textsforlife

When the preach planning team at Kerith came up with the long list of verses that they thought should be included in the Text for Life series, this was the list that they came up with:

So now the Text for Life series is over, what verses shall we memorise next? If you’re not sure, here are some ideas for verses that may inspire you:

God

Isaiah 9:6
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 40:28
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.

Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Salvation

John 3:16-17
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.

Romans 3:23
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Revelation 3:20
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

John 14:6
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.”

Ephesians 2:8,9
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.

2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

Assurance
Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Isaiah 40:30-31
Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Romans 8:38-39
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Matthew 11:28-30
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart ,and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Psalm 27:1
The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?

Jeremiah 29:11
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Hebrews 13:8
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

Lamentations 3:22-23
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

2 Corinthians 12:9
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

Christian Life

2 Corinthians 4:18
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Psalm 37:4,5
Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust in him and he will do this.

Proverbs 3:5,7
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

Philippians 4:13
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

James 1:22
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

Colossians 3:23
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.

1 Corinthians 15:58
Therefore, my dear brothers, 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.

James 4:7
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Luke 16:13
No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

1 John 4:7,8
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Hebrews 12:1-2
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Acts 1:8
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Romans 12:1-2
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Prayer
1 Thessalonians 5:18
Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Psalm 19:14
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Philippians 4:6,7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Scripture
2 Timothy 3:16
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.

Psalm 119:105
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.

Psalm 119:11
I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

Confession/Temptation
Hebrews 4:16
Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

James 5:16
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out, so that you can stand up under it.

Mission
Micah 6:8
He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Matthew 25:40
The King will reply, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”

Matthew 28:19-20
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

Matthew 5:16
In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Ephesians 6:12
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

I’m not one for deep theological responses, but quite simply for me this verse epitomises God’s love for us, for each and every one of us.   I’m sure I am not alone in sometimes struggling with events and situations within my life, and questioning God’s presence in these.   We can all go through seasons where troubles seem to overwhelm us, and we can get lost in our emotional responses to things.   For me this verse grounds me again in the real truth.   We know from John 16:33, that in this world we will face troubles, but that doesn’t take away God’s love for us.  He overcame the world for us, to set us free.

Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for us, by taking our sins and giving his life for us.  He did it for everyone and through our acceptance of this truth we are saved and set free.  This message isn’t just for us as believers this message is for everyone, and all God asks in return is our faith and belief in him.   He reached out to us, showing his love by giving up his ONLY son.  Whatever we face in life, hold on to this truth and rest in His love, demonstrated so clearly through this verse.  If you know others, or you yourself have struggled to really connect to what God’s love really looks like I encourage you to reflect on these words, because this is the God you serve; one of love, humility and grace, who doesn’t seek things from us in return, but just wants to enter into a relationship with us and for us to know him more intimately.   He did something so unimaginable for us, something so self-less, by reminding myself of this I’m filled with a desire to know him more and I hope you are too.

When we worship our God we worship a trinity, now the word “trinity” is actually not mentioned in the original Greek version of the Bible, however, we see throughout the Bible three manifestations of God, which we refer to as the “trinity”; God the father, God the son and God the Holy spirit, and there are many verses throughout the Bible which refer to all of the three, for example… 

“Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.” (Ephesians 2:18 NLT).

Now it is important to understand that each of these distinct forms of God are all equally God, none is less than the other, all co-exist and that they are all the same God. Bearing this in mind, a dimension is added to this verse that could easily be overlooked, God not only gave his Son to die for us, but in doing so he gave himself to die for us, since Jesus and God are both parts of the trinity and are one. 

Therefore, we can see that the creator of the universe, the eternal king of all, the one who holds the earth in the palm of his hands, saw enough worth in you and me to lower himself from the perfection of heaven to the squalor of the most degrading, cruel and painful death there is, to save us, as in our broken and messed up lives we could never save ourselves. 

When we read this verse “he gave his one and only son”, it is not like the giving of a present like we have just experienced at Christmas, it is the sacrificing of his son, himself on the most horrendous alter, paying the price for all of the wrongs that we have ever done, are doing and are ever going to do.

THAT IS LOVE!!!

But what does this mean for you personally?

• It means that God saw YOU as valuable enough to sacrifice his perfection for.
• It means that whatever happens, you always have worth.
• It means that your identity is now in Jesus Christ as now when you stand before God on the day of judgement he will see only Jesus’ perfection and not your perpetual sin and downfall.
• It means that you always know you are loved, whatever life throws at you, you know that there is one who gave everything so you could gain everything.

So how should we respond to this amazing sacrifice?

• We should be constantly amazed by the grace, (undeserving), that has been granted by God.
• When we pray we should give thanks for the second chance that we have been given through Jesus Christ.
• We should forgive others as God has forgiven us, far more than we could ever need to forgive anyone else.
• We should be desperate to tell others of the immense price that God has already payed for them.
• We should be humble and remember that it is only by Gods grace that we can do anything.
• We should live our lives as a living sacrifice for him.

At a point when I was very new to the bible, this was the one verse I did know. John 3:16. It was always,always quoted, if it had been a song on the radio, I’d have called it ‘overplayed’. And that’s sometimes how I saw it: “It’s just John 3:16 again”. However, I had missed the reason behind the constant use of this verse. It’s not just another verse, it’s a verse full of the most remarkable ideas that make up the Good News of Christ! It reveals to us God’s heart. So many people hold a negative view of God, as a venegful taskmaster, with impossible demands and extreme punishments, yet this verse tells us the truth. Jesus was sent to save, not to condemn. To bring life in abundance, not death and damnation.  This is the truth that we need to be communicating. If people have not understood or heard then we need to be doing more to show and to tell them through our lives and our words that God is not the great Punisher, but He is love, grace and mercy extended to us.

As Christians, I think that sometimes we can take an approach and attitude that is different to the Good News that John has described. We can look at people with a condemning heart, focusing on what is wrong and needs fixing, instead of on the person who is beloved by God. In my own life I know I was not brought to God by being told what was wrong in my life, but instead when it was revealed to me who he was, and the great love he had for me- so why do I do it to other people? God wants us to walk with him, He is a generous father who wants to give us good gifts, and He wants us to have eternal life with Him (the greatest gift of all). He is love and has already proved his love in sending His one and only Son. Finally, He offers us something truly beautiful; he gives us salvation.

So no, I don’t believe this verse is overplayed, it’s helped me to remember what my God is all about.

With apologies to those of you not so keen on football, this is going to be a footy-laden blog of two halves.

First Half:

John 3:16 -” For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. “

I can’t help thinking of verse 16 as a slick 4-touch move where God’s attacking initiative sets us up for a goal-line tap-in:

1. God Loved (us)

2. God Gave (Jesus)

3. We Believe (In Him: who He is, what He’s done) 4. We Receive (Life with Him) – GOAL!!!

It’s a beautiful free-flowing end-to-end move, initiated by God and responded to by us. One of which we did nothing to deserve but are very chuffed to have been a part! It’s outrageous really, but that’s how amazing God truly is!

Second Half:

Sometimes we might see God as a watching referee wanting to hand out red cards at the earliest opportunity. Well, it’s true we all deserve to be red-carded, but it’s not a true picture of how God wants to treat us. Look at the next verse:

John 3:17- “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

God is indeed the referee, but He didn’t send Jesus to hand out red cards of condemnation. On the contrary, He’s the referee who wants us to win so badly, He sent Jesus to play the game! Now Jesus plays brilliantly – perfectly, in fact. But now God offers to hold up the red-cards we deserve at his perfect-playing Son in our place. And He offers to credit Jesus’ epic goal tally to your name on the scoresheet as if you’d been the scorer all along.

If only England had referees like that!

Final Whistle:

Don’t be afraid of Jesus. He’s with you now to save you, not to condemn you. Be part of his 4-touch move and enjoy life with him today. Ask us how by replying to this blog and we’ll get in touch to listen/talk/pray with you – whatever help you need.

For the final week of the Texts for Life we’re looking at the most famous verse in the Bible, John 3:16. In one verse it summarises the whole of the message of the good news of Jesus Christ, and is a great verse to use if you want to share with someone what it means to become a follower of Christ.

This week we’re giving everyone a copy of “Knowing God Personally”, a booklet which follows the pattern of John 3:16 to summarise the good news. If you didn’t get one I’d encourage you to pick one up from reception, and with a friend practice going through it so that you’d be ready to explain it to someone else. The booklet is also available as an iPhone app – download it for free from the app store here.

I hope you enjoy the final week of Texts for Life blogs – a huge thank you to Heather Pocock who has done all the hard work of updating it over the last ten weeks.