A LAND POLLUTED “‘Do not pollute the land where you are. Bloodshed pollutes the land, and atonement cannot be made for the land on which blood has been shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it. Do not defile the land where you live and where I dwell, for I, the Lord, dwell among the Israelites.’” —Numbers 34:33-34             The United States is one polluted land!  So many are concerned for the environment not to be polluted and we are to be good stewards of God’s Creation.  Unfortunately we have Creation worshippers rather than worshippers of the Creator.  They are more concerned with their relationship to the environment than…

SERVING A WHO OR A WHAT Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”  The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said gain, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!  It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”  The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”  Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” —Mark 10:23-27…

YOU ARE EITHER FOR JESUS OR AGAINST HIM! “For whoever is not against us is for us. —Mark 9:40 “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” —Matthew 12:30             Are you against Jesus and those who follow Him or are you for Him and for those who follow Him?  Are you gathering with Jesus or scattering from Him?  Your answers to those questions truly determine if you know Him or not.  Your answers to those questions also determine whether you are headed for heaven or hell!  Pretty serious!             Jesus makes it very clear that there are sides.  You are either on…

COME TO JESUS— EVEN IN YOUR DOUBTS AND DISBELIEF! But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.  “If you can?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”  Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”—Mark 9:22-24             A child in dire straits with demon possession!  It is parent’s worst nightmare.  But this parent was wise in bringing his child to Jesus.  Did he have doubts?  Sure he did!  Actually he was having a hard time believing Jesus could do anything.  But he also asked Jesus to help him overcome his unbelief.  Oh yea, Jesus would do that as He drove…

A DISCIPLE DENIES SELF Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? —Mark 8:34-37             Being a disciple of Jesus and following Him includes self-denial.  There is much that the flesh wants in this life— comfort surely being high on the list— but the…

BELIEVING THE TRUTH OR THE LIAR  God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. —Numbers 23:19   in the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time… —Titus 1:2   God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie… —Hebrews 6:18             People lie, God never lies— He cannot lie.  He does not change His mind.  When He says something He will do it.  He may change His actions, or so it appears to us, but He does not change His mind.  God is Sovereign. …

VAIN WORSHIP IS HOLDING TO MAN’S COMMANDS/TRADITIONS And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! —Mark 7:6-9              Do I hold the Word of God as the highest standard for life or do I have other added traditions of man that I regard…

COMPASSION ACTS When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. —Mark 6:34             When was the last time you looked on a crowd and had compassion on them?  Have you ever sat in a sports stadium and looked at the crowd?   Did you consider that the vast majority of people in the crowd were lost and on their way to hell?  Do you understand that they are “are like sheep without a shepherd?  Did your heart go out to them?             How about the person you work…

GO AND NOT GRUMBLE! So the men Moses had sent to explore the land, who returned and made the whole community grumble against him by spreading a bad report about it— these men who were responsible for spreading the bad report about the land were struck down and died of a plague before the Lord. Of the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh survived. —Numbers 14:36-38             Influencing a people away from our Lord’s desires is a dangerous course to take.  Twelve men were sent to explore the land and when they returned there were ten of them that made the whole…

HIS WORD IS ABSOLUTELY DEPENDABLE! And the LORD said to Moses, “Is the LORD’s hand shortened? Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not.” —Numbers 11:23             Do I trust our Lord God Almighty for the impossible?  Can I expect Him to work in ways that are well beyond me?  When a situation is far out of my control do I trust Him for it?  How much do I trust what He has to say?  Do I trust His Word to be true?             When our Lord said He would provide meat for all the Israelites “Moses said, “Here I am among six hundred…