REACH ONE FOR JESUS! And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the…

IN SORROW— PONDER THE GREATNESS OF GOD! I loathe my life; I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. I will say to God, Do not condemn me; let me know why you contend against me. —Job 10:1-2 Why did you bring me out from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me. —Job 10:18 Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves.  —Job 11:6 In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind. —Job 12:10 With God are wisdom and might; he has counsel and…

ENCOURAGE THOSE LACKING HOPE! When I lie down I say, ‘When shall I arise?’ But the night is long, and I am full of tossing till the dawn. —Job 7:4 Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. —Job 7:11 If your children have sinned against him, he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression. —Job 8:4 Such are the paths of all who forget God; the hope of the godless shall perish. —Job 8:13             Job is in such anguish.  He lost his business.  He lost all his children.  He…

YOU DON’T KNOW A PERSON’S HEART! As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same. —Job 4:8 His children are far from safety; they are crushed in the gate, and there is no one to deliver them. —Job 5:4 Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves; therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty. —Job 5:17 Teach me, and I will be silent; make me understand how I have gone astray. —Job 6:24             What kind of counselor are you?  Job’s friends surely were not encouraging or helpful.  They got it wrong.  We must be very careful and not think that we know what…

MY SERVANT And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” —Job 1:8 And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.” —Job 2:3             Have you ever considered how our Lord would describe you?  I have… It is truly amazing as I…

A REMINDER OF GOD’S SOVEREIGN RULE Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal robes of blue and white, with a great golden crown and a robe of fine linen and purple, and the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced. —Esther 8:15 For Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur (that is, cast lots), to crush and to destroy them. But when it came before the king, he gave orders in writing that his evil plan that he had devised against the Jews should return on his own head,…

LOVINGLY OBEY GOD AND DO HIS WILL! For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place. —Esther 4:14 But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.” —Acts 5:17-20 “We must obey God rather than men.” —Acts 5:29 So in the present…

BEWARE OF SATANIC OPPOSITION Esther had not made known her people or kindred, for Mordecai had commanded her not to make it known. —Esther 2:10 Esther had not made known her kindred or her people, as Mordecai had commanded her, for Esther obeyed Mordecai just as when she was brought up by him. —Esther 2:20 But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone. So, as they had made known to him the people of Mordecai, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus. —Esther 3:6 Letters were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces with instruction to destroy, to…

THE INFLUENCE OF FAITHFUL FOLLOWERS I then discovered the evil… And I was very angry… Then I gave orders… I brought back…  I also found out… So I confronted…  And I appointed… —Nehemiah 13:7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13  “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” —Acts 4:19-20             God really stirred Nehemiah to take action.  Like Peter and John and those faithful followers of Jesus, “we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”  How can we hold back what our Lord God…

PRAISE OUR LORD GOD ALMIGHTY FOR HIS MERCY AND GRACE And the Levites—Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah and Pethahiah—said: “Stand up and praise the Lord your God, who is from everlasting to everlasting.” —Nehemiah 9:5 Nevertheless, in your great mercies you did not make an end of them or forsake them, for you are a gracious and merciful God. —Nehemiah 9:31 “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” —Acts 4:19-20             It is right to listen to God rather than man when it comes down to…