Subscribe to listen each week as the Manna class learns and grows together through their in-depth study of God's Word. This comprehensive, expository series is taught by Brad Hannink, a gifted communicator of the Bread of Life. Manna is a Bible study life group that meets at Valley Baptist Church, located at 4800 Fruitvale Ave. in Bakersfield, California. Manna believes in doing life together. If you’re in need of prayer, email us your request at mannabiblepodcast@gmail.com and our class will be happy to add it to our prayer list. Members of Manna get together each week to pray for those on the prayer list. For more information, visit mannapodcast.com. ©2018, 2019, 2020, & 2021 - Brad Hannink - All Rights Reserved

Manna at Valley Baptist Church

"Selfish Praying" • Manna Quarantine Devotional #90

"Stop Praying, Start Obeying!" • Manna Quarantine Devotional #89

"A Prophet & A Prostitute" • Manna Quarantine Devotional #88

"Stuck On Stupid" • Manna Quarantine Devotional #87

“From Agony to Ecstasy In An Instant” • Manna Quarantine Devotional # 86

“Following God Or Your Sister-In-Law” • Manna Quarantine Devotional #85

Dear Manna Family, We are studying the lives of Bible characters who are not famous, and todays lesson is about a woman named Hagar. Her story is told in Genesis 16 and 21. Context: God promised Abraham that he would father a son, even through he was 75 years old, and his wife Sarah was 65. After waiting 10 years, Sarah became impatient, and decided that God needed her help. She advised Abraham to take her maidservant Hagar as a second wife or concubine, and have a child through her. This practice of surrogate motherhood was not an uncommon practice at this time and Abraham follows Sarah’s advice. When Hagar becomes pregnant, she begins to despise Sarah, who cannot become pregnant. Sarah then blames Abraham for the problem that her suggestion created in the first place! Abraham tells Sarah to do whatever she thinks is right, and Sarah begins to treat Hagar harshly. Hagar then runs away into the wilderness. Genesis 16:7 Now the angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. Hagar was alone in the desert running away from Sarah when God found her. You may not know where you are, but God always knows where you are, and that’s comforting. Vs 8 And He said, ‘Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from and where are you going?’ And she said, “ I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress, Sarai.” Vs 9 Then the angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her authority. Vs 11 “…..you shall bear a son; and you shall call his name Ishmael, because the LORD has given heed to your affliction.” Jesus is the Good Shepherd who knows His sheep by name. The Good Shepherd knew that His lamb Hagar was not in the sheepfold where she belonged. She was running away from God’s plan for her life. God told her to go back and submit to Sarah’s authority, even though Sarah was harsh. God had plans for her and her son. The name Ishmael means “God hears”, and God promised to make him into a great nation. Vs 13 Then she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees”; for she said, “Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?” It seems as though she not only heard God speak, she actually saw Him, obviously in a veiled form. Fourteen years later, Isaac was born. Sarah then demanded that Abraham send Hagar and Ishmael away, and God told Abraham to listen to Sarah. Hagar gets lost in the wilderness, and her water is all gone. She and Ishmael are literally dying of thirst, when God calls her name for the second time. Genesis 21: 17 God heard the lad crying; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter with you, Hagar? Do not fear, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. Vs 18 Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him by the hand, for I will make a great nation of him.” God hears us whenever we call, no matter where we are, and He always has the perfect solution to our problems. God opened her eyes to see a well of water which saved their lives. The text says that God was with Ishmael, and he grew and became an archer. Applications: Abraham and Sarah made multiple poor decisions, yet God used them to bless the world. Life often includes a wilderness, where everything seems hopeless and lost. Even though we may be lost, God always knows where we are. He finds us because He loves us, even if we are not rich and famous. God has a good plan for your future, regardless of your past. On two separate occasions, God found and spoke to an Egyptian slave woman by name. God heard Ishmael, even in the middle of a wasteland, when he was near death, and He will always hear you when you call out to him. Never forget, God is only a prayer away. Remember, God designed us to ‘do life together!’ Love and prayers, Brad ••• For info visit mannapodcast.com. ©2018, 2019, 2020, & 2021 - Brad Hannink - All Rights Reserved

"When God Finds You" • Manna Quarantine Devotional #84

"Poise Under Pressure" • Manna Quarantine Devotional #83 by Brad Hannink

"Poise Under Pressure" • Manna Quarantine Devotional #83

“Greed Deceives” • Manna Quarantine Devotional #82

"Having No Problems Is A Problem" • Manna Quarantine Devotional #81

Subscribe to listen each week as the Manna class learns and grows together through their in-depth study of God's Word. This comprehensive, expository series is taught by Brad Hannink, a gifted communicator of the Bread of Life. Manna is a Bible study life group that meets at Valley Baptist Church, located at 4800 Fruitvale Ave. in Bakersfield, California. Manna believes in doing life together. If you’re in need of prayer, email us your request at mannabiblepodcast@gmail.com and our class will be happy to add it to our prayer list. Members of Manna get together each week to pray for those on the prayer list. For more information, visit mannapodcast.com. ©2018, 2019, & 2020 - Brad Hannink - All Rights Reserved

"The Solution For Adversity Is Worship" • Manna Quarantine Devotional #80

"Zozobra" • Manna Quarantine Devotional #79

Someone once said that the primary results of the twentieth century were more speed and more noise. We certainly live in a noisy culture. Many people want to talk, few people want to listen. Even fewer people are interested in listening to what God is saying. Luke 3 illustrates our tendency to value human activity more than God’s activity. Luke 3:1 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Ablilene, Vs 2 in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness. You wonder why Luke would go to this amount of detail. He gives us the names of several rulers and the domains they ruled over. There were emperors, governors, rulers, politicians, priests, royalty and rascals. They pulled the levers of governmental and religious power in order to accomplish what they wanted. All the media of the day reported on what they said, and what they did. These people were the movers and shakers of their time. People really thought that they controlled the world of that era. In stark contrast to all that humans were saying and doing, we go to the last half of verse two and see what God is up to. It says that “the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness.” When Caesar spoke, everybody listened, because he had the power of life and death over his subjects. When God spoke, He didn’t speak to the movers and shakers, the elites of the day. He spoke to an obscure, mysterious man named John who lived alone in the desert. About 30 years earlier, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a priest named Zacharias to tell him that he and his elderly wife Elizabeth were miraculously going to have a son. Their son John was going to be filled with the Holy Spirit while still in the womb. John was going to need supernatural power since God had called him be the forerunner or herald for the promised Messiah. John’s job description was to tell people to get ready because God’s Savior was coming. In that era, when a king traveled through his country, he sent heralds before him to announce his coming, so that his subjects would be prepared to meet him. John was to prepare Israel to meet their Messiah by calling them to turn away from their sins and turn to God. The text records that John was born……. And the child continued to grow, and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance. (Luke 1:80) John was called to speak God’s word to his culture. In order to speak for God, he first had to listen to God. In order to listen to God, he had to stop listening to noise of the world, so he lived in the desert where it was quiet. The same is true today. We need to get quiet and alone with God, so we can hear what He has to say. Many times in the Bible, God spoke to, and spoke through obscure, unknown, common people. God has plans for His planet, and they don’t begin in the minds of men or the halls of Congress. What is really going on in the world today is not what people are doing, but what God is doing. Every day, God still speaks to people who want to listen to Him. God says that He loves sinful people so much that He sent His only Son Jesus, to pay their sin debt by dying in their place on the cross. When people turn away from their sin, and trust in Jesus alone to forgive their sin, He will. That’s good news. And God has given us the gift of the gospel, so we can share it with others. Like John the Baptist, we are called to introduce people to Jesus, the Savior of the world. The gospel is the gift that only gets better the more you give it away. Remember, God designed us to “do life together!” Love and prayers, Brad Visit mannapodcast.com. ©2018, 2019, & 2020 - Brad Hannink - All Rights Reserved

"Listening To God" • Manna Quarantine Devotional #76

We are studying the lives of common everyday people in the Bible. They were people like us, yet the Holy Spirit included their stories in the Bible for our benefit. One such man was Simeon, and his story is told in Luke 2. Luke 2:25 And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him. Vs 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. Vs 27 And he came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to carry out for Him the custom of the Law, Vs 28 then he took Him into His arms, and blessed God, and said, Vs 29 “Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace According to Your word; Vs 30 For my eyes have seen Your salvation, Vs 31 Which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, Vs 32 A light of revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel.” There are a number of things that make Simeon uncommon. He was righteous which means he lived in conformity with the character and conduct of God. He thought like God thought, and so he acted like God acted. He was a devout man; he lived in reverence and awe of God’s holiness. It says three times in three verses that he was filled with the Spirit, intimate with the Spirit, and directed by the Spirit. He was a man in whom and through whom the Holy Spirit lived and worked. The Holy Spirit had told him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Christ. The name Lord means master, or supreme ruler, and refers to God. The Greek name Christ and the Hebrew name Messiah both mean ‘the anointed one.’ This official title, Christ or Messiah, occurs 514 times in the New Testament. It denotes His role as the One chosen and sent by God save His people from their sins. The name Jesus means, ‘the Lord is salvation’ or ‘Savior’, which means to rescue, to deliver or to save. Simeon was looking for the consolation of Israel which was Jesus the promised Messiah. He was seeking the One who would bring comfort to Israel through salvation. He obviously knew the Old Testament prophecies about the coming Messiah, and he longed to see God’s promise fulfilled. Here was a man who made God his supreme priority. Now the Holy Spirit arranged a divine appointment between Simeon and Jesus. 33 days after His circumcision, Joseph and Mary brought Jesus into the temple to present their first born Son to the Lord, and to offer a sacrifice as commanded by the Mosaic Law. When Simeon saw Jesus, he took him in his arms and blessed God. Simeon praised God for keeping His promise and allowing him to see God’s salvation. Now that he had seen the Messiah, he was ready to die. This is a profound truth. No one is ready to die, until they have placed their faith in Jesus’ payment for their sins. God only has one solution for human sin and His name is Jesus. Jesus came to earth on Christmas to pay the penalty for our sins by dying in our place, so that all who believe in Him by faith will be forgiven by God. And Christ’s salvation is offered to all, Jew and Gentile alike. The greatest gift anyone could receive is the gift of salvation and forgiveness of their sins. This Christmas, as we give presents to each other, let’s not forget the greatest gift of all; God’s gift of His Son Jesus. This was not a cheap gift. For us to inherit eternal life, Jesus, the most perfect being who ever lived, had to die in our place. Simeon didn’t take God’s gift for granted. He believed God’s promise, He pursued God’s promise, and He gave thanks for the fulfillment of God’s promise. Let’s do the same. Remember, God designed us to ‘do life together!’ Love and prayers, Brad ••• For more information, visit mannapodcast.com. ©2018, 2019, & 2020 - Brad Hannink - All Rights Reserved

"Simeon Was A Seeker" • Manna Quarantine Devotional #75

"Waiting In God's Workshop" • Manna Quarantine Devotional #70

Listen each week as the Manna class learns and grows together through their in-depth study of God's Word. This comprehensive, expository series is taught by Brad Hannink, a gifted and talented communicator of the Bread of Life.

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Manna at Valley Baptist Church

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