The Burden of Being Unneeded I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God.  I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak,...

The Burden of Being Needed Moses said to the Lord, “Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me?  Did I conceive all this people? Did I give them birth, that you...

God’s Gift of Parents Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.  “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), "that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land."   Ephesians 6:1-3 Parents are gifts and blessings...

May You See Your Children’s Children Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways!  You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.  Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your...

The Two Become One Flesh: God’s Gift of Marriage So God created man in his own image,     in the image of God he created him;     male and female he created them.  Genesis 1:27 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and...

The Faith Once Delivered to the Saints Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.  Jude 3 One of the many...

Who does the adding? So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls…And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.   Acts 2:41, 47 Pastors are burdened with guilt for a variety of reasons, but...

In the World, But Not of the World I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.  I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not...

Opening the Scriptures Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.   Luke 24:45 As Jesus walked with the disciples on the road to Emmaus, the evangelist Luke notes that beginning with Moses and the Prophets, Jesus “interpreted” the Scriptures to them as they testified about Himself.  One of the...

The Christian Life is Simple, But Not Easy "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.  And a second is...