Weekly Encouragement

1 Thessalonians 4:18 “Therefore encourage one another with these words.” We all need encouragement; God tells us to encourage each other, and here, specifically tells us to encourage each other “with these words.” What words are those? The verses immediately before this talk about Judgement Day! They tell us that Jesus will return, that there…

Matthew 4:4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Jesus doesn’t leave much room for argument here, does he? He’d been fasting for 40 days, and the devil wanted him to not trust his heavenly Father for sustenance, but…

1 John 5:15 “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” Do you know what one of the most tragic statements ever is? It’s this: “I hope I go to heaven.” I pray you and I never…

Romans 5:1 “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” What is “peace” worth? Ask war-weary people, and my guess is that they’d say it’s worth everything! I’m way too young to remember, but the pictures of the celebrations in our country when World War…

Joshua 3:11 “See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan ahead of you.” “… the Lord of all the earth.” How easily we can read past those words! Joshua and the Israelites were about to get a strong reminder that God really was the Lord…

Luke 5:8 “When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, ‘Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!’” Jesus had just told them to let down their nets into deep water and that they’d catch fish. And did they ever catch fish! They caught so many that the nets…

Ecclesiastes 3:10 “But our citizenship is in heaven.” A citizen has rights in the country in which they reside. Knowing that makes the passage above all the more breathtaking! Your real citizenship is in heaven! What “rights” does that give you? It means that you have the right to live forever, the right to be…

Ecclesiastes 5:15 “Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb, and as everyone comes, so they depart. They take nothing from their toil that they can carry in their hands.” I recently read that when Alexander the Great died, they didn’t wrap his hands. (He’d requested unwrapped hands.) So, what was “the Great” taking with him?…

Psalm 51:1 “Be gracious to me, God, according to your mercy. Erase my acts of rebellion according to the greatness of your compassion.” David wrote these words after he had made a horrible mess out of things! He’d been unfaithful in his kingly duties, then had an affair. He’d tried to cover up the affair,…

Luke 14:11 “For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” The scene is the NBA finals, and the Boston Celtics have just won the NBA finals. The commissioner is about to name the MVP for the finals series, and a certain player is sure that he…