Remember therefore what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. If therefore you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come upon you. Revelation 3:3 Like A Thief – There is hardly a more frightening verse in Revelation. Of…
Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; be zealous, therefore, and repent. Revelation 3:19 Repent – Have you determined to be 100% sold-out for God? That’s great. He wants you to have a zealous heart like His. But how do you accomplish this? Do you just make another vow to keep every commandment? Do…
Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; be zealous, therefore, and repent. Revelation 3:19 Zealous – Are you zealous for God? “I think so,” you might answer, “but I’m not sure what you mean.” Yes, it’s confusing. We don’t use the word zeal much in these days of tolerance and universal humanism. When we…
Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. Proverbs 27:17 Iron – Hebrew puns are not obvious in translation, but once you know them, a deeper meaning appears. Here the word “iron” has two meanings. The first instance is a reference to a sword or knife. The second is to a sharpening stone. In Hebrew,…
But encourage one another day after day, as long as it still called, “Today,” lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Hebrews 3:13 Encourage – If we only knew the Greek! What a difference it might make in the way we understand “encourage” and “exhort.” Here is the word parakaleite. …
But encourage one another day after day, as long as it still called, “Today,” lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Hebrews 3:13 Deceitfulness – Since the Greek word apate means anything that is deceptive or seducing, we should easily be able to identify these things, right? I mean, how…
But encourage one another day after day, as long as it still called, “Today,” lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Hebrews 3:13 Be Hardened – Christians live with a constant threat. Sin can do immense damage at any point. There is no vacation from the possibility of attack as…
Judge not and you will not be judged Luke 6:34 Judge – In our politically and socially correct world, we have propagated the mythology of withholding judgment. All correction has deteriorated into personal opinion and personal opinion has been devalued to nothing. If you tell me that I am doing something wrong, so what? That’s…
Open rebuke is better than concealed love. Proverbs 27:5 (Waltke) Concealed – Want to really be my friend? Gently rebuke me! If you withhold your correction for fear of confrontation, you have really demonstrated selfishness. Would you rather let me flounder than risk the truth? Then you are no friend of mine. Solomon points out…
Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Galatians 3:3 Being Perfected – God does not work according to human plans or purposes. Of course, we all knew that, didn’t we? We often find ourselves saying, “God’s ways are not our ways,” especially when we just…
