So diese Woche gibts gleich drei Verse, noch einmal aus dem zweiten Brief an Timotheus.

KW6
2. Timotheus 2,11
Es heißt` ja – und auf dieses Wort ist Verlass –: »Wenn wir mit ihm gestorben sind, werden wir auch mit ihm leben.

und die zwei folgenden Verse:
2. Timotheus 2,12+13
Wenn wir standhaft durchhalten, werden wir mit ihm herrschen. Wenn wir uns aber von ihm abwenden, wird auch er sich von uns abwenden.
Und doch hebt unsere Untreue seine Treue nicht auf, denn er kann sich selbst nicht untreu werden.«

eine gesegnete Woche :)

So, die fünfte Woche dieses Jahres hat gerade begonnen, was gibts besseres als sie mit dem Wort Gottes zu beginnen :)
Hier also der Vers für die Woche. Vorraussichtlich wirds jede zweite Woche mit Johannes 13 bzw 14 weitergehen.

KW5:
Johannes 13:31
Nachdem Judas hinausgegangen war, sagte Jesus:"Jetzt wird der Menschensohn in sierner Herrlichkeit offenbart, und durch ihn wird Gott selbst in seiner Herrlichkeit offenbart.

Gesegnete Woche wünsche ich

Der Vers für diese Woche passt ganz gut zu dem Projekt und kann sicherlich auch als Motivation zum auswendig lernen dienen ;)

KW4:
2. Timotheus 3,16
Denn alle Schrift, von Gott eingegeben, ist nütze zur Lehre, zur Zurechtweisung, zur Besserung, zur Erziehung in der Gerechtigkeit

und um den Satz noch zu Ende zu bringen Vers 17:
dass der Mensch Gottes vollkommen sei, zu allem guten Werk geschickt.

Bis bald.

I want to start of with a short passage, that most of you will probably have heard before. You can find it in the gospel of Luke, chapter 6 verses 46-49.

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?
47 Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like:
48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.
49 But the one who hears my words and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”

So what do we read there? We read of two different men. Both build houses, they are basically doing the same thing. But Jesus points out a very big difference between the two people. He doesnt say that one house was bigger than the other. He also doesnt say that one house was more beautiful or better in any other way. But he talks about the most important thing when it comes to building a house- the solid foundation.

Now I dont think Jesus was very concerned about you and me building fine houses but he uses this picture to tell us something very important for all of our lives.

He compares two kind of people:

First there is the man who built the house on solid ground, on a rock even. He is compared to the people who come to Jesus, listen to his words, and do what he says.

Then there is the man who built his house on bad ground without a foundation is compared to people who hear but dont follow the word.

He tells us what happens to both of the men. The one house, built on the good ground, will withstand the storm. That means whatever might happen in the live of a person that has Jesus as foundation, it will never be able to crush him. Remember all the things we heard about Joseph and how he never lost his faith in God. Now maybe you have already had big „storms“ in your live. But I am sure every single one of us will have small and big problems in our lives, things that we cant control, no matter how hard we try. Those storms will come. But if our lives are built on Jesus we will withstand everything. Not because of our strong house, our own strength, but because of the strong foundation, because of Jesus, who is giving us the strength that we need.

I want to challenge you right now, to think about that: What do you build your live on?
What if something bad happens, do you still trust the Lord? Can you put your faith in him, read his word, and do the good things that he wants you to do?

What about the other person in the story? He built his house on bad ground. At first it probably didnt matter. He could use the house the same way the other man could. But in times of trouble, when the storm comes, his house crashes. It can't withstand because there is no foundation or it was built on sand, as it says in the gospel of Mathew.

Sometimes I get sad when I see people going their own way, doing what their hearts tell them to, not caring about God, not listening to his message. It makes me even more sad when I see people who have heard the gospel, who have visited the church weekly for years, but they haven't built their lives on Jesus. I used to work a lot with young people in our church. We have a youth group and a group for children. Over the years I have seen many people come and go. They joined in the games, heard the talks, some of them even went to Schloss Klaus a few times. But one day other things became more important for them, maybe they just forgot what they have heard. For them Jesus never became the centre of their lives. Maybe they liked the story, the ideas, but all of that was just an add-on to their lives and when something else became more fun or more interesting, they swapped going to church with doing that new thing. And it makes me very sad, because we read that their house will crumble and fall when a storm comes if they dont build on Jesus.
And I can only pray and hope that they will decide to make Jesus the foundation of their lives one day because in the end this is very much a matter of life and death. So please, if you are unsure, if you never made this decision, to build your whole life, everything you do onto the firm foundation of Jesus, think about what is keeping you from doing it. It is the most important decision you will ever make.

How does it look like, to build your live on Jesus?
Well, lets look at the passage once more:
Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them,...

First of all we need to come to Jesus.
Let's read a short passage from Revelations about Jesus: In chapter 1 verse 5 it says:
...Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father. To him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.

Now you might want to say: How is it possible to come to Jesus? But we read a few chapters later in Revelations 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.

Jesus doesnt hide from us! He is there knocking and waiting for our answer. All you need to do is open the door for him because he will never force his way into your heart.

Then he also says who hears my words. I think this is such an important point in a live of a christian. We need his word as much as our body needs the air we breathe. Our spiritual live will be poor, we will starve, if we dont feed on God's words. Read it daily, study it, dont let go of it and as we read together today in psalm 1: meditate on his law day and night. If it is hard for you, pray for guidance, pray for wisdom, God will answer your prayers.

And the last thing Jesus says is: ...and puts them into practise.

We read of the second person in the story that he does hear God's words. But he doesnt follow them.
It is so important that we live our lives according to the bible. There is no way to become a christian and keep on living our old lives.
The first verse “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?“ emphasizes that. Words are not enough. A promise isnt worth anything if you dont keep it. In the same way it doesnt matter how often you go to church, how often you call God your Lord, if you dont act on it. Is he your Lord? Then do what he wants you to do. I can assure you, that he knows much better what is good for us than we do ourselfes.

I know that it can be very hard at times to listen to what the bible says. It can be hard to do what God wants instead of what you want for yourself. Does this first verse mean that you have to be perfect to be a christian? No, building your live on Jesus doesnt mean that you live a perfect life, it doesnt mean that you follow all the rules. Even the great apostle Paul wrote of those struggles. But it is God who changes us, God who forms us more and more into the image of Christ, his son. And it says that we will bear much fruit if we live our lives with God.

One last thing i want to say is: live your live with other christians. One of the reasons why this time at the Schloss is so great, is because we are surrounded by people who believe in God.
Its fantastic to pray together, to worship and sing together, to share problems and to share good things. God didnt make us, so we should live on our own, but we should live in communion with other christians, to be able to encourage each other in hard times, to have fun together in good times and most of all to praise our wonderful Father together and under all circumstances!
So look out for people at your home. Make sure you go to church, see if there is a youth group if you dont already have one. But also look for someone you can learn from, and people you can pray with. Talk to christian friends and ask them to pray with you. Maybe weekly, maybe you find a day where both of you have time. Meet up and pray for all the things that God puts on your heart. It is a wonderful thing to pray together instead of only alone.
Thats something I have very much experienced in my live. The times where I prayed with other people were much richer, much better and I felt much closer to God than times where i didnt.
There were times where people left the town where I lived so we couldnt pray together anymore, or we stopped because of other reasons. Those are the times were I struggle the most with life.
Also your church needs people who pray for it. Maybe you are unhappy with your church. Maybe you are unhappy with the sermons at your church. Or do you wish more people would join your youth group. Pray. Thats the most simple and most effective thing you can do. There is nothing more powerful than prayer. There are whole books on things that happend because people started praying. So be encouraged, it is amazing what God can do.

Ich habe gerade den ersten Johannesbrief gelesen und mir gedacht, da kann ich auch gleich einen Vers teilen:


1.Johannes 2: 15 Liebt nicht die Welt und auch nicht, was zu ihr gehört! Wer die Welt liebt, hat keinen Platz für die Liebe zum Vater.

Lasst uns also unseren Vater und seinen Sohn unseren Herrn mit ganzem Herzen lieben!

...Als sie durch Phönizien und Samarien zogen, erzählten sie überall in den Gemeinden von der Bekehrung der Nichtjuden. Damit machten sie allen Geschwistern eine große Freude.
- Apostelgeschichte 15, 3


Bei meinem Bibelleseplan bin ich gerade bei der Apostelgeschichte angekommen und der Vers aus dem fünfzehnten Kapitel ist mir sofort ins Auge gestochen.
Wenn wir in unserem Christenleben etwas Erfreuliches erleben, wie zum Beispiel die Bekehrung eines Menschen zu Gott, oder aber auch eine Gebetserhörung oder etwas Ermutigendes in unserem Leben, dann können und sollen wir diese Erfahrungen teilen und uns miteinander freuen damit die Freude am Herrn immer größer wird. So oft vergessen wir darauf jemandem zu erzählen, was Gott für uns getan hat und bald vergessen wir es selbst.

Gott hat unser Leben für Gemeinschaft geschaffen. Gemeinschaft mit Ihm, unserem Schöpfer aber auch Gemeinschaft mit unseren Brüdern und Schwestern. Dass sollten wir nicht vergessen.
Das Weitergeben und Teilen von Gottes sichtbaren Wirken ermutigt und erbaut. Es schenkt uns Freude und Zuversicht und Hoffnung in bösen Tagen.
Zu oft fixiere ich mich nur auf Dinge die falsch laufen. Angst, Hoffnungslosigkeit und Bitterkeit sind allgegenwertig.
Umso wichtiger, dass wir die guten und schönen Dinge miteinander teilen und uns gemeinsam daran freuen, dass Gott gut ist.

Wir haben mehr als genug Grund dankbar zu sein!
Lasst uns das nicht vergessen.

Wer den Schuldigen gerecht spricht und den Gerechten schuldig, die sind beide dem HERRN ein Gräuel.
-Sprüche 17:15

Im Rahmen des Wordprojects (www.wordproject.net) bin ich gerade bei den Sprüchen angekommen.
Vielleicht poste ich in den nächsten Tagen immer wieder mal einen der mir besonders gefällt.
Heute jedenfalls folgenden:
Sprüche 14,16:
Ein Weiser scheut sich und meidet das Böse; ein Tor aber fährt trotzig hindurch.

Wünsche allen noch einen gesegneten Tag.