Firm Foundation Minute: An Encouraging Reminder About Dealing With Trials and Challenges

Tuesday, April 28, 2020 Bryan Hudson 0 Comments



James 1:2, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”

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Jesus Rose So You Can Stand! - Firm Foundation Podcast and YouTube

Monday, April 13, 2020 Bryan Hudson 0 Comments



Listen to This Teaching on the Firm Foundation Podcast:


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NOTES: 

1 Cor 10:12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. 

1 Cor 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive 

What does it mean to stand? The most obvious definition is: “To be in an upright position with all of your weight on your feet.” 

Other meanings: To maintain one's position, as in “standing firm.” To be in a particular state or situation. To remain stationary or inactive,: to make firm, fix establish, To cause a person or a thing to keep his or its place; to establish a thing, cause it to stand
1 Cor 15:45 And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

In Adam we stand in our humanity and mortality. “In Adam, all die....” Without Christ people are standing but are “dead men walking.”

1 Cor. 15:14 And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. 15 Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise. 16 For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. 17 And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! 18 Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.
20 But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive 

I Cor 10:12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. 

What does it mean to “think” one is standing. To think is to have an opinion, not necessarily to have God’s truth and promise. Adam and Eve thought that eating the fruit would make them wise.

Joshua 7:2 Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth Aven, on the east side of Bethel, and spoke to them, saying, “Go up and spy out the country.” So the men went up and spied out Ai. 3 And they returned to Joshua and said to him, “Do not let all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. Do not weary all the people there, for the people of Ai are few.” 4 So about three thousand men went up there from the people, but they fled before the men of Ai. 5 And the men of Ai struck down about thirty-six men, for they chased them from before the gate as far as Shebarim, and struck them down on the descent; therefore the hearts of the people melted and became like water.
10 So the Lord said to Joshua: “Get up! Why do you lie thus on your face? 11 Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. For they have even taken some of the accursed things, and have both stolen and deceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff. 12 Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they have become doomed to destruction. Neither will I be with you anymore, unless you destroy the accursed from among you. 13 Get up, sanctify the people, and say, ‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, because thus says the Lord God of Israel: “There is an accursed thing in your midst, O Israel; you cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you.”

There was something in the camp and hearts of the people that kept them from standing up and prevailing over a minor obstacle.What is it in your camp or heart that hinders your stand? 

Don’t just stand by. Stand up! Do not overestimate your resources and underestimate your stand.

Again, as it says in 1Cor 10:12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.
Put God’s Word ahead of what you think and your opinion. We are not just hearers of the word. We are doers. People who hear but fail to act miss the opportunity to stand.

Don’t just stand by. Stand up!

When we have the power of resurrection, we always have the power to always stand. Not only to stand up but to stand in the place of victory.

Philippians 3:9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Know Jesus and His resurrection power! His resurrection was not only a past event, it is a present day power for standing!

“Resurrection” is from the biblical Greek word: “Anastasis” which is a combination of two words meaning: “up” and “to cause to stand.”

Jesus will take you as you are and where you are.
Jesus will raise you from spiritual death to new life.
Jesus will show you the exceeding greatness of God power
Jesus will release that power in your life.
Jesus, the Last Adam, will reverse the curse brought about by the first Adam.
Jesus will introduce you to a resurrected lifestyle.

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SeedTime & Harvest: Preparing for Advance in a Time of Crisis (Podcast & YouTube)

Sunday, April 05, 2020 Bryan Hudson 0 Comments




Jesus spoke a parable describing the conditions of people’s hearts in relation to God’s word, or the seed. How you handle the seed of God’s is the most important thing that you handle.

Matthew 13:1 On the same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea. 2 And great multitudes were gathered together to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. 3 Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. 6 But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. 8 But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

Look at what Jesus said in regard to The Purpose of Parables:

V. 10 And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” 11 He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. 13 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 

He describe four conditions of soil, or of the heart: Three bad and one good. 

1) Wayside is an unreceptive place: In Palestine the fields were in long narrow strips; and the ground between the strips was always a right of way. It was used as a common path; and therefore it was beaten as hard as a pavement by the feet of people walking through

2) Stony was shallow. It is a then layer of soil over limestone rock

3) Thorny was full of weeds and distractions. Luke 8:14 Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. 
The thorny ground was deceptive. When the sower was sowing, the ground would look clean enough. It is easy to make a garden look clean by simply turning it over; but in the ground still lay the fibrous roots of the couch grass and the bishop weed and all the perennial pests [like crab grass], ready to spring to life again. Every gardener knows that the weeds grow with a speed and a strength that few good seeds can equal. The result was that the good seed and the dormant weeds grew together; but the weeds were so strong that they choked the life out of the seed.

4) Good ground was tilled and ready to receive seed. Which condition describes your heart?

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Encouragement for You Today: Bible Study - Have "Great Faith" and "Don't Let the Cares of the World Choke the Word in You"

Friday, April 03, 2020 Bryan Hudson 0 Comments


Bible Study from Wednesday, April 1: 
Why Did Jesus Call the Centurion's Faith "Great?"





An Exhortation for These Times: 
Don't Allow the Cares of the World to Choke the Word in You.”  
Be prepared to both recover and thrive in the next season!

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