BAPTISM— FIRST ACTION OF A FOLLOWER OF JESUS And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” —Acts 8:36             Why did the eunuch want to be baptized?  We are surely not told the full discussion that Philip had with the eunuch, but we are told that “Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus” (Acts 8:35).  What did Philip tell him about Jesus?  It seems part of what they talked about was when “Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven…

Our God Reigns!  He makes nations great and destroys them; He enlarges nations, then disperses them.  He deprives the earth’s leaders of reason and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland.  They grope in the darkness without light; He makes them stagger like drunkards. —Job 12:23-25              If nations are great it is because of our Lord God Almighty.  He is the only One that makes a nation great.  No man or group of men can make a nation great by themselves; it is the Lord that does it through them if indeed a nation is to be great.  Oh, that man would acknowledge His hand in this and not…

FACING DEATH If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind? Why have you made me your mark? Why have I become a burden to you?  Why do you not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now I shall lie in the earth; you will seek me, but I shall not be.” —Job 7:20-21 And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep. —Acts 7:59-60             Here are two men facing…

SPEAK FROM GOD’S COUNSEL… ACCORDING TO HIS WORD As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same. By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his anger they are consumed. —Job 4:8-9 …for I have not denied the words of the Holy One. —Job 6:10             God said of Job that “There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil” (Job 1:8).  He was a man who did not deny “the words of the Holy One.”  Instead Job sought to live according to the Word of God.  God gave the…

KEEP PERSPECTIVE! And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he…

DON’T BE NAÏVE! On that day King Ahasuerus gave to Queen Esther the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told what he was to her. And the king took off his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman. —Esther 8:1-2 Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” 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, and they…

YOU HAVE PURPOSE! For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” —Esther 4:14             “For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place.”  Is this principle not true for us today as well?  Our Lord God Almighty has called us to be witnesses and disciple-makers.  If we are not faithful and keep silent He will work through someone else.  He does not need us,…

BEWARE OF DECEIVERS, MANIPULATORS AND DESTROYERS So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. And the king said to Haman, “The money is given to you, the people also, to do with them as it seems good to you.” —Esther 3:10-11 Letters were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces with instruction to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all Jews, young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods. —Esther 3:13             There…

MEET THE NEEDS OUR LORD DESIRES YOU TO MEET! There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. —Acts 4:34-35             These believers in the early church lived in such a way that there “was not a needy person among them.”  They were truly concerned for each other and many of those who had assets sold them so the needs of others could be met.  These people owned lands or houses, but to help their…

RIGHT TO LISTEN TO GOD OR MAN— YOU JUDGE Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else,…