EXTEND MERCY And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” —Luke 10:25-29             Jesus told the lawyer that if he wanted eternal…

LEADERSHIP VOID LEADS TO EVIL In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit. —Judges 17:6             When no leadership exists there is chaos.  When everyone decides what is right for them to do and they do it, it is chaos.  When there is a vacuum of leadership or poor leadership, then evil will prevail.  People will be encouraged to be out of control and will do evil as well.             Governments are put into place for the intention of being no “terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in…

THOSE NOT AGAINST YOU ARE FOR YOU! “Master,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us.”  “Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for whoever is not against you is for you.” —Luke 9:50             What kind of mindset do you have?  Are you sure your denomination is the “right” one and others got it wrong?  Do you think others are against you just because they do not agree with you or your denomination in various areas?  Is it your thought that the local church you attend is the one that has it all together and others…

LISTEN! Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. —Luke 9:23-26 A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I…

REMEMBER! And the people of Israel did not remember the LORD their God, who had delivered them from the hand of all their enemies on every side. —Judges 8:34 “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. —I Corinthians 11:24-26 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through…

PERSEVERE But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop. —Luke 8:15  But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. —Matthew 13:23 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain…

LOVE FOR GOD REVEALED BY SERVING HIM! When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.  When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would…

FAITH… BELIEVES! He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”  When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him,…

TO LOVE GOD IS TO OBEY GOD— TO OBEY GOD IS TO LOVE GOD! So be very careful to love the Lord your God. —Joshua 23:11 Israel served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had experienced everything the Lord had done for Israel. —Joshua 24:31             The two great commands are to love God, which is the greatest command, and the second is to love people (Matthew 22:37-40).  All of God’s Word is summed up in these two commands.  Everything in God’s Word points to these two commands.  We are even to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44).  “But to…

PROMISE KEEPER Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled. —Joshua 21:45             Be assure that “all the Lord’s good promises” that He has promised us will be fulfilled.  Just as He was faithful to Israel in keeping His Word to them, so also He will be faithful in keeping His Word to us.  We can count on that!             We live in a time where there are many whose word cannot be trusted.  Be wise in whose word you trust, but first trust the Word of our Lord and filter everything through what He has to say.  He is the only One we…