Read the word.
Teach the word.
Preach the word.
- 1 Timothy 4:13
Blessed are those who recognize their spiritual poverty and let their misery help them to recognize their need for more.
However, how often do we arrogantly and ignorantly say, "Oh, how hard can ministry be?" So we plunge forward with our own meager and insufficient spiritual resources, refusing to recognize our spiritual poverty. Sure, we can still do ministry, but we will be miserable instead of blessed. To be blessed in the inherent difficulty of ministry, we need God's spiritual resources. When you recognize your spiritual poverty, don't just plow ahead in misery. Cry out to Jesus for the riches of His resources. He has promised to give us the Holy Spirit. "If anyone thirsts," Jesus said in John 7:37, "let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." He said this concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive. Let the misery in ministry help you realize that you are simply thirsty for living water—the unlimited resources of His Holy Spirit, who can empower us to be blessed even while enduring the beautiful difficulty of ministry. In Matthew 5, Jesus explains to His disciples what it looks like to follow Him as the King of the kingdom He has been talking about. He tells them what it will be like ministering with Him and ministering for Him in this kingdom. He clarifies what they might expect because His kingdom is unlike other kingdoms.
What is valued & rewarded in earthly kingdoms is not valued & rewarded in the kingdom of heaven. Being a disciple of Jesus will require some attitude adjustments as He draws His followers into deeper levels of discipleship. There are costs to being a part of this kingdom. Do you want to follow Him? Do you desire to get away with Jesus—to leave the multitudes and find a solitary place to spend with Him and learn from Him? Jesus wants to draw you into deeper levels of discipleship. He wants to release you from the way this world works and reveal His heart and the way His kingdom works. The stone was not rolled away to let Jesus out. The stone was rolled away to let the disciples in and to see that He had risen. We read of the specific experience of three disciples who believed that Jesus rose from the dead in John 20. Each of them came to this as Jesus revealed it to them differently. John understood and believed with his head. Mary understood and believed with her heart. And Thomas understood and believed with his hands. Jesus loved each of them and met each of them right where they were and they all believed.
Jesus loves you as much as He loves them. And there is a special blessing for those of us who have not seen and yet still believe (John 20:29). This is a gift of faith to those who have not seen but have heard God’s word. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17). We have the word of the prophets made more certain (2 Peter 1:19). The angels long to look into these things (1 Peter 1:12). This is the word that we have the blessing to open week after week together and day after day individually with Him. These things were written to give you hope of the resurrection and to help you find faith in Him. He is the One who forgives you and loves you completely. He is the One who tells you the truth and gives you purpose. He is the One who was dead but is now alive forevermore! Of all the places that Jesus could have gone to call His apostles, He went to Galilee of the Gentiles and told fishermen to “Follow Me”. Galilee is not the place and fishermen are not the people you might expect God would select to change the world—and yet that is exactly the reason Jesus chose that place and those people!
God chooses the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chooses the common and discarded things of this world so that no one can boast before Him. Jesus took these forgettable men from a forgettable place and spent time with them. They listened to His preaching and teaching. They heeded His warnings and followed in His way. And in doing so, they were changed forever! Jesus can do the same with you! He has called you to be with Him, to learn of Him, and to learn from Him. Spend time with Him—listen to His preaching and teaching, heed His warnings and following in His way. Spend time benefitting from His leading according to the mighty working of the Holy Spirit. After spending time with Jesus, you will be different! Light and life will have come where there once was darkness and death! Satan often turns times of testing into times of temptation by enticing us to take matters into our own hands and do the Lord’s work in our own way. But Jesus shows us how we can fight by faith to resist temptation.
To fight by faith we need the Holy Spirit, for we cannot rely on our strength alone to resist temptation. God promised that the Holy Spirit would bring back to remembrance all that He has said to us (John 14:26). The more you allow God to speak to you by reading His word, the more opportunity you give the Holy Spirit to bring back to remembrance all that He has said to you at just the right time in your time of need. That brings us to the next critical component in fighting by faith—the word of God. A specific scripture for a specific temptation is a wise way to fight by faith. The Lord is calling us to do the same. We can search the scriptures for something specific that applies to a trial or temptation so that when that trial or temptation comes, we are ready to fight by faith. Respond out loud if you have to! It might seem a little freaky, but that pales in comparison to how free you will be as you resist the devil. Finally, we need to take action when we fight by faith. James 4:7 says, “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” 1 Peter 5:8 says, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” When you face temptation, resist the devil, take your stand, and fight by faith! Thirty years of purposeful purity prepared John for one moment. The years of preparation poured over into preaching as he prepared the people for their Messiah. And the people responded—thousands came from all over to hear his preaching and recognized their sin and need for repentance.
The same happened to John when Jesus arrived. In the presence of the sinless Jesus, John could not compute how he would baptize Jesus. So John prevented it from happening (Matthew 3:14). The original word translated as ‘prevent’ means to utterly prohibit or forbid. From John’s perspective, Jesus’ request to be baptized is backward—if anyone needs baptizing between them, it's John. But Jesus put John’s mind at ease. He knew what John needed to hear—“Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” (Matthew 3:15) This was all that John ever wanted—righteousness. He wanted to prepare the way for the public, earthly ministry of The King of The Kingdom that was at hand. What better way to start than by being baptized? In doing so, Jesus acknowledged the ministry of John and publicly identified with sinful humanity, whom He came to save. John had a very unique call on his life. In order to fulfill that call, he needed to live a unique life. His entire life was preparation to be the preparation for the Messiah. To effectively prepare the way, he needed to be pure.
More than any man had ever before, John pursued purity. He pursued God in the solitude of the wilderness, surviving on wild honey and locusts. Thirty years of purity and prayer, spending time with God thinking of nothing else—until one day, the Lord told him to speak: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” The sound of that message resounded in the hearts of thousands from the area who came to him in the desert to confess their sins and be baptized, desperately wondering what would happen next. John told them what to expect: the Messiah is approaching. He would baptize also, but not by submerging in water. He would submerge you, saturate you, and transform you in and by the Holy Spirit. His ministry would be the most important. Are you ready? Is your heart ready? He will be here any second. Repent—change your mind about your sin and let it go. Get your heart ready to receive what He is going to give. He is coming! Repentance isn’t something you must do before you can come to God. Repentance is what coming to God looks like. Repenting of sin is turning from sin and turning to God. Turning to God means you are turning from sin.
Think of it this way—if I say I’m driving today to Duluth, I may not also say that I’m leaving St. Cloud and driving to Duluth. But the only way I can drive to Duluth is to leave St. Cloud. Similarly, the only way I can turn to the Lord is to turn away from sin. This is repentance. This is what leaving sin and coming to God looks like. Does that mean that we will never sin again or that we won’t struggle with it? No. But it does mean that we never again desire to give our loyalty, time, attention, or devotion to sin. We now want to give God all of our loyalty, time, attention, and devotion. He will not leave us helpless in our battle with sin—quite the contrary. He has sent His Holy Spirit to help us by baptizing and burning away sin. The pain of holding on to sin is so much more than the pain of God’s help to release us from that sin. God’s holy fire burns away the sin in our hearts so that the awful impurities rise to the surface to be removed. Then God can see His reflection in a heart purely and wholly His. What does it mean to repent? Is it to feel sorry for your sin? Or to change your mind about sin? You could do both—and still not truly repent of your sin.
If you only feel sorry for your sin (or just sorry that you got caught in sin), and even acknowledge that it is sin, you cannot just declare repentance and then continue in that sin. True repentance is not merely a simple statement, a feeling sorry, or an acknowlement of wrong. It includes those things, but it is also turning away from your sin—the complete ceasing of that sin, renouncing of that sin, and having a humble hatred that sin. Repentance is not something that only happens at the moment of conversion. As Jesus gently and persistently reveals more and more of what He wants to remove from our lives, we respond humbly in genuine repentance. When we do, He replaces that sin with new and wonderful life-giving holy habits. This hopefully happens again and again as we follow Jesus and become more aware of sin in our lives. The town of Nazareth is where Jesus grew up. It was an unimportant country town with a reputation for nothing good. ‘Netzer’ is the Hebrew word that Nazareth comes from. It is a term of contempt, meaning ‘a sprout in the middle of death’. Netzer-eth. Jesus was called a Netzer-ene, dismissed as just another insignificant life surrounded by nothingness—an insignificant life surrounded by death. And yet, Jesus would be, was, and always will be, the giver of life. Jesus rules, reigns, and saves to the uttermost by the power of an indestructible life.
We see this concept in Isaiah 6, when God asks, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” Isaiah says, “Here am I! Send me!” Then God describes what Isaiah’s ministry will look like: “You are going to go to people who have eyes but refuse to see ears but refuse to hear hearts that refuse to repent that they might turn to Me and be healed.” At this point, Isaiah asks an honest question: “How long?” God tells him the length of his ministry—until there is so much death and destruction due to sin it will be like an oak tree that has been cut down and is now a decaying stump. But, God tells Isaiah, in the middle of that stump, surrounded by death, will be My holy seed, My sprout—My Netzer, My Son. This describes the time surrounding the life of Jesus—death and destruction. Israel was no longer sovereign. Cut down, they were ruled and reigned by Rome as a consequence for their sin. They were just a stump, reeling from the rot caused by Herod. And yet this little life persisted. This little life surrounded by death was The Author of Life, who would one day lay down his life for the worst of sinners. Whether you are a vile and violent sinner like Herod or a religious sinner like Saul, who would be Paul, Jesus came to save you. All you need do is look to Him and be healed! Herod saw Jesus as a threat—not just to his throne and authority, but also to his sovereignty. More concerned with his own life than the value of human life, Herod attempted to eliminate the threat by murdering all the baby boys under two years old in Bethlehem and the surrounding area.
Herod did not believe in the sanctity of human life. But as followers of Jesus, we do. We believe that all men, all women, all children—all humans—were made in the image of God and therefore have value. The value does not come from our positions, or possessions, or any reason other than the fact that we are made in the image of God. More than that, every human life is sanctified, set apart for a good purpose to bring glory to God. Unfortunately, sin entered in to humanity and hindered us from fulfilling our God-given purpose. And so, Jesus was sent on a rescue mission to redeem all sinful humanity so that all who turn to Him and receive forgiveness from Him could return to their God-given purpose of glorifying Him with their human life. In order to do this, Jesus—the only innocent life—would need to lay down His life for us. There is no stain too deep that Jesus cannot completely cleanse. There is no sin so severe that Jesus cannot fully forgive. This is the good news of the gospel—that no matter what you have done, you can be fully forgiven! The substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus on the cross was fully sufficient to accomplish this. This great salvation is available to you right now! Simply confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead. The Bible says that if you do this, you will be saved (Romans 10:9). Repent (turn away from) you sin and ask God for forgiveness. Believe that Jesus died for your sin and that God raised Him to life. Trust Him as your Savior and follow Him as the Lord of your life. “And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”
–Matthew 2:11 It was entirely appropriate and culturally expected that when you entered the presence of royalty, you brought gifts equal to their authority and majesty. And although no gift could ever equal the authority and majesty of God Almighty, the gifts the Magi presented accurately represented the ministry of Jesus. Gold speaks of His royalty. Frankincense speaks of His divinity. And myrrh speaks to His death. This was the ministry of Jesus: As the royal heavenly authority, He came as humanity to die for humanity in order to save humanity from their sin. Jesus was born not only King of the Jews, but King of everybody and everything. He is King of kings and Lord of lords. He is Immanuel—God with us. He is Jesus—God our salvation. The people Malachi delivered God’s message to were weary from worshipping the Lord. They wondered what they would get out of bringing God their best. In their hearts, they pondered what the point of worship is when evil people prosper and the more they worship Him, the more difficult life would become.
Have you ever felt that way—like worship is a weariness because you don’t get anything out of it? If so, remember this important truth: Worship isn’t for you. Worship is for God. If you view worship as a means to an end, you will become disillusioned and disappointed. We do not give to receive. And we do not receive to give. We don’t worship God to get things from God. We worship God because He is worthy of our worship always—every day and in every way, no matter the circumstances of our life. Just like the people who heard Malachi’s message, God continually calls us back to the heart of worship and reminds us that it’s all about Him, not a half-hearted religious routine. It’s all about a real relationship with Him. God is the One who knows the end from the beginning. So He knows just how bad things will get as more labor pains take place. But God is also the One who gave His one and only Son to save us from sin, death, and the grave. Jesus helps us look beyond all of the labor pains, knowing that no matter how bad things get, our King is still coming.
Sometimes, God allows temporary difficulty to help us to think about eternity. God will do the same during the tribulation in a much more amplified way. During that time, God is going to allow the most amount of human physical suffering that He has ever allowed. He will do this in a final attempt to gain the attention of people so that they might loosen their stiff necks, turn towards Him, and receive eternal salvation. Think of it this way: You see your friend walking on a railroad track with a train approaching. They don’t hear the train coming, but you can see it’s just a matter of moments before they are struck. You want to run to them, but there’s a fence in the way. You attempt to get their attention, but they can’t hear you. Would you pick up a rock and throw it at your friend to risk a little bit of physical suffering to save their life? Of course, you would! The temporary physical suffering during the tribulation—as terrible as it may be—will be nothing compared to an eternity of suffering beyond human imagination. Do not wait for a temporary difficulty to make the most important decision of your life—turn to God today so that He can save you now! “Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd,
Against the Man who is My Companion,” Says the Lord of hosts. –Zechariah 13:7 When Adam and Eve were exiled from Eden, a flaming sword guarded the garden (see Genesis 3:24). Ablaze with the jealous wrath and judgment of God, it would consume anyone who would sinfully approach the tree of life to receive eternal life in their sinful state. God would not have that, so He set a plan in motion a plan that included extinguishing that flaming sword of judgment in the soul of His one and only Son, The Shepherd. It was the Lord’s will to make The Shepherd’s life, body, and soul an offering for our sin. This opened the fountain to us (see Zechariah 13:1). The Good Shepherd took the sword of the Lord for us and for our sin. A fountain was opened to cleanse the sin and uncleanness of those who return to Him in repentance. We’ll sing of the Shepherd that died, That died for the sake of the flock; His love to the utmost was tried, But firmly endured as a rock. When blood from a victim must flow, This shepherd by pity was led To stand between us and the foe, And willingly died in our stead. Our song, then, forever shall be Of the Shepherd who gave Himself thus; No subject’s so glorious as He, No theme so affecting to us. –Thomas Kelly (“We'll sing of the Shepherd that died”) “Thus says the Lord, who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him…”
–Zechariah 12:1 When you think it through and break it down, the Lord has quite an astounding résumé. “…who stretches out the heavens…” Current estimates say that the universe is expanding at a rate of 2.6 million miles per hour for every 3.26 million light-years of distance. It’s estimated that there are over 2 trillion galaxies in our expanding universe. It’s also estimated that each galaxy has over 200 billion stars. God knows each of those stars by name—and yet, if you were to obtain an accurate total amount of the stars in our universe, God’s word says that He has thought about you more than number. “…lays the foundation of the earth…” Planet Earth is spinning at 1,000 miles per hour while orbiting the sun at 66,000 miles per hour while traveling in our galaxy at 2.6 million miles per hour in our ever-expanding universe. And yet, all of the conditions necessary to sustain life exist on earth. Change our distance from the sun, and we would freeze or burn. Change the tilt or rotation of the earth even a smidgen, and we would not be able to exist. Alter the composition of the atmosphere, the oceans, the crust—and life could not exist as we know it. The Lord has carefully & thoroughly laid the foundation of the earth. “…formed the spirit of man within him…” You are fearfully and wonderfully made by God. His word is clear—He loves you and wants to be with you! All of this—the heavens, the earth, the spirit in a man that can bear witness with God’s Spirit is to tell you that He is real and that He loves you. Even when He tells you in advance of an evil and awful gathering in the shadow of Mount Megiddo, it’s all to tell you that He is real and that He is in charge, and that He loves you and wants to be with you forever. As you read the word of the Lord, remember Who is speaking and Who is in control of everything. How much destruction could be avoided if all of us would simply recognize that Jesus is with us and that He loves us and wants to spare us from sin and the destruction that comes from sin?
It’s a sobering thought experiment, but consider that all of us are two decisions away from destruction—one decision to entertain temptation and the other decision to act upon that temptation, leading to the eventually and inevitable destruction that happens as a result of sin. And yet, that destruction doesn’t have to happen. We don’t have to sin! We could simply recognize Jesus as Lord and Messiah, receive Jesus as Lord and Messiah, and follow Jesus as Lord and Messiah. And then, by following Him, loving Him, and obeying Him, sin (and the inevitable destruction that comes from sin) doesn’t have to happen. Avoid the unnecessary destruction that comes from sin! Choose to recognize & receive Jesus as your Lord and as your Savior. Simply confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead. The Bible says that if you do this, you will be saved (Romans 10:9). Ask God for forgiveness. Believe that Jesus died for your sin and that God raised Him to life. Trust Him as your Savior and follow Him as the Lord and Savior of your life. If you ever wanted proof of the existence of God, consider the peculiar prophecies in Zechariah 10—and many more throughout scripture!
The Jewish people were scattered to the four corners of the earth for almost 1,900 years. They lived in almost every single country, and yet they retained their national identity, religion, language, culture, and cuisine. Then on May 14th, 1948, the nation of Israel became a nation again in a single day. Since then, they have regathered in the Promised Land a second time in anticipation of the second coming of Messiah Jesus. How exciting it is to see this come to pass before our very eyes! We are living in a time the Bible speaks of more than just about any other. And yet, just like many, many other times in Israel’s history, the days in which we live are dark—which is an excellent opportunity for us to be “prisoners of hope” (Zechariah 9:12). We know that no matter how dark it gets on this earth, our King is still coming! Based on these peculiar prophecies of the miraculous regathering of Israel into the Promised Land a second time, we know that His second coming is right around the corner—closer than it has ever been! “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.” –Zechariah 9:9 Some 550 years in advance, the prophet Zechariah was given a vision of the triumphal entry of the Messiah—The King of kings— into Jerusalem. He is the most powerful ruler ever, with more military might at His disposal than we could ever imagine or attempt to describe. And yet, we read that His coming to Jerusalem will be lowly and on a baby donkey. This was His choice—to humble Himself and to be meek and lowly. And in one week’s time, He would offer Himself in the same way to save humanity from sin. So many leaders have come and gone, then have been forgotten because they led with ruthless brilliance or vile violence. And yet, Jesus of Nazareth chose to be meek and lowly. He chose to be the suffering servant. He has captivated the hearts of His followers, not by overwhelming them, but by sacrificially serving them and sacrificing Himself to save them. This is why we follow King Jesus, who has captivated our hearts and lives by choosing to lay down His own. “Do not fear,
Let your hands be strong.” –Zechariah 8:13 God is a person. He is not a formula, or a plan, or a robot. He is not a religion. In fact, rote religion is not only repulsive to Him—it breaks His heart. Rote religion is the shallow, half-hearted plan to pacify God. We will do more out of a genuine heartfelt response to God’s grace, goodness, and love for us than what we are required to do by people’s plan to pacify God. Has your heart been completely captivated by God’s grace? Receive the encouragement in Zechariah 8—do not fear, let your hands be strong. God will return and restore, just as He promised. God will give you strength to endure, just as He promised. He will turn your fasting into His feasting. Are you relying on religion to earn your salvation? Respond to God’s grace with a thankful heart and turn to Him—He wants to have a relationship with you! Ask Him to remove all self-appointed, self-indulgent, and self-pity and replace it with the pure joy that comes from being in a real loving relationship with Him. “I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.”
–Hosea 6:6 The Lord’s desire is for us to show love, not offer sacrifices. God would rather have right hearts, full of truth and mercy than sacrifice. It repulses God when religious experts—those who know a lot about God—go through the motions of serving God with impenitent hearts towards God. No amount of religious razzle-dazzle on the outside could ever make up for the lack of reality on the inside. God desires mercy, not the sacrifices to cover sin without ever feeling sorry for or repenting of sin. You can know a lot about the Lord and entirely miss knowing Him. The religious leaders of Jesus’ day demonstrated that. They knew a lot about God—but they missed the heart of God and focused on the wrong and superficial things. Loving your neighbor and genuinely knowing the Lord is more important to Him than knowing a lot about Him and treating others poorly. In light of this, can learn from the experience of those who are written about in Zechariah and heed the word of the Lord given to them: “Execute true justice, Show mercy and compassion Everyone to his brother. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, The alien or the poor. Let none of you plan evil in his heart Against his brother.” –Zechariah 7:9-10 No matter how bad this world gets, our King is coming. His kingdom will come and His will WILL be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Jesus is coming again! King Jesus—fully man and fully God—who saved us from our sin by becoming an offering for sin. This is the message that God has woven all throughout the Bible. And it’s the message that the world needs to hear. Jesus can save you from your sin right now if you will turn away from sin, look to Him, and trust Him today! “What do you see?”
Zechariah was asked this question in his sixth vision. And what he saw was…a 15’ x 30’ flying scroll. It’s important to remember that these visions were physical pictures that communicated spiritual truth. The angel explained the spiritual truth in this vision: the scroll represents the curse that goes out over all the earth. This curse has consequences—corruption and destruction because of sin. But this curse has been broken! Galatians 3:13 says, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.’” In John 3, Jesus points to a physical picture to understand this spiritual truth. There was a time when deadly snakes invaded the camp of the Israelites in the wilderness. Moses pleaded with the Lord to do something and the Lord commanded him to make a bronze serpent, to put it on a pole, and to lift it up. Anyone who was bit by a snake and looked to the bronze serpent would live. Jesus explained that this physical picture has a spiritual truth. Bronze is a symbol of judgment and the serpent is a symbol of sin. Lifting it on a pole is a picture of sin being judged for all to look to and live. On the cross, Jesus became a curse for us—He became sin so we could become the righteousness of God. All who look to Jesus will be saved—He has rescued us from the curse by becoming cursed for us! “‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.”
–Zechariah 4:6 God’s work can only be done God’s way. It’s not enough to rely on God’s resources. We must also reject what resources we think we bring to the table. No amount of human might, power, intellect, or ingenuity can accomplish God’s agenda. The Apostle Paul learned this the hard way. There was perhaps no one with more might or power than Saul (meaning “desired one”) before he became Paul (meaning “little one”). Saul didn’t change his name immediately after getting saved. He had to go through years of heavy humbling before he eventually became Paul. Just like Paul, we need to learn how to be completely reliant on God’s resources while simultaneously rejecting man’s resources (see 1 Corinthians 2:1-5). When all of your effort and ingenuity only seem to make the problems you face problem worse, remember that it’s not by might or by power, but by God’s Spirit that God’s work is accomplished. God may just be trying to lead you to the end of your resources and the beginning of His as you rely only on His Holy Spirit. In Zechariah’s first vision (Zechariah 1:8-17), Zechariah saw soldiers on horseback sent by God throughout the earth. In their midst, in the hollow among the myrtle trees, was a man.
Myrtle trees aren’t impressive like the soaring cedars of Lebanon. Their beauty is born out of difficulty. The more that their roots struggle to find soil and water, the more beautiful the tree becomes. Its blossoms are fragrant when crushed and are used for medicines. In scripture, myrtle trees are consistently seen as a symbol of the people of the nation of Israel—hearty and beautiful who fight for existence and bless others, even while being crushed. But there was also a man among the myrtle trees—a leader of an army who stood among the people of Israel. He seemed to be The Lord of Hosts—The Lord of Heavenly Armies. Who is this man? What is His name? His name is Jesus—The Lord our Salvation. No matter how many times the enemy rises up to scatter and tear down, Jesus finds men and women in every generation to rise up, build up, and bless. May the Man among the myrtle trees encourage you to be steadfastly committed to loving God, loving your family, and loving your neighbors. For when we do this in loving obedience to God—even and especially when times get tough—it terrifies our enemy. |
From Pastor Dom...When I first gave my life to Jesus, there were friends in my life who helped me to grow in my understanding of God, through His word, and for those friends Archives
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Strengthened by grace is the Bible Teaching ministry of Pastor Dominic Dinger.©2022 - All rights reserved.
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