘Everything will be all right in the end… If it's not all right, then it is not the end ' Way beyond its context in the film, these words convey a profound theological truth

Psalm 119:97-104, Jeremiah 51:15-46, 2 Timothy 4:1-22. His whole life has been about telling others the good news of Jesus His last words urge Timothy to do the same

Psalm 119:89-96, Jeremiah 50:18-45, 2 Timothy 3:1-17. It actually has God's breath, his Spirit, in it Through the Bible, God speaks to you

Proverbs 25:21-28, Jeremiah 50:4, 2 Timothy 2:1-24. 21) starts with dedicating your life to him and re-dedicating it regularly to his service St Paul encourages us, ‘Become the kind of container God can use to present any and every kind of gift to his guests for their blessing' (2 Timothy 2:20–21, MSG)

Psalm 119:81, Jeremiah 48;10-29, 49:1, 2 Timothy 1:2-14. As Paul became aware that he was handing on the gospel to the next generation, his greatest concern was that Timothy should guard it (1:11–14) The older I get, the more I appreciate the wisdom of the generations before me and the more I realise the responsibility we *all* have to pass the baton on to the next generation

Psalm 119:73-74, Jeremiah 46:28, 1 Timothy 6:3-19. 17) find ‘a firm foundation' and ‘take hold of the life that is truly life' (v 19)

Psalm 119:66-72, Jeremiah 43:1-2, 44:1-5, 1 Timothy 5:1-20, 6:1-2. We live in a fallen world Everyone goes through hard times and some people find themselves in circumstances that make life hard all of the time

Proverbs 25:11-18, Jeremiah 42:4, 1 Timothy 4:1-16. God continues to speak to the church through prophetic messages (1 Timothy 4:14) Of course, we need to distinguish the Old Testament prophets, whose ‘words' were definitely ‘the word of the Lord' and are now part of Scripture, from prophetic ‘words' today, which need to be tested against Scripture

Psalm 119:57-64, Jeremiah 38:14-20, 1 Timothy 3:1-16. You do not have to be perfect to be an example However, we try to ensure that the lifestyle and character of our leaders is in line with the New Testament

Psalm 119:49-55, Jeremiah 35:12-15, 37:1-3, 1 Timothy 2:1-6. 'There is no limit to the times, places and different ways in which you can pray

Psalm 119:41-48, Jeremiah 32:37-41, 33:2-11, 1 Timothy 1:3-19. In fact, over the last nearly half a century, I have discovered that faith *leads to* true freedom and love Love, faith and freedom are inextricably entwined

Proverbs 25:4-8, Jeremiah 31:31-34, 2 Thessalonians 3:1-16. Jesus did not go for the easy or popular solution, but he always did the right thing This is an important principle that runs throughout the entire Bible

Psalm 119:33-37, Jeremiah 30:14-22, 31:12-13, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17. In today's New Testament passage, Paul invokes the image of the *phalanx* Shoulder to shoulder, the church can stand firm This is one of many occasions that Paul exhorts the church to ‘stand firm' (2 Thessalonians 2:15)

Psalm 119:25-32, Jeremiah 29:1-14, 2 Thessalonians 1:3-12. Much of it is hidden from us However, there are certain things about your future that God tells you

Psalm 119:18-24, Jeremiah 26:13-15, 1 Thessalonians 5:5-24. Dare to be different, by being like him Don't follow what the world tells you is desirable, but follow God by becoming more Christ-like

Proverbs 24:32-34, Jeremiah 23:18-29, 25:3-4, 1 Thessalonians 4:1-18. Paul highlights two things in particular: living to ‘please God more and more' (1 Thessalonians 4:1), and ‘loving each other… more and more' (vv 9–10)

Psalm 119:9-16, Jeremiah 23:5-6, 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20, 3:2-12. It is not a fleeting emotion, but a deep way of being – a state of mind that is available to everybody It is not found in things, but in a Person

Psalm 119:1-2, Jeremiah 18:1-11, 1 Thessalonians 1:2-13. Earl and his wife, Thommy, were great friends of ours at theological college in Oxford His life had been radically changed by the words of God in the Bible

Psalm 118:22-29, Jeremiah 17:7-8, Colossians 4:2-18. It was said of his followers that they were ‘turning the world upside down' (Acts 17:6, NRSV) In each of today's passages we see how this works, and how the Lord can be glorified in defeat

Proverbs 24:17-18, Jeremiah 15:19-20, Colossians 3:1-17. As well as the outer clothing, our hearts and minds have an inner clothing When you come into a relationship with God through Jesus, the old clothes have to go and you need a new set of clothes for your heart and mind

Psalm 118:5-14, Jeremiah 13:15-23, Colossians 2:6-15. Is it possible for you too to change? One of the most difficult things in the world is to break a bad habit or to give up sin In one of today's passages Jeremiah asks, ‘*Can a leopard change its spots*?' (Jeremiah 13:23)

Psalm 117:1-2, Jeremiah 10:2-5, Colossians 1:24-29. Not only Mother Teresa and Billy Graham, but actors, scientists and the then Lord Chancellor The Chief Cashier of the Bank of England, Graham Kentfield (whose signature was on every banknote at the time) said, ‘I am clear that the meaning of life can only be properly understood in the context of our *relationship with God*

Psalm 116:12-19, Jeremiah 9:3, Colossians 1:3-23. It is the lens through which to view our entire life Ultimately, as we see in today's passages, the world can be divided into two categories: those who acknowledge God and give thanks to him, and those who don't

Proverbs 24:5-14, Jeremiah 6:16, Philippians 4:6-19. The apostle Paul found the key to a life of peace and contentment in times of trouble He tells the Philippians how to find peace and shares *the secret of being content* (Philippians 4:12)