SHINE You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. —Matthew 5:14-16 Fellow follower of Jesus, YOU ARE the light of the world. Jesus the Light of the world made you a light to the world. Is your light shining? Are you hiding it under a bowl or basket? Or, are you…

CITIES Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” —Genesis 11:4 Mankind as a whole is disobedient to God. It was true in Babel when they gathered in opposition to God and sought to build a city, a tower and a name for themselves as mentioned in the above verse. It is true today as well. Men seek to gather and build cities and come up with their own religious systems to try to reach Heaven. They want to…

THE SOLUTION FOR AN EVIL HEART …every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood… —Genesis 8:21 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? —Jeremiah 17:9 The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left. —Ecclesiastes 10:2 The pride of your heart has deceived you… —Obadiah 1:3 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. —Ezekiel 36:26 The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and…

FLEE TO HIM! When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. —Genesis 3:6 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it. —Genesis 4:7 What God says not to do men sin saying it is good, it is pleasing, it is desirable and I…

SHOW FORTH HIS GLORY! In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. —Genesis 1:1 Accepted or rejected, the above verse will determine a person’s world-view— how a person thinks, how a person filters information, what a person believes, how a person lives and the destiny of where a person goes after death. It is all wrapped up in this opening sentence of God’s Word. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and…

A NEW THAT DOESN’T GROW OLD Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth… I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem… Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. —Revelation 21:1-2, 27 New in this world starts becoming old as soon as it is created or in your possession. A new car is no longer new, a new baby is no longer new, a new house is no longer new, new clothes are no longer new, a newlywed couple is no longer newlywed… all these new…

THE RESCUED RESCUE! Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. —Revelation 20:6 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire. —Revelation 20:14-15 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, —Colossians 1:13 Jesus, who rescues us…

BE RIGHT, DO RIGHT These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts; do not plot evil against each other, and do not love to swear falsely. I hate all this,” declares the Lord. —Zechariah 8:16-17 The Lord does hate things. He hates the plotting of “evil against each other” and the “love to swear falsely.” Instead we are to “Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts” and when this is not happening He is very well aware of it and hates it. Here are some other things…

RELATIONAL DILIGENCE This will happen if you diligently obey the Lord your God. —Zechariah 6:15 But without faith it is impossible to please God; for he that comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him. —Hebrews 11:6 This is not some haphazard, occasional, when I feel like it I will follow the Lord type walk. No, instead there is an attentiveness, a devotion, an active faith in this “race marked out for us” as we keep “our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith” (Hebrews 1-2). As we obey Him, as we trust Him we will…

VICTORY IN JESUS! They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death… Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus. —Revelation 12:11, 17 Those who have “called on the Name of the Lord” for salvation have overcome Satan by the blood of the Lamb and by the Word of their testimony. Those who truly follow after Jesus “keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about…