So many of us have filled our hearts with the junk food of the world. No wonder we are so unhappy. No wonder we jump from one job to another and from relationship to another. We have full stomachs and empty hearts! Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” Are you hungry? Are you thirsty? If you are, you can be filled. This is the promise of God to hungry hearts and thirsty souls.
Text: Matthew 5:6“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” This is one of the strangest statements in the Bible. It is a paradox and a mystery. “Blessed are those who mourn,” said Jesus. Happy are the sad! What do these strange words mean? Who are the mourners, why are they sad, and how are they comforted?
Text: Matthew 5:4The signs are everywhere. Time rushes toward its appointed climax. The first rays of dawn streak the eastern sky. The countdown has begun. In heaven, the sound of trumpets and a King prepares to leave his palace. On earth, his children pray with new excitement and new understanding of the words he taught them so long ago … “Thy Kingdom Come.”
Text: Luke 21:25-29The Virgin Birth was never meant to stand alone. It is not a random truth plucked from thin air. God never says, “Pick and choose what you want to believe.” The story of Jesus is a seamless garment woven by the Holy Spirit. Take out his miraculous birth and you have ripped the whole garment to shreds.
Text: Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23This is the first promise given after the Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. It is also the first gospel sermon ever preached on the face of the earth. Theologians call it the protoevangelium–or first gospel. These words spoken by God contain the first promise of redemption in the Bible. Everything else in the Bible flows from these words in Genesis 3:15. As the acorn contains the mighty oak, so these words contain the entire plan of salvation.
Text: Genesis 3:15To be saved, you must first realize that you can’t save yourself. As long as you hold on to your self-righteousness, you cannot be forgiven. Being a Christian means you’ve come to Christ and you’ve come by faith to the cross. It means that He’s the one that will come into your heart and forgive your sin and change your way of life.
Text: VariousThe Holy Spirit does everything to bring us to Christ, everything we need to walk with Christ in this life, and everything we need to take us safely from earth to heaven. He does it all for us and he does it for all of us. None of us could live even one day as a Christian without the aid of the Holy Spirit.
Text: VariousThank God for the Bible because without it, we would never know about Jesus. And without Jesus, we could never be saved. But the Bible is true and it is the Word of God.
Text: VariousAfter all the arguments on both sides are finished, you still have to decide for yourself. You still have to choose. I believe in God because without him nothing in this universe makes sense. God exists—he is real and Jesus Christ is His Son. What choice have you made?
Text: Various“And the Lord brought about a great victory.” What made the difference? One man who refused to run away. One man who turned the tide of battle and through him, God brought about a great victory. What’s the hardest part of winning a battle like that? Having the courage to take your stand in the middle of the field. If you can do that, the rest is easy. The hard part is not running away.
Text: 2 Samuel 23