FOCUS ON HIS DESIRES FOR YOU! And they sent to me four times in this way, and I answered them in the same manner. In the same way Sanballat for the fifth time sent his servant to me. —Nehemiah 6:4-5 So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days. —Nehemiah 6:15 And Tobiah sent letters to make me afraid. —Nehemiah 6:19             What is it that God has called you to?   You can be assured that the world, the flesh and Satan will be in opposition to God’s desires for you. You and I need to be on guard “in order that Satan might…

PRIVILEGED POSITION INDEED! They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. —Nehemiah 1:10             Nehemiah spoke of the Jews at that time.   But it is also true of anyone who is following Jesus today. Nehemiah said the Jews of that time were God’s servants. Jesus said of us that “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all” (Mark 9:35). As servants we need to have a proper perspective on who we are and Who our Lord is— “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the…

THE RETURN OF JESUS “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” —Acts 1:11             Jesus had just ascended into heaven and His disciples stood gaping up when He was gone from their sight. That is when two “two men stood by them in white robes.” These heavenly visitors told the disciples that Jesus would “come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_gBpvihKcQ&list=UUf1NPIFOBwzTLVQiEDnq4Cw&index=1             When Jesus comes, they were told, He would come in the same way He went. He…

For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel. —Ezra 7:10             Now here is a worthy goal that should be our goal as well. May we: 1- Set our hearts to STUDY the Word of God 2- Set our hearts to DO the Word of God 3- Set our hearts to TEACH the Word of God. This should be the goal of every follower of Jesus Word— STUDY… DO… TEACH.   I need to KNOW what God says. I need to DO what God says. I need to TEACH what God says.…

YOU ARE SENT… GO!  “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” —John 20:21  Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. —John 20:30              Fellow follower of Jesus, we are sent ones! As our Father sent Jesus into the world, now Jesus sends us into the world (John 17:18). Yes, we are sent ones. The question is— Are we going? If you…

THE WAY OF SALVATION IS FINISHED! CALL ON HIM! Later, knowing that everything had now been finished…—John 19:28 Jesus said, “It is finished.” —John 19:30             Our sin debt has been paid. There is no more sacrifice for sin. Jesus was the final, the perfect, the sinless Lamb of God who saves completely those who call upon Him (Hebrews 10:26; John 19:4, 6; Romans 10:13; Hebrews 7:25).             Do you think you are a good person? Most people would say yes. Look at God’s standard of perfection, the Ten Commandments. Have you kept them perfectly? 1-You shall have no other gods before me. 2-You shall not make for yourself an idol. …

REPENT OR FACE JUDGMENT! For great is the wrath of the LORD that is poured out on us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD, to do according to all that is written in this book.” —II Chronicles 34:21 Thus says the LORD, Behold, I will bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants, all the curses that are written in the book that was read before the king of Judah. Because they have forsaken me and have made offerings to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands, therefore my wrath will be poured out on this…

OUR LORD GOD IS WITH US! With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God, to help us and to fight our battles. —II Chronicles 32:8 In the verse above Hezekiah is being threatened to be destroyed by the Assyrian horde coming against and invading Judah. Here is what Hezekiah said— “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with him, for there are more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God, to help us and to fight our…

DENY OR DECLARE Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, “You also are not one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it and said, “I am not.” One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Did I not see you in the garden with him?” Peter again denied it, and at once a rooster crowed. —John 18:25-27 Then all the disciples deserted him and fled. —Matthew 26:56 Then everyone deserted him and fled. —Mark 16:50             After Jesus was arrested John and Peter followed Him.   John was known by the High Priest…

BEAUTIFUL FEET I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. —John 17:6 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I…