“Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world… he raised us from the dead along with Christ” (Ephesians 2:1-2, 6). Spiritually dead people cannot do anything to save themselves! It is all by the grace of God that He raised us from our deadness to new life in Jesus. Those of us who know Jesus only know Him because our Father drew us to Jesus (John 6:44). It is only when He drew us to Jesus that we called on Him for…

And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him. —Ephesians 1:13-14 If you know Jesus then you have been adopted by God! (Ephesians 1:50). The Holy Spirit of God identified us as God’s when we believed the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD6khv6pGkw He…

So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith. —Galatians 6:9-10 How are you serving the Lord Jesus Christ? Be faithful because in due time you will reap a harvest. The key is to not give up. We need to be expectant that the Lord will keep His Word and bring a harvest as we do good! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBJJJkiRukY I was told this story at the State Prison small group last night… There are…

Unless your faith is firm, I cannot make you stand firm. —Isaiah 7:9 Will you believe? Are you ready to truly trust Him? Jesus is the “way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwsvqVmFV6Y Trust Him to be saved from sin and to live a life with Him. Have a firm faith as He leads you each and every moment of every day for the rest of your life! Jesus can be fully trusted! Can He make you stand today? Yes, if your faith is firm. Will He be able to make you stand tomorrow, next year or ten years from now? Yes, if your faith if firm. If…

Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.” —Galatians 2:16 What is it that is enough for you? Christ is enough! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fZ-tBR7LJ0 No amount of works, no amount of trying to do good is enough. It is Jesus and He alone that saves a person. Obedience to the law cannot save anyone. Justification comes…

I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ. Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you. I say again what we have said before: If anyone preaches any other Good News than the one you welcomed, let that person be…

Be joyful. Grow to maturity. Encourage each other. Live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you. —I Corinthians 13:11 Am I full of joy because of the grace of God in my life? Am I growing in maturity for His service now and for what He has for me in the future? Am I encouraging others with the comfort that He has comforted me with? Am I living in harmony and peace with others through my words and actions? If that is the case then the love and peace of God will be with me! Am I experiencing His love and the…

I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud. Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then…

That’s the whole story. Here now is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty. God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad. —Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 Now here is a sobering thought— “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad” (II Corinthians 5:10). Personally, as a follower of Jesus I cannot say that I have done everything to honor Him. My selfish self has been so selfish at times as I…

Indeed, how can people avoid what they don’t know is going to happen? None of us can hold back our spirit from departing. None of us has the power to prevent the day of our death. There is no escaping that obligation, that dark battle. And in the face of death, wickedness will certainly not rescue the wicked. —Ecclesiastes 8:7-8 How many birthdays have you had? How many springs, summers, falls and winters have you lived through? How many Thanksgivings and Christmases have you experienced? How many full moons have you gazed upon? How old are you now? We cannot stop time… tick, tick, tick. We know the end of…