FOCUS OF THE MONTH (FOM)
SHOWERS OF BLESSINGS
SCRIPTURE OF THE WEEK (SOW)
And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. — Ezekiel 34:26 KJV
And I will make them and the places all around my hill a blessing, and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing. — Ezekiel 34:26 ESV
Wednesday Corporate Fasting Scripture – Isaiah 58 (ESV); Isaiah 58 (KJV)
Friday End of Week Scripture – Ephesians 3:20-21 (KJV)
MEMBER’S BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION
ANNOUNCEMENTS
OPEN INVITATION FROM CLASS 7
Please join us whenever your Class Facilitator is absent
1-605-313-4831; access code 259-748#
Did you miss your class today? Do you want an evangelism tool?
If yes — call or share the Class 7 Instant Replay
1-605-313-4904; access code 259-748#
Open Invitation – Intercessory Prayer
Join the Ministry for Intercessory Prayer every 2nd Saturday of each month
1-605-313-5671; access code 563-972#
start time is at 4:45 AM
You Are Welcome To Listen To Class Review Instant Replays
Class 5 – (605) 468-8114; access code 694-591#
Class 6 – (605) 313-4899; access code 943-172#
Class 7 – (605) 313-4904; access code 259-748#
Visit here to submit Prayer Requests
ESV Translation Philosophy
The ESV is an “essentially literal” translation that seeks as far as possible to reproduce the precise wording of the original text and the personal style of each Bible writer. As such, its emphasis is on “word-for-word” correspondence, at the same time taking full account of differences in grammar, syntax, and idiom between current literary English and the original languages. Thus it seeks to be transparent to the original text, letting the reader see as directly as possible the structure and exact force of the original.
In contrast to the ESV, some Bible versions have followed a “thought-for-thought” rather than “word-for-word” translation philosophy, emphasizing “dynamic equivalence” rather than the “essentially literal” meaning of the original. A “thought-for-thought” translation is of necessity more inclined to reflect the interpretive views of the translator and the influences of contemporary culture.
Every translation is at many points a trade-off between literal precision and readability, between “formal equivalence” in expression and “functional equivalence” in communication, and the ESV is no exception. Within this framework, we have sought to be “as literal as possible” while maintaining clarity of expression and literary excellence. Therefore, to the extent that plain English permits and the meaning in each case allows, we have sought to use the same English word for important recurring words in the original; and, as far as grammar and syntax allow, we have rendered Old Testament passages cited in the New in ways that show their correspondence. Thus in each of these areas, as well as throughout the Bible as a whole, we have sought to capture all the echoes and overtones of meaning that are so abundantly present in the original texts.
As an essentially literal translation, taking into account grammar and syntax, the ESV thus seeks to carry over every possible nuance of meaning in the original words of Scripture into our own language. As such, the ESV is ideally suited for in-depth study of the Bible. Indeed, with its commitment to literary excellence, the ESV is equally well suited for public reading and preaching, for private reading and reflection, for both academic and devotional study, and for Scripture memorization.
PRAISE & WORSHIP
DAILY DEVOTIONALS
Sunday, April 6, 2025 – HOSPITALITY IN JESUS – Acts 16:11-15
Our Daily Bread Focus(es): Generosity; Loving others; Sowing others
Today’s Insights
Genuine, selfless expressions of hospitality and kindness can be used by Jesus to encourage His workers. In addition to the “open heart, open home” dynamic in play with Lydia in Acts 16:14-15, we see a similar pattern with the jailer in Philippi. Upon hearing and believing what he and his household needed to do to be saved, he “washed [Paul and Silas’] wounds” (v. 33).
Then “the jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them” (v. 34). Acts 28 also records instances of extreme kindness. When Paul was sailing to Rome as a prisoner, a storm forced the ship to come ashore on the island of Malta. He exercised his apostolic gifts among the islanders, and their hospitality was a balm for him (vv. 3-10).
Today’s Devotional
During the US civil rights movement, famed New Orleans cook Leah Chase did what she could. She prepared food and fed those who were marching for equal rights for all people. She said, “I was just feeding people. They were fighting for something, and they didn’t know what they would find when they went out there. They didn’t know what would happen to them on the streets. But when they were here, they knew I’d feed them. That’s what I could do for them.”
The gift of hospitality may sometimes be overlooked, but it can be just as important as other forms of serving one another in Christ. A businesswoman named Lydia—“a dealer in purple cloth” (Acts 16:14)—showed hospitality to Paul and the other preachers spreading the good news about Jesus to the people of Macedonia (vv. 11-15). She used what she had—her home—to help the traveling team. After accepting the gospel message, Lydia insisted on providing a place for the preachers to rest, saying, “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, . . . come and stay at my house” (v. 15). Much like the civil rights workers, Paul and his coworkers didn’t need to worry about a meal due to Lydia’s hospitality.
Gifts of hospitality can go a long way in helping all people—both fellow believers and those who still need Jesus. Let’s serve others as God provides what we need to help them.
Reflect & Pray
When has someone’s hospitality helped you? How can you serve others today and help meet their practical needs?
Dear God, thank You for those who’ve shown hospitality to me. Please show me how to serve others in love.
Love in Action → Why Should We Help?
Today’s Insights
In Isaiah 46:5, God asks, “With whom will you compare me or count me equal? To whom will you liken me that we may be compared?” The answer to this rhetorical question is that no one is like God. Often when the question “Who is like God?” is asked in the Bible, it’s answered in part by reflecting on an aspect of His matchless character.
For example, in Psalm 71:19, the psalmist reflects on God’s surpassing righteousness, and in Micah 7:18, the prophet ponders God’s “unfailing love” (nlt). Other verses in the Old Testament that ponder the character of God, the one who will be with us forever, include Exodus 15:11; Deuteronomy 3:24; 2 Samuel 7:22; Psalm 86:8, 10; 89:6, 8; 113:5; and Isaiah 40:18, 25.
Today’s Devotional
A Danish study explored the phenomenon most of us have experienced: perceiving ourselves as younger than we really are. The findings suggest a constant—whatever our current age, we all see ourselves as 20 percent younger. A fifty-year-old tends to imagine herself as forty years old. (This conjures up a comical scenario in which a child thinks, “Wow, I’m five, but I feel I have the energy and looks of a four-year-old!”)
It doesn’t take a scientific study to state the obvious: We’re all growing older. And Scripture has much to say about this. Isaiah’s words were issued to an Israel that had aged and become weary, but as one commentator says, “This promise to Israel, enfeebled and grown old as a nation, is applicable to every aged follower of Christ.”
The prophet reminds us of God’s provision throughout the life of everyone who has been faithful to Him: “I have upheld [you] since your birth, and have carried [you] since you were born” (Isaiah 46:3).
So as we stew and fret about growing older, we’re reminded that God is still with us. He promises: “Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you” (v. 4). Whatever age you are (or the 20-percent-younger version you imagine yourself to be!), embrace today God’s promise: “I have made you and I will carry you” (v. 4).
Reflect & Pray
In what ways do you wrestle with concerns about aging? How do you find comfort in Isaiah’s words?
Dear God, I’m feeling weary and tired. Please give me Your strength. I ask that You sustain me and carry me.
The book of Isaiah mentions Cyrus the Great and how he will be used to accomplish God’s will. Learn more by clicking here.
Today’s Insights
When calling for gentleness and patience as believers in Jesus relate with each other, Paul recognized how difficult this can be. “Bearing with one another” (Ephesians 4:2) could also be translated “putting up with one another.” The same word is used in Mark 9:19, where Jesus says, “You unbelieving generation . . . . How long shall I put up with you?”
Paul doesn’t naively imagine that maintaining unity in relationships with fellow believers will be easy, and he doesn’t call for believers to always have positive feelings for each other. Instead, following Christ’s example of humble, patient service, believers make the choice to “make every effort” (Ephesians 4:3) to press on in the difficult work of cultivating unity. Even within significant differences and relational friction, it’s possible to demonstrate Christlike love for each other.
Today’s Devotional
I stopped behind a car at a red light the other day and noticed a bright sticker on the rear window boldly stating: “New Driver. Please Be Patient.” Given all the road rage we hear about (or experience), what a great reminder to be patient with other drivers.
As I looked at the sticker, I wondered what would happen if people carried around signs that alerted us that they’re a “New Parent” or “New Christian.” If we knew what our neighbors, coworkers, or others we encounter throughout our day were going through, would we be more patient and even help them deal with their struggles?
We may be rushing through our days, trying to avoid being interrupted by others, but let’s consider how Jesus treated people. He wasn’t in a hurry. He had compassion on people and took the time to comfort and teach and show love to those He encountered.
As believers in Jesus, we’re called to “live a life worthy of the calling [we] have received” (Ephesians 4:1). The apostle Paul says that includes being “completely humble and gentle; [being] patient, bearing with one another in love” (v. 2); and making every effort to live in peace and unity with each other (v. 3).
We may not know what challenges people are facing, but we can be patient with them. Let’s be an expression of Jesus’ love to everyone we encounter on our daily path.
Reflect & Pray
How can you be more patient with others? Who can you be a blessing to today?
Dear God, please help me to be more loving and patient with those You place in my path.
Today’s Insights
In Isaiah 43:22-24, God grieves His people’s failure to turn from their sins; yet He offers hope. He’s a loving God who forgives. He alone can blot out sins (v. 25). He’s the one who “forgives all [our] sins” and “redeems [our] life from the pit” (Psalm 103:3-4). “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” (vv. 11-12).
Jesus accomplished this once and for all through His sacrificial death on the cross. Now “everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name” (Acts 10:43). John tells us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just” to forgive and make us clean (1 John 1:9). Finally, when we trust in Jesus, God “remembers [our] sins no more” (Isaiah 43:25).
Today’s Devotional
Julie and her husband felt sadness and regret when they learned that their daughter had been shoplifting. But with God’s help, when she came to them weighed down with sorrow, they forgave her—and they helped her make restitution and receive counseling. Some months after the revelation, when their daughter made an offhand comment about how they might not trust her anymore, Julie wondered, What does she mean? She didn’t immediately think about her daughter’s offense because God had removed the sting of it from her mind. She had decided not to dwell in the past but had asked God to help her forgive.
In that moment, God gave Julie a taste of His goodness and grace as she experienced the love He extends to His people. God told His people not to “dwell on the past” because He was “doing a new thing” (Isaiah 43:18-19). He also made the beautiful declaration, “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more” (v. 25). God could choose to hold our sins against us, but because of His love and mercy, He doesn’t. When we repent, He wipes our record clean.
Although our forgiven wrongdoing may have a negative impact on our lives and that of others, God will never hold that offense against us. He will enfold us in His mercy and grace.
Reflect & Pray
When have you experienced the surprising love of God? How does His grace change and transform you?
Forgiving Father, thank You for running toward me with love. Please help me to turn from my sinful ways and return to You.
Thursday, April 10, 2025 – THE WRIGHT SISTER – Romans 16:1-12
Daily Bread Focuses: Generosity; Loving others
Scripture(s): Hebrews 13:16; 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13; Proverbs 3:27-28
Today’s Insights
Paul’s list of greetings at the end of Romans represents the many people he met during his journeys of sharing the hope of Jesus. Many of the believers in Christ whom he impacted (and who impacted him in return) ended up in Rome, and so he had a great deal of people waiting there for him before he even arrived. Both men and women shared in the apostle’s work of evangelism, paving the way for him in Rome. As we join with other believers in caring for others, we reflect the hearts of those who assisted Paul.
Today’s Devotional
Most people know about the Wright Brothers—Orville and Wilbur—who invented, built, and flew the first successful airplane in the early 1900s. But few know the name Katherine Wright. Yet in her brothers’ story of creating their flying machine, Katherine was essential to their success. While her brothers concentrated on the myriad details and experiments that led to their invention, Katherine chose to quietly and lovingly help them. She kept their bicycle shop going (the brothers’ source of income), left her teaching job to nurse Orville back to health after a plane crash, and managed the endless details of her brothers’ growing fame.
The value of the support of others is seen in Scripture as well. One example is Phoebe, mentioned by Paul as a “benefactor of many people” (Romans 16:2). And Priscilla and Aquila, a helpful couple presented in Paul’s writing, hosted churches where Paul ministered and even “risked their lives” for him (v. 4). Additionally, the apostle complimented Mark, saying he was “helpful to me in my ministry” (2 Timothy 4:11).
We can be the right brothers and sisters in Christ by serving others. The ongoing work of God needs helpers like Phoebe—and us—guided by Him to serve this way: “In humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but . . . to the interests of the others” (Philippians 2:3-4).
Reflect & Pray
Who needs your help? What can you do to serve others in Jesus’ name?
Dear God, please show me how to humbly serve others for Your glory.
Today’s Insights
After Elijah (Hebrew, “Yahweh is my God”) had completed his ministry assignments, he was miraculously taken from the earth (2 Kings 2:11). Plans were in place, however, for God’s work to continue among His people. Some years before, Elisha (Hebrew, “God is salvation”) had been designated as Elijah’s successor (see 1 Kings 19:16-21). Centuries later, Jesus or Yeshua (Hebrew, “Yah [Yahweh] saves”) also prepared for His departure after His death and resurrection. His work would go on through successors who saw Him when He ascended (Acts 1:10-11) and were empowered by the Holy Spirit. We also can press on in Him even as we grieve those who are no longer with us.
Today’s Devotional
A man named Hidesaburō Ueno taught at Tokyo’s Imperial University in the 1920s. Every afternoon, he returned on the 3:00 p.m. train to find his dog, Hachiko, waiting for him. One day Professor Ueno suffered a stroke during class and died. When he didn’t get off the afternoon train, Hachiko lingered a while, then went home. The dog returned the next day at 3:00, and the next day, and the day after that, for ten years. Hachiko’s loyalty touched the hearts of many Japanese, who came to sit with him.
Elisha was similarly committed to his master, Elijah. On the day Elisha knew he would lose him, Elisha refused to let him out of his sight. Then a chariot of fire whisked Elijah to heaven. Elisha choked out what he saw: “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” (2 Kings 2:12). He picked up Elijah’s cloak, the symbol of the prophet’s power that had parted the Jordan moments earlier (v. 8), and asked, “Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” (v. 14). He struck the water, which parted as it had for his master. What a bittersweet day!
Have you lost someone you love? No words can do justice to your pain. Every sob releases memories of the love you shared. You hurt deeply because you loved deeply. How bittersweet! Thank God for this beloved person and for your capacity to love. Elisha picked up Elijah’s cloak. What might you do?
Reflect & Pray
What tangible sign or ritual honors the memory of your loved one? How does Jesus help to carry your burden?
Dear Father, thank You for giving me people to love.
Saturday, April 12, 2025 – THE SPIRIT’S HELPFUL REMINDERS – John 14:15-17, 25-31
Our Daily Bread Focus(es): Bible Study; Holy Spirit
Today’s Insights
On the night of His arrest, Jesus celebrated Passover together with His closest followers, which was a commemoration of their ancestors’ liberation from slavery in Egypt (John 13; see Exodus 12:1-12). Christ reminded His disciples that they were special in the world (John 14:16-18, 22), just as God had reminded the Israelites of this through Moses in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 4:5-8; 7:7-9; 10:14).
Jesus’ disciples won’t be removed from this world, but they’re to be distinct or set apart from it. Following God’s commands is what set Israel apart from the rest of the world, and it’s the thrust of Christ’s commands to those who believe in Him.
Today’s Devotional
One year, I agreed to sing a song before one of my son’s sporting events. I practiced for weeks, but I knew the song by heart already. So when I walked onto the field with the teams lined up on both sides of me, I closed my eyes and prayed. I started singing the first few lines. Then, I froze. In that moment I couldn’t remember the next line. A man behind me whispered the words I’d forgotten. As soon as I heard the helpful reminder, I belted out the rest of the lyrics with confidence.
We all need a little help sometimes. In John 14, Jesus explained that we love Him by obeying Him (v. 15), and He promised to ask the Father to give us a Helper—“the Spirit of truth” (v. 17). Jesus said, “The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you” (v. 17). Though Jesus taught the disciples a lot while with them (v. 25), He said “the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (v. 26).
As we prayerfully read the Bible, the Holy Spirit helps us interpret, understand, and apply God’s wisdom. His leading always aligns with Scripture—guiding, comforting, and transforming us in love, one helpful reminder at a time.
Reflect & Pray
What can you do to better recognize the Holy Spirit’s voice? How do you acknowledge Him daily?
Holy Spirit, please help me recognize Your voice and submit to You as You make me more like Jesus, one helpful reminder at a time.
THIS WEEK’S INSPIRATIONAL THOUGHT BY SISTER CLOVIA
PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE
Did you know that the first recorded instance of “patience is a virtue” comes from the 1300s in William Langland’s poem Piers Plowman? Yet, the Old and New Testaments of the Bible eloquently and powerfully emphasize the importance of patience, perseverance, and endurance for believers to adopt as our lifestyle.
According to the Bible, we must continually cultivate the most valuable character trait, especially in these trying times: PATIENCE.
Patience is the ability to wait for something without becoming frustrated and, ultimately, resorting to our own means and ways instead of waiting on God.
Patience is cultivated by trusting God’s goodness and promises, even when difficult. It is also about enduring suffering and hardship without complaining, recognizing that trials can strengthen faith and develop character.
The Bible lists patience as a fruit of the Spirit. The Bible also speaks of God’s patience, emphasizing that He is slow to anger and abounds in steadfast love. Jesus stressed the importance of patience, encouraging his followers to endure trials and wait for God’s timing. As stated in Luke 21:19, “In your patience possess ye your souls.”
Be patient. “Patience is the mother of all virtues.”
Patience with others is LOVE.
Patience with self is HOPE.
Patience with God is FAITH.
—Adel Bestavros
CHRISTIAN-BASED MOVIE OF THE MONTH
***The Daily Devotionals are taken from Our Daily Bread Ministries and the Scriptures are from the BibleGateway.***
-END OF PAGE-