Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV – “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”
Acts 4:18-20 ESV — “So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, ‘Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.’”
I, too, can’t help but speak of what I’ve seen and heard, what I’ve experienced first hand. I’ve been changed by the risen Christ. I’ve been filled with the Holy Spirit. And I can’t keep it to myself. How about you?
Trust in the Lord with all your Heart – FormerAtheist58
“yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.”
Proverbs 2:3-5 ESV
“And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out,
Acts 3:17-19 ESV
Heavenly Father, Draw men and women around the globe to cry out to You, to seek wisdom diligently, to search Your Word like they would mine for gold and diamonds. Let us be ignorant no more. We are without excuse. You have revealed Yourself in creation and in the scriptures. Equip us and send us out as mature believers, to be faithful teachers and heralds of this good news. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.
Want Wisdom? Repent and Seek
Jesus, We Repent – Stephen McWhirter
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And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
Acts 2:42 ESV
Heavenly Father, Thank You for the gift of Your Holy Spirit. Fill us, Lord, that we would desire to be devoted to Your Word, to the fellowship of believers, and to prayer. We want to be Your witnesses to all four corners of the earth, for Your glory and for our neighbors’ good. Make us one with You and one with one another. Make us bold and make us humble. We bow at Your feet for You alone are worthy. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, the name by which we must be saved, Amen.
Devoted to the Apostles’ Teaching, Fellowship, and Prayer
Your Words are Wonderful – Sovereign Grace Music
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I’m loving reading the advent devotional in “From Creation to Christ” along with a daily reading of a chapter of Luke. Hope it blesses you, too.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
Isaiah 9:6-7 ESV
The religious leaders were grumbling about Jesus receiving the tax collectors and sinners, so Jesus told them this parable,
“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
Luke 15:4-7 ESV
And then Jesus told them another parable about a lost coin and then another parable about two sons.
Lord Jesus, You left the ninety-nine to come after me. Thank You. You pursued me while I was lost and lame, blind and dead. Thank You. Protect me from pride and hypocrisy, that leaven of the Pharisees. Give me a heart full of humble gratitude for the privilege to live in Your presence and to share in Your abundance. Amen.
Prince of Peace – Monica Scott and One Voice Children’s Choir
I’m loving reading the advent devotional in “From Creation to Christ” along with a daily reading of a chapter of Luke. Hope it blesses you, too.
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.
Isaiah 11:1-5 ESV
[Jesus] said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”
Luke 14:12-14 ESV
Heavenly Father, You alone are the all-righteous One. Thank You for sending Your Son to judge the living and the deadwith perfect justice and righteousness. Now, Lord, send us out. Make us disciples who make disciples. Send us out into the streets and the markets to share the good news with the poor and lost, the needy and blind. May we follow You in all Your ways, daily taking up our cross, and living like You lived. May we delight in the fear of the Lord. May righteousness and faithfulness be bound tightly around our waists, keeping us upright and training us to cling to You. May we be humble and gentle and wise, to the glory of Your Name. For it is in the mighty Name of Jesus that we pray. Amen.
I’m loving reading the advent devotional in “From Creation to Christ” along with a daily reading of a chapter of Luke. Hope it blesses you, too.
Then Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the LORD….” Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read from it before the king. And when the king heard the words of the Law, he tore his clothes…
2 Chronicles 34:15a, 18-19
And someone asked Jesus, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?”
And he said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able…. And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”
Luke 13:24, 30 ESV
Heavenly Father, Forgive us for our pride and hypocrisy. Forgive us for our religious spirits, for trying to come to You through our own righteousness, while our hearts remain hard and unclean. Thank You for always preserving a remnant. You’re not impressed by kings and queens. You’re not impressed by external obedience to the law. You don’t need our money or fame. Please, Father, give us the childlike faith of Josiah. Draw us to enter through the narrow gate of faith in Jesus Christ. Give us humble and contrite hearts, tender hearts, that grieve over sin and sincerely desire to please You. Thank You for sending Jesus, meek and lowly, the Christ child wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. It’s in His Name we pray. Amen.
I’m loving reading the advent devotional in “From Creation to Christ” along with a daily reading of a chapter of Luke. Hope it blesses you, too.
“And when the Philistine [Goliath] looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. And the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?”
And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.”
Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give you into our hand.”
1 Samuel 17:42-47 ESV
And Jesus spoke to His disciples, saying
“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.”
Luke 12:4-7 ESV
Heavenly Father, thank You for holding my life in the palm of Your almighty, good hand. I know that You see me and know me and love me. You are indeed familiar with all my ways. Nothing is hidden from You. Increase my faith. Let me not fear anything that is frightening here in this world, but rather increase my fear of Your holy righteousness that I might walk constantly in awareness of Your presence. Give me strength to faithfully acknowledge You before men, not fearing what they might think about me or do to me, trusting that You are my true Father and my perfect judge and You hold every one of my days in Your almighty hands. In the Name of Jesus, who is my all-sufficient Savior and eternal king, I pray. Amen.
Emmanuel (God with Us Forever) – Bryan and Katie Torwalt
The sixth advent devotional in “From Creation to Christ” along with Luke 6. If you don’t have your own copy, you can order your own a Kindle version instantly, while you wait for the paper copy to arrive.
When we read the story of Jacob dreaming about a ladder set up on earth reaching to heaven, let’s pay careful attention to Genesis 28:13-14, where the Lord repeats the promise He had made to Abraham, Jacob’s grandfather, telling Jacob that, “The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”
I was reminded of Galatians 3.
“And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” … Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. … But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”
Galatians 3:8, 16, 25-29 ESV
Friends, though there are many children of Abraham, there is only one ladder by which anyone can reach God, that is Abraham’s one offspring, Christ, the Son of God.
Then, turning to Luke 6, I noticed in verses 17 and 18 that “[Jesus] came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured.”
According to Got Questions, “Tyre and Sidon were Gentile cities north of Israel.” And in Luke 10:13, Jesus compares the cities of Galilee (Chorazin and Bethsaida) with these Gentiles cities, “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.” (You can read more about Tyre and Sidon in Matthew 11:20-24, Matthew 15:21-28.)
Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Him. (John 14:6) It is by faith in Him that we can come to the Father now and for all eternity. All the nations will be blessed through the faith of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, through Messiah Jesus, the Promised, Long-Awaited Seed.
Heavenly Father, I pray that You will use me to bless the nations of the world. Draw all men to Yourself by faith in Jesus Christ, Your Only Begotten Son. Send Your children out to preach the good news in the corners and in the marketplaces, from the rooftops and through the airwaves. Bring the nations in! We want heaven to be filled with every nation, tribe, people, and tongue to the praise of Your glorious name. In the Name of Jesus Christ who is the Only Way to You, Father, we pray. Amen.
During the Advent season, I’ll be reading from both my daily Advent devotional in “From Creation to Christ” along with our 2-year Bible Reading plan, so that I read excerpts from Genesis 6-9 along with Luke 3. The Kindle e-book version is FREE now through Thursday, December 4, 2025, 11:59 PM Pacific Standard Time. Merry Christmas! Hurry and get your copy today and share it with your friends!
Though we don’t know what exactly Noah said to those living around him, 2 Peter 2:5 calls Noah, “a herald of righteousness.”
Though we don’t know exactly how Noah was treated by those who saw him building an ark in a desert, Hebrews 11:7 says that, “By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.”
We know more about John. We know that John “went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” (Luke 3:3 ESV) We know that John had fiery words to say to his Jewish brothers who came to be baptized by him.
“You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
Luke 3:7b-9 ESV
I was reminded this morning that John’s father, Zechariah, was a priest, but we see here in Luke 3 that John answered the crowds, even those detested tax collectors and soldiers, who asked, “What shall we do?” Again and again John pointed people to the One who is mightier than him, the one who was yet to come, who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire, who would gather the wheat into His barn and burn the chaff with unquenchable fire.
But Noah’s life and John’s life ended very differently. Noah’s life was spared, while John was locked up in prison (Luke 3:20) and eventually beheaded (Matthew 14:1-12).
So I’m asking myself, am I willing to be a herald of righteousness?
Am I willing to preach repentance or am I too afraid of what people will say?
Do I fear the disapproval of man … or of God?
Heavenly Father, make me like John and Noah. Make me a herald of good news. Help me to preach repentance and the good news of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. I know how this story ends. I know that Jesus came, and I know that He is coming again. Help me to live for Your glory, rather than my own. Help me to love my neighbor more than I love my own comfort. Give me Your strength. Give me Your words. Guide me where You want me to go. In the Name of Jesus Christ, my Lord and my Savior, I pray. Amen.
Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 121-160, 2 Samuel 23.
After reading all the yuck of the previous 12 chapters of 2 Samuel, I held my breath reading David’s words in 2 Samuel 23:5.
For he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and secure. For will he not cause to prosper all my help and my desire?
2 Samuel 23:5 ESV
Then I was reminded of 2 Samuel 7 when God made that everlasting covenant with David,
“When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you.
And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’”
2 Samuel 7:12-16 ESV
And then I was reminded of 2 Samuel 12 when God swore to bring evil upon David because of his sin.
“Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’
Thus says the LORD, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.’”
2 Samuel 12:9-12 ESV
And I was once again reminded that God is a promise keeping God, both in His promises of blessing and His promises of wrath. God did keep His everlasting covenant with the house of David, bringing Jesus, our eternal King of kings, but God also kept His oath that the sword would come upon David’s house and that his wives would be given to his neighbor, as we just read about in chapters 15-16.
So, then I wondered, why do so many professing Christians only talk about God’s steadfast love and refuse to talk about His just anger against our sin?
The reason God’s great mercy is the BEST NEWS EVER is because God’s great wrath is the WORST NEWS EVER.
Friends, if you are not in Christ, then you are still under God’s judgment, and if you are judged by your own deeds, you will be found “guilty as charged” and justly endure God’s eternal condemnation.
Everyone loves John 3:16 ESV — “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” But, let’s not forget about the other verses of John 3,
“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” John 3:18 ESV
“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” John 3:36 ESV
And what about 1 John 5:11-12? “And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life;whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.“
HeavenlyFather, help us to believe and proclaim the full counsel of Your Word, the full gospel of truth, that You are holy and righteous, that You are the judge of even our secret sins, those hidden things that no one else knows about, the thoughts and intentions of the heart as well as our words and deeds. None of us can stand before You by our own merit. We need You, Lord. Cover us with the blood of Jesus and wash us clean. Redeem us and deliver us from sin. In the Holy, Almighty Name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.
Teach What is Good 
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