“For this reason I say unto you, do not be anxious for your life” Matthew 6:25 For this reason – We want life without anxiety. How pleasant it would be to put aside our fears! Imagine the peaceful days when all was right with the world, when our deepest concerns and greatest risks were overcome…
“I am the LORD your God” Exodus 20:2 Your – Who decided that you belonged to God’s family? When the day came, was it entirely up to you? Did you make an independent choice based on all the facts, a purely rational decision? Or do you have the sneaking suspicion that God had something to…
“as for the form of their faces, each had the face of a man; all four had the face of a lion on the right and the face of a bull on the left; “ Ezekiel 1:10 Faces – Ezekiel has a vision. In his vision, God reveals the idolatry of the people, falling down…
“and there is salvation in on one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12 Name – The declaration of Peter is not as shocking today as it was in first century Palestine. Peter’s announcement was pure heresy; blasphemy of…
“By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.” Hebrews 11:3 Word – What is the most powerful force in the universe? If you were to ask a scientist, you might get an answer that involved…
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1 Conviction – Take a trip with me to Washington, D.C. Walk down the cherry blossom pathway. To the left you see the Jefferson Memorial. Ahead is the Washington monument. Over there is the Capitol dome. What do these…
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1 Things hoped for – How does what you hope for affect what you do now? Do you hope to take a vacation in the summer? Great! What are you doing now that will make that vacation a reality? …
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1 Assurance – From 300 BC until 1500 AD, this word was about something very different than “assurance”. But when Martin Luther accepted this translation of another theologian 500 years ago, the landscape of this word changed and the…
“And everything you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.” Matthew 21:22 Prayer – Do you want to know what the full range of prayer sounds like; what it feels like? Then begin to pray the psalms. David was a man of prayer. But his prayers covered the range of emotions, the landscape of concerns,…
“And everything you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.” Matthew 21:22 Prayer – Prayer positions the relationship. Who is the head of the tribe, the source of my life, the ruler of my clan, the teacher of wisdom, the lawgiver I acknowledge, the chief I serve, the one I follow? Prayer says it is…
