Armed with the name

David: You come to me carrying a sword and spear and javelin as your weapons, but I come armed with the name of the Eternal One, the Commander of heavenly armies, the True God of the armies of Israel, the One you have insulted.

This very day, the Eternal One will give you into my hands. I will strike you down and cut off your head, and I will feed the birds of the air and the wild animals of the fields with the flesh of your Philistine warriors.

Then all the land will know the True God is with Israel, and all of those gathered here will know that the Eternal One does not save by sword and spear.

The battle is the Eternal One's, and He will give you into our hands.

1 Samuel 17:45-47

Mouth + Sword

But He saves the needy from the sword, From the mouth of the mighty, And from their hand.
(Job 5:15)

Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, And a two-edged sword in their hand,
(Psalm 149:6)

Heart + Mouth

“But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.
(Deuteronomy 30:14)

Receive, please, instruction from His mouth, And lay up His words in your heart.
(Job 22:22)

So that my heart has been secretly enticed, And my mouth has kissed my hand;
(Job 31:27)

Perfect Soundness

Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch which is called Solomon's, greatly amazed.

So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go.

“But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

To the law and to the testimony!

“For the LORD spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying…” (Isaiah 8:11)

“Bind up the testimony, Seal the law among my disciples. And I will wait on the LORD, Who hides His face from the house of Jacob; And I will hope in Him. Here am I and the children whom the LORD has given me! We are for signs and wonders in Israel From the LORD of hosts, Who dwells in Mount Zion.

“And when they say to you, ‘Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter,’ should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living?

“To the law and to the testimony!

“If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. They will pass through it hard-pressed and hungry; and it shall happen, when they are hungry, that they will be enraged and curse their king and their God, and look upward.

“Then they will look to the earth, and see trouble and darkness, gloom of anguish; and they will be driven into darkness” (Isaiah 8:16-22).

The purpose of hell

When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.

Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: ‘for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; ‘I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’

Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? ‘When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? ‘Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’

And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’

Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: ‘for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; ‘I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’

Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’

Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’

And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Matthew 25:31-46).

The lake of fire was prepared for the devil and demons, and they know it. One of them once asked Jesus, “Have You come here to torment us before the time?” (Matthew 8:29). By “the time,” it is referring to a time to come when “The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Revelation 20:10).

The lake of fire was not prepared for people. The Lord is “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

Nonetheless, those that don't believe in Jesus do not have their names written in the Book of Life, and “anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15).

This is why Paul wrote, “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20).

The opposite of death reigning

“If by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:17).

The opposite of death reigning is not life reigning, but those who have received life reigning—that's us, believers!

Why Jesus rose from the dead

“Now it was not written for (Abraham's) sake alone that (righteousness) was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification” (Romans 4:23-25).

Do it heartily

Whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ (Colossians 3:23-24).

Is God really concerned about oxen?

It is written in the law of Moses, Do not muzzle an ox while it treads out grain.

Is God really concerned about oxen? Isn't he really saying it for our sake? Yes, this is written for our sake, because he who plows ought to plow in hope, and he who threshes should thresh in hope of sharing the crop.

1 Corinthians 9:9-10 (CSB)

Love ~ Knowledge

John 5:20 (CSB)
For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing, and he will show him greater works than these so that you will be amazed.

Eyes Fixed

Luke 4:20 (CSB)
He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. And the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him.

Delighted to See Jesus

Luke 23:8-9 (MSG)
⁸Herod was delighted when Jesus showed up. He had wanted for a long time to see him, he'd heard so much about him. He hoped to see him do something spectacular. ⁹He peppered him with questions. Jesus didn't answer—not one word.

Offerings They’ll Never Miss

Luke 21:4 (MSG)
All these others made offerings that they'll never miss; she gave extravagantly what she couldn't afford—she gave her all!

The People Hanging on Every Word

Luke 19:48 (MSG)
⁴⁸But with the people hanging on every word he spoke, they couldn't come up with anything.

Son of David

Luke 18:35-39 (MSG)
³⁵He came to the outskirts of Jericho. A blind man was sitting beside the road asking for handouts. ³⁶When he heard the rustle of the crowd, he asked what was going on. ³⁷They told him, "Jesus the Nazarene is going by."
³⁸He yelled, "Jesus! Son of David! Mercy, have mercy on me!"
³⁹Those ahead of Jesus told the man to shut up, but he only yelled all the louder, "Son of David! Mercy, have mercy on me!"

The blind man knew who Jesus is.
The blind man knew who he wanted Jesus to be to him—his Healer.

They Suspected Nothing

Luke 17:27 (MSG)
²⁷everyone carrying on as usual, having a good time right up to the day Noah boarded the ship. They suspected nothing until the flood hit and swept everything away.

And yet Noah had faithfully preached to them. 

Be Smart

Luke 16:9 (MSG)
I want you to be smart in the same way—but for what is right—using every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival, to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you'll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behavior.

When Angels Party

Luke 15:10 (MSG)
¹⁰Count on it—that's the kind of party God's angels throw every time one lost soul turns to God.