Why Your House Needs Hospitality

There’s a tradition around our house. It’s been in place for a while now. We serve dinner on paper plates. Actually, we usually just do this when we don’t want to do the dishes. When we do, someone will get the “star plate.” That’s the plate that has a small star drawn on the bottom of it. We shuffle the plates like a deck of cards so no one knows who’s getting the star plate. Getting this plate is a big deal, because whoever ends up with it gets to pick what we..

How Do I Know I’m Saved?

By Rick Warren
— March 7, 2017

“It is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV).

In Luke 23:42, one of the criminals hanging next to Jesus on the cross prayed, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (NIV).

Notice that he didn’t ask Jesus to stop his pain, although he would have been in excruciating pain on the cross. By that tim..

How He Longs for You

It is truly one of the most heartbreaking moments in all of Scripture.

In Matthew 23:37, we see Jesus’ heart for Israel, His wandering people: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.”

Jesus spoke these words to the Jews, but His divine words tell us a lot about the heart of God for all His people. Our heaven..

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6
Morning
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean
not on your own understanding; in all your ways
acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My e..

1 THESSALONIANS 5:18 NKJ
18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in
Christ Jesus for you.

Are you giving thanks to God today? You should. If you want to
be happy, you must. For, without being thankful, you will never
be happy.

Just because things are not going the way you would like is no
excuse. The Bible clearly says that God's will for you is to be
thankful — always.

The Bible does NOT teach that we're to thank God for evil,
because God is not responsible for e..

1 PETER 5:7 NLT
7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about
what happens to you.

Probably the biggest temptation most believers face is the
temptation to worry.

What is worry? Worry is thinking that leaves God out. Worry is
the opposite of faith. Instead of expecting God's help — you
expect the worst.

1 PETER 5:7 CEV
7 God cares for you, so turn all your worries over to him.

The Bible has much to say about not worrying. Worry is not
appropriate for a child of God.

MAT..

JOSHUA 1:8 NIV
8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth;
meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do
everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and
successful.

If you desire to succeed, here are the instructions.

You may follow other plans that promise success, but you have
no guarantee they will work long-term. People may give you
advice that works for awhile — but can you be sure it will not
fail you someday?

With God you have an eternal guaran..

MATTHEW 12:36-37 NIV
36 But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day
of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.
37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words
you will be condemned.”

Few people realize the importance of the words they speak.

There is almost no way to overemphasize the importance of what
we say. Yet most people give it almost no thought — usually
speaking without even thinking.

Jesus came from Heaven and revealed to us that words are
..

PassageRomans 13:8-10
PrayerDear Father, I owe love to my fellow man, as you have said. What an endless debt! How can I keep your command to love my neighbor as myself? What would it be like to live in a world where such unselfishness prevailed? Ah, it would be heaven on earth, therefore such behavior is a precondition of our heavenly inheritance.But Lord, be gentle in your judgment toward me. I fall so far short on this. Love would absolutely do no wrong to one's neighbor – never taking an..

Job 19:25 For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and at the last he will stand upon the earth.
“Do you know Jesus”? I remember being asked that awkward question by the Jesus Freaks so many times before I became one of them. I used to wonder what in the world they were talking about. Most people associate the answer to that question to praying the sinner’s prayer then learning all kinds of information about how to improve our lives with lessons from the Bible and the life and teaching of Jesus. Of ..