RESPONSIBILITY GIVEN US FROM OUR RISEN KING! “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?  No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”  —Luke 16:10-13             Today is resurrection Sunday. …

JOY AND REJOICING! I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. —Luke 15:7 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents. —Luke 15:10             When was the last time you rejoiced over someone who repented and called on Jesus to be saved?  How awesome this is that when “one sinner who repents” causes rejoicing in heaven!  Angels know the joy in heaven when a sinner repents!  When was the last time you knew there was joy and…

THE BATTLE IS THE LORD’S! The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” —I Samuel 17:37 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.” —I Samuel 17:47             Our Lord is ultimately in control.  We are not!  We may think we are, but that is not the case.  Yes, we have responsibility to carry out, but that is only under the sovereignty of our Lord God Almighty.  How those two works…

HE WILL DO THROUGH MANY OR FEW!  Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few. —I Samuel 14:6 Then panic struck the whole army—those in the camp and field, and those in the outposts and raiding parties—and the ground shook. It was a panic sent by God. —I Samuel 14:15 Then Saul and all his men assembled and went to the battle. They found the Philistines in total confusion, striking each other with their swords. —I Samuel 14:20 So on that day the Lord saved Israel. —I Samuel 14:23             Our Lord saves according to His purposes.  He can work through many or few.  Let us not forget that.  He…

LEADERS OF INTEGRITY Here I stand. Testify against me in the presence of the Lord and his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I accepted a bribe to make me shut my eyes? If I have done any of these things, I will make it right.”  “You have not cheated or oppressed us,” they replied. “You have not taken anything from anyone’s hand.”  Samuel said to them, “The Lord is witness against you, and also his anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand.”  “He is witness,” they said. —I Samuel…

MOTIVATION FOR GOVERNMENT LEADERSHIP  Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of…

BE A FAITHFUL AND WISE MANAGER OF WHAT HE HAS GIVEN YOU!  You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. —Luke 12:40  And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.” —Luke 12:42-43  Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more. —Luke 12:48  You hypocrites! You know…

A PRAYER ACKNOWLEDGING GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY  The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up.  The Lord sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts.  He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor. —-I Samuel 2:6-8              This portion of God’s Word above is from the prayer of Hannah after the Lord answered an earlier prayer.  She praises Him for Who He is and what He does.  She previously had been “praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard” (I…

DON’T BE KNOWN AS BITTER! “Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. —Ruth 1:20             Bad things happen in a fallen, sinful world.  Death has happened ever since sin entered the world.  Sin has caused our world to degenerate from the glory of Eden to what we have today with all the sickness, sadness and violence.  Man was warned this would happen if they chose their own way and not God’s way (Genesis 2:15-17).  Yes, disobedience brought sin and death into this world.  Let us not blame God.  Mankind/We brought this on ourselves.  Now… do we think God’s way…

WE ARE FOR OR AGAINST JESUS, OBEDIENT OR DISOBEDIENT TO HIM “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”  He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” —Luke 11:23, 28             Are you not with Jesus?  Then you are against Him and that is not a good place to be.  Are you gathering with Jesus?  If not then you are scattering.  When you hear the Word of God are you obeying what He says?  If so you are blessed.  Sheep are to gather with the Shepherd, not scatter from Him!             There will be evidence in…