Jo’s Place

One day Jesus said to His disciples,  “There will always be temptations to sin, but what sorrow awaits the person who  does  the tempting!  It would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around your neck… …than to cause one of these little ones to fall into sin.  So watch yourselves!  “If another believer sins, rebuke that person; then if there is repentance, forgive.  Even if that person wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, you must forgive.”  The apostles said to the Lord, “Show us how to increase our faith.”  The Lord answered,  “If you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree,  ‘May you be uprooted and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you!  “When a servant comes in from plowing or taking care of sheep, does his master say,  ‘Come in and eat with me’?  No, he says,  ‘Prepare my meal, put on your apron, an...

Jesus said, “There was a certain rich man who was splendidly clothed in purple and fine linen and who lived each day in luxury.  At his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus who was covered with sores.  As Lazarus lay there longing for scraps from the rich man’s table, the dogs would come and lick his open sores.  “Finally, the poor man died and was carried by the angels to sit beside Abraham at the heavenly banquet.  The rich man also died and was buried, and he went to the place of the dead.  There, in torment, he saw Abraham in the far distance with Lazarus at his side.  “The rich man shouted, ‘Father Abraham, have some pity!  Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am in anguish in these flames.’  “But Abraham said to him, ‘Son, remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted, and Lazarus had nothing.  So now he is here being comforted, and you are in anguish.  And besides, ther...

Jesus told this story to His disciples:  “There was a certain rich man who had a manager handling his affairs.  One day a report came that the manager was wasting his employer’s money.  So the employer called him in and said, ‘What’s this I hear about you?  Get your report in order, because you are going to be fired.’  “The manager thought to himself, ‘Now what? My boss has fired me. I don’t have the strength to dig ditches, and I’m too proud to beg.  Ah, I know how to ensure that I’ll have plenty of friends who will give me a home when I am fired.’  “So he invited each person who owed money to his employer to come and discuss the situation.  He asked the first one, ‘How much do you owe him?’  The man replied, ‘I owe him 800 gallons of olive oil.’  So the manager told him, ‘Take the bill and quickly change it to 400 gallons.’  “ ‘And how much do you owe my employer?’ he asked the next man.  ‘I owe him 1,000 bushels of whea...

Listen to me, you fat cows… you… who oppress the poor  and crush the needy,  (you) who are always calling…,  “Bring us another drink!”  The Sovereign Lord has sworn this by His holiness:  “The time will come, when you will be led away with hooks in your noses.  Every last one of you will be dragged away like a fish on a hook!  You will be led out through the ruins of the wall; …you will be thrown from your fortresses,” says the Lord.  “Go ahead and offer sacrifices (to your) idols...  Keep on disobeying...  Offer sacrifices each morning, and bring your tithes every three days.  Present your bread made with yeast, as an offering of thanksgiving.  Then give your extra voluntary offerings, so you can brag about it everywhere!  This is the kind of thing you…love to do,” says the Sovereign Lord.  “I brought hunger to every city  and famine… to every town… but still you would not return to Me,”  says the Lord....

The heavens proclaim the glory of God…. The skies display His craftsmanship...  Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known.  They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard.  Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world.  God has made a home in the heavens for the sun.  It bursts forth like a radiant bridegroom after his wedding.  It rejoices like a great athlete eager to run the race.  The sun rises at one end of the heavens and follows its course to the other end.  Nothing can hide from its heat.  The instructions of the Lord are perfect, reviving the soul.  The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.  The commandments of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart.  The commands of the Lord are clear, giving insight for living.  Reverence for the Lord is pure,  lasting forever.  The laws of the Lord are ...

For Moses writes that the law’s way of making a person right with God requires obedience to all of its commands.  But faith’s way of getting right with God says,  “Don’t say in your heart, ‘Who will go up to heaven?’ (to bring Christ down to earth).  And don’t say, ‘Who will go down to the place of the dead?’ (to bring Christ back to life again).”  In fact, it says,  “The message is very close at hand; …it is on your lips and in your heart.”  And that message is the very message about faith that we preach:  If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved .  For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God,  …and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.  As the Scriptures tell us,  “Anyone who trusts in Him will never be disgraced.”  Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives generous...

Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.  Well then, am I suggesting that the law of God is sinful?  Of course not!  In fact, it was the law that showed me my sin.  I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, “You must not covet.”  But sin used this command to arouse all kinds of covetous desires within me!  If there were no law, sin would not have that power.  At one time I lived without understanding the law.  But when I learned the command not to covet, for instance, the power of sin came to life,  …and I died.  So I discovered that the law’s commands, which were supposed to bring life, brought spiritual death instead.  Sin took advantage of those commands and deceived me; it used the commands to kill me.  But still, the law itself is holy, and its commands are holy and right and good.  But how can that be?  D...