NEW AND PERFECT BODIES! For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. —II Corinthians 5:1-4             We are now clothed in this temporary tent, this body of decay.  One day, unless…

BEWARE OF ISOLATORS Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment.  A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion. —Proverbs 18:1-2             See a person who has all the answers and does not listen to anyone else?  See a business like this or a government official or a local church or a denomination?  This principle of isolation can be applied to many situations.  Let’s take a look.             Those who isolate themselves— Seek their own desire Break out against (quarrels, rebels, rages against) sound judgment Takes no please in understanding Take pleasure in only expressing his opinion Beware of…

DON’T LOSE FOCUS!  For the sake of your name, Lord, forgive my iniquity, though it is great. —Psalm 25:11  Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.  Relieve the troubles of my heart and free me from my anguish.  —Psalm 25:16-17  However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace. —Acts 20:24             I am so glad that our Lord does not need me to accomplish what He desires.  He is God and He does not “need”…

MAY DAVID’S DESIRES BE OUR DESIRES Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer. —Psalm 19:12-14             We surely can be blinded to errors in our lives.  But our heart’s desire, as was David’s, is to be declared “innocent from hidden faults.”  Surely this is also our heart’s desire as followers of Jesus.  We confess and ask forgiveness for the…

OUR BODIES SHALL BE LIKE JESUS As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness. —Psalms 17:15 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. —I John 3:2             The question comes up from time to time— What will our bodies be like in heaven?  People also ask— Will we know each other in heaven?  The answers to both of these questions are given above.  First, after death…

 THE FOOL! The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none who does good. —Psalm 14:1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=On-whMoulOM 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. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. —Romans 1:21-23                     Since we are made for relationship with God through His Son Jesus, those who do not want anything to do with…

ALL THE EVIDENCE NEEDED! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSAN5ObaRQg The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one…

GOD’S WORK/OUR WORK When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Lord,…

THE JOY OF THE LORD! You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound. —Psalm 4:7             It is not material things that give strength, but “the joy of the LORD is your strength.”  Material things are only temporary, but the joy of the Lord is eternal.  Material things cannot give life, but the joy of the Lord is my life!             Joy comes not from lifeless things— “For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you?” (I Thessalonians 2:19).  Joy comes…

THE BLESSED ONE AND THE WICKED ONE  Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.  That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers. —Psalm 1:1-3             Are you a blessed one?  The one who is truly blessed: “Does not walk in step with the wicked.” They do not go along with what the…