Your life on Earth is the determining factor for your eternity! If you’re totally dedicated to yourself on Earth then you will have a very good life on Earth but maybe not so good a time in eternity and eternity is never ending because in Eternity our lives are all about God and He has always been there and He created us to benefit Him.

2 Chron 34:25
they've made me thoroughly angry by setting up their god-making businesses.

2 Chron 33:17
they used the name "GOD" but kept on sinning…

I know people who do this…

2 Chron 32:29
God saw to it that he was extravagantly rich.

It doesn’t say the he did all the right things so he became rich! No, it says that God saw to it that he was extravagantly rich. It had nothing to do with him or what he did!

2 Chron 32:25
25 But the sign, instead of making Hezekiah grateful, made him arrogant. This made GOD angry

We have to be very careful that we don’t become arrogant.

2 Chron 31:4
4 In addition, he asked the people who lived in Jerusalem to be responsible for providing for the priests and Levites so they, without distraction or concern, could give themselves totally to The Revelation of GOD.

This is very different than what Churches do…

2 Chron 31:1
Then they all went back home and resumed their everyday lives.

Were their everyday lives devoted to God?

2 Chron 30:26
nothing like this had taken place in Jerusalem since Solomon son of David king of Israel had built and dedicated The Temple.

I wonder why…

2 Chron 30:23
So they just kept on celebrating

Hmm, this reminds me of the early Christians in Acts…

2 Chron 16:12
He didn't ask GOD for help, but went instead to the doctors.

2 Chron 16:9
GOD is always on the alert, constantly on the lookout for people who are totally committed to him.

2 Chron 13:12
2 Can't you see the obvious? God is on our side; he's our leader.

2 Chron 13:9
Anyone who shows up with enough money to pay for it can be a priest!

And Anyone who shows up with enough money to pay for it can get a degree!

2 Chron 12:1
12:1 By the time Rehoboam had secured his kingdom and was strong again, he, and all Israel with him, had virtually abandoned GOD and his ways.

Oops!

2 Chron 8:14
daily worship

daily is much more than once a week on Sunday.

I have noticed that often people use the word “forever” when they mean “a long time”. However the word “forever” actually means “never ending” and applies to eternity and since we are not yet in eternity the word “forever” has no application yet.

1 Chron 29:25
25 Solomon rode high on a crest of popular acclaim — it was all GOD's doing. GOD gave him position and honor beyond any king in Israel before him.

It wasn’t because of anything he did it was all God’s doing!

David prayed to God:
1 Chron 29:12
You hold strength and power in the palm of your hand to build up and strengthen all.

Since God holds the strength and power to build up and strengthen all what does that say about degrees?

David said this about the place of worship that his son was building:
1 Chron 29:1
this is not just a place for people to meet each other, but a house for GOD to meet us.

1 Chron 28:12
God's Spirit had brought to his mind

God’s Spirit even brings things to your mind.

1 Chron 28:9
9 "And you, Solomon my son, get to know well your father's God; serve him with a whole heart and eager mind, for GOD examines every heart and sees through every motive. If you seek him, he'll make sure you find him, but if you abandon him, he'll leave you for good.”

This is what WE should teach our kids too.

1 Chron 28:8
obey and study every last one of the commandments of your GOD so that you can make the most of living in this good land and pass it on intact to your children

TALK ABOUT LIFE INSURANCE!

Life is:
1 Chron 28:8
obey and study every last one of the commandments of your GOD so that you can make the most of living in this good land and pass it on intact to your children

1 Chron 26:13
13 They were all assigned to their posts by the same method regardless of the prominence of their families

Their work was to please God regardless of anything and our work is no different regardless of anything.

1 Chron 25:8
Nobody, whether young or old, teacher or student, was given preference or advantage over another.

There is a saying that says: “Life is what you make it” and most all humans believe that AND they believe that “life” means life on this Earth and that alone is where the misconception is. We are eternal people so “life” is never ending and extends far beyond this Earth. When someone like Abraham was told to leave the place that he knew and he family that he knew and move to a place that he had not yet seen THAT was the first definition of faith! So to say that life is what you make it is HUGE!

1 Chron 16:40
the services of morning and evening worship were conducted daily

not just on Sunday at specific times…

1 Chron 16:37
37 David left Asaph and his coworkers with the Chest of the Covenant of GOD and in charge of the work of worship; they were responsible for the needs of worship around the clock.

They were responsible for the worship of God around the clock which means more than just on Sunday…

2 Kings 22:17
made me thoroughly angry by setting up their god-making businesses.

…their god-making businesses…

2 Kings 21:12
I, the God of Israel, will visit catastrophe on Jerusalem

You never have and you will not hear a sermon on this!

2 Kings 17:32
32 They honored and worshiped GOD, but not exclusively

This is what I see!

2 Kings 17:28-29
28 One of the priests who had been exiled from Samaria came back and moved into Bethel. He taught them how to honor and worship GOD.
29 But each people that Assyria had settled went ahead anyway making its own gods and setting them up in the neighborhood sex-and-religion shrines that the citizens of Samaria had left behind — a local custom-made god for each people:

That’s what’s happening now!

2 Kings 17:27
the god of the land

He is not the god of the land…

2 Kings 7:9
9 Finally they said to one another, "We shouldn't be doing this! This is a day of good news and we're making it into a private party!

I feel this way about life on Earth! This is a day of good news and I don’t want to make it into a private party!

2 Kings 6:22
"Not on your life!" said Elisha. "You didn't lift a hand to capture them, and now you're going to kill them? No sir, make a feast for them and send them back to their master."

That’s what life in this world is like for those who follow themselves instead of God, life seems good to them…

2 Kings 5:16
16 "As GOD lives," Elisha replied, "the God whom I serve, I'll take nothing from you."

God doesn’t need anything from us!

2 Kings 4:43
43 His servant said, "For a hundred men? There's not nearly enough!"
Elisha said, "Just go ahead and do it. GOD says there's plenty."

Hmm, sounds like the feeding of the 5,000 & the manna…

2 Kings 4:14-16
Gehazi said, "Well, she has no son, and her husband is an old man."
15 "Call her in," said Elisha. He called her and she stood at the open door.
16 Elisha said to her, "This time next year you're going to be nursing an infant son."

2 Kings 3:11
11 But Jehoshaphat said, "Isn't there a prophet of GOD anywhere around through whom we can consult GOD?"

You can consult God without a prophet because He is there for you!

2 Kings 2:8
8 Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up, and hit the water with it. The river divided and the two men walked through on dry land.

This is the same thing that happened at the Red Sea!

1 Kings 17:22
22 GOD listened to Elijah's prayer and put breath back into his body — he was alive!

A very popular human saying is: “seeing is believing” but to me, while I understand what it means it just doesn’t make sense because there is so much more to my life than that! I believe in God who can’t be seen so being able to see has nothing to do with whether I believe which changes the saying to be: “not being able to see believing”. That’s faith.

1 Kings 13:33
anyone who wanted to could be a priest

hmm, this is happening today…

1 Kings 13:15-22
15 "Well, come home with me and have a meal."
16 "Sorry, I can't do that," the holy man said. "I can neither go back with you nor eat with you in this country. 17 I'm under strict orders from GOD: 'Don't eat a crumb; don't drink a drop; and don't come back the way you came.'"
18 But he said, "I am also a prophet, just like you. And an angel came to me with a message from GOD: 'Bring him home with you, and give him a good meal!'" But the man was lying. 19 So the holy man went home with him and they had a meal together.
20 There they were, sitting at the table together, when the word of GOD came to the prophet who had brought him back. 21 He confronted the holy man who had come from Judah: "GOD's word to you: You disobeyed GOD's command; you didn't keep the strict orders your GOD gave you; 22 you came back and sat down to a good meal in the very place GOD told you, 'Don't eat a crumb; don't drink a drop.' For that you're going to die far from home and not be buried in your ancestral tomb."

Be careful because people WILL lie to you.

1 Kings 11:9-10
9 GOD was furious with Solomon for abandoning the GOD of Israel, the God who had twice appeared to him 10 and had so clearly commanded him not to fool around with other gods. Solomon faithlessly disobeyed GOD's orders.

1 Kings 11:6
6 Solomon openly defied GOD; he did not follow in his father David's footsteps.

This is from the Bible

1 Kings 11:4
4 As Solomon grew older, his wives beguiled him with their alien gods and he became unfaithful — he didn't stay true to his GOD as his father David had done.

1 Kings 11:1
11:1 King Solomon was obsessed with women.

1 Kings 10:6-8
6 She said to the king, "It's all true! Your reputation for accomplishment and wisdom that reached all the way to my country is confirmed. 7 I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it for myself; they didn't exaggerate! Such wisdom and elegance — far more than I could ever have imagined. 8 Lucky the men and women who work for you, getting to be around you every day and hear your wise words firsthand!”

Unfortunately she was impressed by what she could ee.

1 Kings 9:3-5
3 And GOD said to him, "I've listened to and received all your prayers, your ever-so-passionate prayers. I've sanctified this Temple that you have built: My Name is stamped on it forever; my eyes are on it and my heart in it always. 4 As for you, if you live in my presence as your father David lived, pure in heart and action, living the life I've set out for you, attentively obedient to my guidance and judgments, 5 then I'll back your kingly rule over Israel, make it a sure thing on a solid foundation. The same guarantee I gave David your father I'm giving you: 'You can count on always having a descendant on Israel's throne.'

If…and Solomon didn’t…

1 Kings 8:65
65 This is how Solomon kept the great autumn feast, and all Israel with him

Unfortunately people celebrated their earthly king not their heavenly king…

1 Kings 8:63
This is how the king and all Israel dedicated The Temple of GOD.

They dedicated a place built by humans not themselves to God.

1 Kings 8:43

Honor the prayers of the foreigner so that people all over the world will know who you are and what you're like and will live in reverent obedience before you, just as your own people Israel do; so they'll know that you personally make this Temple that I've built what it is.

make this Temple that I've built what it is? We’re the temple and we didn’t build ourselves!

1 Kings 8:35
pray at this place

pray at this place? There is no special place to pray…

Solomon spared no expense when building the temple of God which made normal people very happy but when it came to doing what God told him to do he refused to spare his own expense. Hmm, sounds like Churches…

1 Kings 6:11-13
11 The word of GOD came to Solomon saying, 12 "About this Temple you are building — what's important is that you live the way I've set out for you and do what I tell you, following my instructions carefully and obediently. Then I'll complete in you the promise I made to David your father. 13 I'll personally take up my residence among the Israelites — I won't desert my people Israel."

God clearly told Solomon but Solomon didn’t do it.

2 Sam 22:1
22:1 David prayed to GOD the words of this song

How many “Christian” musicians would do this?

Circumcision was a way to put something that was VERY DEAR to a person in God’s hands so while circumcision is no longer required we ALL are told to give God all we have, so a weekly commitment is not enough.

2 Sam 15:30
David went up the Mount of Olives

Jesus frequented the Mount of Olives!

2 Sam 5:19
19 Then David prayed to GOD: "Shall I go up and fight the Philistines? Will you help me beat them?"

David asked God first.

2 Sam 5:10
10 David proceeded with a longer stride, a larger embrace since the GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies was with him.

2 Sam 2:1
1 After all this, David prayed. He asked God, "Shall I move to one of the cities of Judah?"

Saul was dead and most people would have seen this as a perfect opportunity but not David, he asked God first.

1 Sam 30:6
David strengthened himself with trust in his GOD.

So do I.

1 Sam 21:6
6 So the priest gave them the holy bread. It was the only bread he had, Bread of the Presence that had been removed from GOD's presence and replaced by fresh bread at the same time.

Jesus mentioned this!

1 Sam 17:33
33 Saul answered David, "You can't go and fight this Philistine. You're too young and inexperienced — and he's been at this fighting business since before you were born."

Most humans only rely on what they can see but I (and David) rely on what can’t be seen.

1 Sam 16:7
GOD judges persons differently than humans do. Men and women look at the face; GOD looks into the heart.

1 Sam 15:23
Getting self-important around GOD is far worse than making deals with your dead ancestors.

1 Sam 12:14-15
If both you and your king follow GOD, no problem. GOD will be sure to save you. 15 But if you don't obey him and rebel against what he tells you, king or no king, you will fare no better than your fathers.

This answers ALL POLITICAL COMPLAINTS! Is your politician following God?

1 Sam 12:12
No more of this. We want a king to lead us.' And GOD was already your king!

As the world’s society says: “Cash is king!”

1 Sam 8:20
20 Then we'll be just like all the other nations.

As if being like other nations would bring them closer to God… Being like others is not the answer!

1 Sam 6:21
21 They sent emissaries to Kiriath Jearim, saying, "The Philistines have returned the Chest of GOD. Come down and get it."

As if God, who created humans, could be managed or controlled by humans!

1 Sam 6:1-2
After the Chest of GOD had been among the Philistine people for seven months, 2 the Philistine leaders called together their religious professionals

Unfortunately humans RELY on professionals instead of God.

1 Sam 2:9
No one makes it in this life by sheer muscle!

Hannah had no children so she asked God for one and had one and dedicated him to God. But it is important to realize that while God could have done this on His own she was still required to carry the child, give birth to the child and wean the child and then give him up to God. Things are not all for us!

Ruth 2:11
I've heard all about you — heard about the way you treated your mother-in-law after the death of her husband, and how you left your father and mother and the land of your birth and have come to live among a bunch of total strangers.

This sounds so familiar-she left everything that she already knew and the place that she was familiar with and without hope that she could see hoped for something that she could not see. This is in the Bible for a good reason.

Judg 17:6
6 In those days there was no king in Israel. People did whatever they felt like doing.

These days people have many things other than God as their king and they do whatever they feel like doing.

Judg 16:16-17
16 She kept at it day after day, nagging and tormenting him. Finally, he was fed up — he couldn't take another minute of it. 17 He spilled it.

It doesn’t seem like it but God had a purpose in mind because Samson’s first wife tried to fool him too which makes perfect sense because Eve did the same thing to Adam.

Judg 8:23
23 Gideon said, "I most certainly will not rule over you, nor will my son. GOD will reign over you."

This is there because it is typical of humans to choose other humans to be big and important over them instead of simply following God who is big and important and over them already.

My Father is the potter and I am the clay.

Josh 23:3
God fought for you.

He still does but that is the hardest thing for humans to realize!

Josh 22:5
Love GOD, your God, walk in all his ways, do what he's commanded, embrace him, serve him with everything you are and have.

Josh 13:33
God is their inheritance

God is our inheritance too!

Josh 10:3-4
3 Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem sent word to Hoham king of Hebron, Piram king of Jarmuth, Japhia king of Lachish, and Debir king of Eglon: 4 "Come and help me. Let's attack Gibeon; they've joined up with Joshua and the People of Israel."

They knew what God had done but they turned to people…Oops!

Josh 9:14
14 The men of Israel looked them over and accepted the evidence. But they didn't ask GOD about it.

People WILL try to fool you but God can not be fooled so ASK HIM.

Josh 6:21
21 They put everything in the city under the holy curse, killing man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep and donkey.

The holy curse. I have wondered about the children when Jesus comes back but our entire lives are already known by God before we live even one day so in human age there will be children but everything about them is already known by God so no one is ever just a guess to Him.

Josh 5:15
15 GOD's army commander ordered Joshua, "Take your sandals off your feet. The place you are standing is holy."
Joshua did it.

The same thing happened to Moses.

Josh 3:14-16
The people left their tents to cross the Jordan, led by the priests carrying the Chest of the Covenant. 15 When the priests got to the Jordan and their feet touched the water at the edge (the Jordan overflows its banks throughout the harvest), 16 the flow of water stopped. It piled up in a heap — a long way off — at Adam, which is near Zarethan. The river went dry all the way down to the Arabah Sea (the Salt Sea).

This is the same thing that happened at the Red Sea!

Josh 1:7-8
Don't get off track, either left or right, so as to make sure you get to where you're going. 8 And don't for a minute let this Book of The Revelation be out of mind. Ponder and meditate on it day and night, making sure you practice everything written in it. Then you'll get where you're going; then you'll succeed.

This is our command to read the Bible too but I don’t think that many people are doing this-do you want to succeed?

Deut 30:14
The word is right here and now — as near as the tongue in your mouth, as near as the heart in your chest. Just do it!

You don’t have to go to college or have an expert tell you how to live God’s word, just read it yourself!

Deut 26:11
Celebrate all the good things that GOD, your God, has given you and your family

God gives us a lot but unfortunately humans celebrate only what they THINK that they have earned.

Deut 12:18
You are to celebrate in the Presence of GOD, your God, all the things you've been able to accomplish.

Do schools teach this? NO!

Deut 9:6
6 Know this and don't ever forget it: It's not because of any good that you've done that GOD is giving you this good land to own. Anything but!

This land is Heaven and this is not what the world teaches you!

Deut 8:2
Remember every road that GOD led you on for those forty years in the wilderness, pushing you to your limits, testing you so that he would know what you were made of, whether you would keep his commandments or not.

You want eternal life? Then this is for you. People expect to get eternal life but they don’t want to work for it. Oops!

Deut 7:7
7 GOD wasn't attracted to you and didn't choose you because you were big and important — the fact is, there was almost nothing to you.

This wasn’t just them and then-It’s us and now!

Deut 7:6
6 Do this because you are a people set apart as holy to GOD, your God. GOD, your God, chose you out of all the people on Earth for himself as a cherished, personal treasure.

This was another HUGE PROMISE!

Deut 7:1-2
7:1 When GOD, your God, brings you into the country that you are about to enter and take over, he will clear out the superpowers that were there before you: the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Those seven nations are all bigger and stronger than you are. 2 GOD, your God, will turn them over to you and you will conquer them.

This was a HUGE PROMISE but they never remembered it.

Deut 7:7-8
7 GOD wasn't attracted to you and didn't choose you because you were big and important — the fact is, there was almost nothing to you. 8 He did it out of sheer love

It was because He is who He is, it has nothing to do with you.

Deut 4:29
if you seek GOD, your God, you'll be able to find him if you're serious, looking for him with your whole heart and soul.

This hasn’t changed.

Deut 4:6
You'll become wise and understanding.

Without going to college!

Deut 1:17
17 Don't play favorites; treat the little and the big alike

We don’t do this!

Num 26:51
51 The total number of the People of Israel: 601,730.

Did God give Moses a big job? I’d say so!

Num 24:6
Like sweet herbs planted by the gardener GOD

God the gardener is in the New Testament too!

Num 21:8
8 GOD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it on a flagpole: Whoever is bitten and looks at it will live."

This was a pre Jesus salvation. PHYSICAL ONLY where Jesus offers spiritual salvation.

Num 18:20
20 GOD said to Aaron, "You won't get any inheritance in land, not so much as a small plot of ground: I am your plot of ground, I am your inheritance among the People of Israel.

God is our inheritance too! Nothing else is more valuable than Him which is difficult in our society-so yes it will be difficult for others to understand it now but it will be clear later.

Num 15:17-19
7 GOD spoke to Moses: 18 "Speak to the People of Israel. Tell them, When you enter the land into which I'm bringing you, 19 and you eat the food of that country, set some aside as an offering for GOD.

The main point was not to be sure that you GIVE something to God but that you are thankful to God for what you’ve been given. Because everything is from Him and that’s not what I see happening today.

Num 13:31
31 But the others said, "We can't attack those people; they're way stronger than we are."

God had told then that He would fight for them and that He was giving the land to them but they only relied on what they could see and think but what they could see and think in Egypt was that they had to be slaves and God freed them from that. We have the same problem of only relying on what we can see and think…

Ex 36:6
6 So Moses sent out orders through the camp: "Men! Women! No more offerings for the building of the Sanctuary!"

Has your Church ever done this?

Ex 35:35
5 He's gifted them

It doesn’t say: “They have degrees in…” NO! It says: “He gifted them”.

Ex 35:10
10 Come — all of you who have skills

It doesn’t say: “Come – all of you who have degrees”

Ex 32:34
On the day, though, when I settle accounts, their sins will certainly be part of the settlement.

God was talking about the day of judgment .

Ex 31:1-5
GOD spoke to Moses: 2 "See what I've done; I've personally chosen Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur of the tribe of Judah. 3 I've filled him with the Spirit of God, giving him skill and know-how and expertise in every kind of craft 4 to create designs and work in gold, silver, and bronze; 5 to cut and set gemstones; to carve wood — he's an all-around craftsman.

Imagine this! God did not say: “I’m sending him to college” He said: “I’ve given him the skill”.

Ex 24:8
8 Moses took the rest of the blood and threw it out over the people, saying, "This is the blood of the covenant which GOD has made with you out of all these words I have spoken."

In those days it was the blood of animals and Moses’ words but these days it’s the blood of Jesus and these words are the scriptures.

Ex 23:22
I'll fight those who fight you.

God told this to the Israelites but whenever war came up they forgot it.

Ex 20:19
They said to Moses, "You speak to us and we'll listen, but don't have God speak to us or we'll die."

Why were people afraid of the God that had saved them?

Ex 19:8
8 The people were unanimous in their response: "Everything GOD says, we will do."

People said this then but didn’t do it and people say this now but they don’t do it either.

Ex 17:3
3 But the people were thirsty for water there. They complained to Moses, "Why did you take us from Egypt and drag us out here with our children and animals to die of thirst?"

Moses didn’t take them out of Egypt.

Ex 17:3
3 But the people were thirsty for water there. They complained to Moses, "Why did you take us from Egypt and drag us out here with our children and animals to die of thirst?"

Ex 16:11-12
11 GOD spoke to Moses, 12 "I've listened to the complaints of the Israelites. Now tell them: 'At dusk you will eat meat and at dawn you'll eat your fill of bread; and you'll realize that I am GOD, your God.'"

I have always been taught that it was only bread but the scriptures say that it was bread and meat.

Ex 16:2
The whole company of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron there in the wilderness

Again: God had preformed several miracles and saved them multiple times but they still complined!

Ex 15:24
24 And the people complained to Moses

See? They forgot that God had saved them…

Ex 14:27-28
27 Moses stretched his hand out over the sea: As the day broke and the Egyptians were running, the sea returned to its place as before. GOD dumped the Egyptians in the middle of the sea. 28 The waters returned, drowning the chariots and riders of Pharaoh's army that had chased after Israel into the sea. Not one of them survived.

Another miracle where God saved them but they weren’t happy for long.

Ex 14:21-22
21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and GOD, with a terrific east wind all night long, made the sea go back. He made the sea dry ground. The seawaters split.
22 The Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground with the waters a wall to the right and to the left.

Another huge miracle but they were only focused on what they could see and they could see the Egyptians coming after them and that meant more to them than the fact that the ocean waters split.

Ex 14:10-12
They were totally afraid. They cried out in terror to GOD. 11 They told Moses, "Weren't the cemeteries large enough in Egypt so that you had to take us out here in the wilderness to die? What have you done to us, taking us out of Egypt? 12 Back in Egypt didn't we tell you this would happen? Didn't we tell you, 'Leave us alone here in Egypt — we're better off as slaves in Egypt than as corpses in the wilderness.'"

After ALL THE MIRACLES IN EGYPT they were still afraid of what they could see.

Ex 14:4
I'll use Pharaoh and his army to put my Glory on display.

This happened!

Ex 14:4
I'll use Pharaoh and his army to put my Glory on display.

This happened!

I am fearfully and wonderfully made! I can’t walk but I don’t miss it or wish that I was any different! I am not a usual person to feel that way but SO WHAT! I AM HAPPY!

Ex 13:22
22 The Pillar of Cloud by day and the Pillar of Fire by night never left the people.

In the days of the Israelites they had this and now we have His word and both are things that we can see.

You’d be surprised at what is designed and intended to ferment your heart!

Ex 13:7
There is not to be a trace of anything fermented

There must be no fermenting of anything-even belief.

When the Israelites left Egypt they were no longer physical slaves and when we accept Christ we are no longer spiritual slaves. Until the Israelites left Egypt they were physical slaves and until we accept Christ we are still spiritual slaves. The choice to let God do it was theirs and the choice to let God do it is ours too…

The Bible constantly mentions both circumcision and yeast. Circumcision affects a very delicate and personal part of a human and changes a person and yeast is something that totally affects something and changes that thing. So both circumcision and yeast change things. They are both separate things from the original thing that was made by God. But the heart which is also mentioned in the Bible is originally made by and known by God and the heart is examined by God to see if it’s His.

Ex 12:4
share it with a close neighbor

share it with a neighbor. Hmm, sounds like the commands of God…

Ex 7:11
11 Pharaoh called in his wise men and sorcerers. The magicians of Egypt did the same thing by their incantations

The world will do their best to prove that they are the best, better than you-but God can’t be outdone!

Ex 5:4-5
4 But the king of Egypt said, "Why on earth, Moses and Aaron, would you suggest the people be given a holiday? Back to work!" 5 Pharaoh went on, "Look, I've got all these people bumming around, and now you want to reward them with time off?"

The world is not going to accept what you tell them regardless of how sure you are.

I have said this before but I have absolutely no problem in saying it again: God is very good to me!

Ex 4:31
31 And the people trusted and listened believingly that GOD was concerned with what was going on with the Israelites

Remember this because it won’t last!

Ex 4:21-23
21 GOD said to Moses, "When you get back to Egypt, be prepared: All the wonders that I will do through you, you'll do before Pharaoh. But I will make him stubborn so that he will refuse to let the people go. 22 Then you are to tell Pharaoh, 'GOD's Message: Israel is my son, my firstborn! 23 I told you, "Free my son so that he can serve me." But you refused to free him. So now I'm going to kill your son, your firstborn.'"

I didn’t know that God told Moses this!

Ex 4:15
teaching you step by step.

This is how involved God is with each of us. Moses isn’t the only one He is involved with.

Ex 4:11
11 GOD said, And who do you think made the human mouth? And who makes some mute, some deaf, some sighted, some blind? Isn't it I, GOD?

God, our creator, knows all about us!

Ex 4:9
take some water out of the Nile and pour it out on the dry land; the Nile water that you pour out will turn to blood when it hits the ground.

I don’t recall reading this!

God said:
Ex 3:19-22
19 "I know that the king of Egypt won't let you go unless forced to, 20 so I'll intervene and hit Egypt where it hurts — oh, my miracles will send them reeling! — after which they'll be glad to send you off. 21 I'll see to it that this people get a hearty send-off by the Egyptians — when you leave, you won't leave empty-handed! 22 Each woman will ask her neighbor and any guests in her house for objects of silver and gold, for jewelry and extra clothes; you'll put them on your sons and daughters. Oh, you'll clean the Egyptians out!"

And this happened!

Ex 3:11
11 Moses answered God, "But why me? What makes you think that I could ever go to Pharaoh and lead the children of Israel out of Egypt?"

God knows what He is doing and He is ONNI so He knows what He is doing but we’re not OMNI so we have to trust Him!

Gen 47:19
Trade us food for our bodies and our land. We'll be slaves to Pharaoh and give up our land — all we ask is seed for survival, just enough to live on and keep the farms alive.

Thus begins the children of Israel.

Gen 42:6
6 Joseph was running the country; he was the one who gave out rations to all the people. When Joseph's brothers arrived, they treated him with honor, bowing to him.

Remember Joseph ‘s dream?

Gen 41:16
16 Joseph answered, "Not I, but God. God will set Pharaoh's mind at ease."

If anyone needed help Joseph did but he didn’t take any honor for himself, he freely gave the honor to God.

Gen 40:8
Joseph said, Don't interpretations come from God?

Gen 32:22-23
22 But during the night he got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven children and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 He got them safely across the brook along with all his possessions.

Jacob has already asked God for help but God’s help is not eye candy…

Gen 30:14
Rachel asked Leah, "Could I please have some of your son's mandrakes?"

Eye candy may look good but it will cause you problems and is not what you really need. It just looks good at the time.

Gen 30:9
When Leah saw that she wasn't having any more children, she gave her maid Zilpah to Jacob for a wife.

Reality is not as pretty as eye candy.

Gen 30:3
3 Rachel said, "Here's my maid Bilhah. Sleep with her. Let her substitute for me so I can have a child through her and build a family."

Rachel could have asked God herself but she didn’t. Instead she wanted eye candy.

Gen 29:26
26 "We don't do it that way in our country," said Laban.

We will not always get what we desire in this world.

Gen 29:9-10
9 While Jacob was in conversation with them, Rachel came up with her father's sheep. She was the shepherd. 10 The moment Jacob spotted Rachel, daughter of Laban his mother's brother, saw her arriving with his uncle Laban's sheep, he went and single-handedly rolled the stone from the mouth of the well and watered the sheep of his uncle Laban.

God will give us what we need and help us to get it.

Gen 26:16
16 Finally, Abimelech told Isaac: "Leave. You've become far too big for us."

The world will not be happy with us regardless of any reason.

Gen 25:33
On oath Esau traded away his rights as the firstborn.

Esau gave away his rights as the firstborn to his brother which is very similar to us becoming children of God. We become His children not by birth or because we deserve it but by God’s choice, therefore we become God’s children and have rights to the inheritance.

Gen 22:1-3
After all this, God tested Abraham. God said, "Abraham!"
"Yes?" answered Abraham. "I'm listening."
2 He said, "Take your dear son Isaac whom you love and go to the land of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I'll point out to you."
3 Abraham got up early in the morning and saddled his donkey.

He could have questioned God but he didn’t!

Gen 19:31-32
31 One day the older daughter said to the younger, Our father is getting old and there's not a man left in the country by whom we can get pregnant. 32 Let's get our father drunk with wine and lie with him. We'll get children through our father — it's our only chance to keep our family alive.

They could have prayed and asked God to help but NO.

Gen 19:26
26 But Lot's wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt.

She sought eye candy even though she had been told not to look back! God does bless us BUT we must do what He says!

Gen 19:16
The men grabbed Lot's arm, and the arms of his wife and daughters — GOD was so merciful to them! — and dragged them to safety outside the city.

The road IS narrow…

Gen 15:13-14
13 GOD said to Abram, Know this: your descendants will live as outsiders in a land not theirs; they'll be enslaved and beaten down for 400 years. 14 Then I'll punish their slave masters; your offspring will march out of there loaded with plunder.

This is about the children if Israel in the future!

Gen 7:21-23
21 Everything died. Anything that moved — dead. Birds, farm animals, wild animals, the entire teeming exuberance of life — dead. And all people — dead. 22 Every living, breathing creature that lived on dry land died; 23 he wiped out the whole works — people and animals, crawling creatures and flying birds, every last one of them, gone. Only Noah and his company on the ship lived.

This was just like the day of judgment will be.

Gen 7:1
7:1 Next GOD said to Noah, Now board the ship, you and all your family — out of everyone in this generation, you're the righteous one.

The road was narrow…

Gen 6:13
13 God said to Noah, It's all over. It's the end of the human race.

You’ll NEVER hear this in a sermon!

Gen 5:24
Enoch walked steadily with God. And then one day he was simply gone: God took him.

You won’t hear a sermon on this!

Gen 5:1-2
This is the family tree of the human race: When God created the human race, he made it godlike, with a nature akin to God. 2 He created both male and female and blessed them, the whole human race.

This make it very clear that humans were designed by God.

Gen 3:16
You'll want to please your husband, but he'll lord it over you.

This doesn’t sound like: Happy wife, happy life” to me!

Gen 3:6
she took and ate the fruit and then gave some to her husband, and he ate.

They BOTH KNEW WHAT GOD HAD SAID but because they both agreed they did it anyway! Be careful that the same thing doesn’t happen to you.

Gen 3:6
6 When the Woman saw that the tree looked like good eating

She thought that it was eye candy!

Gen 3:1-5
3:1 The serpent was clever, more clever than any wild animal GOD had made. He spoke to the Woman: "Do I understand that God told you not to eat from any tree in the garden?"
2 The Woman said to the serpent, "Not at all. We can eat from the trees in the garden. 3 It's only about the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, 'Don't eat from it; don't even touch it or you'll die.'"
4 The serpent told the Woman, "You won't die. 5 God knows that the moment you eat from that tree, you'll see what's really going on. You'll be just like God, knowing everything, ranging all the way from good to evil."

The serpent’s opinion was not what God had said so the first sin was based on an improper opinion.

Gen 1:27-28
27 God created human beings; he created them godlike, Reflecting God's nature. He created them male and female. 28 God blessed them: "Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge!

And people call this “nature”?

Gen 1:27
He created them male and female.

Later on it discusses them separately but here it shows that God created male and female as part of creation.

Gen 1:27
27 God created human beings

People think that THEY create human beings by their sexual desires!

Gen 1:24-25
24 God spoke: Earth, generate life! Every sort and kind: cattle and reptiles and wild animals — all kinds." And there it was: 25 wild animals of every kind, Cattle of all kinds, every sort of reptile and bug. God saw that it was good.

This is part of God’s creation not nature!

Gen 1:20-22
20 God spoke: Swarm, Ocean, with fish and all sea life! Birds, fly through the sky over Earth!" 21 God created the huge whales, all the swarm of life in the waters, And every kind and species of flying birds. God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them: "Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Ocean! Birds, reproduce on Earth!

This part of God’s creation has been renamed “nature”.

Gen 1:9-10
9 God spoke: Separate! Water-beneath-Heaven, gather into one place; Land, appear!" And there it was. 10 God named the land Earth.

God created by His word things like the grand canyon and Niagara falls!

Gen 1:16
16 God made two big lights, the larger to take charge of Day, The smaller to be in charge of Night; and he made the stars.

I’m not sure whether people realize this.

Gen 1:14
14 God spoke: Lights! Come out! Shine in Heaven's sky! Separate Day from Night. Mark seasons and days and years

It is not mentioned among people but God created the seasons.

Gen 1:11
11 God spoke: Earth, green up! Grow all varieties of seed-bearing plants

What it doesn’t say but you can figure out is that even though there was no such a thing as a plant there certainly was no such a thing as a seed bearing plant so part of creation was the creation of seed bearing plants which mimic resurrection.

Gen 1:1
First this: God created the Heavens and Earth — all you see, all you don't see.

God didn’t create eye candy.

The word of God (the Bible, the scriptures) begins in Genesis in the Old Testament with God creating everything including angels but one angel chose to defy God and was thrown out of Heaven and given the Earth (which was created by God) to manage and God, while still very involved with people, quit living among humans . But in the New Testament God chose to live among humans again and did so by impregnating an unmarried virgin and being born in a barn. He was rejected and killed but whereas in the Old Testament He sent prophets, in the new testament He sent apostles and even though the written word, the scriptures, are completed, He still sends humans and is very much involved in human lives and the end of times will happen when final destinations will be determined by the way people have lived their lives and the destinations will be final.

The Bible stars with Genesis and the creation of everything by God but people only view it as something that the Bible says and not as reality however, I view it as real reality! It goes along with the way things are and there is no question! Beginning with Adam & Eve and Satan being thrown from Heaven to Earth it just makes perfect sense to me but people don’t see it that way-yet they expect to spend Eternity with God. Humm…He put that in His word for a good reason! If we just blow it off then why believe any of it?

Rev 12:11
They weren't in love with themselves; they were willing to die for Christ.

Rev 12:9
9 The great Dragon — ancient Serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, the one who led the whole earth astray — thrown out, and all his Angels thrown out with him, thrown down to earth.

Rev 3:19
19 "The people I love, I call to account — prod and correct and guide so that they'll live at their best. Up on your feet, then! About face! Run after God!

Rev 3:18
18 "Here's what I want you to do: Buy your gold from me, gold that's been through the refiner's fire. Then you'll be rich. Buy your clothes from me, clothes designed in Heaven. You've gone around half-naked long enough. And buy medicine for your eyes from me so you can see, really see.

Rev 3:15-16
You're not cold, you're not hot — far better to be either cold or hot! 16 You're stale. You're stagnant. You make me want to vomit.

Are you stale?

Rev 3:11
Keep a tight grip on what you have so no one distracts you and steals your crown.

Rev 3:9
those who call themselves true believers but are nothing of the kind

Rev 3:5
Conquerors will march in the victory parade, their names indelible in the Book of Life. I'll lead them up and present them by name to my Father and his Angels.

Rev 3:4
wallowing in the muck of the world's ways

Rev 2:23
Then every church will know that appearances don't impress me. I x-ray every motive and make sure you get what's coming to you.

Degrees, titles…

Rev 2:21
no intention of giving up a career in the god-business

Rev 2:20
Cross-denying, self-indulging religion

Taking more care of self than anything…

Rev 2:17
I'll give the sacred manna to every conqueror

Rev 2:12
The One with the sharp-biting sword draws from the sheath of his mouth

Opinions, which people are big on...

Rev 2:11
Christ-conquerors are safe from Devil-death.

Rev 2:10
"Don't quit, even if it costs you your life. Stay there believing. I have a Life-Crown sized and ready for you.

Don't quit, even if it costs you your life!

Today I’m starting Revelations. Most people THINK that Revelations is a special book, but after reading the whole Bible several times, Revelations is no different from what the prophets have said, it just sounds different but the prophets have said the same thing. God comes back and most of the world (living it’s own way) goes to Hell.

Jude 1
1:1 I am a slave to Jesus Christ

Most humans don’t like to be slaves to anyone but I’m happy and proud to be a slave to Christ.

3 John 11
The person who does good does God's work.

good is not a human descrition.

2 John 7
There are a lot of smooth-talking charlatans loose in the world who refuse to believe that Jesus Christ was truly human, a flesh-and-blood human being.

In addition there are many people who think that Jesus Christ was powerful THEN but not now and only powerful through the scriptures and they do whatever they want in their lives.

1 John 4:2
Everyone who confesses openly his faith in Jesus Christ — the Son of God, who came as an actual flesh-and-blood person — comes from God and belongs to God.

There IS a difference in just saying something and living it! Faith without works is dead.

1 John 4:1
My dear friends, don't believe everything you hear. Carefully weigh and examine what people tell you. Not everyone who talks about God comes from God. There are a lot of lying preachers loose in the world.

Weigh and examine everything you hear using the scriptures. If God said it then it’s true!

1 John 3:13
So don't be surprised, friends, when the world hates you. This has been going on a long time.

1 John 2:27
Christ's anointing teaches you the truth on everything you need to know about yourself and him, uncontaminated by a single lie. Live deeply in what you were taught.

Imagine that! Christ’s anointing is teaching you and His anointing doesn’t work for any college!

1 John 2:15-17
15 Don't love the world's ways. Don't love the world's goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. 16 Practically everything that goes on in the world — wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important — has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. 17 The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out — but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.

1 John 2:6
Anyone who claims to be intimate with God ought to live the same kind of life Jesus lived.

Jesus’ life on Earth was not wonderful and cushy! He was conceived in an unmarried virgin and born in a barn where He slept in an animal’s feeding trough so your life will not be wonderful and cushy either.

2 Peter 2:9
9 So God knows how to rescue the godly from evil trials. And he knows how to hold the feet of the wicked to the fire until Judgment Day.

2 Peter 1:20-21
20 The main thing to keep in mind here is that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of private opinion. 21 And why? Because it's not something concocted in the human heart.

Good times will not happen now on Earth but they will happen later, so don’t get discouraged. We are on Earth for a short time and Heaven is forever.

1 Peter 5:9
You're not the only ones plunged into these hard times. It's the same with Christians all over the world.

You’re NOT the only one going through hard times.

1 Peter 5:5
God has had it with the proud, But takes delight in just plain people.

1 Peter 5:1
I know what it's like to be a leader, in on Christ's sufferings as well as the coming glory.

The coming glory… Glory will come much later but there won’t be glory now.

1 Peter 5:1-3
I know what it's like to be a leader, in on Christ's sufferings as well as the coming glory. 2 Here's my concern: that you care for God's flock with all the diligence of a shepherd. Not because you have to, but because you want to please God. Not calculating what you can get out of it, but acting spontaneously. 3 Not bossily telling others what to do, but tenderly showing them the way.

1 Peter 4:18
18 If good people barely make it, What's in store for the bad?

If good people barey make it…l

To me, what I’m experiencing right now is not at all as important as what I’ll experience forever and forever is not just a long time-it is never ending.

Humans put a HUGE importance on impressing other humans but there isn’t much if any importance among humans on impressing God. Other humans may supply you with things on Earth but that only counts on Earth and God can give you things on Earth AND in Heaven. So the choice is yours, is Heaven important to you? It’s more important to me.

1 Peter 1:23
Your new life is not like your old life. Your old birth came from mortal sperm; your new birth comes from God's living Word.

1 Peter 1:17-19
Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God. 18 It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in. 19 He paid with Christ's sacred blood, you know.


Not just a journey to make money & get the appreciation of others...

1 Peter 1:4
a future in heaven

now that’s a future worth living for!

James 4:12
12 God is in charge of deciding human destiny.

James 3:14
Mean-spirited ambition isn't wisdom. Boasting that you are wise isn't wisdom

James 2:26
Separate faith and works and you get the same thing: a corpse.

James 2:23
23 The full meaning of "believe" in the Scripture sentence, "Abraham believed God and was set right with God," includes his action.

James 2:5
God operates quite differently, He chose the world's down-and-out as the kingdom's first citizens

James 1:21
our gardener, God

James 1:10
Prosperity is as short-lived as a wildflower, so don't ever count on it.

Heb 11:1
The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It's our handle on what we can't see.


Faith comes from what we can’t see which means no eye candy

Heb 8:10-11
I'll be their God, they'll be my people. 11 They won't go to school to learn about me, or buy a book called God in Five Easy Lessons.

They won’t go to school…

Heb 6:18
We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go.

Grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go…

Titus 1:7
It's important that a church leader, responsible for the affairs in God's house, be looked up to — not pushy, not short-tempered, not a drunk, not a bully, not money-hungry.

Not money hungry, preaches should read this!

2 Tim 4:1
God is looking over your shoulder. Christ himself is the Judge

2 Tim 3:15-4:1
There's nothing like the written Word of God for showing you the way to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another — showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God's way. 17 Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us.

2 Tim 3:12
12 Anyone who wants to live all out for Christ is in for a lot of trouble; there's no getting around it!

2 Tim 3:1
Don't be naive. There are difficult times ahead.

2 Tim 2:14
pious nitpicking chips away at the faith


Churches should learn this!

2 Tim 2:3-7
3 When the going gets rough, take it on the chin with the rest of us, the way Jesus did. 4 A soldier on duty doesn't get caught up in making deals at the marketplace. He concentrates on carrying out orders. 5 An athlete who refuses to play by the rules will never get anywhere. 6 It's the diligent farmer who gets the produce. 7 Think it over. God will make it all plain.

1 Tim 6:10
10 Lust for money brings trouble and nothing but trouble.

1 Tim 6:5
They think religion is a way to make a fast buck.

1 Tim 4:13
13 Stay at your post reading Scripture

1 Tim 1:19
After all, this is a fight we're in.

2 Thess 3:2
I'm finding that not all "believers" are believers.

2 Thess 2:9
9 The Anarchist's coming is all Satan's work. All his power and signs and miracles are fake

But they’ll be eye candy

2 Thess 1:12
If your life honors the name of Jesus, he will honor you.

2 Thess 1:2
2 Our God gives you everything you need, makes you everything you're to be.

God makes you everything you’re to be NOT some college!

1 Thess 5:16-18
16 Be cheerful no matter what; 17 pray all the time; 18 thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.

Thank God no matter what happens…

1 Thess 4:13
you must not carry on over them like people who have nothing to look forward to, as if the grave were the last word.

The grave doesn’t have the last word!

1 Thess 4:9
You're God-taught

Not a student of some man-made surriculum

Col 4:1
Don't forget for a minute that you, too, serve a Master — God in heaven.

Col 3:25
Being Christian doesn't cover up bad work.

Col 2:9
You don't need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realize the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him.

Col 2:7
School's out

I repeat: schools out!

Col 2:5
5 I'm a long way off, true, and you may never lay eyes on me, but believe me, I'm on your side, right beside you.

Col 2:2-3
2 I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God. Then you will have minds confident and at rest, focused on Christ, God's great mystery. 3 All the richest treasures of wisdom and knowledge are embedded in that mystery and nowhere else.

It doesn’t say: “I want you to study this curriculum and get a degree” NO!

Col 1:24
There's a lot of suffering to be entered into in this world — the kind of suffering Christ takes on.

What kind of suffering did Christ take on?

Col 1:19
everything of God finds its proper place in him

it doesn’t say: “everything finds it’s proper place by going to college and getting a degree so they can make big bucks”

Col 1:15-16
We look at this Son and see God's original purpose in everything created. 16 For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels — everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him.

God is our creator and we were created to work for Him.

Col 1:15-16
We look at this Son and see God's original purpose in everything created. 16 For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels — everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him.

God is our creator and we were created to work for Him.

Col 1:11
11 We pray that you'll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul — not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives.

It DOESN’T say: “we pray that you’ll make alot of money so that you can be successful”.

Col 1:10-11
As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work.

It DOESN’T say: “as you go to college and get your degree”, NO. Colleges aren’t even comprised of believers!

Col 1:10-11
As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work.

Col 1:10
work hard in his orchard.

Remember, God is the farmer and the world is His orchard and we work for Him and our life story is how hard we work.

Col 1:5
tightly tied as they are to your future in heaven, kept taut by hope.

Most generally people just think of their future as only being on Earth and although it may take years to accomplish it is only temporary whereas our true future goes way beyond Earth because it is never ending.

When we focus that we can do everything by ourselves that we possess the ability to accomplish everything without God, we will ultimately fail. We can probably accomplish things fine in this world but in the next life we will fail. The key thing to remember is that everything depends on God, not you.

Phil 3:12-14
I'm not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. 13 Friends, don't get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward — to Jesus. 14 I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back.

I agree! It’s not pretty or easy for me as I am, but I’m glad that I’m here and I wouldn’t trade a thing!

Phil 3:9
I didn't want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ — God's righteousness.

Sounds like me! I don’t want some degree that comes from some man made curriculum and all th benefits that come along with that, I want God’s righteousness.

Paul opted not to let his own personal credentials make him something special, although they were big, he opted to boast not of himself but of Christ. No title, no degree, no position, just Christ. You should do the same.

Phil 2:15
15 Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God.

It doesn’t say: “provide people with the benefits of your education”.

Phil 2:12
Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God.

It doesn’t say: “before other people”, it says “before God”.

Phil 2:5-11
5 Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. 6 He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. 7 Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! 8 Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death — and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion.
9 Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, 10 so that all created beings in heaven and on earth — even those long ago dead and buried — will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, 11 and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father.

Try THIS around most humans!

Phil 2:2-4
do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. 3 Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. 4 Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.

It doesn't say: get pictures of yourself, or make a video or get a title or make alot of money or fit in with society.

Regardless of their motives they’re speaking Christ!

Phil 1:18
18 So how am I to respond? I've decided that I really don't care about their motives , whether mixed, bad, or indifferent. Every time one of them opens his mouth, Christ is proclaimed, so I just cheer them on!

Studying God’s word is really paying off! I just got back from going to Church (it’s just a human business) and I see things that most people don’t see! “Ministries” are also businesses that ONLY rely on people with titles and degrees and give them A LOT of attention, money and leeway. I can never have that so I get no attention or leeway because I can’t work, so with no money, no attention even though I could do the work!

But God loves me.

So either I focus on being lost or I focus on the fact that God loves me, and I choose to focus on the fact that God loves me and I prefer to do that because it agrees with God’s word.

Eph 6:12-17
12 This is no afternoon athletic contest that we'll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.
13 Be prepared. You're up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it's all over but the shouting you'll still be on your feet. 14 Truth, righteousness, 15 peace, 16 faith, 17 and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You'll need them throughout your life. God's Word is an indispensable weapon.

Eph 6:12
This is no afternoon athletic contest that we'll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.

Eph 5:17
Make sure you understand what the Master wants.

Eph 5:6
6 Don't let yourselves get taken in by religious smooth talk. God gets furious with people who are full of religious sales talk but want nothing to do with him.

What does “smooth talk” mean? Doing something to get something out of it. For profit.

Eph 5:5
5 You can be sure that using people or religion or things just for what you can get out of them — the usual variations on idolatry — will get you nowhere, and certainly nowhere near the kingdom of Christ, the kingdom of God.

People, religion or things…

Eph 5:2
Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn't love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.

Eph 5:1-2
Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. 2 Mostly what God does is love you.

Eph 4:17
And so I insist — and God backs me up on this — that there be no going along with the crowd, the empty-headed, mindless crowd.

No going along with the crowd…

Eph 4:10-13
He handed out gifts above and below, filled heaven with his gifts, 11 filled earth with his gifts. He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher 12 to train Christians in skilled servant work, working within Christ's body, the church, 13 until we're all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God's Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ.

Since God gave everyone the gifts that they have, why do we need to go to college? Did God miss something?

Eph 2:19-3:1
God is building a home. He's using us all — irrespective of how we got here — in what he is building. 20 He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he's using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone 21 that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day — a holy temple built by God, 22 all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home.

Eph 2:7-10
7 Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. 8 Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish! 9 We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing! 10 No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.

I do have free will but God is OMNI so He knows beforehand what I’m gonna do.

Eph 1:23
23 The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world

Since the Church is peripheral to the world, the Church should not be like the world.

Eph 1:7-10
7 Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we're a free people — free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! 8 He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, 9 letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, 10 a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.
This shows us that Jesus is the reason for “heaven on earth”.

Eph 1:4-6
4 Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. 5 Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) 6 He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.

Gal 6:1
If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him

Gal 5:26
That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.

Gal 5:17
For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness.

Gal 5:14
14 For everything we know about God's Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That's an act of true freedom.

Gal 5:6
6 For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything.

Gal 5:4
When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace.

Gal 3:26
26 By faith in Christ you are in direct relationship with God.

Gal 3:21
the futility of devising some religious system for getting by our own efforts what we can only get by waiting in faith for God to complete his promise.

Gal 3:11
The person who lives in right relationship with God does it by embracing what God arranges for him. Doing things for God is the opposite of entering into what God does for you.

Gal 2:16
Convinced that no human being can please God by self-improvement

Gal 2:6
God isn't impressed with mere appearances

Gal 1:4
because Jesus Christ rescued us from this evil world we're in by offering himself as a sacrifice for our sins.

2 Cor 10:3
3 The world is unprincipled. It's dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn't fight fair.

2 Cor 6:9
ignored by the world, but recognized by God

2 Cor 5:20
Become friends with God; he's already a friend with you.

2 Cor 5:10
10 Sooner or later we'll all have to face God, regardless of our conditions. We will appear before Christ and take what's coming to us as a result of our actions, either good or bad.

This is what I’m trying very hard to prepare you for.

2 Cor 5:9
Cheerfully pleasing God is the main thing

2 Cor 5:6-7
7 It's what we trust in but don't yet see that keeps us going.

2 Cor 5:5
Christ puts a little of heaven in our hearts so that we'll never settle for less.

2 Cor 2:7
7 Now is the time to forgive this man and help him back on his feet.

Churches don’t know how to do this!

2 Cor 1:12
face the world

2 Cor 1:9
Instead of trusting in our own strength or wits to get out of it, we were forced to trust God totally — not a bad idea since he's the God who raises the dead!

2 Cor 1:6
6 When we suffer for Jesus, it works out for your healing and salvation.

So how could we complain?

2 Cor 1:4-5
4 He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. 5 We have plenty of hard times that come from following the Messiah, but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort — we get a full measure of that, too.

Even hard times for us are used to help others!

I constantly hear: “I’ve got my work cut out for me” which means: I know what I have to do to make this happen, which is fine if it is something that you were created to do but what about those times when it’s something that you weren’t created to do? Do you just give up? Most humans would but the Bible says that when you can’t do it if you trust God to do it then it will be done.

1 Cor 15:34
Ignorance of God is a luxury you can't afford in times like these.

1 Cor 15:10
But because God was so gracious, so very generous, here I am.

1 Cor 14:1
Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it — because it does.

1 Cor 13:13
13 But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

1 Cor 11:18
I get this report on your divisiveness, competing with and criticizing each other.

Competing is common in Churches!

1 Cor 11:12
since virtually everything comes from God anyway, let's quit going through these "who's first" routines.

1 Cor 10:22
the Master won't put up with it. He wants us — all or nothing.

1 Cor 10:13
13 No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he'll never let you be pushed past your limit; he'll always be there to help you come through it.

1 Cor 8:7
knowing isn't everything. If it becomes everything, some people end up as know-it-alls who treat others as know-nothings. Real knowledge isn't that insensitive.

1 Cor 8:3
We never really know enough until we recognize that God alone knows it all.

1 Cor 7:31
This world as you see it is on its way out.

1 Cor 4:13
We're treated like garbage, potato peelings from the culture's kitchen.

1 Cor 4:7-8
what's the point of all this comparing and competing? 8 You already have all you need. You already have more access to God than you can handle.

1 Cor 3:9
You happen to be God's field in which we are working.

1 Cor 1:26-31
26 Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don't see many of "the brightest and the best" among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. 27 Isn't it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, 28 chose these "nobodies" to expose the hollow pretensions of the "somebodies"? 29 That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God. 30 Everything that we have — right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start — comes from God by way of Jesus Christ. 31 That's why we have the saying, "If you're going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God."

1 Cor 1:25
Human wisdom is so tinny, so impotent, next to the seeming absurdity of God. Human strength can't begin to compete with God's "weakness."

1 Cor 1:19-21
19 It's written,
I'll turn conventional wisdom on its head,
I'll expose so-called experts as crackpots.
20 So where can you find someone truly wise, truly educated, truly intelligent in this day and age? Hasn't God exposed it all as pretentious nonsense? 21 Since the world in all its fancy wisdom never had a clue when it came to knowing God, God in his wisdom took delight in using what the world considered dumb — preaching, of all things! — to bring those who trust him into the way of salvation.

1 Cor 1:17
17 God didn't send me out to collect a following for myself, but to preach the Message of what he has done, collecting a following for him. And he didn't send me to do it with a lot of fancy rhetoric of my own, lest the powerful action at the center — Christ on the Cross — be trivialized into mere words.

Rom 16:18
only in this for what they can get out of it

Rom 15:1
Strength is for service, not status.

Rom 14:23
if some days trying to impose your opinions on others, other days just trying to please them — then you know that you're out of line.

Rom 14:19-20
19 So let's agree to use all our energy in getting along with each other. Help others with encouraging words; 20 don't drag them down by finding fault.

Rom 14:18
Your task is to single-mindedly serve Christ.

Not to evaluate others or compete against others! Your work is cut out for you.

Rom 14:12
You've got your hands full just taking care of your own life before God.

Rom 14:9
9 That's why Jesus lived and died and then lived again: so that he could be our Master across the entire range of life and death, and free us from the petty tyrannies of each other.

You won’t hear a sermon on this.

Rom 14:8
8 It's God we are answerable to — all the way from life to death and everything in between — not each other.

Rom 14:5
each person is free to follow the convictions of conscience.

Rom 14:3-4
God, after all, invited them both to the table. 4 Do you have any business crossing people off the guest list or interfering with God's welcome? If there are corrections to be made or manners to be learned, God can handle that without your help.

To me, this speaks volumes about withdrawal!

Rom 13:4
The police aren't there just to be admired in their uniforms. God also has an interest in keeping order, and he uses them to do it.

Rom 12:19
19 Don't insist on getting even; that's not for you to do. "I'll do the judging," says God. "I'll take care of it."

Rom 12:16
Make friends with nobodies; don't be the great somebody.

Rom 12:10
practice playing second fiddle.

Rom 12:4-6
4 In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. 5 The body we're talking about is Christ's body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn't amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ's body, 6 let's just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren't.

Rom 12:3
The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.

Society doesn’t like this…

Rom 12:3
it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you.

Everything IS NOT up to you.

Rom 12:2
Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Rom 12:2
2 Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out.

This is critical!

Rom 12:1
Take your everyday, ordinary life — your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life — and place it before God as an offering.

This is why you were born.

Rom 11:32
32 In one way or another, God makes sure that we all experience what it means to be outside so that he can personally open the door and welcome us back in.

Rom 11:20
don't get cocky and strut

Rom 11:15
worldwide coming together

Rom 10:8-9
This is the core of our preaching. 9 Say the welcoming word to God — "Jesus is my Master" — embracing, body and soul, God's work of doing in us what he did in raising Jesus from the dead. That's it. You're not "doing" anything; you're simply calling out to God, trusting him to do it for you. That's salvation.

PEOPLE DON”T TEACH OR PREACH THIS. I read it but I‘ve NEVER heard this.

Rom 10:3
Right across the street they set up their own salvation shops and noisily hawk their wares.

This sounds like Christian book stores…

Rom 9:15-16
15 God told Moses, "I'm in charge of mercy. I'm in charge of compassion." 16 Compassion doesn't originate in our bleeding hearts or moral sweat, but in God's mercy.

THIS IS TOTALLY NEW!

Rom 9:11
What God did in this case made it perfectly plain that his purpose is not a hit-or-miss thing dependent on what we do or don't do, but a sure thing determined by his decision, flowing steadily from his initiative.

Rom 8:26-28
God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. 27 He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. 28 That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.

I read this but I’ve never been taught this.

Rom 8:5
5 Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life.

Human moral muscle is not enough! We need Christ!

Rom 7:4
When Christ died he took that entire rule-dominated way of life down with him and left it in the tomb, leaving you free to "marry" a resurrection life and bear "offspring" of faith for God.

Rom 6:3-4
When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace — a new life in a new land!

This is about baptism but Churches don’t teach this!

Rom 5:7-8
7 We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. 8 But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.

Rom 5:6
6 Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn't, and doesn't, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready.

Rom 4:16
For Abraham is father of us all. He is not our racial father — that's reading the story backwards. He is our faith father.

Rom 4:13-14
13 That famous promise God gave Abraham — that he and his children would possess the earth — was not given because of something Abraham did or would do. It was based on God's decision to put everything together for him, which Abraham then entered when he believed. 14 If those who get what God gives them only get it by doing everything they are told to do and filling out all the right forms properly signed, that eliminates personal trust completely and turns the promise into an ironclad contract! That's not a holy promise; that's a business deal.

Rom 4:5
if you see that the job is too big for you, that it's something only God can do, and you trust him to do it — you could never do it for yourself no matter how hard and long you worked — well, that trusting-him-to-do-it is what gets you set right with God, by God. Sheer gift.

It is way too big to even think that I could reach people through the Internet, so God comes through for me where I couldn’t do it myself.

Rom 4:1-3
So how do we fit what we know of Abraham, our first father in the faith, into this new way of looking at things? 2 If Abraham, by what he did for God, got God to approve him, he could certainly have taken credit for it. But the story we're given is a God-story, not an Abraham-story. 3 What we read in Scripture is, "Abraham entered into what God was doing for him, and that was the turning point. He trusted God to set him right instead of trying to be right on his own."

How do I make something of myself…

Rom 3:30
God sets right all who welcome his action and enter into it, both those who follow our religious system and those who have never heard of our religion.

So Demoninalism is clearly wrong per the Bible.

Rom 3:27-28
God does not respond to what we do; we respond to what God does. 28 We've finally figured it out. Our lives get in step with God and all others by letting him set the pace, not by proudly or anxiously trying to run the parade.

Rom 3:27
What we've learned is this: God does not respond to what we do; we respond to what God does.

Rom 3:27
27 So where does that leave our proud Christian insider claims and counterclaims? Canceled? Yes, canceled.

Rom 2:29
And recognition comes from God, not humans.

Rom 2:17
don't assume that you can lean back in the arms of your religion and take it easy

Rom 2:11
God pays no attention to what others say (or what you think) about you. He makes up his own mind.

Rewards are only what humans think…

Rom 2:9
9 If you go against the grain, you get splinters, regardless of which neighborhood you're from, what your parents taught you, what schools you attended.

Or what degree you have!

Rom 1:6
6 You are who you are through this gift and call of Jesus Christ!

Acts 28:14
We found Christian friends there and stayed with them for a week.

Paul had never been there but there were Christians so God is helped by but not limited to human action.

Acts 28:6
They kept expecting him to drop dead, but when it was obvious he wasn't going to

I have been expected to die many times but I am not going to die yet!

Acts 23:11
That night the Master appeared to Paul: "It's going to be all right. Everything is going to turn out for the best. You've been a good witness for me here in Jerusalem. Now you're going to be my witness in Rome!"

God said that it was going to be all right and it is important to note that the things that had happened and were going to happen to Paul by human standards were not all right so our standards and God’s standards are not the same.

Acts 23:8
If they can't see it, they don't believe it.

This is talking about Sadducees but it sounds like society today who say: seeing is believing.

Acts 22:14
The God of our ancestors has handpicked you to be briefed on his plan of action.

It is very important to note that this wasn’t Paul’s plan of action rather it was God’s. Nothing is OUR plan of action-it’s God’s plan of action.

Acts 21:19-20
Paul told the story, detail by detail, of what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. 20 They listened with delight and gave God the glory.
NOTICE: no awards or celebrations! They gave God the glory not Paul.

Acts 19:2
"Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? Did you take God into your mind only, or did you also embrace him with your heart? Did he get inside you?"


This is myquestion to you.

Acts 15:1
It wasn't long before some Jews showed up from Judea insisting that everyone be circumcised: "If you're not circumcised in the Mosaic fashion, you can't be saved."

Sounds like denominationalism to me…

Acts 14:22
Anyone signing up for the kingdom of God has to go through plenty of hard times.

Has to go through…

Acts 14:3
God corroborating their work with miracles and wonders.

Notice how it says that God was corroborating their work, it doesn’t say: they were corroborating their work.

Acts 10:41
Jesus wasn't put on public display

Acts 10:34
God plays no favorites!

Acts 8:4
Christians all became missionaries. Wherever they were scattered, they preached the Message about Jesus.

They didn’t make anything for anyone! Their entire goal was to teach about God.

Acts 5:29
It's necessary to obey God rather than men

Acts 4:32
32 The whole congregation of believers was united as one — one heart, one mind! They didn't even claim ownership of their own possessions. No one said, "That's mine; you can't have it." They shared everything.

THIS is not common…

Acts 4:13
Their fascination deepened when they realized these two were laymen with no training in Scripture or formal education.

No degrees! Nothing from humans!

Acts 3:12
Oh, Israelites, why does this take you by such complete surprise, and why stare at us as if our power or piety made him walk?

He made sure that everyone knew that God had done this not them.

Acts 2:40
Get out while you can; get out of this sick and stupid culture!

Acts 2:14
That's when Peter stood up and, backed by the other eleven, spoke out with bold urgency

The crowd that he could speak to was huge so the opportunity was also huge to promote himself but he didn’t he told them about God.

John 20:29
29 Jesus said, "So, you believe because you've seen with your own eyes. Even better blessings are in store for those who believe without seeing."

You have never seen, do you believe?

John 20:21
21 Jesus repeated his greeting: "Peace to you. Just as the Father sent me, I send you.

We are sent.

John 16:24
Your joy will be a river overflowing its banks!

It says: your joy. Your joy is very personal. It is YOURS alone!

John 16:10
righteousness comes from above

it’s not up to you so what you do, who you are or what you make have nothing to do with your eternal destination.

John 15:19
19 If you lived on the world's terms, the world would love you as one of its own. But since I picked you to live on God's terms and no longer on the world's terms, the world is going to hate you.

John 12:43
43 When push came to shove they cared more for human approval than for God's glory.

Is this you too?

John 12:25
25 In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you'll have it forever, real and eternal.

anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life.

John 9:16
16 Some of the Pharisees said, "Obviously, this man can't be from God. He doesn't keep the Sabbath."

People THINK that God requires that humans ”do” certain things.

Satan, the deceiver, works very hard to make humans think that “a good life on Earth means a good life in Heaven” but God’s word (God, the owner of Heaven) doesn’t say that. In fact it says that the way to a good life in Heaven is solely comprised of self-sacrifice here on Earth but not many people are willing to do that. They want a good life on Earth too which is good for now but bad for later and later is neverending.

In my life, I live by the words: Father knows best and the saying isn’t because of some old television show rather it’s because of God.

John 8:15
15 You decide according to what you can see and touch.

Eye candy…

John 7:14-15
With the Feast already half over, Jesus showed up in the Temple, teaching. 15 The Jews were impressed, but puzzled: "How does he know so much without being schooled?"

You HAVE to go to college…

John 6:63
63 The Spirit can make life. Sheer muscle and willpower don't make anything happen.

John 5:44
44 How do you expect to get anywhere with God when you spend all your time jockeying for position with each other, ranking your rivals and ignoring God?

Competition…

John 5:31
31 If I were simply speaking on my own account, it would be an empty, self-serving witness.

Are you a self-serving witness?

John 5:24
Anyone here who believes what I am saying right now and aligns himself with the Father, who has in fact put me in charge, has at this very moment the real, lasting life and is no longer condemned to be an outsider. This person has taken a giant step from the world of the dead to the world of the living.

John 5:21-22
The Son gives life to anyone he chooses. 22 Neither he nor the Father shuts anyone out.

Denominations say that you’re in or you’re out but God doesn’t do that.

John 4:44-45
44 Now, Jesus knew well from experience that a prophet is not respected in the place where he grew up. 45 So when he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, but only because they were impressed with what he had done in Jerusalem during the Passover Feast, not that they really had a clue about who he was or what he was up to.

Are you simply impressed or do you know what He is up to?

John 4:23
the time is coming — it has, in fact, come — when what you're called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter.
Denominationalism…

John 4:1-3
Jesus realized that the Pharisees were keeping count of the baptisms that he and John performed 2(although his disciples, not Jesus, did the actual baptizing). They had posted the score that Jesus was ahead, turning him and John into rivals in the eyes of the people. 3 So Jesus left the Judean countryside and went back to Galilee.

God doesn’t like competition.

John 3:1-2
There was a man of the Pharisee sect, Nicodemus, a prominent leader among the Jews. 2 Late one night he visited Jesus

Late one night… This is our first clue!

John 2:24-25
He knew them inside and out, knew how untrustworthy they were. 25 He didn't need any help in seeing right through them.

He can see right through us too!

John 2:13-17
When the Passover Feast, celebrated each spring by the Jews, was about to take place, Jesus traveled up to Jerusalem. 14 He found the Temple teeming with people selling cattle and sheep and doves. The loan sharks were also there in full strength.
15 Jesus put together a whip out of strips of leather and chased them out of the Temple, stampeding the sheep and cattle, upending the tables of the loan sharks, spilling coins left and right. 16 He told the dove merchants, "Get your things out of here! Stop turning my Father's house into a shopping mall!" 17 That's when his disciples remembered the Scripture, "Zeal for your house consumes me."

This kind of thing still happens today at Church!

John 1:30
the One who comes after me but is really ahead of me.

Right here you can see why many humans don’t believe in Him. Humans don’t believe that He was before but actually ahead, humans only believe what they can see and evaluate.

Luke 21:19
Stay with it to the end. You won't be sorry; you'll be saved.

Luke 18:17
Unless you accept God's kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you'll never get in."


A child doesn't go to college.

Luke 16:13
You can't serve both God and the Bank.

This is from the Bible! I didn’t make this up-it says this!

Luke 14:33
33 Simply put, if you're not willing to take what is dearest to you, whether plans or people, and kiss it good-bye, you can't be my disciple.

Luke 13:3
Unless you turn to God, you too will die.

Luke 12:16-21
16 Then he told them this story: "The farm of a certain rich man produced a terrific crop. 17 He talked to himself: 'What can I do? My barn isn't big enough for this harvest.' 18 Then he said, 'Here's what I'll do: I'll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I'll gather in all my grain and goods, 19 and I'll say to myself, Self, you've done well! You've got it made and can now retire. Take it easy and have the time of your life!'
20 "Just then God showed up and said, 'Fool! Tonight you die. And your barnful of goods — who gets it?'
21 "That's what happens when you fill your barn with Self and not with God."

Luke 12:15
Take care! Protect yourself against the least bit of greed. Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot.

Luke 11:29-30
As the crowd swelled, he took a fresh tack: "The mood of this age is all wrong. Everybody's looking for proof, but you're looking for the wrong kind. All you're looking for is something to titillate your curiosity, satisfy your lust for miracles. But the only proof you're going to get is the Jonah-proof given to the Ninevites, which looks like no proof at all. 30 What Jonah was to Nineveh, the Son of Man is to this age.

He was talking about what we call-eye candy.

Luke 11:28
28 Jesus commented, "Even more blessed are those who hear God's Word and guard it with their lives!"

Luke 11:23
23 "This is war, and there is no neutral ground. If you're not on my side, you're the enemy; if you're not helping, you're making things worse.

Luke 10:38-42
As they continued their travel, Jesus entered a village. A woman by the name of Martha welcomed him and made him feel quite at home. 39 She had a sister, Mary, who sat before the Master, hanging on every word he said. 40 But Martha was pulled away by all she had to do in the kitchen. Later, she stepped in, interrupting them. "Master, don't you care that my sister has abandoned the kitchen to me? Tell her to lend me a hand."
41 The Master said, "Martha, dear Martha, you're fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over nothing. 42 One thing only is essential, and Mary has chosen it — it's the main course, and won't be taken from her."

This is about priorites.

Luke 10:29-37
29 Looking for a loophole, he asked, "And just how would you define 'neighbor'?"
30 Jesus answered by telling a story. "There was once a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way he was attacked by robbers. They took his clothes, beat him up, and went off leaving him half-dead. 31 Luckily, a priest was on his way down the same road, but when he saw him he angled across to the other side. 32 Then a Levite religious man showed up; he also avoided the injured man.
33 "A Samaritan traveling the road came on him. When he saw the man's condition, his heart went out to him. 34 He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds. Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable. 35 In the morning he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, 'Take good care of him. If it costs any more, put it on my bill — I'll pay you on my way back.'
36 "What do you think? Which of the three became a neighbor to the man attacked by robbers?"
37 "The one who treated him kindly," the religion scholar responded.
Jesus said, "Go and do the same."

Luke 10:20
20 All the same, the great triumph is not in your authority over evil, but in God's authority over you and presence with you. Not what you do for God but what God does for you — that's the agenda for rejoicing.

Not what you do for God but what God does for you…