Faith

The virgin birth, d oes it really matter?     Isaiah 7:14 (NIV) “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” [which means “God with us”].   Matthew 1:18-25 (NIV) “ This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she...

Salvation Is Here   Matthew 1:1-17   Verse 1 “This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah ”   Jesus is…   1.       The one sent to save us from our sins.  Matthew 1:20-21 (NLT) “Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”   2.       The one who came for the...

The book of Jonah Matthew 12:40 (ESV) “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Jonah 1:1-2 (ESV) “Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah… saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” Jonah 1:3 (ESV) “But Jonah...

The Book of Hosea: The holiness and heart of God.   Hosea 1:1 (ESV) “The word of the Lord that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.” Hosea 4:1a (ESV) “Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel,     for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land.”   Hos...

Receiving Your Restoration    Psalm 51:16-17 (NIV) You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;     you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;     a broken and contrite heart     you, God, will not despise.   Receiving your restoration    Psalm 51:10 (ESV) “Create in me a pure heart, O God,     and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”   The resul...

Jesus Our King and Priest   Romans 5:12 (ESV) “…sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men…” (Anthropos - man kind, male and female) Romans 5:15 (ESV) “…many died through one man's trespass…” Romans 5:16 (ESV) "…judgment following one trespass brought condemnation…” Romans 5:17 (ESV) “…because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one...

The Life God Blesses   Psalm 1:1-6 (ESV) “Blessed is the man     who walks not in the counsel of the wicked , nor stands in the way of sinner s,     nor sits in the seat of scoffers ;”   “his delight is in the law of the Lord,     and on His law he meditates day and night.”   “He is like a tree     planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season,     and its leaf does not wither. I...

Three Reasons Why We Worship     1.       Thankfulness    Psalms 100:4 (ESV) “Enter His gates with thanksgiving,     and His courts with praise!     Give thanks to Him; bless His name!”   Psalms 118:19,20 (ESV) “Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.” … “This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it.”   1.       Perspe...

Acts 13:36 (ESV) “For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption…”   1 Chronicles 29:26-30 (ESV) “Thus, David the son of Jesse reigned over all Israel. The time that he reigned over Israel was forty years. He reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem. Then he died at a good age, full of d...

If You Want God’s Favor, Then Do This   Romans 15:4 (ESV) “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction…”   2 Kings 21:1-6 (NIV) “Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out be...

Recognizing the Demonic Spirit of Jezebel in Your Life   1 Kings 18:16-19 (NLT) “…Ahab went out to meet Elijah. When Ahab saw him, he exclaimed, “So, is it really you, you troublemaker of Israel?” “I have made no trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “You and your family are the troublemakers, for you have refused to obey the commands of the Lord and have worshiped the images of Baal instead. Now s...

Loyalty   Loyalty defined: Merriam Webster:  ·       Unswerving in allegiance, faithful, steadfast, true, obedient    David’s life may be reviewed in two seasons, Pre Bathsheba and Post Bathsheba.   2 Samuel 11:1-2 (NKJV)   “It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people o...

The Psalms and the Life of David Are Like a Window   If we don't see the sheer depravity and destructive, hopeless nature of man, this covenant won't seem as sweet and “world-altering” as it really is.   What is a covenant? ·       A binding relationship that God establishes with us and guarantees by His word.   2 Samuel 7:1-7 (ESV) “Now when the king lived in his house and the Lord had given him...

Words that Never Fail     Hannah’s Vow:   1 Samuel 1:11-17 (ESV) “And she vowed a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.” As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli obser...

A Romance of Grace   Judges 21:25 (ESV) “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” Ruth 1:1-5 (NIV) “In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So, a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the...

The Mighty Worrier   1 Corinthians 10:6-14 (ESV) “Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the...

Signs of Unity   John 17:20-26 (ESV) “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word, that they may all be one, just as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that You have sent Me. The glory that You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and You in...

The Godly Man   Deuteronomy 6:1-2,4-7 (ESV) “Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all His statutes and His commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, a...

The Christian Home   James 3:1 (ESV) “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.”     Deuteronomy 6:1-3 (ESV) “Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, that you may fear the Lord...

Things That Will Hinder You from Possessing God’s Best   Numbers 13:1-3 (ESV) “The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers, you shall send a man, every one a chief among them.” So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran, according to the command of the Lord, all of them men who were heads...

Contending for Contentment   Numbers 10:11-13 (ESV) “In the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth day of the month, the cloud lifted from over the tabernacle of the testimony, and the people of Israel set out by stages from the wilderness of Sinai. And the cloud settled down in the wilderness of Paran. They set out for the first time at the command of the Lord by Moses.”   Numbers 10:...

To Make Us One   Leviticus 4:1-7 (ESV) “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, If anyone sins unintentionally in any of the Lord's commandments about things not to be done, and does any one of them, if it is the anointed priest who sins, thus bringing guilt on the people, then he shall offer for the sin that he has committed a bull from the herd without blemis...

The Tabernacle of Moses Fulfilled in Jesus   You can come in now.  Romans 15:4 (ESV) “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” Exodus 25:8 (ESV) “And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.”   Exodus 3:5 (ESV) “…Do not come near; take your sandals off y...

Does God Have More for You?     Exodus 19:1-6 (NLT) “ Exactly two months after the Israelites left Egypt, they arrived in the wilderness of Sinai.   After breaking camp at Rephidim, they came to the wilderness of Sinai and set up camp there at the base of Mount Sinai. Then Moses climbed the mountain to appear before God. The Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “Give these instructions t...