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Monday, June 30, 2014

They almost missed him (Saul aka Paul) because he was such an unlikely believer. Barnabas was a Christian. He knew to take in Paul. If you are a Christian, have faith and an open mind. The most unlikely guy could help save the world.

Acts 9:26-28
And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and did not believe that he was a disciple.

But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. And he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.
So he was with them at Jerusalem, coming in and going out.

Thursday, June 26, 2014

This is what it means to lay down your life for your friends and to forgive your enemies. Yikes, what true conviction. If we just begin with everyday forgiveness for both our friends and our enemies, we'll be on our way to freedom.

Acts 7:55-60
But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,
and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”
Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord;
and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.
And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Tell your children!

Psalm 78:1-4
Give ear, O my people, to my law;
Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings of old,
Which we have heard and known,
And our fathers have told us.
We will not hide them from their children,
Telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord,
And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.


Tuesday, June 24, 2014

This is why I read the Bible, it is such fun to be reminded over and over that He is "the God who does wonders;"

Psalm 77:11-14
I will remember the works of the Lord;
Surely I will remember Your wonders of old.
I will also meditate on all Your work,
And talk of Your deeds.
Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary;
Who is so great a God as our God?
You are the God who does wonders;
You have declared Your strength among the peoples.


Monday, June 23, 2014

Thursday, June 19, 2014

The officials of the temple were worried sick that this Jesus stuff would catch on. They were right to worry. Let us not stop now "speaking the things which we have seen and heard."

Acts 4:18-20
So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.
7-tips-for-talking-with-your-neighbors-about-christ. link
But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge.
For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”


Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Monday, June 16, 2014

Just in case you were unaware, this is our God "...working salvation in the midst of the earth." (Ps 74:13b)

Psalm 74:15-17
You broke open the fountain and the flood;
You dried up mighty rivers.
The day is Yours, the night also is Yours;
You have prepared the light and the sun.
You have set all the borders of the earth;
You have made summer and winter.

Friday, June 13, 2014

We are the ones He blesses here. Those of us who believe yet haven't seen. But we get to see Christ in other believers, those who "have life in His name"

John 20:29-31
Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Doubting Thomas
And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book;
but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
Bible Gateway link (NKJV)


Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Truth can be a hard thing to bear, but here it is In red letters: "Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." I want to be one of those people who hears His voice.

John 18:37
Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?”Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”

Monday, June 9, 2014

This is a story about real humility and how it can change your life.The head of the Syrian army had leprosy, his servant girl told him to seek out the prophet in Israel. He didn't like what he heard, but he listened to those beneath him, he altered his expectations and he swallowed his pride about 3 times.

2 Kings 5:9-15
Then Naaman went with his horses and chariot, and he stood at the door of Elisha’s house.
And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.”
But Naaman became furious, and went away and said, “Indeed, I said to myself, ‘He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.’
Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage.
And his servants came near and spoke to him, and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?”
So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
And he returned to the man of God, he and all his aides, and came and stood before him; and he said, “Indeed, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel; now therefore, please take a gift from your servant.”


Sunday, June 8, 2014

"Your word is truth." Such a simple fact about God prayed by His son as he was about to go die. Why do we go on arguing and questioning whether God's word is true? Isn't sanctification enough of a motive?

John 17:17-19
Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.
As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.
And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.

Saturday, June 7, 2014

Thursday, June 5, 2014

If this is the promise, I'm keeping His word.

John 14:23
Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

This is how the society around us knows who God is. There is nothing like the example of a bunch of loving Christians to make people say:"I want THAT!"

John 13:33-35
Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come,’ so now I say to you.
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”