“A good tree doesn’t produce bad fruit; on the other hand, a bad tree doesn’t produce good fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs aren’t gathered from thornbushes, or grapes picked from a bramble bush. A good man produces good out of the good storeroom of his heart. An evil man produces evil out of the […]
Listen, children, to a father’s instruction; pay attention, in order to gain insight; for I am giving you good advice; so don’t abandon my teaching. For I too was once a child to my father; and my mother, too, thought of me as her special darling. He too taught me; he said to me, “Let your heart treasure my words; […]
Let whoever is wise pay attention to these things and consider the Lord’s acts of faithful love. Psalm 107
One of the greatest fears in humans is the fear of change. At one point in time, most people resisted the things you take for granted as normal and basic and comfortable, because they were new. Since we cannot grow without changes and changing, the more we avoid change, the more immature and the less fruitful we are. “I am […]
One person gives freely, yet gains more; another withholds what is right, only to become poor. A generous person will be enriched, and the one who gives a drink of water will receive water. People will curse anyone who hoards grain, but a blessing will come to the one who sells it. (Proverbs 11:24-26 Holman Christian Standard Bible ©®) Your […]
After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his prosperity and doubled his previous possessions. All his brothers, sisters, and former acquaintances came to his house and dined with him in his house. They offered him sympathy and comfort concerning all the adversity the Lord had brought on him. Each one gave him a qesitah, and a gold […]
Your behavior, your attitude, your values system and your desires are measurable indicators. What they indicate includes whether you are more influenced by the first list Paul made in chapter 5 of his letter to the congregations in Galatia, or the second list. The first list there he titled, “the works of the flesh.” He called the second list, “the […]
Baptism is a place of death. The drama plays out in 3 acts. In Act 1, you are living a certain way in a certain place. In Act 2, you pass through some medium of destructive power. The media include rivers, wildernesses, fires, graves, oceans, the Holy Spirit, and maybe a thousand other possibilities. The commonality in each of them […]
Trading worries for peace:Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7 Holman Christian Standard Bible ©®)
A hand full of briars is very uncomfortable. A stone made smooth in a mountain stream is pleasant in my hand, though. If the stone is in my shoe, it can hurt worse than the briars in my hand. A grain of sand in an oyster can become a pearl. A grain of sand in my eye can blind me. […]