Teaching Notes

MONDAY
“Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality. Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.” Romans 12:9-14


What difference can I make? I can love. What can we do differently this year to make a mark in the life of someone else? This scripture is talking about our behavior. It starts off telling us that we should love without making differences. See that’s how the world loves. They love those that do things for them or treat them well. They love those that have something to offer them. They have a motive that goes along with there love. Yet we are told not to make differences and not to love in this way.

We have to love everyone the loveable and the not so loveable. The next part of this scripture tells us to hate evil and to cleave to that which is good. To cleave is to hold tightly to or to be faithful to that which is good. God requires us to be kind and show brotherly love. He tells us to bless those that do us wrong and not to curse them. God expects us to be faithful in doing this. We don’t get to do it today and go back to old behavior tomorrow. God requires us to be diligent in pursuing what is good.

What does this really say to us? We can make a difference in the lives of others when we make a choice to love no matter the situation or circumstances. We chose to be kind and that means our words will show that. We speak words of love to others. This is one area that God’s people have fallen short in time and time again. We speak what is on our minds and we don’t realize the hurt or discouragement our words can bring. God’s word tells us to hold tightly to that which is good. Well the word tells us to bridle our tongue because it can cause a “ship wreak” in the lives of people. All of us have felt this before, hurtful words at times when you were feeling your worst.

But even though the words were hurtful you still have to go the right way. God tells us to love those that persecute us or that hurt us. Don’t seek to hurt back. Make the choice to continue to show love in what you say, what you do and how you live. And I’ve seen how God will convict hearts of others when they have done you wrong. And what if he doesn’t? Continue to love. If you belong to God you must show love because God is love and how can we say we love God whom we have not seen and not love others that we see all the time?

I pray today that our lives show what God’s love looks like. Let us make that choice to do it not just to those we care about but even those that misuse us and mistreat us. God bless you as you show love to other.


TUESDAY
“See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever fellow that which is good, both among yourselves and to all men. Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:15-18


What difference can I make? I can pray. This scripture is reinforcing the message on yesterday to cleave to or be faithful to what is good. Not the idea of what is good based on us but what is good based on scripture the authority of God. Our daily goal from the moment we wake in the morning should be to do what is right among the children of God as wells as those that are still lost to sin. That’s the word! This verse says to follow what is good both among yourselves and to all men.


It also tells us to pray without ceasing. This verse 17 is a very short verse but it is filled with wisdom. How does that look in practical application? Let me give you a scenario. If you haven’t been in one you’ve at least seen it, a conversation (a complaint session) about the things wrong in the word or in people. It doesn’t stop there. Every conversation goes back to that complaint. Days or weeks can go past and the same complaint is going on with no relief in sight. What’s wrong with that? It doesn’t line up with scripture.

God tells us to pray without ceasing not to complain without ceasing. The things, people or situations that are wrong in our lives we should pray about them. We pray for God to give us wisdom on dealing with the situation (and/or persons) and we pray for strength to deny the flesh its release. We deny the flesh release in talking about someone or complaining which bring no good to any situation. We deny the flesh release in putting someone down or discouraging someone because of the words that flow from our lips. We deny the flesh release when we bridle this tongue that wants to take the entire body right to hell with it.

When we begin to pray in all things and for all things we also learn to reverence God more. That is when we can begin to be thankful in all things. Yes even when some one has done you wrong or situations seem to be going wrong, you can be thankful because you know whom you have trusted in. It is no longer dependent on you and your abilities. You learn to look at things from a different vantage point. Maybe the treatment you are receiving or the situations you are in are to make you and to put into action your ability to love, to pray and to seek God’s face more.

Praying for us today to know we can make a difference in our lives as well as others when we begin to put more into our prayer life. We are not going to God as if he is a big Santa in the sky waiting to give us a treat, but as the all-powerful God he is, waiting to give us the wisdom and the understanding we need to follow him and worship him in spirit and in truth.


WEDNESDAY
“Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” Hebrews 3:12-13

What difference can I make? I can encourage others to do what is right. The scripture tells us we are to exhort one another daily. Exhort means to urge by strong, often stirring argument admonition, advice, or appeal. It also means to make urgent appeal.


We all have a responsibility to urge others to do what is right, especially other believers. Yesterday we mentioned the complainers who always have conversation about what’s wrong in the world. There is another side of that conversation, the listener. What do you do when others complain, gossip or put others down? Do you just listen? Or do you uncomfortably walk away?


God’s word tells us what we should do. If we are talking to other believers we are to appeal to them to do what is right. We should remind them of what the word says and encourage them so their hearts won’t be hardened through sins deceitfulness. (A word of caution here, everything you do should be done in decency and in order. Don’t go in and shout at a person about how wrong they are your behavior is then no better than there is. In everything you do, seek God’s wisdom.)


We are drawn to sin when we turn toward self-reliance and move from God centered existence. This scripture is also telling us an important fact we should make a difference TODAY, for tomorrow isn’t promised to us.

What difference can we make? We can take every opportunity to encourage others to do what is right. To the unsaved, we can present them with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Now sometimes we are not able to pull out our Bibles and give them scripture and verse, but what about you being the Living Word? Does you life reflect what the words of the Bible say? Are you preaching one thing and living something else? If you are then no one wants to hear from you.

I pray for us today that we make a difference with the words we speak to exhort others to turn completely to God and follow after righteousness so that sin won’t creep in and set you in bondage that only can be released by the power of God. If we could release ourselves from sin, why did we need a savior?


THURSDAY AND FRIDAY
“Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts” Psalm 51:6 NKJV

What difference can I make? I can be truthful. One of the best ways that you can make a difference in your life as well as those around you is to be honest. We must first be honest with God in order to make a difference. I read something very interesting it was this statement, “the enemy is lying about lying”.

The enemy wants us to lie to make ourselves look better. It’s not unheard of for a person to “embellish” his life or what he/she has accomplished to look better when trying to get a job or to impress someone. The enemy wants us to believe that lying will benefit us because we will be more respected more appreciated and live more comfortably than if we are honest about our accomplishments and ourselves.

Yet God tells us to be honest to desire it in our hearts. We have to first be honest to God. Are we hearing him when he tells us something needs changing or do we make excuses for our sin, with excuses like it’s just a weakness or it’s only a problem, it’s just a minor slip up or the best one excuse of that’s just the way I am and have always been. Does that really matter sin is still sin in the eyesight of God. So if that’s the way you’ve always been, that means you have been sinning for a long time.

We then have to be honest with ourselves. “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only deceiving yourselves” James 1:22. We have to be willing to look at ourselves and be honest with the things that God shows us about where we are and then follow his direction to make the changes needed.

If we want to make a difference in the lives of others we must first make the steps to make sure we are in a right relationship with God. We must be truthful to God, to ourselves and to others. When we are honest and truthful we are better able to encourage and exhort others to do what is right before the Lord.

When we are in a right relationship with God we are better able to hear him speaking to us. We then can know how to pray because his spirit is guiding us. We can pray for the needs not only of ourselves but for others as well. We can pray for those that we love and for those that have mistreated us, not for evil purposes or revenge but because we want to see God move in their lives.

And we cannot do any of it if we have no love within our hearts. We must love God and his truth. We must love God’s correction and instruction. We must love those that love us and even those that mistreat us.


When you go to worship this week go asking God to strengthen you to make a difference this year in the lives of those he brings into your world. It may be in your home, on your job or where ever you find yourself stationed. God bless you as you look to see how you can make a difference.