Living By The Word

  "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable." (Psalm 145:3)   As I take inventory of my countless blessings on this Thanksgiving Day, my heart and mind are overwhelmed and awe-stricken by the goodness and grace of the faithful God who made me, sustains me, and saved me. Above all, I am most grateful for the love and mercy that God has shown one so unworthy as me through His precious Son and my Savior Jesus Christ. Praise Jesus, my first love and my highest priority! He alone is worthy of my worship for I am His wonderful workmanship!   Thank You, dear Jesus, that you first loved me to such an extreme that you died for my sins, was buried, and rose again on the third day so that by the grace of God through faith in You, I have, and can never lose, abundant and everlasting life. No matter what hardships and trials that You have promised to see me through in my earthly journey, I rejoice evermore that I am bound for a heavenly home...

  “ In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18) In every circumstance of life, even in the stormiest of seasons, we should be mindful of the fact that we are richly blessed by a God of love, who uniquely created you and me in His own image, genuinely desiring to have a personal relationship with each of us. None of us deserves it, but saints and lost sinners alike daily receive God’s good gifts and heavenly provisions. Sadly, however, we tend to take for granted the myriad of gracious blessings and divine favors that the L ORD pours out to us every day, simply because He loves everyone, wants the best outcomes for our lives, and desires that none should perish spiritually. In addition to providing for our daily sustenance and eternal security, a benevolent God richly rewards our faithful obedience and servanthood. “Oh, give thanks to the  Lord , for  He is  good! For His mercy  endures  ...

  “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us…” (Ephesians 3:20). The awe-inspiring Creator who skillfully crafted humanity and every living thing, the earth and its planetary neighbors, and the universe and all that is in the vastness of its far reaches is absolutely a God of unimaginable abundance. As human beings, we are weak, frail, and needy creatures. However, the God of all creation is omniscient (all-knowing), omnipotent (all-powerful), and omnipresent (everywhere present) and He has promised to provide for every need of those who trust Him. “ And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19) During this Thanksgiving season and year round, we should be mindful of the abundance of His blessings. As Christians who have placed our faith in the L ORD Jesus, we are the beneficiaries of the bounty of God’s most wonderfu...

  Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying,  “I am the light of the world. He who   follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” (John 8:12) Jesus Christ is the everlasting light that illuminates the darkness that shrouds an evil world. Sadly, people who live an unrepentant sinful lifestyle resist the light of life, choosing instead to walk under the cover of darkness that obscures their ungodliness. “ And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” (John 3:19) Until the rapture of the church, when believers will be caught up in the air and taken out of this troubled world to be with Jesus forever, we have been called to reflect His light into the worldly darkness. “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.     Nor do they   light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to...

“ Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence  of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) Faith is the God-given ability to see with spiritual eyes things that are unseen in the physical world. A great biblical truth is that the unseen, not the tangible, has lasting value. “For the  things  which   are seen ,  are temporal (temporary) ; but the things which are not seen, are eternal. ” (2 Corinthians 4:18) Therefore, Scripture instructs that we look not at what is seen, but at the things that are seen only through the eyes of faith. And therein rests our lively hope, the assurance of a faithful God the heavenly Father of salvation exclusively through His Son Jesus Christ. This heavenly hope is founded on faith! Faith in Jesus alone allows believers to gain access to God’s saving grace and receive with certainty our great hope, His gift of everlasting life. This hope of salvation is in Christ alone! Because of a godly love that exceeds our under...

  Jesus said to him,  “‘You shall love the  Lord  your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’   This is the first and great commandment.”   (Matthew 22:37-38) Questioned about the greatest commandment in the Jewish law, Jesus, quoting from Deuteronomy 6:5, told one of the Pharisees that the greatest commandment was to love God with all of one’s being and might. That commandment is easily stated, but how do we love the L ORD with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength? Jesus provided that answer on how to keep the supreme commandment, simply saying to His disciples in John 15:14, “If you love Me, keep My commandments. ” To obey God reflects our love for Him and that He is our highest priority. Trusting obedience is the only way that we show the world that we love the L ORD our God with all our heart, soul, and mind. And when we truly put our faith in Christ and yield our hearts to Him, the Holy Spirit enable...

Jesus said in John 16:33, "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Despite the troubles and trials that are a reality of life in a fallen world, faith in Jesus Christ gives every believer ultimate triumph over their temporal earthly circumstances and the assurance of an eternal heavenly home in our Lord's presence. By God's grace through trust in Jesus' supreme sacrifice for our sins, we are reborn spiritually and become new creations in Christ with transformed hearts that desire to love and serve and renewed minds that seek to do God's will, not our own. Good will ultimately overcome evil; faith in Christ is the victory that overcomes the world! Paul said in reference to Jesus in Romans 8:37, "Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us."

  “Since you were precious in My sight, you have been honored, and I have loved you... ( Isaiah 34:4). The world defines an individual’s worth, for example, by his bank account, the size of his home, the brand of automobile that he drives, and the number of his social media followers. On the other hand, God measures a person’s self-worth not by what is seen on the outside, but by the bounty of the heart. This infinite, all-knowing, all-powerful, everywhere present God values all of his human creations beyond the ability of our finite minds to comprehend. God loves each of us unconditionally and desires a relationship with us. In the sight of the sovereign, eternal God of the universe, we are all priceless. This great reality is reflected in the fact that God created us in His own image, each uniquely crafted like no other human being who has or will ever live. He knows everything about us, down to the smallest detail, and He is with us wherever we go. We are, therefore, ...

  “Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes  are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.” (Romans 13:7) Today, our duty as freedom-loving Americans is to render the honor that is due the veterans and soldiers of this great nation. Their selflessness, sacrifice, commitment to service helped to secure and protect the liberties with which we’ve been blessed like no other people on earth. To all of the courageous veterans of our community and our country, I thank you from the depths of my heart for your exemplary service to the United States. On this Veterans Day and beyond, may God continue to bless America! To the L ORD alone is due our reverent respect (fear) and highest honor and glory. “You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.  No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of  this  life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. ” (2 Timoth...

“For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” (James 2:26) As children of God and ambassadors for Jesus Christ, Christians are called to verbally share our faith with unbelievers as opportunities arise during the course of our daily lives. But we must back up our personal testimonies and words of witness with actions that speak louder than words and give credibility to what we say. Faith is put into practice by engaging in acts of love, compassion, and service to others for which we have been saved by the grace of God through faith in Christ. Good deeds are the result of our saving faith and not the reason for our salvation. We activate our Christian faith by being obedient to God in every aspect of our lives, living out our faith not just speaking it! “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” (1 John 3:18)

“Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” (1 Corinthians 1:10) As yesterday’s presidential election clearly indicated, our nation, having strayed far from its Christian roots, is sharply divided and mired in discord and dissension. Whether or not you are pleased with the outcome of this bitter, hard-fought race, it is time to put our differences aside and come together in oneness of purpose and national unity. Living in a turbulent and treacherous world, we face mammoth problems that cannot be resolved unless we address them as a unified people willing to compromise and live together in relative harmony despite our diversity of opinions. After all, we are American citizens, and it is our duty to work in unison in an effort to serve the best interests of our country. Christians must pray that God w...

“To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven…” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Each of the four seasons uniquely displays the matchless beauty of God’s creative genius and speaks of His incomprehensible glory. “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11) Particularly stunning to me is the splendor of the autumn colors that are the indisputable testimony of God’s magnificent artistry. So let’s enjoy them with praise and thanksgiving to the Creator while we can. One season soon passes its torch of beauty to another, each manifesting God’s glory in its on way, but the truth of His Word is absolute and eternal and His great promises to believers are ours to enjoy forever! “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of God stands forever.”

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16) The most familiar verse in the Bible, John 3:16 never gets old because it is the most eloquent and concise summary of the Gospel in all of Scripture. Thank God that His plan of salvation is all inclusive and available as an expression of His grace to "whosoever" chooses to accept the greatest gift imaginable, eternal life. However, salvation and an everlasting heavenly home are available to everyone exclusively through faith in Jesus Christ, who loved us and gave Himself to save us from our sins! Praise God that I am a believer and I pray that you are too!