Woe— Beware!  For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth.  —Exodus 9:15  Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! —Matthew 18:7              A day of reckoning is coming.  “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (II Peter 3:9).  Yes, our Lord is patient with this sin-infested world that is…

LISTEN AND OBEY!  Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded. —Exodus 7:20  “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” —Matthew 17:5              Are we truly listening to what our Lord is saying to us?  Are we being and doing what we have heard Him tell us?  What is He saying?  How are we being what He desires?  What are we doing that He desires?  Evaluate your life and see if you truly are listening to Him and seeking to be obedient to what He says.  Can you think of one thing He has said to you recently and you faithfully…

OBEDIENCE REGARDLESS OF THE FEELINGS OF BEING INADEQUATE! Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”  he Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”  But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.” —Exodus 4:10-13 But Moses said to the Lord, “If the Israelites will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh…

IT IS YOU!  Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. —Exodus 1:8  One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. —Exodus 2:11  During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God.—Exodus 2:2  God said to Moses, “I am who I am. c This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to…

END OF LIFE HERE TO BE GATHERED THERE!  When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed, breathed his last and was gathered to his people. —Genesis 49:33              After living 147 years Jacob’s end of life scene seems to be so peaceful.  Death is not mentioned here.  Instead we read that he “breathed his last and was gathered to his people.”  Ok, breathing his last breath surely indicates death, but instead of mentioning death we are told that he “was gathered to his people.”  There appeared to be no struggle to hold on— no grasping to stay here any longer, but…

EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED, THE UNIMAGINABLE!  Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your children too.” —Genesis 48:11  Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” —Matthew 14:31              There are things that happen we do not expect.  Jacob surely would never see Joseph again.  He had seen Joseph’s cloak that he himself had made, found by his brothers and covered in blood.  It was obvious that Joseph had been eaten by wild animals.  Even though Jacob had been lied to by his sons, he truly believed that Joseph was…

CARRYING GUILT  “What can we say to my lord?” Judah replied. “What can we say? How can we prove our innocence? God has uncovered your servants’ guilt. We are now my lord’s slaves—we ourselves and the one who was found to have the cup.” —Genesis 44:16  They said to one another, “Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen; that’s why this distress has come on us.” —Genesis 42:21              The brothers of Joseph had carried this guilt for what they had done to him for 22 years.  For 22…

LACK OF FAITH SUPPRESSES THE REVELATION GOD’S POWER Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked. “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” And they took offense at him.  But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home.”  And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith. —Matthew 13:54-59…

THE WISE AND THE FOOL— HE WHO DOES OR DOES NOT UNDERSTAND  Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.” —Matthew 13:8-9  The seed sown along the path is like “anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart” (Matthew 13:18). The seed sown on rocky soil is like “the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy,yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on…

DESTRUCTIVE DIVISION  Jesus said, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. —Matthew 12:25              Division is the great divider of people at any level— a nation, a state, a city, a neighborhood, a family or even between two people.  Jesus made it clear that those divisions are destructive in relationships at any level.             Presently the United States is divided badly.  If we keep going in this direction this nation will cease to be what it has been.  There appear to be forces that are intentionally causing confusion and division while encouraging animosity and hatred.             When we…