Bible Verses: Matthew 10:40
Read MoreFor Reading and Meditation: Matthew 10:1-20
We are saying that many Christians are ineffective witnesses because they attempt to water down their testimony to avoid persecution - and end up achieving nothing. Once we accept that those who reject Christ and His teaching will also reject us, we will then be free to throw our whole weight on the side of Christ and...
Bible Verses: Matthew 10:1-202 Timothy 3:1-131 Corinthians 13:3Revelation 2:10
Read MoreFor Reading and Meditation: Philippians 1:12-30
We come now to Christ's eighth and final prescription for good spiritual and mental health: "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:10). The inevitable result of bringing our attitudes in line...
Bible Verses: Philippians 1:12-30Matthew 5:10Luke 6:26Matthew 10:16-42Matthew 24:9Luke 21:12
Read MoreFor Reading and Meditation: Mark 10:13-31
Today we ask ourselves: If happiness is not something we can create but something we receive, how do we go about receiving it? Listen again to the words of Jesus: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." What does it mean to be "poor in spirit"? There are those who tell us that the words...
Bible Verses: Mark 10:13-31Luke 6:20Mark 9:30-37Matthew 10:40Luke 8:40John 1:12
Read More"And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward." Matthew 10:42
Well, I can do as much as that. I can do a kind act toward the LORD's servant. The LORD knows llove them all and would count it an honor to wash their feet. For the sake of their Master, I love the disciples.
How gracious of the LORD...
Bible Verses: Matthew 10:42
Read More"Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in Heaven." Matthew 10:32
Gracious promise! It is a great joy to me to confess my LORD. Whatever my faults may be, I am not ashamed of Jesus, nor do I fear to declare the doctrines of His cross. O LORD, I have not hid Thy righteousness within my heart.
Sweet is the prospect which the text sets before me! Friends forsake and...
Bible Verses: Matthew 10:32
Read MoreThe Christian will be sure to make enemies. It will be one of his objects to make none; but if to do the right, and to believe the true, should cause him to lose every earthly friend, he will count it but a small loss, since his great Friend in heaven will be yet more friendly, and reveal himself to him more graciously than ever. O ye who have taken up his cross, know ye not what your Master said? "I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother;...
Bible Verses: Matthew 10:34
Read MoreNo one will dispute this statement, for it would be unseemly for the servant to be exalted above his Master. When our Lord was on earth, what was the treatment he received? Were his claims acknowledged, his instructions followed, his perfections worshipped, by those whom he came to bless? No; "He was despised and rejected of men." Outside the camp was his place: cross-bearing was his occupation. Did the world yield him solace and rest? "Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests;...
Bible Verses: Matthew 10:25
Read MoreThe Bible is fairly full of tokens of God's marvelous care for His people. During Israel's forty-year trek through the wilderness, they ate food from heaven (Exodus 16:4), had an unfailing supply of water (1 Corinthians 10:4), and were equipped with shoes that never wore out (Deuteronomy 29:5).
It is the same in our wilderness journey. To prove this,...
Bible Verses: 1 Peter 5:7Exodus 16:41 Corinthians 10:4Deuteronomy 29:5Matthew 6:26Matthew 10:29Matthew 10:31Matthew 6:301 Corinthians 9:9Exodus 28:9-12Exodus 28:15-21Isaiah 49:16Matthew 10:30Psalms 56:8Zechariah 2:8Isaiah 54:17Isaiah 46:7Isaiah 46:4Isaiah 43:2Isaiah 63:9Psalms 121:3-4John 10:11Psalms 84:11Romans 8:32Deuteronomy 11:12Isaiah 46:4Hebrews 13:5
Read MoreThe omniscience of God means that He has perfect knowledge of everything. He has never learned and can never learn.
One of the great passages on the subject is Psalms 139:1-6, where David wrote: "O Lord, thou has searched me and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising; thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my...
Bible Verses: 1 John 3:20Psalms 139:1-6Psalms 147:4Matthew 10:29-30Hebrews 4:13Romans 11:33Job 23:10Psalms 56:8
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Sometimes people come into the local church who have never come into the universal church. People join a church who have never been born into the true church. Some churches actually throw the doors open and say, "Now we'll sing the closing hymn for those who want to unite with the church. Come to the front." Al Capone could come in and join. Nobody asks any questions; they just take in anybody. I do not believe in that at all, and I know you do not either. I believe that if you are going to...