“Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the LORD He is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.” – Deut. 4:39
Talk about getting “put in your place.”
Know in your mind and consider in your heart: YHWH is the First Cause, the one Infinite Being, the one Omnipotent Power.
The first and the last. There is none else.
“the LORD has heard the voice of my weeping.” – Psa. 6:8b
No tear goes unheard with our Lord.
Our weeping speaks to Him.
He listens to each sob.
“Tears have a voice!” – Samuel Davies
“Then they came to Philip and asked him, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus.‘” – John 12:21
The aim of the preacher = point people to Jesus.
Our aim is not to a politician or a movement, but to the only Name under Heaven given among men, whereby they must be saved: Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12).
A good question to ask is: Am I using the Bible to preach MY message, or is the Bible using me to preach IT’S message?
“He left us an example, that we should follow His steps!” (1 Peter 2:21)
Peter is talking about Jesus: Our model is Jesus. Our blueprint and template is Jesus. He is our precedent. He is our guide.
Peter leaves no room for discussion: we SHOULD follow His steps (exclamation point)!
I saw a funny bumper sticker the other day: “Are you following Jesus this close?”
Good question. Are you?
“Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains;” – Rev. 6:15
Who is able to stand? Kings and colonels; millionaires and the mighty; EVERY slave and EVERY free – they all run.
Who is able to escape? They flee. They try to hide in caves and under the rocks of the mountains.
The final day of judgment will reveal the truth that Man so desperately suppresses: Jesus is the Lamb of God and there is no cave and no rock in any mountain where one may hide from Him.
Also note Isa. 2:19 and Luke 23:30.
Ref: https://www.sermonaudio.com/saplayer/playpopup.asp?SID=8210939236
“By wisdom a house is built, And by understanding it is established; And by knowledge the rooms are filled With all precious and pleasant riches.” – Prov. 24:3-4
A house built by an incompetent architect will not stand.
It will be rickety.
It will leak when it rains and be cold in the winter. It will sway with the wind.
There will be cracks all throughout.
Worse of all, it would be unsafe.
Would you place your family in an unsafe house?
Constructing your worldview on anything other than the wisdom found in God’s word is as dangerous as living in a house that is about to collapse.
“But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:” – Matt. 22:5
When given the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, many make light of it. They go their way; off to home or off to work.
To make light of Christ’s sacrifice, to make light of eternity outside His loving embrace, to make light of the word of Truth… how tragic.
Pray for God to open their hearts, so they might hear and believe!
“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ!” Rom. 5:1
I spent years fighting with God. I did not have peace with Him. Honestly, I didn’t think such a thing was even possible.
That’s before I surrendered to Jesus. I gave up what I thought was liberty, but was actually bondage – to Him, and He truly freed me.
Peace with God is possible, but only through Jesus.
“When I look at myself, I don’t see how I can be saved. When I look at Christ, I don’t see how I can be lost.” – Martin Luther
Looking for the source of this quote and came up with: “If I examine myself I find enough unholiness to shock me. But when I look at Christ in me I find that I am altogether holy.” (On Gal. 3:13)
And “If I keep on looking at myself, I am gone.” (On Gal. 2:20)
(Commentary on Galatians, 1535).
“And after three months we departed in a ship of Alexandria, which had wintered in the isle, whose sign was Castor and Pollux.” – Acts 28:11
What is the point of giving us the ship’s figurehead? It doesn’t further the narrative at all.
The point is: it’s an eyewitness detail. Luke gives it, because he was there (this is one of the “we passages”) and Castor and Pollux were the sign on their ship.
It’d be like me saying, “We drove to Morgantown in a car that had a “Baby on Board” sign on it. Why mention the sign? Because it was there and I included it in my eyewitness report. Maybe other passengers didn’t even see the sign, but it stuck out to me, so I included it in mine.
It is given to cement the Bible’s historicity and veracity.
