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IF YOU HAVE NEVER READ HEBREWS 11, THE WHOLE CHAPTER, YOU ARE MISSING OUT ON SOME FAITH BUILDERS. IT IS NOT CALLED THE "FAITH" CHAPTER FOR NOTHING. IT MENTIONS MOST OF THE OLD TESTAMENT MEN AND WOMEN OF FAITH. I GOT CHILLS JUST READING IT AND THINKING ABOUT EACH ONE OF THESE PEOPLE AND WHAT THEY WERE FACING. ALTHOUGH HEBREWS IS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT, IT MENTIONS ALL THOSE MEN AND WOMEN WHO ARE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE GOOD THING ABOUT IT IS THAT WE CAN GO INTO THE OLD TESTAMENT AND READ ALL THEIR STORIES.
These Jews, who had courted Judas' favor to obtain his cooperation in arresting Jesus, cared nothing for Judas. They had simply used him. The devil's crowd may flatter as long as they can use you, but you can be assured that when there is no longer anything in it for them, they will forsake you just as the chief priests did Judas.
The serpent didn't come to Eve in the garden threatening to bite her if she didn't eat of the forbidden fruit. Instead, he came with deception, presenting himself as being concerned for her welfare. Satan's greatest weapon is deceit.
Just as a football player, a boxer, or military man's success depends partly on how well he knows his opponent(s), so believers must not be ignorant of Satan's devices. Jesus...
What happened to Barabbas is a picture of what happens when a person is born again. Barabbas was guilty; Jesus was innocent. Yet Jesus suffered the death that Barabbas should have experienced, and Barabbas went free.
Likewise, we were all guilty (Rom. 3:23) and condemned to death (Rom. 6:23), yet Jesus suffered our punishment so that we may go free (2 Cor. 5:21). Just as Barabbas didn't ask for this substitution, so "God commended his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8).
Barabbas was freed, but he had to choose whether or not to accept this new start and remain free, or go back to his old ways and come under the judgment of Rome again. Likewise, we have all been freed through the substitutionary death of Jesus, but we have...
HAVE YOU EVER READ PSALM 91? IT REALLY IS A POWERFUL CHAPTER AND WELL WORTH READING. MY MOTHER-IN-LAW MEMORIZED THIS AND SAID SHE WOULD SAY IT EVERY MORNING. I AM ALSO GOING TO MEMORIZE IT AND TRY TO SAY IT EVERY MORNING.
This washing of the hands was not only a symbolic custom of the day that showed innocence, but was also a ritual prescribed in the Jewish law (Dt. 21:6-7; Ps. 26:6).
Matthew is the only writer to record Pilate washing his hands of guilt, just as he was the only writer to record Pilate's wife coming to him with the details of the dream she had about Jesus. Secular accounts record her name as Claudia. She is the only one who spoke for, instead of against Jesus' life during the trial.
This dream, no doubt came from God, since Claudia would have had to dreamt it before she knew of Jesus being brought to Pilate. Not only did the Lord bare witness in...
WHAT IS SALVATION? I LOVE THIS DEFINITION...."The redemption of man from the bondage of sin and liability to eternal death, and the conferring on him everlasting happiness. This is the great salvation." THE CONFERRING ON US OF "EVERLASTING HAPPINESS". IF YOU DO NOT HAVE THIS "EVERLASTING HAPPINESS", IT IS TIME YOU DID.
Many problems arise from envy. James said, "For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work" (Jas. 3:16). Envy and strife go hand in hand and open the door to the devil to do anything he desires, in our life. Some people would never give place to the devil through confessing the wrong things, yet through envy, they give the enemy freedom to do his worst. God's kind of love is not envious or jealous because it doesn't seek it's own, but seeks the welfare of others. Envy is an indication of self-centeredness.
The Apostle Paul had some opponents who were just like many people who sow strife today. They are against everything and critical of the way those in authority handle things. They make big statements about what they would do if they were in authority, but it's all talk. They haven't...
I WRITE A LOT ABOUT FALSE PROPHETS AND IT SHOULD BE TALKED ABOUT MUCH MORE THAN IT IS. THERE ARE A LOT OF RELIGIONS THAT FALL INTO THIS CATEGORY BUT FOR NOW, LET'S LOOK AT THE JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES. WHEN YOU DON'T BELIEVE IN THE TRINITY OR THAT JESUS IS GOD, WHEN THE BIBLE CLEARLY SAYS HE IS, (JOHN 1:1-14) AND YOU DO BELIEVE THAT THE ARCHANGEL MICHAEL WAS THE ONLY THING THAT GOD CREATED PERSONALLY AND MICHAEL CREATED EVERYTHING ELSE, I CONSIDER THESE PEOPLE FALSE PROPHETS.
The Jews were God's chosen people and therefore, God's representatives on earth. Yet, they lied and condemned an innocent man to death. Pilate could see that their real motivation for wanting Jesus dead was envy. They were doing all their religious works to be seen of men, and were upset that Jesus was getting more recognition than they were. If these Jews would have thought about what type of witness they were giving, even they would have known that their actions were not inspired by God.
We should remember that we are God's witnesses on earth, or as Paul said, "We are epistles... known and read of all men" (2 Cor. 3:2). Judging our actions in the light of, "What kind of witness will this give to others?" will help us discern whether or not we are being led of God.
The chief priests had deceived...