Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. 2 And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 3 Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. 6 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.
 
7 And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.
 
Stephen Is Seized
8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. 9 Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. 10 But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. 11 Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” 12 And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, 13 and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, 14 for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.”15 And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
 
Meditation
God’s grace compels everyone in the Church to find their highest and best role in serving Christ, using our gifts for God. This will happen when we delegate duties that weigh down our primary call and lift others to serve.
 
The structure of the early church could not sustain the growth, leading to a need of a specific people group, Greek speaking Jews known as Hellenists. The direct diagnosis was their widows were, “being neglected.”  The grand vision of God for the Church was bigger than the apostle’s desire to control or get all the credit so they delegated duties.
 
Moses learned to delegate in Exodus 18, encouraged by his father in law to find “able men” to help him judge Israel. In like manner, the Apostles recruited “men of good repute, full of the Spirit of wisdom” (3) to serve so that they could focus on their primary calling, namely prayer and the ministry of the word (4).
 
In God’s grand vision for the Church no one can do everything. We all have gifts and need to find pathways to develop and deploy the gifts God’s grace has entrusted to us. The neglect of caring for others in the early church was addressed systematically through delegation. Likewise, the needs of the church today are opportunities for every Christian to find their highest and best role in creating a caring community.
 
Richly Dwelling
-Why do people fear delegating responsibilities to care for others? Do you?
 
-How does a larger view of God’s grace and His vision for the Church empower us to let go of control and credit to give away responsibilities to others, empowering everyone to find their highest and best in serving Christ?
 
-The Apostles were freed FOR the role God called them to, prayer and preaching, and the church grew from the Word of God advancing (7).  How can your church help people find their highest and best role for the advancement of the Word of God and the building of the church?
 
Key Verse
3 Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. 

A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth. 2 It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting,
for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. 3 Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad. 4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. 5 It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools.
6 For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fools; this also is vanity. 7 Surely oppression drives the wise into madness, and a bribe corrupts the heart. 8 Better is the end of a thing than its beginning, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. 9 Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the heart of fools. 10 Say not, “Why were the former days better than these?”  For it is not from wisdom that you ask this. 11 Wisdom is good with an inheritance, an advantage to those who see the sun. 
12 For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money, and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it. 13 Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked? 14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.
15 In my vain life I have seen everything. There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evildoing. 16 Be not overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself? 17 Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool. Why should you die before your time? 
18 It is good that you should take hold of this, and from that withhold not your hand, for the one who fears God shall come out from both of them. 19 Wisdom gives strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city. 20 Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. 21 Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you.22 Your heart knows that many times you yourself have cursed others.
23 All this I have tested by wisdom. I said, “I will be wise,” but it was far from me. 24 That which has been is far off, and deep, very deep; who can find it out?
25 I turned my heart to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know the wickedness of folly and the foolishness that is madness. 26 And I find something more bitter than death: the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and whose hands are fetters. He who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is taken by her. 27 Behold, this is what I found, says the Preacher, while adding one thing to another to find the scheme of things— 28 which my soul has sought repeatedly, but I have not found. One man among a thousand I found, but a woman among all these I have not found. 29 See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.
 
Meditation
Today’s chapter reads like a wall of bumper stickers in a tourists shop but the contrast of wisdom and folly should do more than accessorize our car. The preacher aims for the heart, a target mentioned ten times in the chapter. Contrasting a vain life with an above the sun perspective, the preacher hopes to restore the Creator’s upright design (29) in a broken world. For today we will zoom in on one bumper sticker and reflect on the wisdom of welcoming rebuke (4).
 
Wisdom is the skill of godly living, the application of an above the sun perspective of our Creator to all of life. Rebuke is a loving re-orientation towards God’s design for restoration of uprightness, a returning to Him.  Fools reject rebuke but welcome the song of empty flattery. Wisdom welcomes rebuke from a heart longing to be restored in God’s design.
 
Proverbs fleshes out the contrast of wisdom and folly, helping us see more clearly the invitation of rebuke for the restoration of uprightness:
 
Rejecting Rebuke                                           Blessing of Rebuke
Leads astray (10:17)                                    Brings honor (12:1)
Leads to stupidity (12:1)                             Gains Intelligence (15:32)
Despises self (15:32)                                    Loves knowledge (12:1)
Loves death (15:10)                                     Walking the path of life (6:23; 10:17)
 
The song of fools is like cotton candy- sweet for a moment but overall it has no substance or nutritional value. Rebuke is a gift of love that restores our perspective, God’s design, and shapes us for His glory.  Let our hearts welcome rebuke that restores us to our Creator’s design!
 
Richly Dwelling
-Why do we welcome and enjoy the empty flattery and songs of fools?
 
-Why is it difficult to welcome rebuke?  
 
-Rebuke is a sign of love--- Love shares what needs to be said. What is a rebuke you have received recently that you should reconsider, taking it more to heart in order to be restored in uprightness?
 
Key Verse
5 It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools.

Vindicate me, O Lord, for I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering. 2 Prove me, O Lord, and try me; test my heart and my mind. 3 For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in your faithfulness. 4 I do not sit with men of falsehood, nor do I consort with hypocrites.


5 I hate the assembly of evildoers, and I will not sit with the wicked. 6 I wash my hands in innocence and go around your altar, O Lord, 7 proclaiming thanksgiving aloud, and telling all your wondrous deeds.
 
8 O Lord, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells. 9 Do not sweep my soul away with sinners, nor my life with bloodthirsty men, 10 in whose hands are evil devices, and whose right hands are full of bribes. 11 But as for me, I shall walk in my integrity; redeem me, and be gracious to me. 12 My foot stands on level ground; in the great assembly I will bless the Lord.
 
Meditation
How do you respond when someone slanders you, speaking negatively about you behind your back? This week I am walking with someone who is being slandered, above reproach in the defamation being spread. I encouraged him to make Psalm 26 his prayer.
 
When lies are being spread behind our backs we must continue to walk forward with integrity, trusting our sovereign Father in heaven. Time will do the talking and the Lord will defend. Acknowledging the feelings of pain and betrayal we must cry out to the Lord to vindicate us, asking Him to prove us. With humble hearts we seek to examine where there may be truth in the slander, repenting where necessary, and trusting the steadfast love of the Lord by walking forward in faithfulness to Him.
 
We must resist the temptation to surround ourselves with hypocrites who will support a slandering response, participating in plotting vengeance. The one who walks in integrity will seek and celebrate the pure presence of the Lord and the company of His people. The house of God is the hope of the person who seeks to walk uprightly when they are being torn down publicly.
 
The sovereign and shepherding care of the Lord offers level ground to walk forward. He promises His people, ““No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; and every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their vindication is from Me.” (Isaiah 54:17)
 
Richly Dwelling
-Is slander acceptable in your circles? Do you participate? Do you need to repent?
 
-How do you respond when you are slandered? Do you trust God to vindicate?
 
-How can you seek to let your life talk as you walk with integrity, seeking hope in the house and presence of the Lord and His people?
 
Key Verse
11 But as for me, I shall walk in my integrity; redeem me, and be gracious to me.

In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:
“We have a strong city; he sets up salvation as walls and bulwarks. 2 Open the gates, that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in. 3 You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. 4 Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. 5 For he has humbled the inhabitants of the height, the lofty city. He lays it low, lays it low to the ground, casts it to the dust.
 
6 The foot tramples it, the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy.” 7 The path of the righteous is level; you make level the way of the righteous. 8 In the path of your judgments, O Lord, we wait for you; your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul. 9 My soul yearns for you in the night; my spirit within me earnestly seeks you. For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. 10 If favor is shown to the wicked, he does not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness he deals corruptly and does not see the majesty of the Lord.


11 O Lord, your hand is lifted up, but they do not see it. Let them see your zeal for your people, and be ashamed. Let the fire for your adversaries consume them. 12 O Lord, you will ordain peace for us, for you have indeed done for us all our works. 13 O Lord our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us, but your name alone we bring to remembrance. 14 They are dead, they will not live   they are shades, they will not arise; to that end you have visited them with destruction and wiped out all remembrance of them.

15 But you have increased the nation, O Lord, you have increased the nation; you are glorified; you have enlarged all the borders of the land. 16 O Lord, in distress they sought you; they poured out a whispered prayer when your discipline was upon them. 17 Like a pregnant woman who writhes and cries out in her pangs when she is near to giving birth, so were we because of you, O Lord; 18 we were pregnant, we writhed, but we have given birth to wind. We have accomplished no deliverance in the earth, and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen. 19 Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead.
 
20 Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until the fury has passed by. 21 For behold, the Lord is coming out from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity,
and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it, and will no more cover its slain.
 
Meditation
Do you have peace? I regularly speak with people crippled from anxiety. In the midst of societal unrest and uncertainty the prophet points to the perfect path of peace.
 
Isaiah’s song of salvation (1) includes anticipation (2-6) and confirmation (19-21) of the victory of God, sandwiching reflection on the past (7-18). Prominently centered is a prescription for peace in the present and resurrection hope for those who wait for God’s final victory.
 
The prescription for perfect peace is to keep our minds centered on the Lord and trust in Him, both today and tomorrow (3-4). This means we take every thought captive (2 Corinthians 10:5) to the victory and sovereignty of God, especially during uncertain times. When we cast our anxieties on the Lord then His peace will guard our minds and we are free to dwell upon His character, promises, and purposes (Philippians 4:6-8).
 
God is our everlasting rock (4) and His promises are our full hope, our stability, our strength, and our ever-present help in times of trouble (Psalm 46).
 
Those who wait on God will experience resurrection (19), the reality of victory begun in the song of 25:8 begins to have more clarity. Those who trust in God need not fear death as it is a doorway into the final and eternal victory of God.
 
The promises of victory are all “YES” in Jesus Christ. We have perfect peace IN Him and when we trust HIM we will have peace for today and bright hope for tomorrow!
 
Richly Dwelling
-Do you have peace? Why or why not?
 
-Is it difficult for you to keep your mind centered on the Lord? OR are you more centered on news headlines and personal heartache?
 
-Trusting in the Lord is an invitation to all God’s people. When we trust God we will experience resurrection hope from our everlasting Rock. Take a moment to consider the areas of anxiety in your life. Write them down. Pray over them, giving them to Jesus one by one. Thank Christ for being your Rock and write His name in a different color pen over the anxiety. Jesus covers our fears and in faith we can have perfect peace in Him and His victory!
 
Key Verse
3 You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.

Then the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is not David hiding himself on the hill of Hachilah, which is on the east of Jeshimon?” 2 So Saul arose and went down to the wilderness of Ziph with three thousand chosen men of Israel to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph. 3 And Saul encamped on the hill of Hachilah, which is beside the road on the east of Jeshimon. But David remained in the wilderness. When he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness, 4 David sent out spies and learned that Saul had indeed come. 5 Then David rose and came to the place where Saul had encamped. And David saw the place where Saul lay, with Abner the son of Ner, the commander of his army. Saul was lying within the encampment, while the army was encamped around him.
 
6 Then David said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Joab's brother Abishai the son of Zeruiah, “Who will go down with me into the camp to Saul?” And Abishai said, “I will go down with you.” 7 So David and Abishai went to the army by night. And there lay Saul sleeping within the encampment, with his spear stuck in the ground at his head, and Abner and the army lay around him. 8 Then Abishai said to David, “God has given your enemy into your hand this day. Now please let me pin him to the earth with one stroke of the spear, and I will not strike him twice.” 9 But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him, for who can put out his hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless?” 10 And David said, “As the Lord lives, the Lord will strike him, or his day will come to die, or he will go down into battle and perish. 11 The Lord forbid that I should put out my hand against the Lord's anointed. But take now the spear that is at his head and the jar of water, and let us go.” 12 So David took the spear and the jar of water from Saul's head, and they went away. No man saw it or knew it, nor did any awake, for they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from the Lord had fallen upon them.
 
13 Then David went over to the other side and stood far off on the top of the hill, with a great space between them. 14 And David called to the army, and to Abner the son of Ner, saying, “Will you not answer, Abner?” Then Abner answered, “Who are you who calls to the king?”15 And David said to Abner, “Are you not a man? Who is like you in Israel? Why then have you not kept watch over your lord the king? For one of the people came in to destroy the king your lord. 16 This thing that you have done is not good. As the Lord lives, you deserve to die, because you have not kept watch over your lord, the Lord's anointed. And now see where the king's spear is and the jar of water that was at his head.”
 
17 Saul recognized David's voice and said, “Is this your voice, my son David?” And David said, “It is my voice, my lord, O king.” 18 And he said, “Why does my lord pursue after his servant? For what have I done? What evil is on my hands? 19 Now therefore let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If it is the Lord who has stirred you up against me, may he accept an offering, but if it is men, may they be cursed before the Lord, for they have driven me out this day that I should have no share in the heritage of the Lord, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods.’20 Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth away from the presence of the Lord, for the king of Israel has come out to seek a single flea like one who hunts a partridge in the mountains.”
 
21 Then Saul said, “I have sinned. Return, my son David, for I will no more do you harm, because my life was precious in your eyes this day. Behold, I have acted foolishly, and have made a great mistake.” 22 And David answered and said, “Here is the spear, O king! Let one of the young men come over and take it. 23 The Lord rewards every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness, for the Lord gave you into my hand today, and I would not put out my hand against the Lord's anointed. 24 Behold, as your life was precious this day in my sight, so may my life be precious in the sight of the Lord, and may he deliver me out of all tribulation.”25 Then Saul said to David, “Blessed be you, my son David! You will do many things and will succeed in them.” So David went his way, and Saul returned to his place.
 
Meditation
What is the most daring, “yes!” you have ever said to King Jesus?  Abishai is the guy who said, “yes!” to David’s daring proposal.
 
“Who will go down with me into the camp of Saul?” (6) David desired to walk into the center of 3,000 of Israel’s best soldiers, to the center where Saul was sleeping, to make a point. But David did not want to go alone. Abishai said, “I will go with you.”
 
Today’s chapter has similarities to chapter 24: Abner and his men guard Saul to the max, yet David finds an opportunity to slay Saul as God has all 3,000 men in a deep sleep(12), but David refuses to let the Lord’s anointed be harmed. He desired to be faithful to the LORD and to teach those around him to do the same (9-11,16, chapter 24:6-7). Can you imagine how much Abishai learned that day from saying “yes” to David’s request?  Can you imagine what Abner thought as he realized who’s spear and jar David had and as he listened to David speak?
 
To say, “YES!” To the desire of the anointed one we must have a deeper trust in God than desire to live.  To say “yes” to the desire of the anointed one we also must be willing to be challenged and changed as we follow Him. 
 
Abishai remains with David throughout his rule (2 Samuel 18:2) and his response in today’s reading challenges us to examine our faith in the Lord’s anointed, Jesus Christ. The true King is advancing His kingdom in the presence of His enemies and is searching for servants who will say, “I will go with you.”
 
The gates of hell will not prevail when men and women say, “yes” to Jesus’ daring proposal to love and live boldly in faith in the presence of our enemies.
 
Richly Dwelling
-What stands out to you the most about David’s daring proposal and Abishai’s response? Wasn’t there an easier way for David to make his point?
 
-Why is it difficult to say “yes” to Jesus when He is asking us to go into enemy territory to demonstrate the reality of His rule and reign?
 
-Where do you see Jesus calling the church to move into the camp of the enemy to make this point and what does it look like for YOU to say, “YES! I will go with you!”?
 
Key Verse
6 Then David said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Joab's brother Abishai the son of Zeruiah, “Who will go down with me into the camp to Saul?” And Abishai said, “I will go down with you.”

Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to Abimelech king of the Philistines. 2 And the Lordappeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you.3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. 4 I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, 5 because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”
 
Isaac and Abimelech
6 So Isaac settled in Gerar. 7 When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” for he feared to say, “My wife,” thinking, “lest the men of the place should kill me because of Rebekah,” because she was attractive in appearance. 8 When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac laughing with Rebekah his wife. 9 So Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, she is your wife. How then could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I thought, ‘Lest I die because of her.’” 10 Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” 11 So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”
 
12 And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The Lord blessed him, 13 and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy.14 He had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants, so that the Philistines envied him. 15 (Now the Philistines had stopped and filled with earth all the wells that his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father.) 16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.”
 
17 So Isaac departed from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there. 18 And Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines had stopped after the death of Abraham. And he gave them the names that his father had given them. 19 But when Isaac's servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water, 20 the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him. 21 Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that also, so he called its name Sitnah. 22 And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, saying, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.”
 
23 From there he went up to Beersheba. 24 And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham's sake.” 25 So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac's servants dug a well.
 
26 When Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army, 27 Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you?” 28 They said, “We see plainly that the Lord has been with you. So we said, let there be a sworn pact between us, between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you, 29 that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the Lord.” 30 So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. 31 In the morning they rose early and exchanged oaths. And Isaac sent them on their way, and they departed from him in peace. 32 That same day Isaac's servants came and told him about the well that they had dug and said to him, “We have found water.” 33 He called it Shibah; therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.
 
34 When Esau was forty years old, he took Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite to be his wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite, 35 and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.
 
Meditation
Famine disrupts all of life, forcing Isaac and Rebekah to move to hostile territory. In the midst of societal upheaval Isaac finds soil to plant, sowing seeds in faith. During our seasons of uncertainty, fear, and/or failures we must be deeply burdened for God’s Kingdom to bear fruit. We must stand on the ground grace gives and sow kingdom seeds in faith.
 
Isaac sowed seed in a foreign land and the Lord gave a hundredfold harvest during the same year (12). Like his father Abraham, Isaac feared for his life and handed over his wife for self-protection. In the midst of famine and moral failure God remains faithful to His promises, re-enforcing His promise of land before they left (3-5) and displaying His faithfulness in abundant blessing after Isaac’s fearful decision (12-16).
 
Isaac responds with ambition when grace gives him ground to plant in. The Philistines saw the fruitfulness and were afraid, requesting Isaac to leave the land (16) and later finding him to make a treaty for security (26-33).
 
God re-enforces His promises in seasons of upheaval, in both famine (3-5) and sojourning (24). The enemies of God will see and be afraid (16, 26-33) and the Kingdom of God will continue to grow. Will we be a people who sow in seasons of instability?
 
God is faithful in seasons of famine and failure. Even in times of uncertainty we must plant, anticipating a Kingdom harvest. God will bring in a kingdom harvest of blessing as He advances the glory of His name.
 
Richly Dwelling
-Famine is disorienting and disrupts all of life. Isaac was forced to move but still finds soil to plant in. What does it look like for you to plant seeds for fruitfulness of God’s covenant faithfulness during a season of instability?
 
-How does God’s grace empower you to plant on the ground he gives you?
 
-God wants to give a harvest, displaying His covenant faithfulness.  How can your church have faith to sow seed to advance His blessing?
 
Key Verse
12 And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The Lord blessed him,