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Then He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. – Mark 16:15-16 HCSB

The word “gospel” comes from the Anglo-Saxon “godspell” and literally means "glad tidings" or "good news."

In the Old Testament, good news was proclaimed widely (1 Samuel 31:9; Psalm 96:2-3; Isaiah 40:9; 52:7) and spread rapidly (2 Samuel 18:19-31; 2 Kings 7:9; Psalm 68:11) Both the preacher and…  ( Click for more )

“…give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." - Matthew 22:21 HCSB

Years ago, in a three-month killing spree, 850,000 Rwandans were killed. To a great degree, people who claim to follow Christ were complicit in this genocide in that in that they reinforced the latent racism that many of their congregations felt. They were complicit in that both Catholic and Protestant denominational leaders had so tied themselves to the government's interests that they were unable to stand against the genocide. They were complicit…  ( Click for more )

All the days of the oppressed are miserable, but a cheerful heart has a continual feast. - Proverbs 15:15 HCSB

A young visitor once asked a village elder. "Sir, I am thinking of moving here. What are the people like?"

The old man replied, "What were the people like where you come from?"

"Oh my!" replied the young man. "They were crooks every one! They were thieves and cattle rustlers, hard hearted and tight fisted."

The old man thoughtfully answered, "That is exactly the kind of people you will find here too." The…  ( Click for more )

But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us! Much more then, since we have now been declared righteous by His blood, we will be saved through Him from wrath. - Romans 5:8-9 HCSB

A child, who was later named Bob, was left on the doorstep of a hospital and grew up in the care of the state. Bob became a hard-working taxi driver, was a Christian, an exemplary citizen and an excellent husband.

However, one day Bob was informed that a long-lost brother had left a considerable estate in Bob's care. Bob's brother was traveling abroad,…  ( Click for more )

"Deeply hurt, Hannah prayed to the LORD and wept with many tears.... Hannah was speaking to herself, and although her lips were moving, her voice could not be heard." - 1 Samuel 1:10,13 HCSB

Hannah's barrenness caused her tremendous misery. She knew she was the infertile one in her marriage because Elkanah's second wife, Peninah, had had several children. Aware that Elkanah preferred Hannah, Peninah taunted her mercilessly, saying that Hannah's barrenness was a judgment of God. Elkanah, though he loved her, was insensitive to her pain saying, "Why do you weep?…  ( Click for more )

For although we are walking in the flesh, we do not wage war in a fleshly way, since the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments and every high-minded thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. - 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 HCSB

There is a village on the Gold Coast of West Africa, called ‘Achimota” that lies near the infamous Christianborg castle where slaves were held for the slave ships. Across a wooded hill runs…  ( Click for more )

But Ruth replied: Do not persuade me to leave you or go back and not follow you. For wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you live, I will live; your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. - Ruth 1:16 HCSB

A man took his wife and two sons to the country of Moab to escape a famine. While there, his sons married Orpah and Ruth. Almost immediately afterward, all three men died leaving the three women widows. The mother-in-law, Naomi, decided to return to Israel. At first, both Orpah and Ruth decided to go with her. Naomi tried to dissuade them and after some…  ( Click for more )

Vindicate me, Lord, because I have lived with integrity and have trusted in the Lord without wavering. Test me, Lord, and try me; examine my heart and mind. For Your faithful love is before my eyes, and I live by Your truth. I do not sit with the worthless or associate with hypocrites. I hate a crowd of evildoers, and I do not sit with the wicked. I wash my hands in innocence and go around Your altar, Lord, raising my voice in thanksgiving and telling about Your wonderful works. Lord, I love the house where You dwell, the place where Your glory resides. Do not destroy me along with…  ( Click for more )

The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” – Genesis 3:12-13

A lot has been said about the first sin. Philosophers often wonder about it, though the average person doesn’t usually give it much thought. But the second sin may, in fact, be more important because we’ll never recover from the first sin as long as we’re guilty of the second. No matter…  ( Click for more )

When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. – Genesis 3:6

Adam and Eve were living in an absolutely perfect setting called Eden. They had everything their hearts desired. The only thing forbidden was the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

One day a spectacular visitor, the serpent, struck up a conversation with Eve. The serpent raised in Eve’s mind a question about…  ( Click for more )

In the beginning Elohim created the heavens and the earth. The earth was empty, a formless mass cloaked in darkness. And the Spirit of Elohim was hovering over its surface. Then Elohim said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And Elohim saw that it was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. Elohim called the light “day” and the darkness “night.” Together these made up one day. - Genesis 1:1-5

Does the sum total of our purchases actually produce happiness? We are assured by the marketing teams of the titans of industry…  ( Click for more )

In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did whatever he wanted. - Judges 17:6 HCSB

A man named Micah stole money from his mother. When she discovered that her money was gone, she uttered a curse on whoever had stolen it. Micah was present when his mother uttered the curse and out of superstitious fear, confessed to her that he was the thief. She immediately tried to counteract her curse by asking God to bless her son.

When Micah returned the money, she consecrated it to God. However, she did it by creating idols which were expressly forbidden by God. Micah had…  ( Click for more )

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord!' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father in heaven. On that day many will say to Me, 'Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do many miracles in Your name?' Then I will announce to them, 'I never knew you! Depart from Me, you lawbreakers!' "Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn't…  ( Click for more )

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy: To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to you and peace. We always thank God for all of you, remembering you constantly in our prayers. We recall, in the presence of our God and Father, your work of faith, labor of love, and endurance of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, knowing your election, brothers loved by God. - 1 Thessalonians 1:1-4 HCSB

An elderly gentleman had serious hearing problems. He went to the doctor who was able to have him fitted for a set of hearing aids that allowed the gentleman…  ( Click for more )

For if the eagerness is there, it is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have. It is not that there may be relief for others and hardship for you, but it is a question of equality-- at the present time your surplus is available for their need, so that their abundance may also become available for your need, that there may be equality. As it has been written: The person who gathered much did not have too much, and the person who gathered little did not have too little. – 2 Corinthians 8:12-15 HCSB

Paul was once again correcting the…  ( Click for more )

Yet the Lord was pleased to crush Him, and He made Him sick. When You make Him a restitution offering, He will see His seed, He will prolong His days, and the will of the Lord will succeed by His hand. – Isaiah 53:10 HCSB

When I was young and unsaved, I spent my free time stealing. I looked upon it as a skill and worked at it, much like many kids develop their ability to skate board. I stole small items at first and gradually increased the complexity and risk of my thefts. Unfortunately, I was never caught.

When I became a Christian, I felt the need to go back to the…  ( Click for more )

Then I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the family of David and on all the people of Jerusalem. They will look on me whom they have pierced and mourn for him as for an only son. They will grieve bitterly for him as for a firstborn son who has died. - Zechariah 12:10

Have you ever seen pictures of the celebration that took place at the end of the Second World War? There were huge parties, ticker tape parades, dancing in the streets. One picture that always stands out to me is one of a sailor bending a young woman backwards in a deep romantic dip and kissing…  ( Click for more )

I am the least intelligent of men, and I lack man's ability to understand. I have not gained wisdom, and I have no knowledge of the Holy One. Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in His hands? Who has bound up the waters in a cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is the name of His Son--if you know? Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Don't add to His words, or He will rebuke you, and you will be proved a liar. - Proverbs 30:2-6 HCSB

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Everybody calm…  ( Click for more )

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female. - Genesis 1:26-27 HCSB

Some cults teach that since we were created in God’s image and we are physical beings, Yahweh must also be a physical being. But in doing so, they are committing the very sin that enrages God – the sin of ascribing physicality…  ( Click for more )

Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. God saw how corrupt the earth was, for all flesh had corrupted its way on the earth. Then God said to Noah, "I have decided to put an end to all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence because of them; therefore I am going to destroy them along with the earth…And Noah did this. He did everything that God had commanded him. – Genesis 6:11-13,22 HCSB

There are two very famous examples of God warning a human being of coming catastrophes. In both cases, the calamities were not…  ( Click for more )

Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, "When you help the Hebrew women give birth, observe them as they deliver. If the child is a son, kill him, but if it's a daughter, she may live." The Hebrew midwives, however, feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live. So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, "Why have you done this and let the boys live?" The midwives said to Pharaoh, "The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they…  ( Click for more )

And they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky. Let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise, we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth." Then the Lord came down to look over the city and the tower that the men were building. The Lord said, "If, as one people all having the same language, they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let Us go down there and confuse their language so that they will not understand one another's speech." So the Lord scattered them from…  ( Click for more )

Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite: "Get up and go to meet Ahab king of Israel, who is in Samaria. You'll find him in Naboth's vineyard, where he has gone to take possession of it. Tell him, 'This is what the Lord says: Have you murdered and also taken possession? ' Then tell him, 'This is what the Lord says: In the place where the dogs licked Naboth's blood, the dogs will also lick your blood! '" Ahab said to Elijah, "So, you have caught me, my enemy." He replied, "I have caught you because you devoted yourself to do what is evil in the…  ( Click for more )

The Lord of Hosts says this: “These people say: ‘The time has not come for the house of the Lord to be rebuilt.’” The word of the Lord came through Haggai the prophet: "Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?" – Haggai 1:2-4 HCSB

In a little town called Cawker City in the state of Kansas lies a monstrous ball of twine that would make any kitten die in paroxysms of pleasure. It weighs 17,980 pounds. That’s almost 9 tons! It has a 40 foot circumference, and is composed of over…  ( Click for more )