WITHOUT GOD THERE IS HOPELESSNESS! There is no one like you, Lord, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears. —I Chronicles 17:20             How wonderful to be able to speak these words and believe them.  To know there is no one like our Lord is such an encouragement and comfort.  To know there is no God but He gives hope for today and the future.  To have come to the point in our lives to have heard with our own ears about our Lord God Almighty and then to have called on His Name for salvation for sin and to a relationship with…

LIVE ACCORDING TO GOD’S PRESCRIBED MANNER It was because you, the Levites, did not bring it up the first time that the Lord our God broke out in anger against us. We did not inquire of him about how to do it in the prescribed way.” —I Chronicles 15:13             Because the ark of God was not carried the proper way the first time— When they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down, and he died there beside the ark of God. Then…

DON’T LET FEAR PARALYZE YOU! “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” —John 9:20-23             Fear of spiritual leaders can keep people from speaking the truth about a situation.  Actually, many people use fear to…

BE FAITHFUL TO THE END! All Israel was listed in the genealogies recorded in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. They were taken captive to Babylon because of their unfaithfulness. —I Chronicles 9:1 Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord; he did not keep the word of the Lord and even consulted a medium for guidance, and did not inquire of the Lord. So the Lord put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David son of Jesse. —I Chronicles 10:13-14             Unfaithfulness to the Lord has its consequences.  Not keeping the Word of the Lord also has consequences.  And surely instead of inquiring of the Lord and consulting with…

I AM FREE So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. —John 8:35             Those who are in prisons of concrete, bars and barbed wire who know Jesus are freer than those who have all the money, toys, power and possessions who know not Jesus!  Those who know Jesus in countries with hostile regimes are freer than those who do not know Jesus in countries that do not have hostile regimes.  This world is so temporary.  Even if a person lives 100 years, what is that compared to forever?  Will you live for the temporary or the eternal?             Jesus sets us free from the power…

THROWING STONES  “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” —John 8:7  “Go now and leave your life of sin.” —John 8:11             Let us be careful in judging or condemning others.  Jesus did not say they could not stone this adulteress for her sin, but the point He was making was that the one who was without sin themselves was to cast the first stone at her.  Of course, none cast a stone because they all knew that they themselves were not without sin in their own lives.  None of keep God’s Word perfectly.  The older men withdrew first. …

WORDS AND ACTIONS ”Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.” —John 7:50-52             Nicodemus had taken the time to speak with Jesus (John 3:1-21) and listen to Him.  The chief priests and Pharisees had already made their conclusions without personal, investigative interaction with Jesus.  Nicodemus on the other hand concluded that “we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs…

IT’S NOT YOUR BODY OR MY BODY—IT’S GOD’S BODY!   “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and ALL who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters” (Psalm 24:1-2).  Those who are anti-God, anti-Christ do not want to accept that they belong to God.  As followers of Jesus we understand that our “bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in (us), whom (we) have received from God? (We) are not (our) own; (we) were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with (our) bodies.             Those who say, “It is my body!” do not understand what they…

SEEK GOD’S WILL AND NOT YOUR OWN If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. —John 7:17-18             “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world” (I John 4:14).        Our Father sent Jesus into this world to be the Savior of the Word. “For God so loved the…

NONE CAN KNOW JESUS UNLESS OUR FATHER DRAWS THEM No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. —John 6:44-47 And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the…