Title: Never will I leave you
A promise is best understood as the warm, assuring nearness of God, which generates a confidence that the Lord will not loosen his grip on nor threaten with abandonment to a state of helplessness those who have not served mammon, but instead found sufficiency with food and clothing, or in whatever state they are in.
Title: According to what one has
We cannot promise any offering or contribution to the work of the Lord unless it is already in our possession, not to mention that it has to be proportionate with the manner we’ve been blessed and the willingness to give is there. To pledge what is still future is to assume that we know what will happen beyond today, but that will be tantamount to playing god. Who knows whether he would still have the breath of life in his nostrils the morning next after the lengthening of the evening shadows?
Title: He gave
The best motivation for giving is love. And to define love, that it is not about the self but the beloved, and what would lead him to righteousness when he receives the gift because of love also. And since love is eternal, the gift transports the receiver to a higher plane of consciousness where he is transformed into a person whose only motivation in giving is love.
Title: Lonely places
When overwhelmed by the struggles and pressures of life, it is good for us to deprive ourselves of the images and the sounds of the world and enter the silence of communion in worship and there absorb the limitless vastness of God’s love which we have not fully appreciated, and his wisdom which we have generally ignored.
Title: The same yesterday and today and forever
God’s promises are sealed with an oath, for which reason the unchanging nature of his purpose becomes personified in the attribute of deity, so the fulfillment of what had been assured in essence has been completed in all ages, and to be fully revealed when the number of the redeemed had been achieved.
Title: Eternal life
There can be no hope of eternal life unless death is conquered. The sinner is incapable of doing this and we all know that. The only way to triumph over death is to rise from it victorious, never to die again. Good works have nothing to do with overcoming the sting of sin but a perfect, sinless life, the life of the Lord Jesus, surrendering to death when it cannot die, arising by its own power, not for himself, but for those who are the reason for His tortured demise.
Title: The mind of the Spirit
Title: Let us not give up meeting together
Title: Someone asked him
Those who would follow the Lord Jesus would do so knowing full well that they are entering the
Title: Your partnership in the gospel
If a Christian assembly is not immersed in the cause of the gospel, it has no other reason to be of one mind and, although meeting regularly in a common place, is really aimless and disunited. The congregation of the Lord Jesus should constantly breathe the gospel. Every nook and cranny of its organization, every joint and seam, every part should exude the good news, even possess a sacrificial attitude toward it, because it is the only hope for a condemned world, and those who would profit from it are adversely opposed to it.
Title: There is no God
Have we ever wondered why there is no controversy, no debate, on the existence of an object that is both a triangle and a square in its constitution? Because no such thing exists! Similarly, the mind finds no possibility for a reality that contradicts its own perfection.
The mere fact that there is debate whether a Creator exists induces the faculties of reasoning to acknowledge the possibility of the First Cause, which would be logical even to a fool.
Title: Everything will be laid bare
A Christian should miss nothing in this life, because he will not be returning to the same world, which will be destroyed, the earth and all things in it. Instead he should let go of material things beyond what he needs, since he has everything to look forward to in eternity anyway.
Title: Everything is uncovered
We all live on a planet we cannot leave, and there is a God we cannot hide or flee from. To talk about freedom limits us to where God wants us to be and what he wants us to accomplish in accordance with his will for our lives and for his creation. No one in his right mind would fail to see the influence and control God has over all he has spoken into being and our responsibility to obey Him, whether we recognize it or not, on pain of condemnation.
Title: You have saved the best till now
Withholding the valuable and beautiful and virtuous for last is wisdom from God. Man would rather have the finest here and now; he is concerned with nothing but the present convenience.
We have not seen the best of Christianity yet, because it anticipates the elimination of sin, and the reign of the Lord Jesus. Therefore we can be patient for the hope that all circumstances of life, including those we have no explanations for, will be reset to the former state of creation when there were only the valuable and the beautiful and the virtuous.
Title: If you are offering your gift at the altar
All of life is a religious ritual. Let us not be misled into thinking that there is a distinction between formal worship and day to day life, for there is none. We can only glorify God in the same way we deal with the least of men. In reality we can only love God if we have determined in our hearts not to take revenge on those who have wronged us.
Title: The authority to do all this
Although the Lord Jesus had the right and the power to demand righteous worship of the Father, it was the responsibility of the priests to maintain the sacredness of the temple as a sanctuary for prayer.
The place of worship must never be a venue for the exchange of merchandise and services. The only commodity allowed in its premises is the souls of men, and the purchasing power of the Lamb of God.
Title: To lay down our lives for our brothers
We understand what God’s love is because of its effect in our lives: the possession of eternal life by faith in the sinless life, the sacrificial death, and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. And since this love has been sealed into our spirits by the Spirit of God, we become actively in love with the Creator, a love which is personified in our love for all believers.
Our love for God is prompted by our actions towards those in the faith and those without: to those in the faith, the giving of ourselves for their sanctification; to those outside the church, a sacrifice for their salvation.
Title: In the twinkling of an eye
Time will be of no consequence when the transformation from the perishable to the immortal takes place. In fact it will transpire in a moment of time that is no longer divisible in graded units, much less measurable. This places that future event in the realm of timelessness, not unlike the agelessness of eternity past and eternity future, when time will be no more.
Title: Be silent before the Sovereign Lord
The din of industry, the hollow speeches of diplomats, the scornful claims of atheists, the angry threats of warriors, the proud rhetoric of rich and mighty men, the mystical predictions of soothsayers, the thundering cheers of sports fans, the captivating words of celebrities, the godless jargon of scientists, the heartless lies of politicians and lawyers, will be silenced on the day of God’s wrath.
No voice would have the audacity to echo a reason or a complaint before God, because on that day any speech would be the evidence against itself.
Title: See, I have told you ahead of time
Why do you think God would caution only his people? The answer may lie in the fact that only God’s children have a future to look forward to. And we know that heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people. The warning itself is a blessed sign that God wants to keep us on tract, not swayed by false doctrines here and there, because all the preparations for the day of reckoning will be important later.
Title: Do not let the sun go down
God doesn’t command us to do things beyond our control, like telling the sun not to go down for one day. From the spiritual point of view, any unjust provocation coming from a Christian brother, and results in a body-quivering anger, must not last beyond twenty-four hours, because an uncontrolled indignation may lead to revenge, and revenge is the prerogative of God.
Title: A righteousness from God is revealed
If God had not unveiled a righteousness from above, or the righteousness of God, is necessary for our cleansing from the power, influence, and presence of sin, who would have life?
Absolutely none, because no one knew that the solution was there, just awaiting revelation by the Lord Jesus. It can not be sought by human initiative, because the plot was so noble, only God could have thought of it.
If lesser members of creation would not be pardoned in a court of law for not recognizing the invisible qualities of God, we could just imagine how an infidel would fare under such circumstances.
There would be a court proceeding.
There would be a judge.
There would be total silence.
There would be a guilty verdict.
Title: And presented him with gifts
If the family of Joseph were alive today, would our offerings in worship sustain them during their stay in
The wise men left with nothing from the Lord Jesus after they had presented their gifts. They simply wanted to worship him.
Title: To work it and take care of it
God never intended for man to be busy as we are today. Indeed not even to plant a garden, but to take care of it, since the garden was already in existence. He was to be a gardener, enjoy his work, and have plenty of time on a daily basis to fellowship with his Creator.
And even in the whole design of creation, the gardening takes second place, because the real purpose for life is the worship of God. Again on a daily basis.
Title: What good is it?
We are most miserable if the only gain we could boast of is tangible, but beyond that we have no blueprint of a sense of urgency for the spiritual. Our capacity to enjoy life is unambiguously anchored to the blessed hope of immortality, and if so, that our mortal life should be modeled after and regulated by the righteousness of God.
Title: Stop sinning
Spiritual healing must pick up the trail where physical cure had left off. If not, no profit would have been gained if what had benefited the body can not be mirrored as the wellness of the spirit as well. And a time will come when only the spirit would respond to healing. Therefore, although physical needs may get our urgent attention, more provision for healing and renewal are demanded by the soul.
Title: You are not in darkness
A Christian is in a state of perpetual light, so whatever operates in the dark, or whatever comes out as an effect of deeds done in the dark, should have no binding hold on him.
His territory is characterized by open deeds of love and mercy, and spiritual fortitude, generally shunned by the elements of darkness.