« March 2003 | May 2003 »
Posted by David Carroll
1 Samuel 16:7 (NKJV)
But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."
When you look at someone and hear them speak a few words, you really don't know much about them. To really know someone, it takes time to get to know their heart.Pastor once said, if you really want to get to know what is inside a person, just jostle them up a bit
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Posted by David Carroll
1 Samuel 15:22 (NKJV)
So Samuel said: "Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the Lord ? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.
King Saul had been given instructions from God through Samuel to wipe out the Amalekites and all of their livestock too. Saul decided to keep the cattle and sheep. He figured that it would be such a waste to destroy them all. After all, he could use them to make sacrifices to God. Seems like a pretty good rationalization. But
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Posted by David Carroll
John 7:17 (NKJV)
If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.
Do you want to know the will of God? First of all, realize it only comes by revelation, specifically, in God's word. Secondly, realize that it is not until you are obedient to His word that it becomes self-evident as being truly His word. The verse above says: "Do His will, and you shall know about the doctrine." God will not reveal his truth until you are ready to respond to it. And
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Posted by David Carroll
1 Samuel 12:23 (NKJV)
Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you; but I will teach you the good and the right way.
Notice that it is not a sin against the one whom I failed to pray for, rather it is a sin against the LORD. That is the way all sin is. It is God who is offended by our sin.Notice the consequences too, in ceasing to pray for others, the implication is that the intercession will stop and I (the praying person) will not teach
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Posted by David Carroll
Proverbs 15:1 (NKJV)
A soft answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger.
Proverbs is a book of wisdom not a book of rules. This one, however, I need to make a rule in my life. This verse does not say that you must give an answer that will let someone off the hook, rather, it describes the manner in which the answer is given, soft.You understand that a word given harshly only authorizes the other party to react to the manner in which it was given and not to the truth of the word that was spoken. The
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Posted by David Carroll
John 6:28-29 (NKJV)
Then they said to Him, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?"
Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent."
Man always wants to do some sort of work to earn his way. It's just his human nature to think this way. These men had the chance to ask Jesus directly about this issue. Jesus made two points: 1) it is not your work it is God's work, 2) even your part is not even a work at all but rather belief. How
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Posted by David Carroll
I love you Lord...
John 3:16 [NKJV]
For God so loved the world
... because you first loved me.
Posted by David Carroll
John 5:28-29 (NKJV)
Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth-- those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.
I heard my pastor say one time, people who don't believe in God think they can just crawl in the grave and pull the dirt over their eyes and cease to exist. You can't escape that way. There is coming a day of judgment. When the Bible speaks of being saved, the idea
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Posted by David Carroll
John 5:12-15 (NKJV)
Then they asked him, "Who is the Man who said to you, 'Take up your bed and walk'?" But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place. Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, "See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you."
The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.
Jesus healed the lame man and left the scene. Later Jesus came to find the man and
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Posted by David Carroll
Ruth 2:19-20 (NKJV)
And her mother-in-law said to her, "Where have you gleaned today? And where did you work? Blessed be the one who took notice of you."
So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and said, "The man's name with whom I worked today is Boaz."
Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, "Blessed be he of the Lord , who has not forsaken His kindness to the living and the dead!" And Naomi said to her, "This man is a relation of ours, one of our close relatives."
The little book of Ruth is a beautiful love story about a
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Posted by David Carroll
John 4:13-14 (NKJV)
Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."
I have found that I really don't like the taste of water if I am not thirsty; I'll drink soft drinks or tea but not much water. One thing I have noticed however, when I am really thirsty, nothing satisfies like a cool drink of water. We need water to
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Posted by David Carroll
John 3:30 (NKJV)
He must increase, but I must decrease.
John the Baptist had it right. He knew that he was just the messenger and that Jesus was the Message. John the Baptist's disciples were thinking that Jesus was cutting in on their territory and taking followers away from John. For John the Baptist, there was no sense of rivalry; he had a pure sense of humility.I know that there is a temptation that leaders of the church face today. Success and talents can puff up with pride. So this verse applies to every work done for the Kingdom. Apart from the
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Posted by David Carroll
I love you Lord...
John 3:16 [NKJV]
For God so loved the world
... because you first loved me.
Posted by David Carroll
I love you Lord...
John 3:16 [NKJV]
For God so loved the world
... because you first loved me.
Posted by David Carroll
Judges 13:17-20 (NKJV)
Then Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord , "What is Your name, that when Your words come to pass we may honor You?"
And the Angel of the Lord said to him, "Why do you ask My name, seeing it is wonderful?"
So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it upon the rock to the Lord. And He did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on--it happened as the flame went up toward heaven from the altar--the Angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar! When Manoah
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Posted by David Carroll
John 1:12-13 (NKJV)
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Being born again is a confusing idea for many people. John makes it clear here that we are not talking about a natural birth but a supernatural one. This verse speaks of receiving Jesus. To receive something means that something has been offered; in this case it is Jesus Himself who is offered.
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Posted by David Carroll
Proverbs 14:12 (NKJV)
There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.
There are a lot of different religions in the world today. Can they all be right? Of course not; truth by definition is exclusive. Why do these cults and other "isms" continue to grow? Religion is all about man and what he has invented for himself. Christianity is not a religion; it is a relationship. No other religion has a savior. In no other religion does God provide a way for a man to be saved without any merit (good works)
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Posted by David Carroll
Luke 24:1-7 (NKJV)
Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, "Why do you seek the living among
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Posted by David Carroll
I love you Lord...
John 3:16 [NKJV]
For God so loved the world
... because you first loved me.
Posted by David Carroll
Judges 6:36-40 (NLT)
Then Gideon said to God, "If you are truly going to use me to rescue Israel as you promised, prove it to me in this way. I will put some wool on the threshing floor tonight. If the fleece is wet with dew in the morning but the ground is dry, then I will know that you are going to help me rescue Israel as you promised." And it happened just that way. When Gideon got up the next morning, he squeezed the fleece and wrung out a whole bowlful of water.
Then Gideon said to God, "Please don't
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Posted by David Carroll
I love you Lord...
John 3:16 [NKJV]
For God so loved the world
... because you first loved me.
Posted by David Carroll
Luke 22:31-32 (NKJV)
And the Lord said, "Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren."
Like he did with Job, Satan accuses Peter and the disciples by saying that if God will allow him to test them with trials and difficulties that they will fall away. God allows it and Jesus says something marvelous, "I have prayed for you" and then He prophesies that they will (when not if) return and strengthen the
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Posted by David Carroll
Proverbs 13:24 (NKJV)
He who spares his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him promptly.
There was a study done once on the results of raising children in different types of environments. In homes where there was great freedom (low discipline) and little affection (low love), the children tended to grow up with many problems in life. In strict homes without much love, things were better but still there were some problems. For the opposite home in which there was much love but also very little discipline, things were better still but there were still problems. In a
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Posted by David Carroll
Psalm 89:48 (NKJV)
What man can live and not see death? Can he deliver his life from the power of the grave? Selah
We all have a terminal illness. Death is common to all men. I don't know when it will happen but it could be today. When the Sunday School teacher asked who all wanted to go to heaven, a little boy did not raise his hand. When asked why, he said that he thought they were getting up a group to go right now. I agree with him; death is not something we look forward to easily. The Bible calls
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Posted by David Carroll
Luke 20:37-38 (NKJV)
But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord 'the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him."
Jesus was talking to the Sadducees who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead because they could not find it in the Law of Moses. The interesting thing about the resurrection is that not only will they be resurrected who will spend eternity with God in Heaven
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Posted by David Carroll
I love you Lord...
John 3:16 [NKJV]
For God so loved the world
... because you first loved me.
Posted by David Carroll
Luke 19:42-44 (NKJV)
"If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation."
Jesus had just made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem and you would think he would have been
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Posted by David Carroll
Proverbs 13:11 (NIV)
Dishonest money dwindles away, but he who gathers money little by little makes it grow.
When asked "What is the greatest power you ever witnessed?" Albert Einstein answered, "compound interest!" The secret to compound interest is that you have to spend less than you earn. The Bible says that money gained by dishonest means will dwindle away. And why is that? Because the value of a thing is measured by the cost or the effort of obtaining it. Working hard for the money earned makes you appreciate it and encourages you to keep it.We say that salvation is a
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Posted by David Carroll
Proverbs 13:10 (NIV)
Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is found in those who take advice.
It is part of all of us. Pride, it makes defensive and argumentative when others question and advise us on our ideas and actions. They may be wrong but they may be right, even if only partially. At the very least there is value in understanding the different perspective. The bible tells us to be wise, and take such advice as a time to learn something.
I need to heed this myself!
Posted by David Carroll
Luke 18:17 (NKJV)
Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it."
The gospel of Jesus Christ is not complicated. As a matter of fact, if we make it complicated, we cause people to stumble. A child is simple and humble and without fear. That is the way God wants us to approach him with no ideas of merit or status. A child is full of eagerness and expectancy and how that is demonstrated when a person truly gives their whole heart to Jesus Christ.Here it is, the
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Posted by David Carroll
Luke 17:20-21 (NKJV)
Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, "The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, 'See here!' or 'See there!' For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you."
The Jews were expecting a messiah who would restore their great kingdom, an earthly reign. Jesus makes it clear here that the kingdom of God is a relationship. We learn in school that a kingdom has boundaries geographically. But a kingdom also has a King and his subjects. When a person makes
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