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…

FIND A QUIET PLACE AND REST “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” —Mark 6:31             Life can be full and busy… There are times when our Lord would say to us, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.”  When was he last time you did that?  From time to time we need to find a quiet place and rest.  This is the wisdom that comes from Jesus as He encouraged His disciples at the time to do this.  He encourages us to do so as well.  May we do so… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYu8ZyETnKo Yes, Dear Father, please help me to take time…

BEWARE OF THE DISOBEDIENT AND THOSE HOLDING GRUDGES And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? —Numbers 14:11 But truly, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD, none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, shall see the land that I swore to give to their…

DON’T LIVE CONTRARY TO HIS REVEALED WILL Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the Lord, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. —Numbers 11:1 Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat!” —Numbers 11:4 Moses heard the people of every family wailing at the entrance to their tents. The Lord became exceedingly angry, and Moses was troubled. —Numbers 11:10 Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite.—Numbers 13:1 But Caleb quieted the…

JESUS OUR PASSOVER LAMB! So Moses told the people of Israel that they should keep the Passover. —Numbers 9:4 No one had the strength to subdue him. —Mark 5:4 And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” —Mark 5:7-8             The Passover… What a wonderful picture of protection, rescue and deliverance.  The blood of the Lamb applied to the door protected those inside from judgment.  The judgment and protection brought rescue and delivered…

TRUSTING OUR SOVEREIGN LORD! And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey…

PRAYER FOR YOUR FRUITFULNESS The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. —Numbers 6:24-26 The sower sows the word. And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account…

PROOF OF CLOSE RELATIONSHIP— DOING GOD’S WILL Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”  “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked.  Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” —Mark 3:31-35             Who does Jesus consider His close family members?  It is those who do God’s will.  They are what He considers family.  Doing God’s will is the highest priority and His…

DO WHAT IS RIGHT EVEN WHEN OPPOSED Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.” And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees…

FORGIVEN! And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things…