Did you know the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures are called the “Torah” and are often considered to be the most sacred part of the Hebrew Bible? Torah means “teaching,” and it is these writings the Jewish people look to for instruction in life. What’s fascinating is the root word for Torah means “to throw,” like aiming and throwing a rock in a particular direction. This is also an ancient Jewish custom for sojourners traveling unfamiliar roads at night. The practice was to cast a rock ahead and listen to ensure the way is clear. This same principle applies also to the Word of God. Listen as Elder Laine Wilder explains with another insight.

Did you know every New Testament book, except for three, starts off by making some direct mention of Jesus Christ? That means 24 out of 27 times the New Testament writers begin their letters by putting Jesus first. If they put Jesus first in their writings, shouldn’t we put Jesus first in our lives? Jesus wants to be CEO of your life. If you relegate Him to any position other than CEO, then fear the worst because your priorities will get out of order - and so will your life!

What eases the pain of a broken heart? What gives peace to a weary soul?  And what can change the past and redirect the future?  Did you know God meets every need through Jesus Christ? Truly, the love of Christ is a love that is out of this world! You are trapped in your world of sin, and you cannot get out. But you mattered so much to God that He sent His one and only Son into your world. Jesus left His throne in heaven and became a man. O, What a Savior!

Around 95 AD, the Apostle John shocked the world when he declared something about Jesus that was so radical that it surely raised eyebrows in the hallowed halls of the Emperor of Rome. In Revelation 1:5, John boldly proclaimed that Jesus, not Emperor Domitian, is “…the ruler over the kings of the earth.” What John was so radically saying to the people of his day, and to us today, is that Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of all, and there never has been, there never will be, and there never can be any earthly ruler who is greater than Jesus.

Do you know what the focal point was of the thinking, and the believing, and the experience of the Early Church? Why, it was the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. He was the first to have a transformed, glorified body. He was the first and only one to display the power to lay down His life and to take it up again. He was the first and only one to ascend into heaven to be seated at the right hand of God. He said of Himself in Revelation 1:18, “I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.” The reality of Jesus’ resurrection, lived in and through the lives of the Early Church, impacted their world so much it literally turned their world upside down and the world has never been the same since!

In Revelation 1:5, the Apostle John describes Jesus as “…the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood.” As “the Faithful Witness,” He is the embodiment of absolute truthfulness and integrity, the One who completely and perfectly communicates God’s truth to humanity. Trust His guidance! Stand firmly on His promises! They are certain, and they are reliable! O, What a Savior!

 To the Israelites, Samson was a superhero who, for 20 years, performed great exploits for God against the oppressive Philistine people. The Philistines commissioned Delilah, Samson’s woman, to find out what the secret behind Samson’s strength was. Eventually, he revealed the secret of his strength, but, despite his imprisonment, it didn’t turn out as they expected. God had the final say, and the man Samson was His instrument of judgment.

Speaking to an assembly at an insane asylum, the preacher passionately asked the crowd, “Why are we here?” A man stood up way in the back and shouted, “It’s because we are not all there!”  Why are we here? Science says we are here because of chance evolution. From a philosophical standpoint, it’s very subjective. People say we are here to find meaning in our own life experiences, or our relationships, or even in our careers. Those who profess to be wise have become fools in God’s eyes! Sagely, the Prophet Isaiah responds by the authority of God.

Have you ever come close to drowning? There is a unique kind of panic that overtakes you when you feel your life about to be overwhelmed. King David writes about it in Psalm 69 in verses 1-4, “Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck.  I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me.  I am worn out calling for help; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God.  Those who hate me without reason outnumber the hairs of my head; many are my enemies without cause, those who seek to destroy me.” The emotional and spiritual accusations and turmoil all but pushed David to the point where he felt like he was drowning. With his life spinning out of control, listen to David’s solution in verse 13: “But I pray to you, Lord, in the time of your favor; in your great love, O God, answer me with your sure salvation.”   

Are you a Truth Rejector?  Let me ask this way: Do you choose trash over truth? In Hosea 4:6 (NIV), speaking to an apostate people, God made this startling declaration, “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. ‘Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests.’” Just as in Hosea’s day, people today are ignorant of God’s Word and have become Truth Rejectors who choose trash over truth. Let me ask you, what is your personal relationship to the Bible? Do you read it? Do you study it? Do you try to live it? When we refuse to read, to study, and try to live God’s Word, we become Truth Rejectors, and just as God rejected the nation of Israel because of their spiritual ignorance, God will reject you and give you over to spiritual ignorance and its consequences.

John 3:16 tells us, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” If you really want to grasp just how deeply God loves you, then I challenge you to put your name in that verse. For God so loved YOU that He gave His one and only Son, that if YOU would believe in Him, YOU will not perish, but YOU will have eternal life. Can you fathom a love like this? How do you measure its importance?

Did you know the Bible teaches in the last days the Man of Lawlessness will be revealed (2 Thessalonians 2:8)? Who is he? Where is he going to come from? What’s he going to be like?  When is he coming? As it was in the days of Judges, when Israel had no king, the man of lawlessness lives doing everything that seems right in his own eyes! When God is rejected, sin abounds, violence increases, lives are destroyed, and God’s judgment is inevitable. Are YOU that man?

What does it mean to be lost? Did you know that God says there are more lost people in this world than there are people who are not lost? Are you lost? In the Bible, the word “lost” is used to describe man’s standing before God prior to salvation. Those who are in this natural state have pleasures that are world-centered, values that are world-oriented, and ambitions that are world-directed. Their dress, their diet, their desires all reflect the bias and prejudice of this world. But there is good news. You may be lost, but you can be found!

According to Hebrews 9:27, when you die, the decision God makes about you in the life to come is based on the decision you made about Jesus in the life you just left behind. If you believed that Jesus was God in the flesh, and that He paid God’s penalty for your sin by sacrificing His life on the cross and that He was buried and rose again on the third day, your soul will go straight to Heaven to be with Him. But if you rejected Jesus and chose not to believe this gospel, your soul will go straight to Hell, where you will await the Great White Throne judgment talked about in Revelation 20:11-15.

Did you know the boundaries of our lives are predetermined before we were born? Psalm 31:15 says, “My times are in your hands.” Job 14:5 declares, “You have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.” Psalm 139:16 says, “all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” From God’s perspective, when we live engaged in the reality that in life and in death our lives are in God’s hands, we find comfort, hope, healing, and strength to walk with Jesus, anticipating the moment when we, too, will be called home.

Isn’t God's creation just so beautiful? Join with me as I take you on a trip through the corridors of time to the origins of the universe as we know it, where we find, from before the foundations of the world. God, in the beginning, created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Did you see Him? Did you see who's standing right there at the doorway of eternity? Why, it's God Himself? Hallelujah!

Did you know there is a deadly virus inside of you at this very moment? It scrolls through our lives and affects every part of us and then others through us. This virus can’t be put under a microscope…it’s invisible! In fact, it’s the most contagious and the deadliest virus of all. Its effects are ravaging…it steals our happiness, it kills our joy, and it destroys lives, families, and marriages. But, there is great news, we have an antidote!

Have you denied Jesus, maybe not in word, but maybe in the way you live? Does the world recognize you as a Christian, or are you just another person in the world? Maybe you have failed the Lord in other ways. What would Jesus say? Author Robert Morgan wrote, “When the eyes of Jesus scorch a man, when he hears the rooster crow and weeps bitterly, determined to change, he is then, at last, beyond regret, beyond remorse, to a level of sorrow called repentance.” It’s not too late to change your mind and call on Jesus! Repent and believe!

Has life trampled you down, even causing you to reconsider your decision to follow Jesus? Pilgrims and Sojourners of old would tell you to trust God to the very end because they knew that God says what He means and means what He says! Listen to Jesus’s own words in John 14:1-2 (ESV), “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me…I go to prepare a place for you.” It’s a place where you will see and embrace the Savior who paid God’s price for your redemption. Beloved, when you take your last breath, you can trust God to the very end because God keeps His promises!

Imagine living in a cave, cut off from everyone you love, and being treated with cruelty and reproach only to return home, and find yourself under house arrest for two more year!  In John’s lifetime, he suffered willingly; yet, not once complaining about it in any of his writings. Truly, John trusted God in the midst of suffering. His life is the model for the follower of Jesus who perseveres in hardship, and for some, suffering. There is purpose in suffering and affliction. Although we may not see it when we’re in the midst of it, when we come out on the other side, we will see that God was with us through it all!