WILLING
BREAD
1 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. 9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. Isaiah 53:1-10 (NIV)
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.” John 3:16 (NIV)
12 “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13 And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. 14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.” Matthew 18:12-14 (NIV)
1 When he came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” 3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cured of his leprosy. Matthew 8:1-3 (NIV)
5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” John 5:5-6 (NIV)
24 “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” John 5:24 (NIV)
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 (NIV)
18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit. 1 Peter 3:18 (NIV)
21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV)
14 If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV)
BUTTER
“Amid all this chaos of a confused, sick society, Christ comes quietly as of old and invites us to come to Him. He invites us to follow Him. He invites us to put our confidence in Him. For He it is who best knows how we can be satisfied. He knows that the human heart, the human personality, the human soul with its amazing capacity for God can never be satisfied with a substitute. Only the Spirit and life of Christ Himself will satisfy the thirsting soul.” Phillip Keller
“It’s true. God does love you. He does have a wonderful plan for your life. So just know this: God’s will for you is better than your plan for yourself.” Greg Laurie
“Come ye sinners, poor and needy Weak and wounded, sick and sore. Jesus, ready, stands to save you, Full of pity, joined with power…Let not conscience make you linger, Nor of fitness fondly dream. All the fitness he requires Is to feel your need of him.” Lyrics to the Hymn “Come Ye Sinners”
“Has the Lord ever answered your prayers, and it felt like an UPHEAVAL of the situation, leaving butterflies in your stomach because you just experienced God Almighty at work? The enemy wants us to believe that our God is weak and unable or unwilling to do anything. If we could only fathom the depth of His love for us, how He is able to do more than we could ever DREAM and that that power works and resides in us. Take heart and be encouraged!” Anonymous
“God has given you a marvelous promise: If you will seek Him, you will find He is right beside you. No matter how deep your valley may seem, God’s love for you is deeper.” Michael Youssef
“When you have God for your portion, you have more than everything else put together. In Him every need is met, whether in life or in death. With God for your portion you are rich indeed, for He will supply your need, comfort your heart, relieve your grief, guide your steps, walk with you in the dark valley, and then take you home to enjoy Him as your portion forever. ‘I have enough,’ said Esau; this is the best thing a worldly man can say, but Jacob replied in essence, ‘I have everything,’ which is a note too high for carnal minds.” C. H. Spurgeon revised by Alistair Begg
“In all our wanderings the watchful glance of the Eternal Watcher is constantly fixed upon us—we never roam beyond the Shepherd’s eye. In our sorrows He observes us incessantly, and not a painful emotion escapes Him; in our toils He notices all our weariness, and He writes all the struggles of His faithful ones in His book. These thoughts of the Lord encompass us in all our paths and penetrate the innermost region of our being. Not a nerve or tissue, valve or vessel of our bodily frame is uncared for; all the details of our little world are thought upon by the great God.” C. H. Spurgeon revised by Alistair Begg
“Because of Christ, there is no place God will not go and no one He will not bless. You are never beyond God’s love, and you are never alone. God is present even in the midst of your greatest need, your greatest weakness, and your greatest failures. Grace would have it no other way.” ThornCrown’s Welcome
“His love letter forever silences any doubts: “His secret purpose framed from the very beginning [is] to bring us to our full glory” (1 Corinthians 2:7 NEB). He means to rename us—to return us to our true names, our truest selves. He means to heal our soul holes. From the very beginning, that Eden beginning, that has always been and always is, to this day, God’s secret purpose in everything— our return to our full glory.” Ann Voskamp
“Jesus told us in His Word that if we know the Truth, the Truth will set us free. Jesus came to set us free from bondage to sin and death and God has given us His eternal Word to teach us the way. We are the losers if we neglect such a high calling.” BHY
“From the first moment of your spiritual life until you are welcomed into heaven, the language of Christ to you will be, ‘Come to me.’ As a mother extends her hand to her tiny child and woos it to walk by saying, ‘Come,’ even so does Jesus. He will always be ahead of you, bidding you follow Him as the soldier follows his captain. He will always go before you to pave your way and clear your path, and you will hear His life-giving voice calling you to follow Him all through your life; in the solemn hour of death, His sweet words with which He will usher you into the heavenly world will be, ‘Come, you who are blessed of my Father.’” Alistair Begg
“Jesus gave all His followers – not just a few – the immense privileged duty of the ministry of reconciliation. He sent us to proclaim the Good News – with both our actions and words – that through His blood we no longer need remain alienated from God and even each other – wallowing in the filth of our sins, lacking significance, always coming up wanting. His desire is for all to be turned back from our miserably sad point of departure – which we were all born into excepting Adam and Eve – to walk again in the garden, so to speak, in the cool of the day; to commune with Him; to be filled with the fullness and completeness that He alone gives and to experience the life that is truly life. God greatly desires to bring back the lost wanderer to the former state of harmony that our original parents were privy to and He confoundly uses people like me and you to accomplish this great work. That’s actually what the word reconcile means in Scripture – ‘to bring back to a former state of harmony.’ Christ’s blood reconciled us allowing those who would believe in Him the changing back to that time of no variance. That amazing Truth is to be shared and not hoarded and He calls all of His followers to be faithful to the task.” BHY
HEART SAVOR
• God is willing for none to perish but all to come to repentance through faith in His Son.
• Jesus beckons us to come to Him for freedom.
• God willingly gave up His Son and the Son willingly gave up His life for us. We were bought with a high price and we are therefore to honor God with our lives.
Beth Yoe's Sharing Bread 