CALLED TO LOVE AND SERVE OUR LORD GOD ALMIGHTY And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. —Deuteronomy 10:12 And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I command you today, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. —Deuteronomy 11:13 You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by…

REMEMBER REPETITION HELPS US REMEMBER! …remember what the LORD your God did… —Deuteronomy 7:18 Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth… —Deuteronomy 8:17-18 So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ…

DO NOT ADD OR TAKE AWAY FROM GOD’S WORD! You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you. —Deuteronomy 4:2 Every word of God is flawless; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.  Do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you and prove you a liar. —Proverbs 30:5-6 I testify to everyone who hears the words of prophecy in this book: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes away from the…

DO NOT FEAR— OUR LORD FIGHTS FOR US! Our brothers have made our hearts melt… Do not be in dread or afraid of them. —Deuteronomy 1:28-29 You shall not fear them, for it is the LORD your God who fights for you. —Deuteronomy 3:22      God has given us commands, His Word, directives and we are to carry them out.  We are not to be in dread or fearful as we lovingly obey Him.  What is concerning though is that there are “brothers” around us that will seek to make “our hearts melt.”  They are fearful themselves and do not want to obey our Lord and they seek to make…

BE BATTLE PREPARED TODAY! Your tongue plots destruction, like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit. You love evil more than good, and lying more than speaking what is right… “See the man who would not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and sought refuge in his own destruction!” —Psalm 52:2-3, 7             Listen!  There are people who plot destruction and even their speech is destructive.  Now, we are told by God that our “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the…

INWARD CHANGE AFFECTS OUTWARD ACTIONS Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart… Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me…  Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. —Psalm 51:6, 9-10, 12-13                Are you delighting in God’s truth inwardly?  This is where only our Lord can see and know what is truly going on.  Are you allowing Him to teach you? …

THANK GOD!  PRAISE GOD! The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God. —Psalm 50:23 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. —Hebrews 13:15             Do you offer thanksgiving to God regularly?  This is a “sacrifice” that glorifies Him! So let us, the people of God, that thank Him often.  What are you thanking Him for today?  We surely have plenty to thank Him for…             Do you praise Him?  This is also a “sacrifice” to God as we “openly profess…

ONLY JESUS REDEEMS! No one can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for them—the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough—so that they should live on forever and not see decay… But God will redeem me from the realm of the dead; he will surely take me to himself. —Psalm 49:7-9, 15  People who have wealth but lack understanding are like the beasts that perish. —Psalm 49:20             No mere person can redeem the life of another person.  There is nothing a person could give to God to redeem another person.  The cost of redemption is so costly that no human…

PREPARE OTHERS!  TELL OTHERS!  “Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the LORD may not be as sheep that have no shepherd.” So the LORD said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him. Make him stand before Eleazar the priest and all the congregation, and you shall commission him in their sight. You shall invest him with some of your authority, that all the congregation of…

YOU ARE NOT ULTIMATELY IN CONTROL And the angel of the LORD said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to oppose you because your way is perverse before me. —Numbers 22:32 He subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet. —Psalm 47:3             Who is really in control?  Can you determine how many more breaths you will take before you die?  Do you know what is even going to happen today?  Tomorrow? Next week?  Next month?  Next year?  No, “you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that’” (James 4:15). …