“Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Matthew 5:3. “Poor in spirit” translated here literally means “to crouch or cower as one helpless.” In Galatians 4:9 it is translated “beggarly.” It is a humble spirit that all believers should have where they understand that only through God’s grace can they be saved and their lives have any meaning. This verse calls on Christians to recognize that there is no room for pride in their lives or any faith in themselves to be good or otherwise worthy without God.
John McArthur has described poor in spirit as “The opposite of self-sufficiency. This speaks of the deep humility of recognizing Read More »
“Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his 
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” Psalm 23:4.
We see in Matthew 20:1-16 the Parable of the Laborers. A landowner went out to hire workers for his vineyard. He first went out early in the morning, and then again at several different times during the day, including one hour before quitting time, and hired more laborers. At the end of the day he paid the last hired the same as the first hired even though the first hired worked longer and during the heat of the day. Matthew 20:13-16 describes the landowner’s 
Revelation Chapters 2 and 3 contain God’s messages to the seven churches. In those two chapters there is also a description given at the end of the message to each church of the benefits of being one who “overcomes”. These include:
God calls us to be industrious in all we do in life. Romans 12:11 commands Christians to be “Not Slothful in business…”. Colossians 3:23 states “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters…”. Proverbs 14:23 states “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.” In addition, Proverbs 22:29 tells us that “Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will stand before kings; He will not stand before obscure men”.
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” II Timothy 3:16-17.
“It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.” Lamentations 3:22.
“But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.” I Timothy 6:6-8.
“Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.” Hebrews 12:14. “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?” I Corinthians 6:9. “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Matthew 5:48.
“If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” John 14:23. “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” John 14:26.
“For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit….” I Corinthians 12:8.
“And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues.” I Corinthians 12:28.
“By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.” Hebrews 11:3.
“For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.” I Corinthians 12:8-10.
“But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit…” I Corinthians 12:7-9.
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Farther in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by thy name, and by thy name cast out devils, and by thy name do many mighty works?’ And then will I profess unto them, ‘I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.'” Matthew 7:21-23.
“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell.” Matthew 10:28. We are not to fear persons who can only kill our temporal body but Christ who has the power over both eternal life and eternal death. The Greek word for Hell here is Gehenna, an eternal place of torment where the fires are not quenched (Mark 9:43, II These 1:9).
In instructing the twelve Apostles before sending them out Christ said “He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.” Matthew 10:40. We, as followers of Christ, in a real sense, carry Christ with us. Bonhoeffer puts it this way when commenting on this verse – “They are now Christ’s fellow-workers, and will be like him in all things. Thus they are to meet those to whom they are sent as if they were Christ himself. When they are welcomed into a house, Christ enters with them. They are bearers 
“These twelve Jesus sent forth, and charged them, saying, ‘Go not into any way of the Gentiles, and enter not into any city of the Samaritans; but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ ” (Matt. 10:5-6).
In Matthew 6:25-34 Jesus said “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet 
In I Kings 19:11-12 God passed by Elijah – “
I was once asked by a friend what gift of the Spirit I had.
I Corinthians 12:28 introduces the gift of Helps – “And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.” First, it is clear that God assigns the gifts in the Church per his sovereignty. Second, he assigns them to “some” so no gift is given to everyone as there are diversities of gifts in the Church Body. I Corinthians 12:4. 
I was recently watching a baseball related movie called “61” about the home run race between Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris in 1961. They both had a chance to break Babe Ruth’s all time home run record of 60. When Roger Maris hit his 61st homerun on the last day of the season only a small crowd was present in his home stadium and there was little fanfare, including leading up the game. The movie then reverted to when Mark McGwire hit his 62nd homerun in 1998 to break Maris’ record. There was much hype leading up to the event and the game was delayed for a long time for congratulation and ceremony.