June 2011 Blog Posts (83)

"God will eventually test you in all areas of your life, but He will not let your trials become greater than you can bear. Let God use trials to help you grow. Do not measure your progress, your strength, or what God is doing. His work is not less efficient because what He is…

How often does God answer your prayers? Of course, we know that God always answers prayers, it’s just that his answer is not always what we were hoping for. ‘No’ is technically an answer to our prayers. But how often does God give you what you are asking of him in prayer? How often does God say ‘Yes’?

During…

“Oh how love I Thy law! it is my meditation all the day.” Psalm 119:97

Christianity is not a legal relationship, it is a love relationship. Ten thousand “don'ts” will never make you one iota more like the Lord Jesus Christ. It is Jesus Himself Who makes you like Him. But you…

Those…

13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that JESUS died and rose again, even so, through JESUS, GOD will bring with HIM those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the LORD, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the LORD, will not proceed those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the LORD himself…

Ministers of God, Part 1

Who Are Ministers of God?

1 Corinthians 3:5-7: "Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters,…

Keeping in view the themes of Romans—such as Romans 5.1-2, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.”  We have access to God through Jesus Christ; and one day, it will be because of that, we will live forever with God.  Consider this:

“Many years ago two of my daughters and I were in Washington, D.C., where I spoke at a church…

Two words, differentiated by two letters, have two contrasting meanings. “Obvious” means clear, understandable, palpable, noticeable, apparent, evident, and observable. “Oblivious” means unaware, unconscious, unmindful, ignorant, and insensible.

Two groups…

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:” Ecclesiastes 3:1. There is a time for everything under Heaven and God established those times. Time is so elusive that no human being will ever completely figure it out, that realm belongs to God. Time just keeps going, but sometimes we run out of time. Our lives are engulfed and ordered by time. Time is all around us, it moves past us yet…

In many cultures, life is centered around food. Very few people in the western world would go for more than 10 or 12 hours without food or drink. Besides the fact that food is built into culture,…

Revelation 17

New King James Version (NKJV)

The Scarlet Woman and the Scarlet Beast

 ¹ Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me,^[…

The prophets had prepared them for his coming for hundreds of years, and yet most of the Jews of the day missed it.  What was God’s heart toward them?

“Does this mean, then, that God is so fed up with Israel that he’ll have nothing to do with them?  Hardly.  Remember that I, the one writing these things, am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham out of the tribe of Benjamin.  You can’t get much more Semitic than that!  So we’re not talking about repudiation.  God has been too long…

Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting.” - Daniel 5:27

It is well frequently to weigh ourselves in the scale of God’s Word. You will find it a holy exercise to read some psalm of David, and, as you meditate upon each verse, to ask yourself, “Can I say this? Have I felt as David felt? Has my heart ever been broken on account of sin, as his was when he penned his penitential psalms? Has my soul been full of true confidence…

House of Christ Ministries Inc

Joel 2:28-3:8 (Good News Translation)

God’s Word Goes Forth: Be Filled with the Holy Spirit

Introduction

Joel 2:28-3:8: Joel is a prophet who warns the people of Israel that the day of the Lord is near. In this passage, he tells how the Holy Spirit will empower the people, saving the faithful.…

I have always liked the beach—even the not-so-pretty, not-so-warm beach on the San Francisco Bay—where I grew up.  But thank God, I wasn’t at Crown Memorial Beach in my hometown of Alameda on Memorial Day this year!  The beauty of the beach and beach-going would have been forever ruined.  Each time I think about what happened, I am shocked and saddened all over again.

Gathered on the shore were first responders (at least a dozen), and about 75 other people standing and…