Without the LORD, it is all frustration. Be on His side and live under His favor. May the Lord this year teach us to trust in Him and to pray. May we learn to depend on Him knowing that this is His world. Where we have failed to trust in the Lord and we lived independent of Him, may we repent today and seek the blood of Christ to cover our sinful skepticism toward the LORD. May we find in Christ renewal and healing to still every murmur in our heart and instead to trust in our heavenly Father and learn to sleep in the stern of the boat amid the storms of life with peace that transcends understanding that guards our heart and mind.
This familiar psalm reminds us that the ultimate worker and provider in all our endeavors is the LORD. While the natural principle of cause and effect is indeed taught in Scripture, this psalm shows us that that principle must always be accompanied by the understanding that the LORD is the crucial provider in all our affairs. Whether it's our homes or the house of God, our greatest need is the LORD’s provision. In this unique psalm of Solomon, the Holy Spirit teaches us that human strength and ingenuity alone do not guarantee success. It is the LORD and His provision that ensure true success. May we learn to pray, depend on the LORD, and carry out His work with hearts that wait on Him.
Revelation 7 shows that the wrath of the Lamb will be poured out on those who dwell on the earth, not upon Jesus’ own beloved people. John is shown two groups that will stand despite the intense judgments to come and contrary to the unbelievers’ outcry (6:17): the 144K Israelites and the raptured Gentile church of God. This sermon is part one of two sermons on Revelation 7 on the important topic of the rapture and its implications.
All things are in God’s hands, because this is God’s world. When we are on God’s side and we prayerfully depend on Him, we find ourselves in the most blessed place in life.
The future is the reign of God in heaven becoming a reality on earth. Christ overcomes the world with judgments and He will reign on the earth with His people.
What the triune God reveals in this book is the imminent coming of the grand finale to history as prophesied in the OT: the second coming of Christ.
The human conscience, given by God, acts as a moral compass, convicting us of guilt when we sin. This sense of guilt is universal, affecting all people, whether they acknowledge God or not. Yet, no human effort—neither good deeds nor rituals—can cleanse this guilt or make us right before Him. Even the sacrifices prescribed in the Old Testament could only temporarily cover sin without fully purifying the worshiper.
The lesson of Hebrews 9:14 reveals that the only way to achieve a clean conscience is through the blood of Jesus. His sacrifice, offered without blemish, washes away the guilt that weighs on our hearts. In doing so, it not only frees us from the shame of sin but also gives us a renewed purpose: to serve the living God with a life directed by His grace and truth. Through Christ, we find the ultimate freedom and a conscience made clean.
Through His death, Jesus accomplished three essential purposes. First, He fulfilled the Old Covenant by perfectly keeping the law and meeting its requirements on our behalf. Second, His death established the New Covenant, offering believers complete forgiveness of sins and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Finally, the New Covenant grants direct access to God, allowing us to approach Him freely through Christ. These three truths reveal how Jesus’ sacrifice transforms our relationship with God.
Jesus’ death on the cross opened salvation to everyone, uniting Jews and Gentiles into one family of God. While the Jews were God’s chosen people in the Old Testament, tasked with carrying His promises and the Law, Christ’s sacrifice fulfilled God’s plan to extend grace to all, as promised through Abraham’s seed (Acts 3:25). Now, all who believe—regardless of background—are part of God’s family, heirs of His promises, and one in Christ, with no distinction between Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female (Galatians 3:28).
Can you speak many languages? Something happened where the apostles could. Let’s find out how and what begins after.
Jesus shows Himself to the apostles and gives them a global mission.
How can people know and worship God? Christmas celebrates when the eternal Word came into the world, bringing life in Him. But even more so, Jesus came to truly show us who God is.
