WOPCC's Bible Study Blog

Hello Family! We sort of took a little break from our theme of overcoming this week. The reason I say sort of is the same reason love God and love people are the two most important commandments; the effects of faith when it comes to overcoming is the same as the effects of loving God and people - victory and obeying the rest of the commandments are  respectively  inevitable. Let's just say this week we took an alternative route on our journey of overcoming. So what is faith? Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the  [ a ] substance [footnote: realization] of things hoped for, the  [ b ] evidence [footnote: confidence]   of things not seen. [Faith makes hope substantiative; faith adds value to our hope] Why is faith important? Hebrews 11:6 But without faith  it is  impossible to please  Him,  for [synonyms: because, considering, since] he who comes to God must believe that He is [faith is based on the belief that God exists and you wo...

Hello Family! This past Sunday, we focused on the love of the Father using the example of the story of the prodigal son which is found in Luke 15.  Luke is one of the synoptic gospels along with Matthew and Mark. They all give the same story, but from different perspectives; however, John is an exception because his story is unique.  Let's explore Luke 15... Then  all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him.  2  And the Pharisees and scribes [people were looking for reasons to accuse Jesus of doing a wrong, even if it was performing a miracle on the Sabbath] complained, saying, “This Man receives sinners  and eats with them.”  3  So He spoke this parable to them, saying: 4  “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? [here's the song from Sunday's Praise & Worship - "R...

Hi Everyone!! I hope you all are doing well! Over the past few weeks, we have been discussing overcoming control. A few things mentioned about overcoming control include: Peace When you give God control of things (and not worry about its status after you have given it up), you experience a level of peace that you wouldn't have otherwise experienced had you kept trying to do something you couldn't do and/or maintain. Isaiah 26:3 Wisdom Know and understand that there are things we can control and things we cannot control and if you have a hard time differentiating between the two, ask God to help you distinguish between them. Create your circle of control: The things that you can control (tongue, thoughts, actions/reactions), control it The things you cannot control, adjust and be okay with the fact that you cannot control it Daniel 6 Affection Your affections cannot (should not) be tied to the things that are changing around us or our okay-ism will nev...

Recap of Last Week's Sermon: Scriptures Reviewed: Daniel 5:13 - 16 Daniel 6 (Entire Chapter) Colossians 3:2 There are 2 Lanes When it Comes to Control: Things I Can Control: My Tongue My Thoughts My Actions & Reactions Things I Cannot Control I can fix what's on the inside of the circle, and whatever is on the outside of the circle, I'll have to: Our okay-ism cannot be dependent on things outside of our control or we'll never be okay. "Our internal cannot be predicated on the external." We have to take our affections off of the things that change. Colossians 3:2 tells us to set our affections on the things above; the things above are God-related things and we know He is a constant. This week, Pastor further discussed the results of setting our affections on things other than God.  Stress is caused by being emotionally invested in things that are not God things. The result of setting our affectio...