UNDERSTANDING THE LAMB OF GOD He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. —Isaiah…

BE COMFORTED AND FEARLESS! I, I am he who comforts you; who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the son of man who is made like grass, and have forgotten the LORD, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, and you fear continually all the day because of the wrath of the oppressor, when he sets himself to destroy? And where is the wrath of the oppressor? —Isaiah 51:12-13             Do we go to the One who desires to comfort us?  Or… do we seek to self-comfort by other means?  Those who do not want to trust in Jesus…

HE WILL NEVER FORGET YOU! Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me. —Isaiah 49:15-16                “Can a woman forget her nursing child?”  You would think not, but if a woman is calloused, irresponsible and outright wicked then she could “have no compassion on the son of her womb?”  There are those women who neglect their child and want to forget they had them.  They do not want to care for them.  They…

FOLLOWERS OF JESUS ARE IN PROCESS If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But…

OUR LORD MAKES THE DEAD LIVE! I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. —Isaiah 43:25 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. —Colossians 2:13-14 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you used to walk when you conformed to the ways of this world and of the ruler of the power of the…

GOD IS CONTROL! The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. —Colossians 1:15-18             Jesus is— The Son of God The image of the invisible God The firstborn over all creation…

I WILL TRUST MY LORD! ” A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. —Isaiah 40:6-8 All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.  To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? —Isaiah 40:17-18  Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created…

REMEMBER YOUR FIRST ALLIANCE! But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. —Philippians 3:20-21             Keep in mind whose “country” we belong to!  Fellow follower of Jesus, we are citizens of heaven first along with all those who have called on the Name of our Lord for salvation.  Let us keep our focus the King and His “country” and not be distracted from the ambassadorship that we have been given— “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as…

SELF FOCUSED OR CHRIST AND OTHERS FOCUSED Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. —Philippians 2:3-4 For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. —Philippians 2:13 For everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. —Philippians 2:21                Whose interests do you really have in mind— yours, others, the Lord Jesus’?  The interests of our Lord Jesus Christ should be our interests as well.  Then, when His interests are our…

EVIDENCE REVEALS THE FOOL AND THE FAITHFUL The fool will no more be called noble, nor the scoundrel said to be honorable. For the fool speaks folly, and his heart is busy with iniquity, to practice ungodliness, to utter error concerning the LORD, to leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied, and to deprive the thirsty of drink. —Isaiah 32:5-6 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. —Philippians 1:21  Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit,…