Someone in the crowd called out, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.” Yeshua replied, ‘Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.’ ” (Luke 11: 27-28). The Angel told Mary, Yeshua’s mother, she was blessed, but hearing and obeying the word of God is the imperative. “Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her.” (Prov. 8: 10-11).
My friends and I started playing tennis when I was about thirteen. I continued and played on my High School team, eventually becoming the number one player. I never had any lessons until I was forty-five and I was shocked and astounded by how much eight hours of instruction improved my game. In most of the world small children begin their instruction in school. I was only five when I started first grade, as there was no kindergarten. In America, parents fought and won the right to educate their children at home, as well in public and private schools. The deteriorating quality of public education in America is alarming, but those who set the national dialog rant about global warming. Many urban schools are so inundated with immigrants who speak little or no english, that the quality of education is horrible. Moreover, the breakdown of the family has had a devastating impact upon children, so many who have a single parent. Could anyone argue the benefit of having both a mother and father to a child and its educational future. Finally, Educators must deal with security concerns and deviant social behavior that never existed before.
The church started and propagated education in America. The Bible was a principle tool in the classroom as a reading primer, a moral compass, a source of recognized wisdom and virtue, and a foundation of law and discipline. Removing the Bible from the classroom was idiocy, but also the objective of Secular Humanists who have as their objective the overthrowing of Judeo-Christian foundations in America. Therefore, the greatest detriment fell on the irreligious who kept no biblical influence in the home or through church. Yeshua illustrated the preeminent value of holding fast to the Word of God when He condemned putting traditions above the Word of God and observed, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.” (Matt. 15: 6, 8-9).
We can not fix all the various problems of a society opposed to God and school is not the only source of instruction. A real education teaches one to how to learn. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Many believers pray that revival will sweep through America and it is yet possible for the Lord said, “If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned.” (Jer. 18: 7-8). Lord God Almighty deliver our nation from evil, forgive us, and turn our hearts back to you.
I woke up exhausted this morning, not because I didn’t get enough sleep or was awakened during the night, but by the dream I had. It was a very detailed story of business and investment in a flower growing venture. Everyone I knew was in this business and had gathered considerable wealth as a consequence. However, a fungus or mold had been attacking the crops lately with devastating effect. It was discovered that a mere foot print or touch near the growing plant could set loose the pathogen and killing disease. There was much more to the dream, but that is the gist. 
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God was complete and in union with His one and only Son before creation. The Holy Spirit as well, Genesis records “The Spirit moved over the waters”. But let’s consider the Messiah now, particularly given the incarnation, meaning God becoming man in the flesh. This inquiry started as I read, “in the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time, …”. (Titus 1: 2). Where is the reference of God promising eternal life to people before creation. I went to Genesis and found that Adam and Eve were initially immortal and died only after they disobeyed, but no mention of a promise. It is clearly God’s intention that man should live eternally as he was made immortal and had
There in the dark, late at night, it was midsummer and I was running for exercise, but really for much more. I was lonely in this small town in the middle of no where. I reached a small sign marking the city limits, exhausted, I paused and walked in a circle before returning. There I poured out my need and yearning for all I was unable to articulate, or express in words – fears, unfulfilled hopes, isolation, aloneness, love, and a future that was as unclear as the night around me. I had reached another place marking the limits of my self-sufficiency. Unable to bear my burden any longer, I cast all my anxiety upon Him, the Lord of all. In surrender it was clear that He alone was the source of all supply, of lasting hope and a future. In that moment, He affirmed His deep undying love for me, far from anyone or anything that 
“Let his mind be changed from a man’s, and let a beast’s mind be given to him; and let seven periods of time pass over him. The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones, to the end that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets it over the lowliest (basest) of men.” Daniel 4: 16-17.
Two things have been on my mind, 1) the presence of the Lord, and 2) God’s Sovereignty over all, all things, all events, all creatures and all people, in heaven and on earth. These are related most definitely, the first assures us of the second. When Moses met with God in the tent of meeting, he came out and his face was shining. He covered his face as the light was fading. “Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?…We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face 
This is the thinking that fuels all religion, that personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices for a greater power to whom service and worship is made. With the knowledge of Creator God so obvious and instinctively known in every human heart, it evokes a response. Pagan religions were ancient practices that involve the most barbaric practices and sacrifice, to both satisfy the pagan God and cause it/them to grant power to the pagan. Hindu, Buddhism and ancestor worship are Eastern religions that seem to be more spirit based, but seek perfection 
We were talking about vacations and someone remarked, “You weren’t on that trip.” They had forgotten that I was there. I made no reply, but it hurt to be forgotten, ignored or overlooked. All of us forget things, even important matters occasionally. It is a cliché for men who forget their wedding anniversary, to be in the dog house. As believers we are part of Israel, grafted into the living growing fruitful olive tree of God’s children. (Rom. 11: 11-18). We share in the citizenship of Israel as children of God to and through whom God’s promises are fulfilled. (Eph. 2: 12; Rom. 9: 6-8). However, that was not enough. God knew that we would feel abandoned and 
There is much written on forgiveness, including my own references to the blessings that flow to us as we forgive those who mistreated us. One of the most astounding statements ever uttered and lived out by Yeshua was, “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.” (Luke 6: 35). This statement confounded the world, it convicted the state of fallen man, and it opened the pathway to Father God. This is truly love defined and Yeshua fulfilled this in His brief life on earth. He arose from the dead and has no equal. He was, is and remains the Son of the Living God Almighty.
Congress passed a law with this title and purpose. The Supreme Court set it aside, concluding Marriage between a man and a woman was not protected by the constitution. In the beginning God established marriage. “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.” 
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” Genesis 2:24. When a Christian man finds his bride he is charged to “hold fast” to her and the wife likewise to her husband as they literally become one flesh in the eyes of God (very romantic if you think about it). A good wife is a gift directly from the Lord. “
God the Lord is an unending source and flow of goodness to the righteous. We may go to the fountain of life and drink deeply to our hearts content. Every true believer is a child of God and has been reckoned righteous, granted righteousness as the direct result of Yeshua’s substitutionary death on a Roman cross approximately 2018 years ago in Jerusalem, Israel. Yeshua is the Messiah, Son of Father God, who lived a perfect sinless life and paid the spiritual price as ransom for all who believe on Him. The testimony, evidence, and assurance we have for this great gift of life eternal is in the Hebrew prophetic scriptures recorded over thousands of years, but fulfilled in minute detail during the life of Yeshua as recorded by faithful witnesses in the Bible. Secondly, Yeshua proved all he said 
The Apostle Paul went to Ephesus and started talking about Yeshua and the one true God. Ephesus was predominately pagan and their idol was called, Artemis. Paul found a few disciples of Yeshua and asked them, ” ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?’ They answered, ‘No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.’ So Paul asked, ‘Then what baptism did you receive?’ ‘John’s baptism,’ they replied. Paul said, ‘John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed 
Time tricks us and confuses what is really important. We think our time is very valuable, but it is what we do that gives it worth. We consider God a subject of time as are we, but He moves with infinite speed, in the future and the past, a thousand years is as a blink of the eye. However, amid all our longing, yearning, wanting, and manipulation there is His promise – He has prepared good works in advance for us to do. (Eph. 2:10). Instead of seeking the breeze that cools our brow and thrills our senses, we can focus on the promise we are set to do. We can be certain that it will be good, because God
It was asserted that Sigmund Freud didn’t attempt to cure his neurotic patients through psychoanalysis, but merely help them to accept the world as it is. He was not a believer – an agnostic, but he properly assessed the capability of man. To heal is the work of God, which He accomplishes through doctors, right living, and his miraculous intervention. Just because He uses men in His work, the cure does not cease being His. Just as the prophetic word (1 Cor. 14: 24-25), preaching, acts of lovingkindness, or teaching may be used of God in His work – salvation is through God alone. 
There are many who seek peace today, and peace is good, but at what cost and will the actions taken actually bring about peace? While we may not be in open war there is hostility on many levels. The major media corporations promote a secular humanistic world view that foments division in politics, ethnicity, religion, social values, social norms, and the American culture. Hostility in the Middle East and Eastern Asia, together with threats and terrorism all produce tension, fear, and a desire for true peace. 
“I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.” Psalm 16:7. “My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night.” Psalm 63:5-6.
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below; Praise Him above, ye heavenly host: Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen
Anyone would be wrong to think that he could comprehend God’s full plan. (Ecclesiastes 3:11). However, we can see part of His purposes from what He tells us in scripture. We know that God placed two trees in the garden of Eden, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; fruit of the later was forbidden to eat. The fall of man happened as Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s command and ate the forbidden fruit. They became self-aware knowing good from evil and were banished from the garden and no longer had access to the tree of life and God’s direct presence. (Gen. 3:22-24; Gen. 3:8).
When younger men are given authority by their Fathers, Elders, and predecessors, it is right to charge them with the responsibility they are assuming together with such authority. It takes humility to advance in one’s career and life calling, so Fathers should be called upon to join in this charge and properly establish a sound foundation at the start. Colleges do this at graduation ceremonies in a very impersonal mass process, but it is something, at least. Other organizations do this including the church. Paul the Apostle does it best with Titus, his spiritual son. After he articulates, in brief, the power of the gospel message, he concludes, “These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.” (Titus 2:15).
With all respect, I ask because it has a bearing on whether, or more specifically, to what extent we rely on Him. This is more than whether He says the same thing twice. I think the scripture repeats many essential themes numerous times in various ways in order to convey a more full and deep understanding of what the Lord is communicating. We have four different accounts of the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Yeshua. Mankind has repeatedly committed the same failings, rebellion, wickedness and unbelief, to which our patient Father God has graciously restated and demonstrated His love again to each generation. We usually associate a negative view of repetition, but is often the only way we actually learn and understand. It was God’s design to have day and night repeating themselves endlessly. But what about the nature and character of God Himself, can we conclude rightly that if God did a certain thing to reveal His nature in ages long past, might He do the same or similar thing in our day? The scriptures say that God does not change, that He is the same. (James 1:17). 
Do you know right from wrong? Yes, instinctively, most would respond. As children of Adam, we have within us the knowledge of good and evil. It is evidenced by our conscience, which is an inner voice that creates remorse and convicts us with guilt when we do wrong. There are other voices as well, the voice of temptation urging us to do what we want and what seems pleasurable. The voice of providence and wisdom may have been instilled within us from loving parents, wise counselors, instruction or discipline. Believers have the voice of the indwelling Holy Spirit that directs, protects and corrects us with a presence and power that transcends all other counsel. Perhaps you have seen a cartoon that depicts a small satan behind one ear urging the character to do evil, while an angel offers restraint and right thinking in the other ear. The tempter always seems to prevail in the cartoon and the fallen human nature does as well, except where the power of the Holy Spirit is working in the life of a believer. 
“The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way; though he fall, be shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand.” Psalm 37: 23-24. “Blessed is the man who … delight(s) in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.” Psalm 1: 1-2.
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob sees individuals. This is another distinction from the religions of the world that are dispassionate to the masses, even though a prophet or select person may have been specially acknowledged. Throughout the Bible we see accounts of God’s dealings with individuals low-born, humble, Jew and gentile, weak and prominent. Consider Ruth a foreign-born woman whom God selected to be the grandmother of King David, part of the lineage of Israel’s Messiah. God put humility, loyalty and devotion into Ruth and He chose her individually for His purposes. Consider Esther to whom He granted beauty, courage, and wisdom. She was a Jew born in captivity, but rose to be a queen who held fast to her destiny and identity. She discerned the plans of wicked men and courageously spoke out so that God’s providence could bring salvation for His people. Consider Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, in whom God displayed His might and sovereignty. Hebrews chapter eleven contains a list of people who demonstrated faith in God, faith of individuals that was rewarded, acknowledged and affirmed by God.