DO NOT ADD OR TAKE AWAY FROM GOD’S WORD! You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you. —Deuteronomy 4:2 See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it. —Deuteronomy 12:32 Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar. —Proverbs 30:6 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. And…

TRUST HIM! Then I said to you, “Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them. The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, and in the wilderness. There you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.” —Deuteronomy 1:29-31 “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” —Matthew 28:20 “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”  So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.  What can…

CALLED TO BE SERVANTS! When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” —Mark 10:41-45             Jesus is not only the Creator of all, the Lord of all and…

HARD HEARTS! “It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,” Jesus replied. “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’” —Mark 10:5-6 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. —Romans 1:21 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? —Jeremiah 17:9             The heart, the inner man, the mind, the flesh… it seeks to go contrary to the ways of God and seeks to follow the ways of this world.  The heart… guided not by…

KEEP YOUR WORD! If a man vows a vow to the LORD, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth. —Numbers 30:2 It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it. —Ecclesiastes 5:5             How good is your word?  When you say you are going to do something, do you?  Whether it is to our Lord or to another person or people that we promise we are going to do something, do we carry it out?  If we are not going to do…

LISTEN—- PRAY! And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” —Mark 9:7 And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood.  And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”  And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’!  All things are possible for one who believes.  ”Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”  And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running…

DEPEND ON GOD’S WAYS AND NOT YOUR OWN! And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” —Mark 8:31-33              Jesus began to teach His disciples what would happen to Him.  He would— Suffer many things Be…

THE WICKED’S FOCUS IS NOT TO BE OUR FOCUS When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan. —Proverbs 29:2 By justice a king gives a country stability, but those who are greedy for bribes tear it down. —Proverbs 29:4 The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern. —Proverbs 29:7 If a ruler listens to lies, all his officials become wicked. —Proverbs 29:12 When the wicked thrive, so does sin, but the righteous will see their downfall. —Proverbs 29:16 The righteous detest the dishonest; the wicked detest the upright. —Proverbs 29:27             Are you groaning under the weight…

I WILL TRUST GOD’S WORD OVER MAN’S WORD God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? Behold, I received a command to bless: he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it. —Numbers 23:19-20             When God says something, you can count on it as being true and not a lie.  What He told Balaam was true— He would not curse Israel— and what He says to us is true as well— He has given us eternal life.  He cannot lie about…

LOOK TO JESUS IN BELIEF— HE ALONE SAVES! The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived. —Numbers 21:8-9 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person. —Mark 7:21-23 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the…