3. Help me, Lord, to hunger and thirst for Your Word! We know the merits of reading the Bible. God spoke to Joshua saying, “This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth; you are to meditate on it day and night so that you may carefully observe everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do” (Joshua 1:8). The Bible’s hymn book starts with “How happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway

The disciples came to Jesus with a great request. “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1). That has been my prayer. I’m certainly NOT an expert yet. I still have a lot to learn and plenty of room for improvement! However, this week, I’d like to suggest that we would do well to have a prayer list that includes ten items. After we pray through this short list, there will be plenty of time to pray for the litany of other needs that bombard us. Would you try this with me? Let’s pray

Like the Psalms of David, Isaiah 52 and 53 employ the imagery of sheep and shepherds, and they clearly and correctly point forward to the promised Messiah. These inspired holy words, penned seven centuries before the Eternal God clothed Himself in humanity, miraculously and marvelously foretell the coming of the Messiah. “See, my servant will be successful; he will be raised and lifted up and greatly exalted” (Isaiah 52:13). Oh, the King is coming; the King is coming! But bef

A thousand years before Jesus, David, “the sweet psalmist of Israel” (2 Samuel 23:1, NKJV), penned the harmonious words found in the twenty-third Psalm which depicts Jesus caring for His sheep. He also wrote Psalm twenty-two which pictures the Messiah, the Good Shepherd (John 10:11), the Great Shepherd (Hebrews 13:20), and the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4), dying for His sheep. In chilling detail, David foresaw the Messiah’s agony upon the cross. “My God, my God, why have you

As the disciples stood on the Mount of Ascension, they watched as Jesus rose from the earth and floated into the clouds. They saw Him being drawn toward heaven. They watched Him go. The resurrected Jesus “was taken up as they were watching, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going, they were gazing into heaven, and suddenly two men in white clothes stood by them. They said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This same Jesus, who has b

The band of young shepherds corralled their lambs in a little rock enclosure on the hills overlooking their little village. There, they built a small fire. In the glow of fading embers, they talked about life, the weather, their families, and the twinkling stars in the night sky. They also mused over the parade of travelers that were in Bethlehem to register according to the Roman census. In synagogue school they had been taught the significance of their local village. Bethle

The Bible accurately predicted the coming of Jesus the Messiah hundreds of years before He was born in Bethlehem. The first clear Messianic prophecy jumped onto the pages of holy script in the third chapter of Genesis as God announced the consequences of sin to His fallen creation. “I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel” (Genesis 3:15). God first pronounced judgment

Jesus is coming back. He’s going to split open the sky with “a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17). Can you imagine? With the thundering announcement by Heavenly heralds and a symphony of trumpets, Jesus will appear in the

Timothy, Paul’s missionary partner, had traveled from southern Greece back to Thessalonica. When he returned to Paul, he brought a good report from the baby church. He also recounted the Thessalonians’ greatest questions and concerns. Remember, Paul had been in Thessalonica for only “three Sabbaths” (Acts 17:2) before a riot broke out and he was forced to evacuate. He didn’t have time to teach all the important New Testament doctrines. So to answer the church’s questions, Pau

“This is why we constantly thank God, because when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you welcomed it not as a human message, but as it truly is, the word of God, which also works effectively in you who believe” (1 Thessalonians 2:13). The Word of God is perfect! It is inspired, infallible, inerrant, and instructive! The Apostle was thankful that the Thessalonians “received the word of God.” When Paul first arrived in Thessalonica, he went to the synagogue a