God’s Word never changes, and that’s why the Gospel is never emptied of its power.

To this day, it is setting the most hopeless drug addicts free and delivering the most hate-filled terrorists. That’s the power of the Gospel!

To this day, it is convicting the self-righteous of their sin and revealing the mercy of God to the worst sinner.

To this day, it is declaring that Jesus alone is Lord—not the gods of the nations and not the prophets and leaders of the false religions—and it is promising forgiveness and new life to everyone who will turn to Him.

And the moment they truly turn, they are changed, from death to life in a moment of time, and from the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of God, from lost to saved and from unclean to holy.

That’s the power of the Gospel!

I want to encourage you to share the good news with confidence, knowing that God’s Word will not return void, knowing that the message of salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus will be relevant and fresh until the last moment of human history, knowing that heaven and earth will pass away but Jesus’ words will never pass away (Matthew 24:35), and knowing that God’s mercy never wanes.

Until Jesus returns, the message of the cross will be transforming lives as we proclaim it boldly and without shame.

And while the tune to the hymn “There Is Power in the Blood” may be old, the message is as fresh today as it was 2,000 years ago: There is power, power, wonder-working power in the precious blood of the Lamb.

Preach the cross, preach the resurrection, preach the message of new life in Jesus, and you will witness firsthand the unchanging power of the Gospel.
(MICHAEL BROWN)

Jesus’ friend Lazarus had just died, and now Jesus is speaking to Lazarus’ sister Martha. And there are some inescapable lessons to learn from this situation, and from Jesus’ response to it.

First, death is a reality. Death is the end of every person (Ecclesiastes 7:2). Death is not unexpected. The manner of it may be unknown, the timing of it may come as a surprise, but the fact of it is not. The fact is that death is eventually coming for us all, unless Jesus Christ returns before that time.

Yet in Jesus’ response we also learn this: Jesus is an even more foundational reality than death. Jesus existed before death ever entered the world, He conquered death through His own death and resurrection, and He will outlive, outlast death itself… by such a long stretch that in eternity death will be only a speck in the rear-view mirror.

At first glance, in John 11:21-27, the scene could be from almost any Christian funeral we might have attended ourselves. Verse 23 sounds very much like the kind of accurate, well-worn statement we might fall back on when we are trying to comfort a loved one and are not sure what else to say: “Your brother will rise again.”

And in verse 24 Martha replies with a good, faithful, orthodox confirmation that even in the face of death she has not lost her faith: “I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

But then verse 25 is where things suddenly get very unusual. Jesus moves Martha from a very general, correct affirmation of life-after-death, to the very specific and outrageous claim: “I AM the Resurrection, and the Life!”

It is as if death ran from Jesus like darkness flees from the presence of the sun. And Jesus insists that those believers in Christ like Lazarus who have already died with faith in Christ will yet live (John 11:25), and those who are living (speaking to Martha, and now to you today!) and believe in Jesus will never die (John 11:26). Verse 26 is actually a double negative in the original language: whoever is living and believes on me will never, never die.

Knowing Jesus is an even greater pursuit than avoiding death. In Jesus is life: essentially (because there is no life outside of Him), originally (because all life comes from Him), and terminally (because He is the end / object of life). Eternal life is knowing Jesus. Do you know Him? Are you pursuing Him?
(JUSTIN HUFFMAN)

John 14:1-4 is all about trust. Trust and faith go hand in hand. If Jesus had wanted to He could have given His disciples a play by play account of the next 24 hours…arrest, trial, beating, crucifixion, and death. He could have laid it out in so much detail that they would have not had so much fear and doubt. But He didn’t. He gave them just enough clues to hold on through all the turmoil but not so many clues to keep Peter from his denials and all eleven from fleeing the garden. He could have told them when and where to run and all the rest but He didn’t. He let them wrestle with all that was to come and either their faith would make or it would break.

I think that is how God deals with us as well. He doesn’t give us the play by play of all the difficult moments that are coming in our lives. We don’t know what sickness, death, or disaster will come the next day or the next decade. But we rest in the fact that Jesus has told us enough to sustain us through the difficult times in life. And like Peter it doesn’t mean we will never make a mistake or that our faith will never waiver but it does mean that in the end everything will get worked out, our faith will grow and God will make good on His promises. What a blessing to know that God has prepared and in a sense continues to prepare a place for His people. So while we may not get all the answers we want we know the answer to the most important question of all – God is working behind the scenes to prepare our lives to be lived with Him, for Him, and in line with His will. Second, He has not left us alone. Even though Jesus has left this earth He doesn’t call us orphans. He calls us brothers / sisters and friends. God calls us His children and so we can expect good things from our Father in heaven.

I don’t know what you are going through in your life today. But I do know God is going to make everything alright in His perfect timing. It won’t all make sense. It won’t always be comfortable or enjoyable. But God is working something good in us if we will humbly submit and be alright with not having all the answers all the time. Hear the words of Jesus: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in Me.” (John 14:1)
(MATT DABBS)

The LORD is my shepherd:
THAT’S RELATIONSHIP!

I shall not want:
THAT’S SUPPLY!

He makes me lie down in green pastures:
THAT’S REST!

He leads me beside still waters:
THAT’S REFRESHMENT!

He restores my soul:
THAT’S HEALING!

He leads me in paths of righteousness:
THAT’S GUIDANCE!

For His name’s sake:
THAT’S PURPOSE!

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death:
THAT’S TESTING!

I will fear no evil:
THAT’S PROTECTION!

For You are with me:
THAT’S FAITHFULNESS!

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me:
THAT’S DISCIPLINE!

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies:
THAT’S HOPE!

You anoint my head with oil:
THAT’S CONSECRATION!

My cup overflows:
THAT’S ABUNDANCE!

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:
THAT’S BLESSING!

And I shall dwell in the house of the LORD:
THAT’S SECURITY!

Forever:
THAT’S ETERNITY !

Keenly aware of my physical weaknesses and limitations—and the fact that I’m growing older
much more rapidly than I‘d like—each morning I open the cupboard and reach for an assortment of nutritional supplements to help provide what my body needs. Each formula has something that I need, but no one source is enough to provide all that I need.

How thankful I am that in my relationship with the living God, I can truly say that He alone is enough for my every need. I never have to ask, “Is He enough?”

His death on the cross is sufficient for my salvation.  Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:25)

His strength is sufficient to overcome my weakness.  Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest, (Matthew 11:28)

His authority is sufficient to overcome my inadequacy.  And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me”. (Matthew 28:18)

His power is sufficient for any struggle I face.  Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. (Romans 8:26)

His strength is sufficient to pick me up when I fall.  The LORD helps the fallen and lifts those bent beneath their loads. (Psalm 145:14)

His wisdom and knowledge are sufficient to direct my every step.  But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold,        (Job 23:10).

His grace is sufficient for my every need.  But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)

The words of 19th century author Hannah Whitall Smith sum it up well:  “If God is what He would seem to be from His revealings; if He is indeed the “God of all comfort” (2 Cor.1:3); if He is our Shepherd; If He is really and truly our Father; if, in short, all the many aspects He has told us of His character and His ways are actually true, then we must come to the positive conviction that He is, in Himself alone, enough for all our needs and that we may safely rest in Him absolutely and forever.”                                                                                        (ANN SHORB)

Jesus said, “I am the Door of the sheep” (John 10:7). Sounds peculiar, doesn’t it? It stretches the imagination to think of a person acting as a gate, or a door. But that’s just what a shepherd does, particularly one who is devoted to his sheep.

One day Sir George Adam Smith, an Englishman who traveled extensively in the Middle East, came across a sheepfold and said to the shepherd, “That is where they go at night?”

“Yes,” said the shepherd, “and when they are in there, they are perfectly safe.”

“But there is no door,” said the Englishman.

“I am the door,” replied the shepherd.

Sir George looked at him and asked, “What do you mean by the door?”

The shepherd answered, “When the light has gone out, and all the sheep are inside, I lie in that open space, and no sheep ever goes out but across my body, and no wolf comes in unless he crosses my body; I am the door.”

When Jesus said He is the Door of the sheep, He meant that the fold has only One entrance; life has One source; spiritual nourishment is obtained One way; heaven can be entered through One entrance. And the single means of access to all that is life is Jesus.                                            (RICK EZELL)