DON’T JUDGE ME! If any of you has a dispute with another, do you dare to take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the Lord’s people? Or do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, do you ask for a ruling from those whose way of life is scorned in the church? I say this to shame you. Is it possible that…

My Hope You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word. —Psalm 119:114 I am so glad that our Lord is always there for us. He is our safe haven, our sanctuary, our shelter, our protection, our harbor, our retreat… What better shield is there than our God? So let us take that shield of faith and stand firm in our God. Let nothing move us from Him. Cling to Him, abide in Him and trust Him. Whose word are you putting your hope in? I will put my hope in His Word. My trust will be in what He says above all others.…

MILK AND SOLID FOOD Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings? —I Corinthians 3:1-4 The apostle Paul is addressing Corinthian Christians but he says they “are still worldly—mere infants…

THE WORLD THINKS THIS FOOLISH The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. —I Corinthians 2:14 A number of businesses allow me to put a display of the Lamb pamphlet in a prominent place. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD6khv6pGkw&t=15s People who desire to take a copy can do that and read it at their leisure. From time to time I check the displays to replenish them. One time when I was refilling them I found one that somebody had written on. It said, “A person would have to be…

TRUST HIM! They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord. —Psalm 112:7 You who fear him, trust in the Lord— he is their help and shield. —Psalm 115:11 If we are truly trusting in the Lord for all things then we will not even fear bad news. Unfortunately, sometimes when bad news comes we get distracted by it from remembering Who we trust. That is when we have to get refocused and immediately direct our trust in the Lord. He alone is our “help and shield.” Bad new comes in all types of forms in this fallen world— a death, sickness, loss…

TRUE WISDOM The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise. —Psalm 111:10 And he said to the human race, “The fear of the Lord–that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.” —Job 28:28 To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech. —Proverbs 8:13 Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for; through the fear of the LORD evil is avoided. —Proverbs 16:6 To have a proper perspective and attitude toward God will cause a person “to shun evil” or “to hate evil” or to…

PAUL’S AMBITION It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation. Rather, as it is written: “Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.” —Romans 15:20-21 Paul’s ambition was to bring the good news to those who have never heard it. He wanted people who have not heard to understand who Jesus is. His desire was to tell them about Him. Do you and I have that desire as well? There are people all around us who have not been told about Jesus. They…

REMEMBER! When our ancestors were in Egypt, they gave no thought to your miracles; they did not remember your many kindnesses, and they rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea… But they soon forgot what he had done and did not wait for his plan to unfold… They forgot the God who saved them, who had done great things in Egypt, miracles in the land of Ham and awesome deeds by the Red Sea. —Psalm 106:7, 13, 22 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope. May…

GIVE THE LORD THANKS AND PRAISE! Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. —100:4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqkW19B0d3g Are you thankful? Do you praise the Lord? We are to give Him thanks and we are to praise His Name! This goes beyond how we may be feeling at any given time. At times we may not feel like responding this way as we focus what hard things that may be happening in our lives. Really though, these are the times when we need to be thanking Him and praising His Name. Soon our seemingly difficult circumstances begin to fade as we focus…

THE COMING REJOICING! Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy. Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness. —Psalm 96:12-13 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and…