PRAY AND DO NOT GIVE UP! 1One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. 2“There was a judge in a certain city,” he said, “who neither feared God nor cared about people. 3A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’ 4The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people, 5but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’” 6Then the…

JESUS SUFFERED, DIED, ROSE & IS COMING AGAIN! For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other, so it will be on the day when the Son of Man comes. But first the Son of Man must suffer terribly and be rejected by this generation. —Luke 17:24-25 Rejected by the world’s majority and executed by the suffering of the cross was not the end of Jesus! Oh, no… He rose victorious, ascended into Heaven and “why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you…

OUT OF THE ORDINARY So Saul disguised himself by wearing ordinary clothing instead of his royal robes. Then he went to the woman’s home at night, accompanied by two of his men. “I have to talk to a man who has died,” he said. “Will you call up his spirit for me?” “Are you trying to get me killed?” the woman demanded. “You know that Saul has outlawed all the mediums and all who consult the spirits of the dead. Why are you setting a trap for me?” But Saul took an oath in the name of the Lord and promised, “As surely as the Lord lives, nothing bad will…

LISTEN But Abraham said, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t listen even if someone rises from the dead.’ —Luke 19:31 If people will not listen and believe the Word of God that is spoken by the messengers of God, they would not even believe if someone came back from the dead to tell them. Lazarus came back from the dead and the Jewish leaders did not learn from that experience. No, instead they wanted to kill Lazarus (John 12:10). Let us rejoice in the grace and mercy of God who has allowed us to hear, listen and receive His Word. Yes, rejoice! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zaaiFp4RSM

BE FAITHFUL AND HONEST If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. —Luke 16:10 Are you being faithful and honest in the “little things” the Lord has given you to do? If you are, then He will indeed give you “greater responsibilities.” But if you have not been faithful and have been dishonest in the “little things” why would He give you “greater responsibilities?” Faithfulness and honesty— the shield of faith and the belt of truth are key to spiritual warfare. Without these the follower of Jesus will not…

In hindsight we call Good Friday Good Friday as we understand the bigger picture. But, when Jesus was crucified his disciples did not call that Friday Good Friday. From their perspective what they had hoped for was over. It was their worst Friday. Friday night sleep must have come very hard for them if at all. Saturday was a day-long reminder of their hopes being completely dashed. Heart sick, stomach churning, fog enveloped sorrow is what they were feeling on Saturday as they pondered the previous day, a terrible and horrendous Friday. Then Saturday night tossing and turning, tired but sleep would not come. Fearful that what happened to Jesus…

GOD’S PERFECT OBEDIENCE Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself… —I Samuel 15:12 And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel. —I Samuel 15:35 For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. —I Samuel 16:7 And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple. —Luke 14:27 Carrying your cross… what does that mean? The cross was a terrible execution instrument for criminals and yet this was the primary work Jesus came to accomplish. He was totally selfless as He…

FEAR, WORSHIP AND LISTEN “Now if you fear and worship the Lord and listen to his voice, and if you do not rebel against the Lord’s commands, then both you and your king will show that you recognize the Lord as your God. But if you rebel against the Lord’s commands and refuse to listen to him, then his hand will be as heavy upon you as it was upon your ancestors.” —I Samuel 12:14-15 “Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.” ― Edmund Burke In the above passage the Israelites were to remember what happened to their ancestors when they rebelled “against the Lord’s commands and…

DEPEND ON GOD FOR NEEDS “Do everything they say to you,” the Lord replied, “for it is me they are rejecting, not you. They don’t want me to be their king any longer.” —I Samuel 8:7 The Israelites were rejecting God as their king and wanted a king like the other nations around them. Instead of being dependent on the Lord God Almighty they were going to become dependent on a human king even though they were warned about what that king would do. “This is how a king will reign over you,” Samuel said. “The king will draft your sons and assign them to his chariots and his charioteers,…

TREASURE Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be. —Luke 12:34 What do you treasure? Where is your treasure? Are you focusing on the material or the spiritual? Is your focus on those temporary things that will pass away or is it on the eternal that will have eternal impact? Your heart will be where the focus of your treasure is! Again, what do you treasure? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYxJc0PTXiY “And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?” (Mark 8:36-37). Do you understand how valuable you are to God? If you do not,…