ETERNAL, NOT TEMPORAL FOCUS Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. —Matthew 6:19-21 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. —Matthew 6:24 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be…

BELIEVING GOD IS COUNTED AS RIGHTEOUSNESS And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness. —Genesis 15:6 What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation.  However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness. David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin…

FOLLOWING AND FISHING And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. —Matthew 4:19             Jesus told those early followers of His that He would make them “fishers of men.”   Followers of Jesus are to be fishers of men. But what does that mean? Well, Jesus took something they were familiar with— fishing for fish— to convey this truth that they would now fish for men. So, what does it mean to fish for men? To fish for fish there needs to be some knowledge of how to fish for fish.   You need to be equipped. You need to go to the…

GOOD FRUIT OR BAD FRUIT Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. —Matthew 3:8 “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” —Matthew 3:11-12 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.  By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from…

DEATH WILL BE NO MORE! And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” —Genesis 2:16-17 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. —Genesis 3:4 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” —Genesis 3:19             Death… where did it come from? Death entered…

GOD HAS THE CLIMATE UNDER CONTROL! And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so.  And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. —Genesis 1:14-16              Man is so fickle. In the 1970’s global cooling was the immediate crisis we had to act on because if we did not do something…

ALREADY 2020!  All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan.   Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away. If only we knew the power of your anger! Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due. Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. —Psalm 90:9-12 Today is the last day of 2019— that is, in the “year of our Lord 2019!” Our very dating system is even based on…

HE IS THE BEGINNING AND THE END             When there was nothing there was God and He was already there in the beginning of time when He created the heavens and the earth. Here is a picture hard for us to grasp. What was it like before there was any of the creation that He created?   This we cannot understand except that God was already and He was the One who created everything. The theory of evolution misses this point all together.   There had to be a beginning and it was God who caused that beginning (Genesis 1:1). There is no other explanation.             Marriage had a beginning.…

GOD’S PLAN OR YOUR PLAN In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps. —Proverbs 16:9 I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will give you counsel and watch over you. —Psalm 32:8 How is our Lord establishing your steps? What instruction is He giving you for the way you should go? In what way has He taught you or is teaching you to go that way? You and I make plans. How are they lining up with His will?             Is your planning according to human understanding alone or are you seeking to plan according to God’s will? He…

HOPE IN GOD! Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? —Genesis 4:6 So he asked Pharaoh’s officers who were with him in custody in his master’s house, “Why are your faces downcast today?” —Genesis 40:7 She said, “May your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast. —I Samuel 1:18 When people are brought low and you say, ‘Lift them up!’ then he will save the downcast. —Job 22:29 Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet…