SCRIPTURE: 2 Timothy 4 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. [2 Timothy 4:2] But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. [2 Timothy 4:5] Today I am going to show you…
Author: Norm
close to Jesus, yet closed to him
SCRIPTURE: 2 Timothy 3 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. [2 Timothy 3:2-5] Who…
good soldiers???
SCRIPTURE: 2 Timothy 2 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. [2 Timothy 2:3] This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained. [2 Timothy 2:8-9] The good news sure comes packaged in bad news – suffering, chained like…
fanning the gift into flame!
SCRIPTURE: 2 Timothy 1 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. [2 Timothy 1:9-10] The message of good news goes back to God’s…
a faith that struggles
SCRIPTURE: Lamentations 5 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: Remember, LORD, what has happened to us; look, and see our disgrace. Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners. We have become fatherless, our mothers are widows. [5:1-3] Jeremiah holds their suffering before God’s eyes, and tells Him to remember! Not just retain the memory, but let…
worse than Sodom?
SCRIPTURE: Lamentations 4 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: The punishment of my people is greater than that of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment without a hand turned to help her. [Lamentations 4:6] Sodom (and the neighbouring town of Gomorrah) were symbols of excessive sin and immorality. They were cities in Abraham’s day that were so bad, that God ‘comes…
out of the dark, into the light
SCRIPTURE: Lamentations 3 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him. The Lord…
everything falling apart?
SCRIPTURE: Lamentations 2 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: All who pass your way clap their hands at you; they scoff and shake their heads at Daughter Jerusalem: “Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth?” [Lamentations 2:15] Its hard to imagine the horror of the destruction that the people of Jerusalem experienced;…
regret, dying on the inside
SCRIPTURE: Lamentations 1 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: See, Lord, how distressed I am! I am in torment within, and in my heart I am disturbed, for I have been most rebellious. Outside, the sword bereaves; inside, there is only death. [Lamentations 1:20] Jeremiah speaks for himself and for Israel, regretting how they have rebelled against God, and experiencing the misery…
poetic, prophetic truth!
SCRIPTURE: Psalm 91 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. [Psalm 91:1] This psalm gives great hope to those who are abandoned or assaulted; it encourages them to trust God though trouble. The analogy of a mother hen and her chicks is used to describe how…