“My grace is sufficient for you for my power is perfected in weakness” 2 Corinthians 12:9 Sufficient – We start a new year with insufficiencies. There are undoubtedly many things on your “needs” list. Rest. Resources. Money. Motivation (for all those New Year’s resolutions). Love. Liberty. Paul faced an insufficiency too. Something that was very…
“Greet one another with a kiss of love” 1 Peter 5:14 Kiss of love – At the end of my life, I want to be known for the kisses I left behind. I want people to miss my affection and my care for them. I want to be thought of as someone who left a…
“Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them;” Ephesians 5:11 Expose – So you did a little soul searching? You looked hard at what pulls your strings. You decided to cut some ties to the fellowship of the dark. Paul is cheering. But this is only the first step. …
“Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them;” Ephesians 5:11 Participate – I participate in a lot of different things. I am in a Frequent Flyer club. I am a member of my Home Owners Association. I have an account with Citibank. But this is not the kind of…
“But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities” Acts 16:19 Hope of profit – Nobody cared until it was a question of money. How much are we like the masters of this slave woman? We don’t pay…
“And following after them, she kept crying out saying, “These men are bondservants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.”” Acts 16:17 Crying out – When is a public relations campaign for God an annoyance and a distraction? When do our pronouncements about God’s grace fall on deaf…
“observe the commandment of your father” Proverbs 6:20 Commandment – “So, why should I listen to you? What makes you think you know so much?” Have you ever heard that kind of reply? The answer to the question is not based on superior knowledge. It is based on greater pain. The deeper my pain in…
“Keep the charge of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His ordinances, and His testimonies, according to what is written in the Law of Moses, that you may succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn.” 1 Kings 2:3 Keep – Why was Jesus…
“for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior,” Luke 2:11 Savior – What is the role of a savior, a soter in Greek culture? It’s quite a bit more than we realize today. If we want to really see what God did that night, we need to look…
“You shall not go about as a slanderer among your people, and you are not to act against the life of your neighbor, I am the LORD.” Leviticus 19:16 Slanderer – The trial of Jesus was a trial of slander. The conspirators attempted to do Jesus more than physical harm. They attempted to permanently damage…
