Isaiah 11:1 (NIV) | Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot — yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root. Yesterday we looked at how Jesus fulfilled God’s promise to restore us for eternity. Today’s verse is another prophecy that indicated how the Messiah would come from the lineage of…

Jeremiah 33:13 (NIV) | “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah.’” Today’s verse comes contextually in a very bleak time. Jeremiah was in prison. The people were in exile. The homeland was in ruins. All of this was because of the…

Isaiah 40:31 (NIV) | But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Eagles are quite majestic, aren’t they? I remember being in awe the first time I saw one in the wild. There…

1 John 3:16 (NIV) | This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. We’ve looked at loving others from the center of who we are the last few days, and how we are called to…

John 13:34 (NIV) | A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. Yesterday we looked at how love is to be our center. Jesus uttered the words for today’s verse shortly before He went to the cross. That, of course, was the preeminent gesture of love that…

Matthew 22:37-39 (NIV) | 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. What is at your center, your core? Today’s passage is one that’s shown up several…

There is a lot of hope in today’s verse! We read that God took the initiative to save us before we even deserved it…as if we could…by sending Jesus. Jesus sacrificed His life for our salvation before we even knew we needed saving. It echoes so loudly of Jesus’ prayer from the cross for God…

Here is a simple thought for your Saturday: God is Love. I remember my brother and I really liking the Foreigner song from 1984, “I Want to Know What Love Is.” I came to know later that love isn’t a principle or precept, it’s a person: GOD! And God came to us in Jesus so…

Today’s verse is one I frequently use in funeral services. The graphic for the verse leaves off the very last part which is where Jesus asked Martha, “Do you believe this?” That always gets me. Have you heard that the longest distance is the 18″ that separates a person’s head and the heart? My take…