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Posted by David Carroll
Psalm 132:13-16 (NKJV)For the Lord has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His dwelling place: This is My resting place forever; Here I will dwell, for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless her provision; I will satisfy her poor with bread. I will also clothe her priests with salvation, And her saints shall shout aloud for joy. What is Zion? It is a term used in the Bible that speaks of the Jewish people, Israel. It goes beyond that, and speaks of an ideal nation or society. It is Heaven, which nothing on earth can adequately represent.
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Posted by David Carroll
1 Kings 11:4 (NKJV)For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David. King Solomon had asked for wisdom and God had made him the wisest man the world has ever seen. Human wisdom will mislead you when it goes against God's wisdom. It is hard to fathom that after starting so well, Solomon ended so pitifully. The difference between David and Solomon was that of trust. David sinned many times and yet always
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Posted by David Carroll
Psalm 130:3-4 (NIV)
If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared.
Sin separates us from God who is of holier eyes than to behold evil. God must punish sin; He already has, once for all. His wrath and judgment upon sin was carried out upon Christ on the cross.1 Peter 3:18 (NKJV)
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit.
Hebrews 9:28a (NKJV)
Christ was
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Posted by David Carroll
Acts 7:55-56 (NKJV)
But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, "Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!"
Hebrews 1:3 (NKJV)
who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
When Stephen was preaching, he made the Pharisees so
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Posted by David Carroll
1 Kings 7:51a (NKJV)
So all the work that King Solomon had done for the house of the Lord was finished
Acts 7:48-50 (NKJV)
However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says: "Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. What house will you build for Me? says the Lord, Or what is the place of My rest? Has My hand not made all these things?"
I've been reading about the temple that King Solomon built. Think about all the magnificent cathedrals that have been built over the centuries. But when we visit them, are
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Posted by David Carroll
1 Kings 6:11-13 (NKJV)
Then the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying: "Concerning this temple which you are building, if you walk in My statutes, execute My judgments, keep all My commandments, and walk in them, then I will perform My word with you, which I spoke to your father David. And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake My people Israel."
God has given both conditional and unconditional promises throughout the Bible. This one is clearly conditional. It is really very simple, "Do all that I have commanded you and then I will perform
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Posted by David Carroll
Acts 6:8-10 (NIV)
Now Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people. Opposition arose, however, ... These men began to argue with Stephen, but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke.
Acts 6:15 (NIV)
All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
Stephen was a godly man. You could see it on his face. Have you ever noticed that about anyone you know? Some people just seem to exude the
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Posted by David Carroll
Acts 5:29 (NIV)
Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than men!
Acts 5:38b-39 (NIV)
...Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.
The Sanhedrin ruling class in Jerusalem wanted to silence Peter and the apostles. I love how they replied that for them, obeying God rather than men was mandatory. We find that when the church was most persecuted was when it grew the
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Posted by David Carroll
Acts 5:3-4 (NIV)
Then Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God."
I am struck by this verse not so much because of the story it tells of a deceptive couple in the church, but rather what
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Posted by David Carroll
2 Samuel 24:24 (NKJV)
Then the king said to Araunah, "No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
King David wanted to purchase a piece of property which was to be the future location of the temple in Jerusalem. The seller wanted to just give it to him, but David insisted on paying a fair price for it. David thought it would be an insult to offer
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Posted by David Carroll
Acts 2:42 (NIV)
They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
This is a pretty good picture of how the fellowship of members in the Church ought to be. They study to learn the doctrines of the faith. This is part of their unity, a common belief. They have fellowship with one another by dining together and praying together. So is this what we see in the church today?John 13:34-35 (NIV)
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By
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Posted by David Carroll
Acts 1:8 (NKJV)
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
The Holy Spirit is Christ in the Christian. While Jesus was here with us, he could not be in everyone of us. That is why He said that it was good that He goes away, so that the Holy Spirit (really the Spirit of Himself), could come to abide in every one of us.Like any good CEO, Jesus makes sure we are equipped with
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Posted by David Carroll
John 21:4 (NKJV)
But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.
The disciples had gone fishing, a rather worldly occupation. They had fished all night and not caught anything. They were tired frustrated but they did not know that Jesus was standing there, watching them. He was interested even in their mundane efforts, having the kind of everyday difficulties we are all so familiar with. Jesus helped them by giving them a bountiful catch and then invited them to come and have breakfast with Him.Nothing of what we
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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 19:30 (NKJV)
So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.
There are seven sayings that Jesus made while on the cross. This one, I believe is the most significant one. He cried out "tetelestai" which is a greek word that they used to write on bills of lading used to describe a shipment of goods. It meant, that the account was completed, or as we would say today, "paid in full." Folks, the account is finished, it is paid in full. What account? Our sin debt to
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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 18:4-6 (NKJV)
Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward and said to them, "Whom are you seeking?"
They answered Him, "Jesus of Nazareth."
Jesus said to them, "I am He. " And Judas, who betrayed Him, also stood with them. 6 Now when He said to them, "I am He, " they drew back and fell to the ground.
Jesus had been in the Garden of Gesthemene all night in agonizing prayer to the Father. This scene is of the Priests and Roman soldiers and Judas coming to take Jesus away. Jesus spoke the same words he had
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Posted by David Carroll
John 17:3 (NKJV)
And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
There are lots of gods in the world today. But Jesus makes it clear here. There is only one true God and He is the one who sent Jesus Christ. Everything Jesus says is true, including the part about no one being able to come to the Father except through Himself. If a religion does not recognize Jesus for who he plainly says He is, then it is a false religion. Don't get upset with that, truth is
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Posted by David Carroll
Psalm 119:71 (NKJV)
It is good for me that I have been afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes.
We get jolted back to our senses a lot. Being humbled reminds me of who I really and to whom I owe everything. That is a good thing to know and so I can be thankful for such affliction. You might be sick or bedridden; perhaps that is a great time to catch up with God's word. Time after time, I have seen this in my own life and in the lives of others. God has a way of getting our attention. It's
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Posted by David Carroll
Proverbs 16:2-3 (NKJV)
All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, But the Lord weighs the spirits.
Commit your works to the Lord, And your thoughts will be established.
We might consider it pretty bad to deceive people about ourselves. What's worse is when we deceive ourselves. Our good deeds, our giving, our upstanding service all might be seen by the world as wonderful. We could easily convince ourselves too. God looks at the heart. He knows about you things that you don't even know about yourself. We need to allow God to examine our motives and show us
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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
2 Samuel 6:6-7 (NKJV)
And when they came to Nachon's threshing floor, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his error; and he died there by the ark of God.
2 Samuel 6:9a
David was afraid of the Lord that day
2 Samuel 6:14a
Then David danced before the Lord with all his might
King David wanted to bring the ark of the Lord to Jerusalem, the new capital city. In the law God had given to Moses,
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Posted by David Carroll
John 13:10 (NKJV)
Jesus said to him, "He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you."
Jesus was answering Peter, an all or nothing kind of guy, who at first recoiled from having his feet washed by Jesus but then, decided that if it meant having fellowship with Jesus he wanted the whole bath. The bath represents being saved and made righteous by God when first becoming a believer. Jesus says that for his disciples, there is no need to be bathed again since that has already been
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Posted by David Carroll
John 12:44-50 (NKJV)
Then Jesus cried out and said, "He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me. And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me. I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness. And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him-- the word that I
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Posted by David Carroll
Proverbs 15:26 (NKJV)
The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord, But the words of the pure are pleasant.
When we think of sin, usually we think of sins of commission in which something wrong is done like lying, stealing or killing. We might even consider those sins where a good or right thing was left undone like failing to be kind or failing to be obedient. These would be sins of omission. Perhaps the most pernicious sin is that of the thought life where no one but you and God can see. God, I pray that my thoughts
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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
Psalm 116:15 (NKJV)
Precious in the sight of the Lord Is the death of His saints.
We mourn when a loved one dies. If you know that person was saved and heaven bound, it is sweet sorrow. The sorrow is for us, the sweetness is for them.I heard a story about an old couple who had just arrived in heaven. They were overwhelmed at the beauty of it all. The husband turned to the wife and said, "You know, if you had not feed us all those bran muffins and yogurt all those years, we could have been here ten years ago!"We
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Posted by David Carroll
Psalm 115:16 (NKJV)
The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's; But the earth He has given to the children of men.
The heavens are big, way big. I believe God made them that way to show us how big He is. We have made it as far as the moon, and they say we might make it to Mars someday. Despite all the Star Wars movies, we are pretty much locked in here on this earth. I don't believe we will find any life on other planets; the earth is a very special place. One look back at it from a
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Posted by David Carroll
Proverbs 15:16-17 (NIV)
Better a little with the fear of the Lord than great wealth with turmoil. Better a meal of vegetables where there is love than a fattened calf with hatred.
We have to make decisions in life knowing that what we will gain may cost us in other ways. Take a stressful job that may require you to be away from your family, or mom going to work to be able to afford that nicer home. Proverbs is not a book of laws rather a book of wisdom. Your choices in such matters ought to be made in light of
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Posted by David Carroll
John 8:58 (NKJV)
Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."
Jesus was born of a woman and so as a human he began to exist at that point in time. But Jesus' existed prior to that as God himself, the second member of the Trinity, God the Son. "I AM" is the name God gave when Moses asked him what His name was. Thus Jesus is identifying himself with God. Notice the aspect of eternity in the present tense of the statement. Eternity does not have a past and a future, no beginning nor
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Posted by David Carroll
Psalm 111:2 (NKJV)
The works of the Lord are great, studied by all who have pleasure in them.
I love science. Why do I get pleasure out of that? It is the wonder of fascination with how things are and how they work. From one edge to the other the very small and strange world of quantum particles to the very large and equally strange world of the structure of the entire universe, it is all so wonderful. Sir Isaac Newton one of the greatest minds of all time, once said "My life has been like that of a child walking on
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