Scripture Snippets

  Psalm 42:6-11 6 O my God, my soul is cast down within me; Therefore I will remember You from the land of the Jordan, And from the heights of Hermon, From the Hill Mizar. 7 Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; All Your waves and billows have gone over me. 8 The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, And in the night His song shall be with me— A prayer to the God of my life. 9 I will say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” 10 As with a breaking of my bones, My enemies reproach me, While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” 11 Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God. Situations in life sometimes cause us to lose hope. Occasional discouragement is normal because it’s part of living in a fallen world. The more important issue is how we respond. As believers, it’s p

  Our world is an utter mess right now.  As I got up this morning and listened to the news, my heart sank as I heard more about the tragedy in Uvalde, TX and the remembrance of all the innocent lives lost. I hear about the suffering of brothers and sisters in Eastern Europe. So much pain. The events that Christ described in Matthew 24 as “the beginning of sorrows” have definitely begun to come to pass on a more frequent scale.   With all that is happening, many people are asking the question, "Why? Why did God allow this?" These tragic events have just added to the everyday pain and suffering being experienced in individual lives. There's illness, abuse, broken relationships, betrayal, sorrow, injuries, disappointment, heartache, crime and death. And perhaps you've been asking the question too. "Why? Why me? Why now?" That "why" question is not a new one; it goes back thousands of years. It was asked in the Old Testament by Job and the writers of

  Matthew 28:18-20 18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. A lot of us know this verse.  To many, besides John 3:16, this is one of the most memorized verses in all of Scripture. Why is this really important though?  Why is something that can be so fearful and outside of the comfort zone for so many of us, be so crucially important that we hear about it time and time again. It’s important because its consequences are eternal.  It’s important because there is “no going back” once our time is up. We live in a society that is used to a “reset” button.  We understand this even in the church because we serve a loving and gracious Father, who in His love and mercy,

  Deuteronomy 8:1-3 1 “Every commandment which I command you today you must be careful to observe, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers. 2 And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. 3 So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. Are you a good listener? It’s an essential skill in every relationship, and that includes our fellowship with God. Most of us are better at talking to Him than we are at listening. We’re quick to tell Him our needs and requests but are sometimes in such a hurry that we overlook consulting His Word to see what He has to say.

  Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. When you hear the word erosion , what comes to mind? Most likely, you think about how land or rocks wear away over an extended period of time. In the same manner, erosion in our spiritual lives tends to happen subtly over the course of months or years. What causes this spiritual stagnation and deterioration? The answer is often conformity to the world’s methods and values, plus compromise with sin. The process of erosion begins in the mind when we let our thoughts, attitudes, and desires be shaped by culture. Before long, we begin to conform to the godless and sinful behavior around us. Is your spiritual life where you want it to be? Has it