“Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region. And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the LORD [is] upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to [the] poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to [the] captives And recovery of sight to [the] blind, To set … Read entire article »

“. . . “This [is] the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘not by might nor by power, but by my spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts.” (Zechariah 4:6 NKJV) Many have fallen into the humanistic trap of thinking man can manipulate situations and construct activities to force God into action. Instead, there is a great need to depend wholly upon the grace of God. It is God who is sovereign not man. When we presume to know the will of God, and reason that A + B = C, we remove God from the equation. Remember Gideon, how the Lord reduced his army to just 300? “. . . The LORD said to Gideon, “the people who [are] with you [are] too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, … Read entire article »

“And if Christ [is] in you, the body [is] dead because of sin, but the Spirit [is] life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors——not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you … Read entire article »

“But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do [it], to him it is sin.” (James 4:16-17 NKJV) James concludes his condemnation of presumptuous living by calling it boastful. To forget the providence of God and think you can control the events of your life is foolishness. To know the providence of God and to think you can control it is madness. It is one thing to sin ignorantly or unintentionally. However, to know the truth and willfully ignore it is to commit an aggravated sin. While James may have intended the scope of his words to apply directly to his hearer’s boasting, clearly this principle may be applied to all of God’s commands.  This concept is … Read entire article »