Youth BiOY

Psalm 27:7-14, Leviticus 4:27-35, Mark 10:13-31. The *mercy* of God is available for you In our passages for today we see some examples of people who are recipients of God's mercy

Psalm 27:1,4,5, Leviticus 1:1-4, Mark 9:35-50,10:2-9. You are holy to the extent that your life is devoted to him and your actions reflect his character Holiness and *wholeness* are closely related, and God wants the *whole* of your life

Psalm 26:2–12, Exodus 40:34-38, Mark 9:2-24. Perhaps it is not surprising that as society moves away from worshipping *the glory of God*, it turns towards the worship of the ‘glory' of celebrity and fame We are called to worship God's glory and reflect it, however imperfectly, in our lives

Proverbs 6:1-11, Exodus 38:22-23, Mark 8:14-36. Life is an extraordinary and wonderful gift In the Bible we are constantly urged not to waste this gift, but instead to make the most of our lives

Psalm 25:16-21, Exodus 35:10-21, Mark 7:3137,8:1-8. You reap what you sow, only many times more What you give to the Lord, he multiplies

Psalm 25:8-14, Exodus 33:11-15,34:29-35, Mark 7:5-29. Just as we need physical food, so we also need spiritual food Spiritual food comes from *hearing the words of God*

Psalm 25:1–5, Exodus 31:12-15, 32:7-8, Mark 6:30–56. Nearly always, I start by reading the Bible, as I believe it's more important that Jesus speaks to me than I speak to him My thoughts from each day are now the basis of these notes that accompany the *Bible in One Year*

Proverbs 5:15-21, Exodus 29:38-46, Mark 6:6-19. (I did try to use this illustration once but, for reasons I cannot remember, it went horribly wrong!)The point that he makes so well, and that comes out of the passage in Ecclesiastes, is that while friendships and marriages are wonderful gifts, having God at the centre of a friendship or marriage provides an invisible thread of enormous strength In today's passages, we see how two are stronger than one in marriage, mission and ministry

Psalm 24:1-10, Exodus 27:21,28:29-35, Mark 5:21-43. There was such a sense of the presence of God on the island that a businessman visiting said, ‘The moment I stepped ashore I was suddenly conscious of the presence of God ' God was *meeting* with his people

Psalm 23:1-6, Exodus 25:1-9,26:33, Mark 5:1-20. He is ‘*My* God' (Philippians 4:19) God loves *me*

Psalm 22:27-31, Exodus 23:1-9,24:8, Mark 3:35,4:10-29. The New Testament is obviously about Jesus However, Jesus said of the Scriptures that were available in his lifetime (that is, the Old Testament): ‘These are the very Scriptures that testify *about me'* (John 5:39)

Proverbs 5:3-8, Exodus 21:20-24,22:21-31, Mark 2:18-28, 3:11-30. God has given us a *conscience* so that we know that some things are ‘good' and others are ‘evil' But our consciences can be dulled and they need to be sharpened by objective truth

Psalm 22:16–19, Exodus 19:3-5,20:1-6, Mark 1:30–41,2:1–12. '*Put first things first* The things which matter most to God should take first place in our lives

Psalm 22:1–9, Exodus 17:11-12,18:14–23, Mark 1:9–27. On the other hand, there have also been spiritual lows – desert experiences, bereavements, disappointments, failures, temptations, opposition, health issues and exhaustion In the passages for today we see how spiritual highs and lows are closely connected

Psalm 21:8-13, Exodus 16:4-20, Matthew 28:5–20. 20) The result of the resurrection is not only his power and his presence but also his provision

Proverbs 4:20–26, Exodus 14:13-16, Matthew 27:46–60. ' and makes something beautiful out of our lives

Psalm 21:1–7, Exodus 12:26–27, Matthew 27:11–37. In an even more amazing way, Jesus did not save himself because he was out to save you and me Today, focus your thoughts on Jesus, the Saviour of the world, and meditate on how he saved you

Psalm 20:1-7, Exodus 9:1, Matthew 26:69–75,27:1–5. It is the story of God's desire and purpose to free his people You are set free

Psalm 19:7–12, Exodus 6:13,7:10–13,8:30–32, Matthew 26:47–63. God is continually communicating with us He does so, primarily, through the life-changing words of the Bible

Proverbs 4:11-18, Exodus 4:10–13, Matthew 26:36–44. Jesus did it God's way Moses, on the other hand, as we will see today, made five excuses before eventually agreeing to follow God's way

Psalm 19:1, Exodus 3:10–14, Matthew 26:1–28. Perhaps you are facing hostility in your workplace or even in your family because of your faith The passages today not only highlight the reality of living in a hostile environment, but they also point out how you can survive and thrive in the midst of such hostility

Psalm 18:46-50, Job 42:8-10, Matthew 25:20–40. Use them or lose them He is faithful to us and he expects us to be faithful to him

Psalm 18:39, Job 38:1–5, Matthew 25:1–10. In today's passages, we see three examples of big questions that are frequently asked In answer to each of these questions there are some things we know (‘the things revealed') and some things we don't know (‘the secret things')

Proverbs 4:1-8, Job 37:1-16, Matthew 24:1-30. Each day you have great potential: either to destroy or to build In our passages for today we see *six keys* to using your words for good

Psalm 18:30–35, Job 34:5–6, Matthew 23:1–37. You have *influence* over others in different ways To be called by God to influence others is an enormous privilege, but it comes with great responsibility

Psalm 18:17-19, Job 31:6, Matthew 22:34-46. But there are also *times of victory* In the passages for today we see three different types of victory

Psalm 18:12–13, Job 27:11,29:4, Matthew 21:33-41,22:1-10. In our Old Testament passage for today, Job speaks of ‘God's *intimate friendship*' (Job 29:4) It is only when you understand the transcendence of God that you see how amazing his immanence is, and what a huge privilege it is to be able to enjoy intimate friendship with God

Proverbs 3:21–26, Job 23:10–12, Matthew 21:19–32. All loving relationships involve some element of trust Faith is trust in God that transforms all your other relationships

Psalm 18:1–6, Job 19:25–26, Matthew 21:1–14. Jesus is the greatest leader of all time In the passages for today, we see some of the characteristics of Jesus' leadership together with those of two other great influencers in the Bible – David and Job

Psalm 17:15, Job 16:1–21, Matthew 20:20–34. We need to remember that God sees things from an eternal perspective and that there are some things we may never understand in this life In the passages for today we see examples of all three types of response from God

Psalm 17:7–8, Job 13:15, Matthew 20:1–16. He has forgiven me for what I have done He has turned my life around

Proverbs 3:13–18, Job 8:1-20,9:1–5, Matthew 19:16–26. It is *the power of God* that makes what seems impossible possible Nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:37)

Psalm 17:3–5, Job 4:1-8,6:21-25, Matthew 19:1-15. For future walks we decided we would definitely take a map and stick to the route Staying on the track proves much better for being able to relax, talk together and for our relationship generally!In the Bible, the image of God's tracks is frequently used: tracks that lead to life

Psalm 16:1–11, Job 2:11-13, Matthew 18:12–35. Suffering is, therefore, an alien intrusion into God's world This, of course, is not a complete answer to the question 'Why does God allow suffering?¹' As we saw yesterday there is no simple or complete solution, but each of today's passages gives us some further insight

Psalm 15:1–5, Genesis 50:18–21, Matthew 17:14-23,18:1-5. He suffers alongside you Yet he does not always simply remove suffering from your life; he sometimes uses the bad things that happen to bring about his good purposes

Proverbs 3:1–10, Genesis 47:31,48:11–16, Matthew 16:21–25,17:1–5. We have the voices of family, friends and colleagues And sometimes we have the voice of Satan tempting us to disbelieve God's word and to doubt that God has our best interests at heart

Psalm 14:2, Genesis 45:4–15, Matthew 16:6–19. You are not powerless You have the immense privilege of having been given ‘the keys of the kingdom'

Psalm 13:1–6, Genesis 43:13–14, Matthew 15:22–37. We seem to be losing the battle and the enemy seems to be *triumphing over us* (v 2c)

Psalm 12:1, Genesis 41:41-46, Matthew 14:22–33. He likes candour He wants to hear what is on your heart today

Proverbs 2:12-20, Genesis 41:14-16, Matthew 14:8–21. Wisdom has been defined as ‘*the art of steering*' As you go through life, you will need to navigate many tight situations that require great wisdom in order to avoid damaging yourself or others

Psalm 11:1-7, Genesis 38:25–26,39:6–22, Matthew 13:36–46. This is the most valuable pearl of all It is worth selling ‘everything' in order to get hold of it

Psalm 10:12-18, Genesis 37:5–11, Matthew 13:18–30. Jesus taught us to pray, 'Your *kingdom* come' (Matthew 6:10) The kingdom of God is the rule and reign of God

Psalm 10:2-6, Genesis 35:2–3, Matthew 13:3–8. For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it' (Matthew 13:16–17) Jesus warns that although there is great *potential* in each of us, there are *pitfalls* ahead

Proverbs 2:1-5, Genesis 32:24–31, Matthew 12:33–40. He would prepare enough material for five talks so that he could speak ‘*out of the overflow*' According to Jesus, the heart really matters: ‘… *out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks*' (Matthew 12:34)

Psalm 9:16-18, Genesis 31:6–7, Matthew 12:7–21. Then in his *mercy* and love he comes down in the person of his Son, Jesus Christ, and pays the penalty for us Through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, God is both just and merciful

Psalm 9:7-10, Genesis 30:22, Matthew 11:16-30. Both Joyce Meyer and Sandy Millar are expressing, in different ways, absolute confidence in the sovereignty of God If God is sovereign and ultimately in control, does that mean that you are absolved of responsibility for your actions? Does it mean that you do not have ‘free will'? The Bible teaches both – the ultimate sovereignty of God at the same time as human responsibility and free will

Psalm 9:1–4, Genesis 27:19-24,28:1-16, Matthew 10:32–42. God is the God of acceleration He is able to speed things up at a much faster rate than is humanly possible

Proverbs 1:33, Genesis 26:24, Matthew 10:1–31. The expression ‘*do not be afraid*' is one of the most frequent commands in the Bible Four of the occurrences are in our passages for today

Psalm 8:1-4, Genesis 24:12-19, Matthew 9:18–38. Success is a good thing However, the ministry of Jesus and the message of the Bible *redefine success*

Psalm 7:10-17, Genesis 22:7–12, Matthew 8:23–27,9:1–13. These storms are many and varied Abraham, David and Jesus' disciples all faced storms in their lives

Psalm 7:8–9, Genesis 19:23-29, Matthew 7:24–29,8:5-13. One thing that you can be sure about is that on the last day, when all is revealed, you will see God's perfect judgment – and everyone will say, ‘That is absolutely right ' Each of today's passages tells us something about the fact that, in the end, *God will put things right*