JESUS— OUR PASSOVER LAMB The king gave this order to all the people: “Celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” —II Kings 23:21             I have always loved this illustration.  It is told in different ways, buy gets the point across— “A young girl was watching her mother bake a ham for a family gathering and noticed her mom cutting off the ends before placing it in the oven.  “Mom, why do you cut the ends off before baking the ham?” she asked.  “Hmmm… I think it helps soak up the juices while it’s baking. I’m not sure, though. That’s…

  USE PEACE AND SECURITY WISELY! In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him and said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Put your house in order, for you are about to die; you will not recover.’”  Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, saying, “Please, O LORD, remember how I have walked before You faithfully and with wholehearted devotion; I have done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.  Before Isaiah had left the middle courtyard, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “Go back and tell Hezekiah the leader of My…

OUR LORD GOD ALMIGHTY HAS ALL POWER AND AUTHORITY! Do not listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’  Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? —II Kings 18:32-33 Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: “Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Give ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see;…

POINT PEOPLE TO JESUS AND NOT AWAY FROM HIM! Jeroboam enticed Israel away from following the Lord and caused them to commit a great sin. —II Kings 17:21             Wow to those leaders who lead people “away from following the Lord.”  In doing so they cause “them to commit a great sin.  No, instead we are to “entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others” the things we have been taught (II Timothy 2:2).  Yes, reliable and qualified people are to be “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age “(Matthew…

TIME IS IN HIS HANDS! (My Time Is In His Hands) He made the moon to mark the seasons, and the sun knows when to go down. —Psalm 103:19             For thousands of years the moon has “marked the seasons” and kept time.  The sun also “knows when to go down.”  How many full moons have you lived?  That can be figured out easily because of the accuracy of time the moon keeps.  How many sunrises and sunsets have you lived?  Again, that is easy to figure out because of the accuracy of time the sun keeps.  From the beginning “of time” the Sun and moon have continued to keep…

OH, HOW HE LOVES US! For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. —Psalm 103:11-12 But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children—with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts. —Psalm 103:17-18             How “great is his love for those who fear him?”  It is “as high as the heavens are above the earth.”  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxTOsQ3LDE4 Nobody love us like Jesus— “We love because he…

YOUR TIME IS SHORT! My days are like the evening shadow; I wither away like grass.  But you, Lord, sit enthroned forever; your renown endures through all generations. —Psalm 102:11-12 In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.  They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment.  Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded.  But you remain the same, and your years will never end. —Psalm 102:25-27             Tell a young person that their “days are like the evening shadow?” and they “wither away like grass.”  They rarely consider this in…

OTHERS TO BE OF GREATER INFLUENCE THAN ME! When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?”  “Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,” Elisha replied.  “You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah said, “yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours—otherwise, it will not.” —II Kings 2:9-10             Elijah desired to do something for Elisha before Elijah was taken off this planet.  Elisha said, “Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit.”  Elijah said, “yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it…

I AM HIS SHEEP! Know that the Lord is God.  It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. —Psalm 100:3             It is such a joy to “know that the Lord is God.”  The simple fact is “It is he who made us.  So may jump through “hoops” to explain away that fact.  It is so basic and foundational to our existence.  But here are those “who suppress the truth by their wickedness.”  They want to do wickedness.  They want others to do wickedness.  They do not want to live for God and they do not want others to live for…

 OUR LORD PROVIDES “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food…”  Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’”  She went away and did…