19

Jump Start # 2247

Posted on December 19, 2018 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 2247

Luke 16:22 “Now it came about that the poor man died and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom, and the rich man also died and was buried. And in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and sees Abraham far away, and Lazarus in his bosom.”

Our verse today comes from the powerful story of the rich man and Lazarus. Folks have debated for years whether his is a parable or a real story. My answer is “yes.” Contextually, flowing through Luke, it fits to be a parable. Is it real? Yes. Parables are true in principle. The trouble people have is with the name Lazarus. No other parable, we are told, has real names. But is that a rule or just a common characteristic. This section begins, “Now there was a certain rich man…” which is similar to how the chapter begins, “There was a certain rich man who had a steward.” This is similar to how the prodigal son parable begins in the previous chapter, “A certain man had two sons…”.

 

Real or parable, this passage gives us one of the only windows into the next room. Once one passes through the door of death, we wonder. What is it like in that next place? What are they doing? And, this passage answers so many of those questions. They have identity. They have memory. They have feelings. They have understanding. They have communication. They were alive, even though their bodies were dead. The rich man knew he had five brothers that were still alive. He knew why he was in torment. He knew that his brothers would follow because of the way they were living. He knew what Moses and the Prophets represented.

 

All of this tells us that death doesn’t end our lives. We merely move on to the next room. It’s not just the righteous that live, but the wicked rich man was alive as well. Both were in hades. This wasn’t Heaven and this wasn’t hell. However, some things had changed. They were separated and they couldn’t change their positions. There was no crossing over and no going back. The rich man, probably for the first time in his life, was begging. He had no one to help him. He couldn’t command servants, like he did in life. All his money and all his possessions were of no use to him now. He was wanting just a common drop of water, and that would not be given to him. No mercy. No love. No compassion. No one to care for him. In many ways, he was receiving exactly what he had done to Lazarus in life.

 

I want to focus particularly upon the expression, “in Hades he lifts up his eyes.” The rich man saw things for the first time. He saw what really mattered for the first time. And, borrowing that expression, consider Four Things You Will Know After You Die. You will know these immediately when you die. These are things that you can know now, but most don’t. But after death, everyone will know these.

 

First, you will know that Jesus is right. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He is God’s only begotten Son. People today question Jesus. They challenge Jesus. They want to debate the Jesus idea. But five minutes after we die, we will all know that Jesus is right. He was always right. He died for our sins. He is our Savior, our hope and our redeemer. If we do not believe in Him, we will die in our sins. He said that, and He was right.

 

Second, you will know that the Bible spoke the truth. Righteousness matters. What God said is it. Our tolerant culture wants everyone to be accepted. No one is excluded. Everyone and everything is right. It doesn’t matter who or what you marry, what you smoke, what you do, it’s all just fine. No judgment, no guilt, no shame. That’s our culture. It’s not God’s. Five minutes after you die, you will know that the Bible spoke the truth. Goodness isn’t good enough, not for Heaven. You can ignore the Bible, but it won’t go away. You can denounce it as a collection of ancient myths, but you’ll find out one of these days that it spoke the truth.

 

Third, you will know five minutes after you die, that eternity is so different than here. On earth, we have choices. On earth, I can do what I want. On earth, I can improve. On earth, I have options. But the pitiful rich man didn’t have that any more. Life on the other side was so different. He wasn’t a big shot on the other side. His status didn’t matter. He didn’t have options. He couldn’t improve himself. All the tears he could cry, would not change anything. This was worse than a nightmare. Nightmares are not real, this was. Nightmares end, this didn’t. The false and fanciful idea that so many have of the afterlife is one continual fantasy island where we each get to do what we long to do. Shop. Golf. Play. Relax on the beach. Chocolate. Fun. A never ending vacation. All the food you can eat and you’ll never get fat. All the pets you want and you won’t have to feed them nor take care of them. Happy, happy, happy—and selfish, selfish, selfish. These thoughts are not Bible based nor Bible driven. The reason the rich man was in torments was because he lived a selfish life that ignored God. That put him in agony and torment, not Heaven. And, as bad as it was, it still wasn’t hell. And, as comforted as Lazarus was, that still wasn’t Heaven. Hades is the unseen world. It’s not the final destiny. Revelation tells us that death and hades will be thrown into the Lake of fire.

 

Finally, five minutes after death, every person will know that their choices determined where they ended up. This wasn’t predetermined by God. This wasn’t random selection. God doesn’t actually send anyone any where. Our choices make that decision. We live for Christ, or we ignore Christ. We follow the Bible or we keep our Bibles closed. We become like Christ, or we do what we feel like. We forgive, or we hold hatred in our hearts. We offer grace or we throw the book at a person. We are patient or we judge harshly. We walk through life with compassion or we carry an attitude about us.

 

Five minutes after we die. That’s all it’s going to take. You’ll find out, but you may find out too late, like the rich man did. You can know these spiritual and eternal truths today. You can make the right choices today. You can live without fear and worry. You can walk with Christ and have the hope and the assurance that God’s angels will carry you to paradise.

 

Five minutes. It won’t take that long for you to know.

 

Roger

 

18

Jump Start # 2246

Posted on December 18, 2018 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 2246

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”

 

My friend, Danny, was leading our thoughts Sunday about the Lord’s Supper. He said the death of Jesus was the greatest event in the history of the world. I totally agree with him. But that got me to thinking about “the history of the world.” There’s been some big moments, both good and bad. There has been events that filled the front pages of newspapers and changed lives.

 

Here’s a short list:

  • Man walking on the moon. What a major accomplishment of engineering, technology and courage.
  • The ending of WW II. About 3% of the population of the world died in that war, around 75 million people. When peace papers were signed, literally thousands of lives were spared.
  • The invention of penicillin, saved thousands of lives that were headed to death by disease.
  • The development of the automobile, the telephone, cell phones, internet, has allowed us to reach more, do more and know more.
  • The use of electricity has made life easier
  • Medical advancements, including using artificial limbs, transplanting organs, drugs that fight diseases, has kept people alive that decades before would have killed them.
  • The discover of new lands made the world larger than what people thought it was

 

However, the greatest event of all time was the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The death of Jesus did what nothing else could. The death of Jesus changed lives for eternity. Man found a way to put death off. Man found a way to make life easier, more convenient. Man found ways to get along with each other.

 

But the two things man could not do was to conquer death and to find forgiveness from a God that we had offended. In the death of Jesus, both of these were accomplished. Death is not the end. Death doesn’t change anything other than we leave this place for the next place. It’s merely switching rooms. The pain, the fear, the finality of death, has been smashed by Christ coming out of His tomb. “Up from the grave He arose,” was the death blow to Satan. There was nothing that Satan could do to keep Christ in the tomb. He was defeated by the resurrection. His greatest weapon was death and Christ sent that sailing away by His resurrection. And, His resurrection is the assurance of our resurrection. He arose and so shall we.

 

But in the death of Christ, a price was paid. A sacrifice was made. The innocent died for the guilty. But, more than that, the pure and the sinless, died for the sinful. No person could do what Christ did on the cross. Others have died saving the lives of others. Others have made the ultimate sacrifice in war and as first responders. They saved the lives of others, but they could not save the souls of others. Only Jesus could do that. Through His death, we were redeemed, reconciled, and justified by God. We are no longer guilty. Our status has changed to being part of God’s family. We have been adopted. God is our Father. We, because of the death of Jesus, belong to God. We are part of God’s family.

 

Just think about that statement, we are part of God’s family. Because of family name, certain people get into certain places. If you belonged to the Trump family, you could walk through the White House. If you belonged to the Royal family in England, you could spend the night in a castle, many castles. If you belonged to the family of a famous athlete, you might get free tickets, and great seats at a ball game. If you belonged to the family of a famous singer, you might meet legends in the music industry. But all of that comes by being born to the right parents at the right time. It’s luck, we might say. Being part of God’s family, means His home, Heaven, is yours. And, unlike the Royal family, or these other families, anyone can be part of God’s family. There is no “luck” involved. It’s a matter of choice, faith and obedience. God welcomes you into His family.

 

The death of Jesus changed the eternity for mankind. Before the death of Jesus, all of us, even the best among us, were headed down a dead end street marked Hell. That’s what we deserved. That’s what we were getting. That’s only fair, because we ignored God and sinned against Him. But that one death, a long time ago, in a place far away from where most of us live, changed “forever.” Our future can be filled with hope and assurance. Our future can be bright. Through Christ, there is forgiveness. Through Christ, we can live.

 

Danny was right. The death of Jesus was the greatest event in the history of the world. No other event was able to touch every single life that has been on this planet, in the past and in the future. No other event was able to undo the wrong that we all have done. No other event was able to crush Satan and release the clutches that he had upon us. No other event moved us from being sinners to saints and allowed us to change our character, our nature and our choices, like the death of Jesus.

 

Thanks be to God, the apostle said, for His indescribable gift!

 

Roger

 

17

Jump Start # 2245

Posted on December 17, 2018 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 2245

1 Thessalonians 5:14 “And we urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with all men.”

Monday with Job. We’ve been spending our Monday’s looking at the many lessons that we can learn from the book of Job. One can’t help but see a lesson that is so obvious and was missing throughout Job is that of helping the hurting. Certainly Job’s friends came. Their intention was to sympathize with Job, but they missed it. Job called them “miserable comforters.” They argued. They debated. They accused. They blamed. But they didn’t help Job. And, all of this reminds us, that we can do the same if we are not careful. We can cause more trouble upon a hurting heart and lengthen their suffering simply because we failed to actually help.

 

Our verse today is one of many found throughout the N.T. that teaches us to help the weak. When people are discouraged, hurting, and weak, they are at their lowest and worst points in their lives. The attitudes, behavior and words that they show can be some of the worst that they have ever demonstrated. They are discouraged. They are hurting. They are angry, bitter and upset. So, to help the weak or the hurting, one must have some tough skin. You might get an earful of complaints and blame. What they say may not be fair, or even true, but their words can still hurt. Often, they feel compelled to vent their frustrations.

 

It is interesting that within our verse today, the call to go help the weak doesn’t fall upon just the preachers and the elders. We have shifted that responsibility there, where the Bible doesn’t. We easily think, “That’s why we have elders,” or, “that’s their job.” But the verse isn’t restricted to just the shepherds of the congregation, but “you, brethren.” We need to learn how to help the weak.

 

It is also interesting that unlike in Timothy, where Paul names Alexander, as a trouble maker, no one is specifically named here. Who were the unruly? Just who is fainthearted? Who is weak? Apparently, the congregation knew. They knew who to help. They knew who to admonish. Which brings this to us once again. In our congregations, would we know? Do we know who is weak? Do we know who is unruly? Do we know who needs our help? These brethren must have been so involved with each other, that they knew.

 

It is also interesting that the different groups listed in our verse, unruly, fainthearted, weak, are all connected spiritually. The weak, who were to be helped, was not a weak back or a weak knees, but weak spiritually. Helping someone deal with physical suffering is good, but God places a greater value upon things spiritually. Too often, in our announcements, we hear the name of a co-worker, a neighbor, who is having surgery, been in a car accident and their name is lifted up in prayer. Wonderful thing to do. But what happens after that neighbor or co-worker recovers? It’s as if we are finished with them. Mission accomplished. We prayed and they got well and that’s all that matters. No. Far more important is the salvation of their soul. So, a person recovers from a car accident, and they live another forty-five years, yet they die not knowing Jesus and their soul is lost eternally. Shouldn’t we be praying for the salvation of our co-workers and our neighbors? Helping them through a physical issue is not nearly as important as it is helping them spiritually. Did Jesus show us that in the crippled man that was lowered through the roof? The first thing Jesus did was to forgive sins. A person can go to Heaven with crippled legs. But no one will make it with a crippled soul. Jesus forgave and then He healed. That order ought to impress us. We tend to worry more about crippled legs than a crippled soul.

 

Which means, in helping someone, I must not be afraid to say the tough stuff, especially the spiritual things. Job’s friend did do that, however, they were misguided and wrong about God and the cause of suffering. We, on the other hand, having the right information and knowledge, too often sit in silence, never bringing up the topic that needs to be talked about, the salvation of the soul. We’ll talk about the weather, the kids, how they are feeling, what’s being done medically, what’s the next step in their recovery, but nothing ever said about God, His kingdom and finding hope in Jesus Christ. Say the tough stuff. Say it kindly and gently, but do say it.

 

In helping the hurting, understand your limitations and don’t try to be an expert in all things, because you are not. There are some things that you will not understand. There will be things that are more complicated than you can handle. Recognize these things and your limitations. Worse than no advice and no help, is giving the wrong advice and the wrong help. The wrong help further complicates things and can lead to someone getting into a real mess. So, recognize when things are over your head. There may be times to point someone to professionals. Some addictions are like spider webs. They are so entangling that it’s hard to make sense of them. How foolishly we can tell someone, “Well, just don’t do that anymore.” Tell that to the alcoholic or the heroin addict, or the porn addict. They want to stop, but they can’t. They are addicted. To us, just don’t do it makes sense. To the addicted, those words are useless. They’ve tried to stop for years and have failed. It may be time to call in the professionals to help sort through things that you and I do not understand.

 

God has provided a network of tools and helps to get us to Heaven. His word. His promises. His Son. Our fellowship. Our love for one another, are just a few of the things that can truly make a difference. There are those among us that need help. It was that way back then and it is that way today. It is our duty and our privilege to be the ones to help pull these folks out of the ditch and help them on their way spiritually.

 

Help the weak. Good, solid folks, like Job, who was blameless and upright, needed help. There days that you and I need help. We must be there for each other. Together, we can make this. Together, we aid each other. As the British group the Hollies sang so well, “He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother.”

 

Roger

 

14

Jump Start # 2244

Posted on December 14, 2018 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 2244

Matthew 7:26 “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand.”

 

The wise man and the foolish man, one of the first children’s songs we learned in VBS and Bible classes. The little ones love to express the crashing of the foolish man’s house. It went “Splat,” they say. But this is more than a song for little ones, this is how the best sermon ever preached ended. So many topics and so many themes run through the sermon on the mount. Righteousness seems to be the central thread that ties it all together.

 

Righteous towards God. Righteous towards others. Righteous from the inside out. This is something that was missing among the Pharisees. Power and position had taken the place of the purpose of their faith. They bent the rules to their liking. They threw the book at those who they didn’t like. Religion was fun, but it wasn’t useful and it wasn’t real to them.

 

And, along comes the words of Jesus. From the opening beatitudes to the concluding golden rule, power, prestige, position and popularity are chased out of the Lord’s concept of true faith. And, now having established these principles of his spiritual kingdom, Jesus puts before his audience, what are you going to do with this?

 

The foolish man heard. The foolish man wasn’t changed by these words. The foolish man continued on his foolish path. Doom was heading his way. Storms were coming and he was oblivious to it all. The word “foolish” means lacking sense. It comes from the word moron, which we know is not a nice word.

 

Some things we ought to see here:

 

The foolish man was stubborn. He was going to build upon the sand, even though he had been warned by Jesus. He wasn’t taking Jesus’ words seriously. Now, why would a person do that? Why would one build on the sand and not lay a solid foundation? It’s easier, faster, and cheaper to build upon the sand. The view might be better closer to the water. Maybe there hadn’t been any storms in a long time so the false sense of security. But, this isn’t really about building permits, location and real estate. It’s about our hearts. Why is it that we don’t do what Jesus says? Too much trouble, and too hard to change. Everything is ok for now. Later on, we’ll make some adjustments. We’re doing better than most folks. On and on, the foolish reason. And, on and on they continue to live ignoring the words of Jesus.

 

Jesus doesn’t force us to obey Him. He shows us. He reveals consequences if we don’t. He shows the blessings if we do, but then He leaves it up to us. He doesn’t plead, beg, or try to buy our faithfulness. He doesn’t count to three. He lays it out there and it’s up to us. Very plain. Very simple.

 

For a while, it looks like the foolish man was successful. The storms didn’t come while the lumber was being delivered. It came after his house was built upon the sand. It was actually completed. And, for a while, the selfish life of ignoring Jesus seems to be successful. Nothing bad has happened, people say. I’ve got money. I do what I want. I answer to no one. I’m not tied down by rules. I don’t follow and old book. Life is a blast. And, it’s hard to convince sand lovers that they need to heed the words of Jesus. They live one day at a time in the sunshine of life and all is well. This may be our family. This may be co-workers. You invite them to come with you to worship and they turn you down every time. They are having too much fun to give up a Sunday to “go to church.” They see themselves as pretty good people and it’ll all be fine in the end, they are convinced. You and I see trouble coming. We see a marriage that is built around a lifestyle or good looks and we see that crashing someday. We see lives that are filled with indulgences and we see that catching up with them someday. We see trouble with their kids. We see trouble with their finances. The beach front looks good, but it’s shallow, empty and a storm will destroy it.

 

Storms come. They always do. They come whether we are ready or not. They come hard and fast. They come unannounced. A health problem. Financial problems. Trouble with the kids. A death. A crisis. A problem. And, now, that pretty little life, built upon the sand, doesn’t know what to do. There is nothing holding it up. There is no real belief. Life is good as long as it is good. But there isn’t much value in dark storm clouds. Rain and wind ruins things. And, this life built upon the sand, turns to anyone that seems to have a decent answer for them. Opinions are many. Advice is cheap. And, this shallow foundation turns to all kinds of unfounded ideas just to hold on and get by. With the storms about to hit, the sand lover, races through different churches, looking for an answer. They go to all kinds of therapy and counselors. They find comfort in the bottle and in pills. They get angry at the world and feel cheated, never realizing it was their choice to ignore the words of Jesus. They chose to build on the sand. And, now that sand won’t do them any good. That sand is causing them to fall apart. As the storms hit, their lives begin to fall apart. Rather than finding comfort in God, they blame God. Rather than pulling together, they pull apart. It’s abandon ship and every man for himself. Fingers are pointed at others and there is enough blame for everyone to have plenty. And, the saddest part of all of this, after the storm passes, no lessons will be learned. As soon as they can clean the debris, they will begin rebuilding, right on the sand again. A new marriage. A new home. A new job. New friends. But the same ole’ problem, ignoring the words of Jesus.

 

This will continue until the final storm comes and their lives end. Then it will be too late. Thrown into eternity and ignored by God because they ignored Him during their lives. They get what they always wanted, life without God. There are no blessings. There are no prayers heard. There is no hope and there is no future. This is where the foolish man’s life ends.

 

It takes time to listen and do what Jesus says. Building upon the rock is slow. There is a construction crew putting up a new building near where I live. They spent a long time digging and doing foundation work. More than a month went by with just dirt, mud and some concrete. But now, things are happening. Everyday there is noticeable changes. They took the time to get the foundation set first. And, that’s what we must do. The foundation holds up everything else. All decisions, all choices, all plans are connected to our foundation. Jesus isn’t a Sunday thing for us. He is our life. Every thought, every word, every attitude, every decision is supported by this foundation of ours. We are what we are because of the foundation. It doesn’t matter if it’s a Sunday, or a Friday. We will be the same because of our foundation. It doesn’t matter whether we are at home, work, or on vacation. We will be the same because of our foundation. And, yes, storms will come. But we won’t fall apart. We won’t give up on Jesus. We won’t blame God. We will continue to worship. We will continue to carry on. We will continue to hold to God’s unchanging hands. The storms may be intense, but because of our foundation upon the rock, we’ll get through it. We won’t collapse.

 

Doing what Jesus said. That’s what this comes down to. He preached. The audience listened. Now what? It’s that “now what,” that we face. What we do with the “now what,” determines if we are looking at rocks or sand.

 

Jesus spoke. We heard. Now, what?

 

Roger

 

13

Jump Start # 2243

Posted on December 13, 2018 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 2243

2 Thessalonians 3:3 “But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.”

Our verse today reminds us that we live in dangerous times. It’s been that way since the garden of Eden. Jesus described Satan as a thief, whose intentions are to steal, kill and destroy. The evil one wants to overcome you and defeat you.

 

Now, from this one sentence, there are many lessons to be seen.

 

First, Satan, the evil one, cannot conquer us without a fight. Satan has many tools that he uses. He can tempt us. He can discourage us. He can use persecution to scare us. He can accuse us. He can use family. He can use brethren. He can use friends. He can confuse us with ideas that are not true. He can get us side tracked by chasing after trivial things that do not matter. Satan works on our attitudes. He messes with our schedule. He makes things difficult. Peter described Satan as a lion that is on the prowl. He’s looking for someone, anyone to devour.

 

As strong and powerful as Satan is, he cannot get into my heart without me allowing that. He cannot force us to do things against our will. He cannot kidnap us and hold us as hostages. God won’t allow Satan to do that. What he does is get us to side with him. He gets into our hearts and our lives when we open the door and invite him in. He may stand outside in the cold and pound all day on the door of our hearts. He will remain there until we finally open the door and let him in.

 

Goliath taunted Israel for forty days. Joseph was tempted by his boss’s wife every day. Jesus was tempted in the wilderness for forty days. Satan knocks and knocks and pleads and begs and promises to be good and promises to bring you happiness if you will just open the door and let him in. He’s persistent and he is patient. He wears us down. He finds moments when we are tired, alone and are not thinking spiritually. And, we get tired of Satan pounding on the door. So, we open it up. Just a little. And, immediately he slips in. And, then begins the trouble and the problems that follow sin. And, once he’s in, it is hard to get him out. It’s like a bird that comes into your house. It’s hard to get it out.

 

Second, God is stronger than Satan. Our verse tells us that God can protect us. God can strengthen us. Satan was limited by God as to what he could do to Job. When Satan wanted to sift Peter like wheat, he had to get permission from God. The Lord is always in control and always upon the throne. Through God we can not be harmed by Satan. With God’s help, we can make it safely through.

 

There are two key expressions here:

First, God will strengthen you. He will equip you and prepare you to face this enemy. He doesn’t remove the evil one. The evil remains. The evil is there. The evil is a present danger at all times. I saw some guys working on powerlines the other day. A man was elevated high in the sky in a bucket and he was wearing thick gloves and was working on the wires. It looked dangerous. I’m sure it was dangerous. He had been trained what to do and what not to do. He was wearing special equipment. The danger was there, but he was able to not be harmed by it. Had it been me up there, I would have touched the wrong thing and been jolted to the moon. I wouldn’t know what to do other than don’t ever touch one of those wires. He could. His knowledge and training allowed him to deal with a dangerous situation.

 

Now this is what God has done for us. The evil is still there. He’s dangerous. The wrong touch and we are toast. Rather than removing the trouble, God, like that lineman I saw the other day, instructs us and strengths us so we can survive without having any troubles. How does God do this? It’s through faith and knowledge in the word of God. God teaches us. God gives us examples, both good and bad. God warns us. God shows us the consequences. With this knowledge, this strength, we are able to handle the evil one without getting shocked and harmed by him. Our faith, grounded in God’s word, makes it possible for us to recognize evil and to discern right from wrong.

 

Second, God will protect you. The strengthening and the protecting fit together. Without the strength there is no protection. God is greater than the evil one. No harm will come to the one who follows God’s instructions. I was putting together something for one of the grandchildren last night. Simple instructions. I skipped one step, thinking I knew what was next. I didn’t. I had to go back and undo a part for everything to fit together. It’s that way with God. We start skipping steps, we start figuring things out on our own, and before long, things don’t work well. We started with God, but then we took over and it is at that point that we got into trouble.

 

Like medicine, if we take it properly, it will do us good. When we don’t, we shouldn’t be shocked that we aren’t seeing much improvement. God doesn’t leave us alone. He doesn’t say, “I’ll meet you on the other side.” He was with the Psalmist when it was time to journey through the valley of the shadow of death. God was right there with him. The rod and staff of God protected and comforted the child of God.

 

The Lord will not leave you. He will not turn His attention away from you. However, it’s up to us to stay close to Him. He will strengthen and protect us, but we must listen and follow.

 

Finally, God is faithful about these things. You can count on God. He will be there. He won’t let you down. He won’t be running behind and leave you standing. He won’t forget. He is faithful. We sing, “Great is Thy faithfulness.” It is great because He is faithful. The enemy is there, but so is our God. The enemy is watching, but God is protecting and strengthening.

 

Will we make it through safely? Will the evil one trip us? Will he get us? It’s up to us. Get strong and be protected with God and you’ll be fine. If not, you’ll probably not make it very long.

 

Great words of hope. Great encouragement. Great reminders of how much God loves us and wants us to make it successfully.

 

Great is our God!

 

Roger