GROPING IN THE DARK But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind. —Job 12:7-10 He makes nations great, and he destroys them; he enlarges nations, and leads them away. He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth and makes them wander in a pathless waste. They…

PLEASE… DO NOT TALK BACK TO GOD!  If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand times. He is wise in heart and mighty in strength —who has hardened himself against him, and succeeded? —Job 9:3-4 “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things?” —Acts 7:49-50 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?”…

YIELD TO THE HOLY SPIRIT You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. –Acts 7:51             The Holy Spirit came on Pentecost to enable us to be witness and disciple-makers in Jesus authority (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8).   This is His call upon our lives and we do not want to be like the “fathers” Stephen was talking about and be “stiff-necked people” and “resist the Holy Spirit” as He is speaking to us, guiding us, prompting us and desiring to work in and through us. Yet as followers of Jesus we can quench the Holy Spirit…

BLAMELESS AND UPRIGHT! “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 “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 2:3 To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech. —Proverbs 8:13             Every time I read these verses in Job I wonder what God says about me. God said about Job “that there is none like him on the earth,…

KEEP THE MAIN THING THE MAIN THING! It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. —Acts 6:2  But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. —Act 6:4 And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. —Acts 6:7             The Lord has given each of us a spiritual gift or gifts and we are to apply these in the work He has prepared for us (I Corinthians 12; Ephesians 2:10). Prayer and God’s Word…

  YOU ARE FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS! For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this? —Esther 4:14 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 5:19-20 So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for…

LIVE TRUE! You have not lied to men but to God. —Acts 5:4 How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? —Acts 5:9                        Are you and I being honest before God? In the case above when Ananias and Sapphira lied to Peter about the price of the sold land they were actually lying to God. This couple had agreed together to lie and Peter said they actually were lying to God and were testing His Holy Spirit!                        So here is a challenge to you and I— Is there anything in our lives we are “lying” to men about? Well don’t we think…

PRAY TO BE BOLD! So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. —Acts 4:18 ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’ —Acts 25-26 And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness. —Acts 4:29 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word…

COMMITTED TO HIS WORD, TO WORSHIP HIM AND PRAYER OF REMEMBRANCE  And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day; for another quarter of it they made confession and worshiped the LORD their God. —Nehemiah 9:3 “Stand up and bless the LORD your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise. “You are the LORD, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in…

HEAR, UNDERSTAND AND OBEY GOD’S WORD! And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it all the people stood. And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground. Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, helped the people to understand the Law, while the people remained in their places. They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the…