Downey UBF

“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.” (Matthew 5:14)

Today we are beginning to look into the passage of scripture known as the Sermon on the Mount. From chapters 5-7 Jesus declares what his kingdom is all about. Jesus outlines the qualities, characters, attitudes, motives and actions of his heavenly citizens. Anyone who desires to enjoy and participate successfully in Jesus kingdom must become completely indoctrinated by this passage of scripture.

In America we have several documents that are key to understanding the US government. We have the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. If you are born in the US, you are required to take a semester of US government in High School so that you can learn about the meaning of these documents. Probably in college you will come across more classes about government, maybe being taught by Professor Pyles of the Poli-Sci department. If you study these documents you quickly learn that a lot of thought was put into outlining what American is and what American’s can and cannot do. Citizens know how to act and what is fitting for society. Outlining what it means to be a citizen is a critical effort made by any government.

Let’s read verses 1 and 2. “1Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2and he began to teach them saying:” Read more »

Luke 5:27-32

Key Verse Luke 5:27

“After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. ‘Follow Me,’ Jesus said to him….”

For the last several weeks we have been looking at Jesus calling and making disciples and also helping His disciples to become fishers of men. Through Jn. 1 we learned how each person is so different from one another. and how Jesus called each one differently. Last week we saw how the Spirit of God led Philip to a foreigner who was a sincere and earnest truth seeker. Today we want to see how Jesus was able to help another kind of sinner into a personal relationship with Himself and to be changed from a despicable lover of self and money, into a true son of God. May God help us to learn God’s love for all kinds of people, even those who look the least promising and the most rebellious. Read more »

Acts 8:26-40

Key Verse Acts 8:31

“How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

This question that the eunuch asked was the very reason that the Lord went all the way to prepare a special Bible study session. In fact, today’s passage gives us a picture of 1) how the Lord is working today, and 2) how we can be ready and useful instruments for him to use. Let’s pray to learn of these two things.

I.  The Lord Sends a Prepared Bible Teacher (26-31)

The passage begins with the Lord calling his servant Philip to go to a desert road. Look at verse 26. “Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, ‘Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.’ ”

Now this Philip is not the same Philip, the human calculator, we studied about in John 1:35-51, but was a Grecian-Jewish convert in the early church under the Apostles’ leadership. He was a man known to be full of the Spirit and faith. He had been chosen along with six others to be administrators for Grecian-Jewish church members. But very soon after that a severe persecution broke out against the church and everyone, except for the Apostles, had been scattered out of Jerusalem to the surrounding areas, including Philip. He had gone to Samaria, which is the territory directly north of Jerusalem, and the Lord had been doing great things through him there. Philip preached that Jesus Christ is the Savior, and he performed many miracles of healing and brought great joy to the city he was staying in. His ministry was fruitful and growing. It was a really amazing thing to witness and be a part of, especially in light of the severe persecutions that were going on at the time. Read more »