WITNESS ~ INSTRUCT ~ NURTURE / Volume 1 Issue 12
May 11, 2005
Hi !
In this issue, you'll read:
THE BOOK OF PHILIPPIANS - PART TWO
BACK TO THE KINGDOM - PART ELEVEN
A SAD DAY FOR VICTORY INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN CENTRE
WORD FROM THE EDITOR - WEEK TWELVE In today's edition, we are continuing with our study in the Book of Philippians. It is my prayer that by now you are all comfortable with this method of study, i.e., first reading the entire Book without interruption and repeating several times before breaking the material into sections and reviewing it further. Also, we are winding down to the end of our weekly article on Back to the Kingdom. There are only two more parts to this article and then we are in need of some new material for publication. All FCGM Ministers are welcome to submit your own articles for review. We do, however, ask that only original work be offered for consideration. In writing your articles, you may use material from other sources, but please cite the complete source and give full credit to the author. Please do not submit any articles that have been collected from other sources since we do not wish to plagiarize anyone else's work. In addition, we reserve the right to refuse any article submitted, for any reason, and to edit any and all articles for spelling and grammatical errors, length, etc. All editions of The W.I.N. E-Mail Newsletter are available on the Internet. To find them, navigate to www.fcgm.org and click on the "Newsletter" link. Feel free to copy as many as you want and pass them out to family and friends. If you would like to be added to our mailing list, send an e-mail containing your name and e-mail address to winsubscribe@fcgm.org. II. Bible Study Last week we read through Paul's letter to the Philippians. This week we take a closer look. Its four chapters form the four sections it naturally falls into. This week we will look at the first chapter, which can also be divided into three sub-sections. Read each subsection and answer for yourself the questions associated with them. Type out your answers or jot them down on a piece of paper and place in your Bible for further study throughout the week. Read Philippians 1:1-11 1. In 1:3-5, Paul says he is filled with thanks to God, and always prays with joy for the Philippians. Why? Read Philippians 1:12-21 1. In 1:12-14 Paul says his "chains" have "served to advance the gospel." He mentions two ways. What are they? Read Philippians 1:22-30 1. In 1:22-26, what is Paul torn between? III. Memory Verse 1. Ask the Lord to help you remember his Word (see John 14:26). 2. Use the version of the Bible you are most familiar with. What you normally read in your Bible is what you need to be memorizing. 3. Don't just memorize the contents of the verse; memorize its “address” (the verse reference) as well. You can do this by following this pattern: Step 1: reference; Step 2: verse content; Step 3: reference. Then repeat steps 1-3. Note that you are quoting the reference twice as many times as you quote the actual verse content. This gives the verse a clear “reference tag.” 4. After you have read your memory verse out aloud several times, try going through your memory verse without reading your computer screen. 5. Look up your memory verse in your Bible. Look at its immediate context and read the verses that come before and after your memory verse. 6. Print out your memory verse or jot it down on a piece of paper. Take this paper with you when you go to work or do other daily activities. Meditate on the meaning of the verse throughout the day. 7. During your noon appointment with the Lord, take out your memory verse and go over it again. Talk to the Lord about what this verse means to you personally. 8. In the evening (at either your evening study or your evening devotions), see if you can quote your memory verse from memory. Then, without looking at the memory verse itself, see if you can find it in your Bible. 9. The next day, before you begin committing a new verse to memory, rehearse your previous day’s memory verse and see if you can remember it (without cheating!). 10. Finally, at the end of the week (possibly on Sunday), collect all your week’s memory verses, rehearse them and see if you can recall them without reading them. Spend a little extra time on any verses you have difficulty recalling. 11. Remember: Don't just memorize a verse. Put it into practice (James 1:22). It is not being able to quote a verse from memory that counts. It is His Word abiding in your heart that counts (John 15:7). When you actually apply a verse consistently to your daily life, that is when you truly know that verse! Acts 2:42-47; " This week we are turning our attention to the final action by the early Christians leading to their end result. To help us in understanding the phrase, " "Act 2:47 - Praising God,.... Not only for their temporal mercies and enjoyments of life, which they partook of in so delightful and comfortable a manner; but for their spiritual mercies, that the Lord had been pleased to call them by his grace, and reveal Christ to them, and pardon them who had been such vile sinners, give them a name, and a place in his house, and favour them with the ordinances of it, and such agreeable and delightful company as the saints were, they had fellowship with: having favour with all the people; they not only behaved with such true and sincere love towards one another in their church state, but with so much wisdom, courteousness, and affability towards them that were without, and walked so becoming the profession they made, that they gained the good will of the generality of the people:" As I look around today, I see people in the church who are thankful to God for the blessings they received today or yesterday and will even testify about it in the service if asked or given the opportunity. But unfortunately, in this modern era we are living in, too many people are thankful for the surface blessings of life, i.e. food, clothing, shelter, health, etc. But in reading from Dr. Gill's commentary, I get a mental picture of people who were so thankful and excited that their Heavenly Father had chosen and called them, and had extended His Grace to them by sending His son Jesus to take their place of punishment that they couldn't contain themselves. Daily, they went to pray and say "Thank You!" Daily, they were telling others about what He had done for them. And they were not ashamed or afraid of what others might say or do because their gratitude was sincere and genuine to the point of overflowing. Too often today, it would appear that we have taken this very wondrous act on the part of our Savior for granted. So much of the time, we act as though He owed it to us and we deserved everything He did for us. Wow! Are we sadly mistaken! He owed us nothing and we did not deserve anything but death because of the sin we were born into and without Him would have died in. But because of His great love for us, in that while we were yet sinners, He gave His life for us, we can call heaven our home and God our Heavenly Father. This is not something to be taken lightly! The other thing I see is that they were so sincere in their professions and the way their walk lined up with those professions that they gained favor with the general population around. That is not to say that everyone gave all of the Christians respect and honor, but generally speaking, when the Christian came through the door, he was recognized for being an imitator of Christ. Sadly today, more and more Christians have become so complacent and lackadaisical about their walk with Christ that sometimes it is hard to pick them out of a crowd of worldly people. We tend to blend in so well that the respect and yes, even persecution, the early Christians encountered has passed us by. It is time for a change! If we want to get back to the same end result as the early church, namely, "And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved," we must get on our knees before the Father and repent of our laid back ways and then get up and begin to walk in the power and authority we have been given through receiving Jesus as our Savior and Lord! We are on a journey "Back to the Kingdom," and I trust we won't stop until we reach the desired end result. Blessings to all, Although our dear sister has finished her work and gone on to Glory with Jesus, it is still painful for those family and friends that she has left behind. Please lift up Victory International's church family in your prayers this week. If you would like to send a word of condolence or encouragement to Apostle Hillary, you may e-mail him at Unless otherwise noted: All Scripture is taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Welcome to this week's edition of the W.I.N. E-Mail Newsletter. I trust that each of you are learning and growing in your walk with our Lord as you complete the Devotional and Bible Studies each week. If you are a new reader, we welcome you and would like to extend to you an invitation to go to our website and download the earlier editions, because each week, we build on the previous week's material.
Rev. Sam T. Leigh
Presiding Bishop
Freedom Covenant Global Ministries
E-mail: ambassador@fcgm.org
Website: www.fcgm.org
Bishop's eCorner: www.fcgm.org/ecorner/
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THE BOOK OF PHILIPPIANS - PART TWO
I. Devotional Reading
In your devotions this week, read Psalm 92. As you read, talk to the Lord about the content of this psalm. When you have finished, go back and find one or two verses and meditate prayerfully on them. Try this each morning for the coming week.
2. What does 1:6-7 say Paul is confident about? What gave him that confidence?
3. In 1:9-11, what does Paul say he is praying they will experience? List the four outcomes of that prayer.
2. What are the two things Paul mentions in 1:19 that will make his imprisonment "turn out for [his] deliverance"?
3. 1:21 is the pivot scripture in this subsection. Why?
2. What are the two reasons for Paul choosing to stay with them?
3. In 1:27-28 what are the three things Paul says he wants to hear about them - three things that mean they will be conducting themselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ?
Philippians 1:21; "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain."
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BACK TO THE KINGDOM - PART ELEVEN
We are examining the twelve actions of the early church listed in Acts 2:42-47 with the goal of establishing, for comparison sake, a pattern of conduct within the early church, then determining how far removed the 21st century church has become from this pattern in order to better understand its present condition. We are working on the premise that "with all things being equal, we can expect the same end result." With that in mind, let's take a moment and read the entire passage again.
Bishop Sam T. Leigh
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A SAD DAY FOR VICTORY INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN CENTRE
We received a sad report this week from Apostle Rev. Hillary Abungu, Senior Pastor of our Chartered Affiliate, Victory International Christian Centre located in Kenya, East Africa. His Sister-in-Law, who was one of the Deaconesses in the main Church there in Kenya has gone to be with the Lord.
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This newsletter Copyright © 2005 Freedom Covenant Global Ministries. All Rights Reserved. Individual articles displaying copyrights from other ministries are used by permission, have been formatted for use in this publication, and remain the property of respective ministry. Permission is granted to copy, print, and distribute this newsletter for ministry purposes, whether whole or in part, so long as ALL copyrights remain in place and no copies are printed or distributed for sale or commercial purposes.
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