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Woodlawn Family Bible Study THANKSGIVING DAY BIBLE READING:    Matthew 6:25-34 Mind, Heart, Body and Soul. This is what we must give to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our minds must be focused on His word and His goals. Our heart must be pure and holy. Our body must work on the deeds needed to bring others to Him. This shows our love for Christ. Our soul is what the devil wants. We must protect it with everything we have.  Application: Think about the things in your life that make you lose your focus. What changes can be made?  Prayer Request

Woodlawn Family Bible Study WEDNESDAY BIBLE READING:    Luke 17:11-19 There is tremendous power in showing gratitude. Francesca Gino, an Associate           Professor at the Harvard School of Business, conducted and published a study called “Sidetracked: Why Our Decisions Get Derailed and How We Can Stick to Our Plan.” Gino found that “Receiving expressions of gratitude makes us feel a heightened sense of self-worth, and that in turn triggers other helpful behaviors toward both the person we are helping and other people, too.” That just means that when we receive words or acts of gratitude we feel so good about ourselves we are more likely to pass along other positive expressions.   Application: Read the Parable of the Good Samaritan, and then go out of your way to help people and show them gratitude. In doing so, you just may spark a revelation.  Prayer Request

Woodlawn Family Bible Study TUESDAY BIBLE READING:    Psalm 27:1-14 Achluophobia is a fear that many people suffer from. It simply is fear of the dark. But what is darkness, but the absence of light? As Christians, we have no real reason to be afraid of the dark because we always have the “light” with us! David said, in Psalms 27:1, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?”  If the reason why we fear the dark is because there is no light, rest assured we have The Light. You can't be afraid of the darkness, if you are never exposed to it.  Application: Stay away from the darkness and cling to the Light.  Prayer Request

Woodlawn Family Bible Study MONDAY BIBLE READING:    Psalm 106:1-13 As you begin your work week this Thanksgiving week, there are a million things for which you could be thankful. Today I just want you to focus on one thing. This one thing is the reason you attend worship. Without this one thing you, nor anything else would be here, and that one thing is God. The Psalmist said “Praise the LORD! Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! Who can utter the mighty deeds of the LORD, or declare all His praise?" (Psalm 106:1-2).  Application: Today make a special effort to thank God for being God. Take the time to thank Him for expressing His love towards us, by creating us and allowing us to share in this experience of life together. For truly without Him there would be nothing.  Prayer Request

Woodlawn Family Bible Study SATURDAY BIBLE READING:    John 7:37-52 Every person has needs. I'm not talking about those needs that we are familiar with, like food, water and sleep. I mean those needs that are much deeper, like the need to be loved, the need for acceptance, and the need for God. Yes, we all have an inner need for God. The sad fact is that most people are not even aware of it.  The French mathematician and Christian philosopher Blaise Pascal once wrote, “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every person, and it can never be filled by any created thing. It can only be filled by God, made known through Jesus Christ.”  Jesus once said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture had said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:37-38).  The Greek word that the translators have used to define as “heart” actually is translated as “cavity.” Jesus is describing a spi...

Woodlawn Family Bible Study FRIDAY BIBLE READING:    Hebrews 10:19-39 Isn’t technology great? Just take for instance the invention of the smart phone. Who would have ever thought 30 years ago we would be able to have access to any song, movie, television show or book we ever wanted, be able to get directions to any place in the world, to purchase plane tickets, to pay your credit card bill and even call someone...all from a device that you could wear around your wrist? Wow, I bet our great grandparents who had to pick cotton all summer sure would have thought we were spoiled! These phone companies are constantly coming out with smaller, faster and lighter things so there is no telling what kinds of things we will have on our wrist 30 years from now.  As great as this technology is, it still needs a power source to make it run. As long as your device has power, it works and functions great, but the second it loses power it turns into a worthless piece of plastic....

Woodlawn Family Bible Study THURSDAY BIBLE READING:    Mark 4:1-41 “Master the tempest is raging! The billows are tossing high! The sky is o’er shadowed with blackness, no shelter or help is nigh; carest Thou not that we perish? How canst Thou lie asleep, when each moment so madly is threat’ning a grave will, peace, be still!”  I can vividly remember singing that old hymn as a child in chapel at Mars Hill Bible School. I could hardly control myself as we would speed up and crescendo throughout the chorus; the closing, singing as softly as possible, “Peace, peace, be still!” That song had such an effect on me as a child.  I wonder, though, how much more it must have had on those who were on the boat in Mark 4.  To see the tumultuous waves crashing, the thunder an lightning, and feeling the wind as it violently blew, all to come under the control of their Master as he said those words. There are so many lessons in this story that take place in Mark 4:3...