OLD AGE Now Barzillai was very old, eighty years of age. He had provided for the king during his stay in Mahanaim, for he was a very wealthy man. The king said to Barzillai, “Cross over with me and stay with me in Jerusalem, and I will provide for you.” But Barzillai answered the king, “How many more years will I live, that I should go up to Jerusalem with the king? I am now eighty years old. Can I tell the difference between what is enjoyable and what is not? Can your servant taste what he eats and drinks? Can I still hear the voices of male and female…

OUR EBBING LIFE Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. —II Samuel 14:14 Your life and my life is ebbing away. With each tick of the clock we are closer to death. That is just a fact of life. We all have this in common. Tick, tick, tick and now we are that much closer… Once water is poured out on the ground it cannot be retrieved and as we live life it cannot be retrieved. Life lived is life gone and we draw closer to our final breath on this planet. Yet, for those of us who love and live for Jesus,…

GOD KNOWS WHAT YOU DID! “You are the man!” —II Samuel 12:7 David lusted after Bathsheba when he saw her bathing and then had sexual relations with her. When she told the king she was pregnant he immediately thought of a plan to hide his sin. When plan A and B did not work, then he put into motion a more wicked, evil plan C to have Bathsheba’s husband killed. The king succeeded in his sordid deed. Now David thought he had gotten away with both adultery and murder. But there is one who knows all things and David had not gotten away with anything. In time God sent a…

SEEK THE LOST! For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. —Luke 19:10 Jesus told the parables of The Lost Sheep, The Lost Coin and The Lost Son. There is much rejoicing after finding that which is lost. So it is in Heaven— “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent” (Luke 15:7). Are you and I seeking out the lost? Are we going to where they are? Do we have the loving compassion for the lost? Someone did for us when…

OUR GOD OVER THE IMPOSSIBLE “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” —Luke 18:24-27 God can do anything He wants to do. God is God and we are not. There are things that we want to know, but they are out of our grasp. There are things we want to understand, but they are beyond our…

Pray! Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up… However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth? —Luke 18:2, 8 Are you ready to give up? Have you prayed for a person or persons for years and have not seen an answer? Maybe you have prayed about a situation and it has not changed. Are you questioning whether God cares? Are you asking if He even knows? Are you losing faith? If you are, then this Word is for you. This parable in Luke 18:1-8 was given by Jesus to deal with this…

REMEMBER! Remember Lot’s wife! —Luke 17:32 When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them. As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!” —Genesis 19:16-17 But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. —Genesis 19:26 Lot’s wife disobeyed and she was judged because of it. We are to remember her and not do…

BEWARE OF THE TEMPTERS! And he said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. —Luke 17:1-2 The Lord Jesus is not happy with those who tempt others to sin. In Romans 1:32 we are told there are those who do evil things and “they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.” What are some of the wicked things they approve?…

THE PLACE OF TORMENT! “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ “ ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ ” It is hard to wrap our minds around eternal life in a place of pleasure— Heaven where…

LOVE OF MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL KINDS OF EVIL! The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight. —Luke 16:14 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” —Luke 16:13 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for…