2 Corinthians 10:17 Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.

The great apostle and missionary, Paul, recognizes the temptation to boast about our accomplishments. He also keenly recognizes the temptation to boast about our particular gifts and talents. No—he says—only boast in what the Lord has done for you and in you. We don’t want our talents to get the attention, but the one who gave them to us in the first place.

Psalm 146:10 The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations.

Forever is a long time, and all generations is a lot of generations! We tend to forget that one short lifetime is a speck in the overall picture. Nations and empires and mountains and oceans come and go, but the God who created them is forever.

Matthew 6:9 Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

How many times have these words been spoken today, all over the world? In how many languages? In churches, homes, fields, caves, offices, trains, planes, automobiles? The words of prayer that our Lord Jesus taught us continue to carry us along in the faith. Amen.

Matthew 5:29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.

These are actually the words of Jesus, preaching along on the side of a mountain. The idea is that we are better off without the eye than continuing to sin and ending up in a hot, burning hell. Of course, there’s still the other eye to mess us up? Then when both of them are gone, we can probably think up a new(blind) way to sin. Nobody thinks Jesus really meant us to do eye plucking—he was making a point, though: whatever it takes to stop the sin, DO IT!

Psalm 119:164 Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous ordinances.

Psalm 119 goes on for page after page, all in praise of the rules and statutes and ordinances of God. The psalmist has the idea that following those rules are the way to a whole, happy, and powerful life. Maybe we should praise God for them even more than seven times a day?

Ruth 1:16 Where you go, I will go, where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God shall be my God.

We associate these famous verses with wedding vows, but Ruth actually spoke them to her mother in law after both of their husbands has died. Ruth stood by her elder relative through thick and thin. She was a foreigner, and by the end of the story she had married again. Her grandson was a shepherd in Bethlehem named Jesse, and his son turned out to be King David!! She chose the right God after all.

2 Corinthians 1:2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The great Apostle and missionary, Paul, loved to start all his letters with this salutation. He was the first one to do so, and people have been copying him ever since! What better wish for all those on our “list” than grace and peace, gifts of the one true God.

Psalm 118:6 With the Lord on my side, I do not fear. What can mortals do to me?

What, indeed, can mere mortals do to defeat or discourage a believer? Not much, it turns out. Our Lord and God has defeated death, laying to rest our greatest enemy and greatest fear. He fills us with a Spirit of healing and peace and wholeness and calm and power. These are ours to claim, and as we claim them we say goodbye to whatever opposes us.

John 10:11 “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

The Lord Jesus is the shepherd of the flock. It is him who seeks after the lost ones, feeds the hungry ones, heals the injured ones, calls them all by name. It is the good shepherd who will fight to the death to protect them from a wolf. He tells us that there are also others, not in this fold, and that he must save them as well. We can rest in the safety of his care and providence. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want….

Isaiah 66:1 Thus says the Lord: Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. What is the house that you would build for me? And what is ...

... my resting place?

We should not forget that the beautiful place of worship is designed to direct our minds and spirits toward the living God. We praise him and worship him in all kinds of places, and he wants us to know that he doesn’t live there! He is everywhere and we can’t box him in. And yet, he does dwell in the prayers of the saints and in the offerings of children and in the singing of his word in that place. Happy are those who enjoy the freedom to worship in his house.

Psalm 102:1 Hear my prayer, O Lord, let my cry come to you.

Every voice of faith and need, of belief and sorrow, of trust and pain cries out to God with pretty much these same sentiments. Hear me Oh God, we cry, please be listening for the sound of my voice. Somehow, in ways we cannot begin to understand, the Spirit reveals to us that we are loved and heard. Not only that, we have power when we pray. Thank you, O Lord, for hearing my prayer.

Mark 12:17 Jesus said to them," Give to the emperor the things that belong to the emperor, and to God the things that are God’s.”

The people wondered if they needed to pay taxes, and Jesus pointed to the emperor’s picture on the coin. Those coins are Caesar’s. He gets the coins, but he does not get the things that belong to God alone: worship, praise, glory, loyalty above all other loyalty. God will not share those things with the powers of this world.

1 Timothy 3:8 Deacons likewise must be serious, not double-tongued, not indulging in much wine, not greedy for money.

Sometimes we have to struggle to understand the message of a bible verse, and sometimes it’s pretty plain. This one couldn’t be any clearer: the ministers must commit themselves to a holy and sober life. We have all seen the painful results when they don’t. 65 A.D., 2011 A.D.—it’s pretty much the same, isn’t it? May all those called to be ministers of the Gospel re-commit every action and attitude and plan to the rule of holiness.

Isaiah 63:9 In all their distress, it was no messenger or angel but his presence that saved them.

The prophet is reminding the people of their past history—reminding them that God went with them into the desert and crossed over the Red Sea with them. He was present in a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day, leading them and guiding them. After awhile, they forgot about God as we all so often do—when things are going great and we’re no longer in danger or a crisis. He is with you now—and will save you still, just like those days long ago.

Psalm 89:9 You rule the raging of the sea, when its waves rise—you still them.

The sea is a really big mystery. It rose way up high when Noah and his family were there in a wooden boat, the only ones to recognize God’s power over the waves. The early Christians understood that ark as a “type” of the church—the image of a family set apart, safe, as the waters raged around them. St. Peter said that the water of baptism is a sign to us of that great big body of water. We are drawn o the sea, and we know the danger of the sea. We die with Christ in Baptism, and rise up out of the water to live for him.

John 8:12 Again Jesus spoke to them saying, ”I am the light of the world.

Later on Jesus told these same followers that they were the light of the world. He meant both. He is the light that is all light, he shines in glory on our pathway every day and every way, and we are the light that a dark and broken world longs to see and feel. He wants us to know that we don’t carry the light or reflect the light. We are the light. He is the light.

2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

At the end of his life, writing from a prison cell, the great Apostle Paul has time to look back on his life’s work. He had long since given up any mission of his own or any agenda of his own. The Lord Jesus became his mission and agenda and life’s work all wrapped up in one. His love for the churches, his anxiety for them, his tireless travel and preaching and teaching had taken a toll. But he was at peace in those last days, because he had remained faithful. So may we all.

Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, ...

... to bind up the brokenhearted.

One Saturday morning, Jesus was in the congregation at the synagogue. He was asked to read one of the scriptures, and he chose this one. Then he made the amazing claim that it was coming to pass right then—in him those words were being fulfilled. It made for quite a scene, but at least he was warning people what to expect: the oppressed were about to get a break. The brokenhearted were about to be healed. The Spirit was announcing the next big thing, right there in church!

Psalm 146:8 The Lord opens the eyes of the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous.

When we think about that righteousness—a right relationship with the One True God—we remember that he loves us. And loves all whom he has created in his own image. Wherever we are blinded, he is our hope for a new pair of eyes. Wherever we are crushed under a burden, he is our hope to be lifted right up.

Mark 10:1 And the crowd s gathered around Jesus; and-as was his custom-he taught them.

We forget that everybody called Jesus “Rabbi” which means “teacher.” We forget that he spent a lot of time teaching. How else would people understand the things he did? How would they know what to expect after he was gone from them? How would they begin to comprehend who he was? Somebody had to teach them, and us, all of these things. The ministry of teaching is the foundation of everything else.

2 Timothy 1:5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice, ...

... and your mother Eunice, and now I am sure lives in you.

Well, speaking for all grandmothers, this is our favorite verse in the whole bible! The Apostle Paul mostly writes to people reminding them that he himself had taught them and brought them into the saving life in Christ. Not so with Timothy—it was his Nanny. I wonder if she lived to see him a faithful disciple and evangelist, a famous saint and witness for her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? No matter, she fulfilled her own highest calling when she whispered the words of life into his little ears.

Isaiah 58:10 If you offer your food to the hungry, and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness,

... and your gloom be like the noonday.

The way out of gloom seems almost impossible to find, at times. A common thread in all the great religious and spiritual traditions in the world is the truth that serving others and helping those in need is the way into light and life. It is the way out of gloom into rejoicing.

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that ...

... clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.

It’s not somebody else’s race that we are being asked to run—it’s our own race, the one that has been set before US. Likewise the weight we need to throw off is our own weight, the sin is our own sin. Thank God that our own cloud of witnesses stands alongside us and around us to cheer us on. We know the sound of their voices, and we breathe in their encouragement like a powerful mist. Run, run, they say! You can do it, I know you can!

Psalm 75:3 When the earth totters, with all its inhabitants, it is I who keep its pillars steady.

The ancient people had no idea that we were on a big round ball spinning around the sun. Who could blame them, really, for imagining a flat earth up on strong pillars and getting shaky sometimes. God is the one who keeps those pillars steady. Well, we are counting on him to keep us in orbit, and all our fellow inhabitants. If we totter, I imagine he is still the one we should be calling out to?

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

I love the image of fruit—of something that simply and naturally springs up on the tree, when it has enough water and sunlight ,and soil. The fruits of the Spirit naturally spring up anywhere the people of God worship him and live in the ways that he shows us. Love, joy, peace….they pop up all over the place!!

Mark 8:29 Jesus asked them, “But you—who do you say that I am?”

Many of the people who followed Jesus around were unsure who he really was. Some thought he was a prophet, some even thought he was the reincarnation of John the Baptist. Jesus wanted the disciples to think about it for themselves. Who was he, to them? Lord? Savior? Friend? Master? Teacher? He asks us as well. Who do we say that he is?

Psalm 72:18 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things.

The ancient people of God were quite anxious about everybody worshiping crummy statues that they had made themselves. And attributing all kinds of awesome blessings to the “power” of the statue! No, said the followers of the One True God. God alone does these amazing things for us.

Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news.

There is something deep in the heart of each one of us that longs for peace, and that longs to hear the approach of the messenger who brings us a message of peace. Peace in our family, in our town, in our nation, in the world. Sometimes we are conflicted within our own self!! The Lord Jesus, the Prince of Peace, speaks to one and all saying, “Peace be with you.”