Author: Jimmy Trimble

Today’s verse is from Matthew 6:33 which says:

But seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Jesus is preaching in this passage about anxiety and worry.  Like any good parent, God does not want us to worry and we are told here that if we seek His Kingdom first, everything we need will be provided to us.  In fact, in the prior verse it says our Heavenly Father already knows what we need.

And when I think about seeking first the Kingdom of God, the first thing that comes to my mind is to start with love.  When we love God by praying, meditating on His Word, and loving to our neighbors, we are seeking the Kingdom of God.

As with most of our lessons, it sounds simple on the surface but is often difficult to put it into practice.  As I’m writing this in mid-2021, one of the biggest challenges to seeking first the Kingdom of God is the extreme disunity in our society.  It seems like every news outlet focuses more on identity politics than on the actual news of the day.  And it goes way beyond the news.  We see many schools, businesses, and places of worship actively participating in the victim/perpetrator dialogue.

The point of this post is definitely not to get political but when politics materially interferes with our ability to love our neighbor, then it needs to be addressed directly.  God did not put us here to fight each other but instead to love each other and grow in unity, just like any parent would wish for their children.  God hates disunity and wants us to grow closer with everyone around us.

So what is the answer?  Many times we think of these challenges in binary terms – for example, in this case, we might think that we need to either ignore it or fight back but I would suggest that neither of those is the necessarily the right answer.  I believe the answer is to refuse to play the game and choose a third option which starts with love. 

If someone brings up a heated political topic, maybe consider saying something like “All I know is that God wants us to love each other and I personally haven’t experienced discussions about [that topic] drawing people closer.”  That’s different than ignoring it because you are acknowledging the toxic nature of the topic and bringing God into the discussion.

That may not be effective in every situation but the broader point we can take away from today’s lesson is that we can more effectively seek the Kingdom of God when we are not focused on identity politics or other distractions of the day.

Questions:

1. When you hear the words, “seek first the Kingdom of God”, what does that mean to you?
2. Do you believe that if we seek first the Kingdom of God that we’ll have less stress and worry in our lives?  If so, why?
3. Do you think the “third option” mentioned above would be an effective approach? Why or why not?
4. What other strategies can you think of to help us focus more on seeking first the Kingdom of God?

In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul tells us that Love does not envy.  The Greek word translated “envy” means “to burn with zeal” which implies boiling over with envy, hatred, or anger. In the context of 1 Corinthians 13, the idea is that love does not focus on personal desires. It is not eager to increase possessions. God’s type of love is selfless, not selfish.

Envy is the opposite of God’s command not to covet (Exodus 20:17; Deuteronomy 5:21) but most of us still struggle with envying other people’s stuff.  That brings us to our verse for the day which is from Proverbs 14:30:

Envy rots the bones.

Although envy does not cause destruction immediately like acid, over time it weakens us from the inside.  Envy is such a powerful force that it can literally cause physical illness and here is one way that might happen:

1. I really like that person’s car and I feel inadequate since I don’t have one
2. I need to work harder in order to make more $$ so I can buy one of those cars too
3. I would like to be home for dinner tonight but I’m working late again
4. My wife has lost respect for me because I don’t help out much with the kids
5. I missed most of my kid’s games this season
6. I’m really stressed from working long hours and dealing with the strain on our family; my anxiety level is through the roof and I’m not sleeping well
7. I finally made enough $$ to afford that car but it didn’t give me any more joy and my family thinks I might just love that car more than them which causes me even more stress.

In this over-simplified but very common example, envy is at the root of the problem.

When we envy what others have, we are saying to God that we are not grateful for the blessings He has given us.  What if you gave one of your kids something nice but instead of thanking you they instead only talked about wanting something someone else has?  That is how God feels about us when we are envious.

So in addition to potentially threatening our physical health, envy can separate us from God and leave us even more empty than we would be otherwise. 

Most of us will still struggle with envy when we leave here today but maybe if we work on recognizing it and talking through some strategies, we can start to limit the destructive power of envy in our lives.

Questions:

1. Do you think people today struggle with envy more or less than the people who were alive thousands of years ago when today’s verse was written?
2. Do you agree that envy can cause us to become physically ill?
3. Why do you think God hates envy so much?
4. What are some strategies we can use to help reduce envy?
5. If we can reduce envy, what are some of the positive effects it might have on our lives?

The concept of patience seems so simple on the surface.  All we have to do is maintain our composure at all times and not lose our temper.  Simple, right?  Of course not or it wouldn’t be such a problem for so many of us.  That brings us to our verse for the day from Proverbs 15:18 which says:

A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger quiets contention.

For me, the thought of a hot-tempered person brings two things to mind – pain and humility.  Pain in the short term and humility in the long term.  Eventually, even the most hot-tempered person gets tired of the pain & drama and learns that being slow to anger will result in a much happier life.

So today we are going to talk about reducing or even avoiding future damage caused by impatience as well as beginning to heal past wounds.

Losing our temper is typically triggered by something that is 1) unexpected and 2) stressful.  Notice that I used the word “unexpected” not “unpredictable” because things that cause us to lose our temper are typically very predictable.  So the first step in managing our temper is to use the following three step process:

1. Understand the things that trigger a hot-tempered response
2. Acknowledge that these triggering events are going to happen
3. Have a proactive action plan to help choose our response when the triggering event occurs

Of course, this won’t make us perfectly patient but it may help.

The second condition that contributes to impatience is being completely stressed out.  So today’s second action item is to try to de-stress.  Of course, if you are already stressed out, the thought of adding another item to the list like meditation or exercise might increase stress even more.

So, as we’ve talked about before, the answer might be to identify things you can eliminate from your life in order to start doing new things.  We’ve used the example in the past that if you want to move new furniture into a room, you have to move the old furniture out first.

The final action item for today is to pray about it.  And when you pray, just talk to God like He’s right there with you having a conversation.  Tell him that you hate it when you lose your temper and that you want to get better.  Ask him to help you clear even a small amount of time on your calendar so you can start on your de-stress plan, which is also a more God-focused plan.

Blessings this week as you work toward becoming more patient.  Here are a few questions for discussion:

1. If we know that being hot-tempered stirs up strife, why do we still struggle so much with impatience at times?
2. Do you agree that the three step plan above (understanding, acknowledging, and proactively planning) is an effective strategy?  Or is that too simple?
3. Do you believe that praying to God will help us be more patient?
4. It says above that a de-stress plan is also a more God-focused plan.  Do you agree that those two things are related and if so why?
5. What is one action item that might help you be more patient this week?

What if you had so much debt that it was keeping you awake at night worrying about it?  It would be bearing down on you with the weight of the world, causing extreme anxiety and threating every aspect of your health.  Every one of your relationships would suffer and you wouldn’t be able to concentrate on your work.  In short, picture your entire world falling apart because of excessive debt.

Now, in the midst of that struggle when things seem to be at their worst and you think there is no way you can bear the weight, imagine that someone offers to forgive all of your debts and the only thing you have to do is accept their gift and return their love by loving them and loving others. 

You’ve probably figured out by now that the debt we’re talking about is not a financial obligation but the debt owed for our sinfulness.  And Easter is the time when we celebrate Jesus’ final victory over sin and death on our behalf.

But, because of how difficult it is for us to even think about it, we don’t frequently spend a lot of time on the tortuous pain Jesus had to endure on our behalf.  It was a gruesome death and a burden so heavy that even Jesus himself asked for it to be taken from him, which is referenced in our verse for the day from Luke 22:42:

“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

It was far, far more than just the physical pain that caused Jesus to make that request.  The true suffering came because Jesus literally became the physical embodiment of our sin (2 Corinthians 5:21).  All of the collective sin of all time was wrapped up the human form of Jesus at that moment and when he died, so did the debt owed in relation to that sin.  That’s what is meant when it is said that “Jesus died for our sins”.

The cup Jesus asked to be taken from him was “the cup of wrath” which is explained in the article linked here.  The “wrath” referenced here is the unimaginably massive amount of anger that God justifiably had (past tense) in relation to all collective sin from all time. 

To give you a sense of just how massive that would be, think about a time when you really lost your temper.  Your blood pressure was probably sky high and you may have been so mad that you couldn’t see straight.  Now multiply that intensity by all of the times in your life that you’ve lost your temper and then multiply it again by all of the people in the world who have ever lived and who ever will live.  That’s already a truly unimaginable amount of wrath but it pales in comparison to God’s wrath at all of our collective sin, which is many times more than that. 

But even in the face of such an enormous burden, Jesus still said “yet not my will, but Yours” and He died to take that wrath on Himself.  He loves us so deeply that the pain of being separated from us was far worse than the pain He endured by drinking the cup of wrath.  Blessed, blessed be the name of the Lord!

Questions:

1)      Have you ever paid off a financial debt that had been burdening you for a long time?  How did that make you feel?

2)      Although the debt that Jesus paid on our behalf was not financial in nature, do you think the idea of paying off a debt is an effective analogy for what He did for us?

3)      Even though Jesus’ love for us is incomprehensible and difficult to put into words, how would you describe it?

4)      How would you compare God’s love for us with a parent’s love for their child?

5)      What is one thing you might do this Easter weekend to honor the gift of eternal life we were given through Jesus’ sacrifice?

Last week we talked about the sacrifice that Jesus made for us so that we could have eternal life with Him in heaven. We also talked about the idea that, in exchange for His sacrifice, we are called to live with our whole heart for Jesus and that whole-heart living includes more prayer, Bible reading and loving those around us.

Another idea that does not get a lot of attention is the sabbath but, as we approach Easter in two weeks, one simple thing we may be able to do for God is to try making Sundays a true day of rest. God wants us to reserve this day because He knows we need rest and he wants us to focus on him for one full day out of the week.  And that brings us to today’s passage which is from Exodus 20:8-11:

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Taking a Sabbath does not necessarily mean we need to be in prayer and reading scripture all day on Sundays but simply that we are called take a break from our normal weekly activities.

For some, this might mean not going into the office on Sunday or not returning work emails. Others may not even do work around the house. However you decide to observe the Sabbath is between you and God but the more you make it about Him, the more he’ll accept it as the gift that a true sabbath is supposed to be.

So, give it a try this week if you can. And maybe try asking your whole household to do the same. Doing it together may even make it a fun exercise where you have to plan ahead in order to honor God.

Questions

1. Do you agree that in our society the Sabbath doesn’t seem to have the same importance in relation to being a “good” Christian as prayer, Bible reading, and good works?  Why or why not?  
2. Do you believe it is harder or easier to observe the sabbath now vs. when the verses above were written?
3. What are some things we can do to increase the likelihood that we’ll be able to observe the sabbath more consistently?
4. What are some of the benefits that might result from observing the sabbath?

Last week, we talked about some of the things in our lives that might keep us from being as close to God as possible and we discussed the idea of “selling” those things to remove them from our lives.  That is a good foundation for our conversation today to help us prepare for Easter, which is three Sundays from now. 

Today’s verse is from Romans 10:9 and it says “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

To those not familiar with the story of Jesus or the broader story of the Bible, it may sound too simple to obtain salvation simply by declaring Jesus as your Lord and Savior.  Shouldn’t it take more work than that?  Shouldn’t it be more involved or complicated?  In fact, there was a lot more to it and the Bible tells us the story.

The entire Bible can actually be summarized in a single sentence – The Bible is the story of God pursuing us.  It is all part of the same story and it all works together to complete God’s plan to bring us closer to Him.

God wants two things from us more than anything else: 1) He wants us to Love Him and love those around us while on earth and 2) He wants us to spend eternity with Him in heaven.  After trying many different approaches, God finally said something like this: “OK, let’s make this very simple.  If you declare your love for Me and have faith in My Son Jesus (who is really Me in human form), I’ll do the rest.  Then you will be saved and spend eternity with me in heaven.”

That’s a great plan but the price for our sin still had to be paid and the one who settled that debt had to experience the worst fate imaginable in order for that sin to be washed clean.  That is why God had to come to earth in the human form of Jesus and die on the cross.  Here is a post that explains the significance of Easter in more detail.

So, all of that is to say that Easter is the day we celebrate the final step in God’s long plan to defeat sin and death.  Jesus’ death and resurrection permanently and completely broke the chains of sin and set us free to have eternal life.  This reminds me of one of my favorite passages from 1 Corinthians 15:54-58:

“Death has been swallowed up in victory.  Where, O death, is your victory?  Where, O death, is your sting?  But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”

Questions:

1. How does it make you feel to know that all you have to do is declare Jesus as you Lord & Savior to receive eternal salvation?
2. What does salvation mean to you and what is the value of salvation for you and your loved ones.
3. Do you agree with the idea that the story of the Bible can be boiled down to the simple idea of God pursuing us?  Why or why not?
4. Many believe that Easter is the most important date on the Christian calendar.  Do you agree?
5. The Corinthians passage above says that because Jesus won the victory for us that we should “always give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord”.  When you think of giving yourself fully to the work of the Lord, what does that mean to you?

Members of our group have been through quite a bit over the past few months and the last two weeks we’ve had opportunities to celebrate and be grateful for the community of men we’re blessed with.  One of the greatest blessings we enjoy is that our lesson each week helps us focus our attention on God’s truth and, at least for an hour, away from the distractions that separate us from God.

But outside of our hour together, even the best of us struggles at times with misplaced attention and focus.  We often place too much attention on the things of this world and not enough on the things God wants for us.  People have been the same for thousands of years and Jesus knew this when he said:

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Luke 12:34).

In the verses just prior to this one, starting in Luke 12:22, Jesus explains in detail why we should not worry or be anxious.  And then immediately before verse 34, He says that we should sell all of our possessions and give to the poor.

To be good Christians, do we really need to sell everything we own and give to the poor?  Since there are examples of Godly people in the Bible with wealth and possessions, the point may be that He wants our focus and, if our focus is not on Him, then we should get rid of whatever it is that is distracting us.

So, where is your treasure? Here is a test that may provide some answers — Are you overly worried and anxious?  If so, what are the primary sources of your anxiety?  For most of us, there is a good chance that the answer to that question also describes where we focus most of our time and energy (and build our treasure).  I think this is the primary message Jesus was trying to convey.  He wants our focus and if we are focused on other things, our minds will not be on Him.  He wants our whole heart which means He wants us to treasure our time with Him in prayer, reading the Bible, and following His commands.

Questions:

1. Do you agree that it is difficult to maintain our focus on God and His wishes for our life?  Why or why not?
2. What is something in your life that you need to “sell” because it is distracting your from God?
3. What are one or two treasures you would like to focus on growing in your life?
4. What are some of the benefits of focusing our hearts on Jesus and growing our heavenly treasures?

If you are anything like me right now, you are more stressed than usual over the recent election as well as everything else plaguing us in 2020.  It is a very odd time filled with uncertainty for most people.  No matter how your presidential or congressional candidates fared, if you are not focused on God’s long-term plan for our world and for your life, there is a good chance you are anxious and fearful right now.

If that sounds like you – anxious and fearful – then today’s lesson is for you.  We’re going to discuss a man who genuinely had reason to be fearful and anxious and then we’ll talk about why that was part of God’s plan to ultimately conquer sin and death.  The goal of today’s lesson is to help each of us take a step back and focus on God’s long-term plan for our lives and how He sometimes allows extreme challenges in order to prepare us to make a major positive impacts in the future.

Most of you have heard the story of Joseph who was the youngest son of Jacob.  For perspective, starting with Abraham, the lineage of Jesus proceeds through Isaac, Jacob, and Judah who was one of Joseph’s brothers. Joseph was an incredibly annoying teenager whose brothers hated him so much that they actually sold him to traveling merchants who were passing by and then told Jacob that he was eaten by a wild animal.   

Today’s lesson is a summary of Genesis 37-46 so go check out those chapters if you want to know more.  For now, two things are worth highlighting:

1. Joseph went from being the favored son of Jacob and living a very comfortable lifestyle, to being sold into slavery, and
2. If Joseph had not been sold into slavery, it is very possible that the Israelites would have perished from starvation and the lineage of Jesus would have been wiped out.

Again, this is a super-high-level summary but, over the course of many years in Egypt, Joseph gained the trust of Pharaoh and ended up interpreting his dreams including the “seven years of feast and seven years of famine” dream.  God allowed Joseph to correctly interpret this dream which allowed the Egyptians to prepare for famine by storing up grain. Joseph, who wasn’t an Egyptian, ended up being the administrative head of the country – what we would think of today as a Prime Minister.

Sometime into the famine, Jacob sent his sons to buy grain from Egypt which allowed them to avoid starvation.  In the end, it all turned out well and the Israelites survived, but Joseph had to suffer for many years in order for God’s ultimate plan to be realized.

Does that mean God wants to suffer?  Of course not.  He wants us to prosper but He knows that we have to be challenged and stretched in order to grow.  There is a lot more to unpack regarding the idea that God allows us to face difficult times in order to ultimately prosper us but, for now, my hope is that no matter what fears or anxieties you face today, this lesson will give you some perspective and some peace.  You might just be in the middle of your own Joseph story and God may be preparing you for something great.

Here are some questions for discussion:

1. Is your level of fear and anxiety higher than normal right now?  If so, is this primarily caused by the election?
2. In thinking about the primary source of your fears and anxieties, how much of the ultimate outcome can you personally control?
3. How do you feel about the idea that God allows us to face extreme challenges in order to prepare us for growth and positive outcomes?
4. Is your answer to #3 in any way similar to your parenting style – in other words, do you allow your kids to be challenged, with the hope that they will grow and improve?
5. Are there any sports analogies you can think of that might help explain today’s lesson in simple terms?

I came across an incredibly powerful verse recently which reminded me of how much God loves me (and you) and how hard he works to have a personal relationship with us.  The verse is Psalms 116:2 which says:

Because He bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath! 

If you would like to read more, here is the rest of Psalm 116.

The visual of God bending down to listen struck me as very gentle and caring.  Think about when your kids started talking and you couldn’t wait to hear what they had to say.  You wanted them to keep talking because every word they said was meaningful to you.

In order to encourage them to talk more, what did you do?  You certainly didn’t ignore them or turn away.  No, you focused on them and bent down to their level to let them know you were listening.  You wanted to hear everything they had to say.

In the same way, God loves it when we talk to Him and He definitely doesn’t ignore us or look away.  No, He bends down to hear everything we have to say.

Later in Psalm 116, it says “when I was brought low, He saved me” and then it says “return to your rest my soul because the Lord has been good to you.”  Take a minute to think about what a soul at rest really feels like.  When was the last time your soul was truly at rest?  Can you remember?

I hope your answer to that question is better than mine because 2020 is not doing much to help my soul rest.  COVID, social unrest, and the most ridiculous Presidential campaign imaginable are forming a trifecta of chaos.  Not to mention all of the other things we have to manage like our job and family!

Like so many of our lessons, the answer is not that complicated but it’s difficult.  I like to say it’s simple like running a marathon…..there’s no mystery to it but it takes a lot of diligence and hard work.  With our phones dinging and buzzing with email, social media, fantasy football alerts, and the latest news, we can’t go very long without being distracted.

But in the midst of all of the chaos, imagine God bending down even lower, not only because he wants to listen but also right now because He knows we are hurting and need our loving Father to be near.  Just turn it over to Him and it’s that easy, right?  Of course it’s not that easy or we wouldn’t have a whole lesson on it.  But if we can remember to stop fretting a few minutes here and there in order to pay attention to our Heavenly Father who is bending down, maybe our souls can find a little rest.

Questions:

1. Sometimes we think of God as an authoritarian figure but how does it make you feel to think about Him bending down to hear what we have to say?  Humbling?  Reassuring? 
2. Do you share the sentiment that 2020 is a particularly difficult time for our souls to be at rest?  If so, what are some of the things that are causing the most stress in your life right now?
3. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how much is your soul at rest?
4. Do you agree with the marathon analogy?  Is it just a matter of continually focusing on turning our anxieties over to God?  If not, why is it so difficult?
5. If God is already bending down, what are some things we can do to help our souls find rest?

Today’s verse is from Matthew 5:9 and says:

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.

Peacemaking is a messy business which doesn’t sound logical on the surface because it includes the word “peace”.  But being a peacemaker means that you intentionally place yourself in unpeaceful situations.  Here are a few synonyms for unpeaceful: chaotic, turbulent, unruly, and violent.  Putting ourselves in that type of environment takes courage and strength.

Speaking of courage, today’s lesson was inspired by Nelson Mandela who said “Peace is not just the absence of conflict; peace is the creation of an environment where all can flourish……”

Don’t worry – I’m not going to challenge you to earn a Nobel Peace Prize like Nelson Mandella.  My challenge to you today is simply to work on bringing peace to your own family and your own home.  Ask how you can work on creating an environment where everyone in your house can flourish – not just survive but flourish!

What that looks like will be different for each one of us and I’m sure there are obstacles for many who are hearing or reading this, but you can only control what YOU can control.  What can YOU personally do today? 

Do you have kids who are anxious about the state of unrest in our world?  If so, take some time to talk about it with them and let them know it is going to be ok because God has a plan to prosper us (Jeremiah 29:11).

Is your wife supremely confident about the strength of your marriage?  If not, do something about that.  And don’t pretend like you don’t know what YOU can at least try to do.  The answer might not be fun or easy but you know the answer.  She may not respond in the way you would like but, again, what can YOU personally do to at least try to be a peacemaker?

And don’t forget about yourself.  Are you at peace?  If not, focus on your own peace first, just like the flight attendant instructs us to put our own oxygen masks on first before helping others with their masks.  Only when you are at peace will you be an effective peacemaker.

Every journey starts with a step so, today, just start small and do what you can to create some peace in your own home today. 

Questions:

1. Why do you think Jesus highlighted peace as a top priority?  Could it be the same reason we don’t want our own kids to bicker and fight?
2. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being most at-peace, how peaceful are you personally right now?
3. What are some things you can do to bring more peace to your own life?
4. What is one situation you personally can work on right now to try to be a peacemaker, no matter how small it might seem to you?
5. Should our response to the state of unrest in our world today be negative or positive?  In other words, should we be demoralized or see it as an opportunity to hit a home-run in the World Series?