Category: Scripture

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Excerpts from Isaiah, Chapter 26

“Open the gates to all who are righteous; allow the faithful to enter.
You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in You, all whose thoughts are fixed on You!

Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock. He humbles the proud and brings down the arrogant city. He brings it to dust. The poor and oppressed trample it under foot, and the needy walk all over it.

But for those who are righteous, the way is not steep and rough. You are a God who does what is right, and you smooth out the path ahead of them. Lord, we show our trust in You by obeying Your laws; our heart’s desires to glorify Your name.

All night long, I search for You; in the morning I earnestly seek for God. For only when You come to judge the earth will people learn what its right. Your kindness to the wicked does not make them do good. All others do right, the wicked keep doing wrong and take no notice of the Lord’s majesty.

O Lord, they pay no attention to your upraised fist. Show them your eagerness to defend Your people. Then they will be ashamed. Let Your fire consume Your enemies.

Lord, You will grant us peace; all we have accomplished really is from You. O Lord our Good, others have ruled us, but you alone are the One we worship.”
(vv. 3-13, NLT)

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The apostle Paul writes in his letter to the Romans, Chapter 15)

“We should help others and do what is right and build them up in the Lord. For even Christ didn’t live to please Himself. ( v. 3, NLT)

“May God, who gives you patienc and encouragement, help you to live in complete harmony with each other, as fitting for followers of Christ Jesus. Then all of you can join together with one voice, giving praise and glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory. Remember that Christ came as a servant to the Jews to show that God is true to the promises He made to their ancestors. He came also that the Gentiles might give glory to God for His mercies to them. ( vv. 5-9a, NLT)

“I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in Him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. (v. 13, NLT)

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“”Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God and trust also in Me (Jesus). There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come to get you, so that you will always be with Me where I am. And you know the way to get where I am going.”

“No we don’t know Lord,” Thomas said, “We have no idea where You are going, so how can we know the way?”

Jesus told him “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me.”” (John 14: 1-6, NLT)

JESUS PROMISES THE Holy Spirit

“”If you love me, obey My commandments, and I will ask the Father, and He will give you an Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads all to truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it isn’t looking for Him, and doesn’t recognize Him. But you know Him, because He lives in you now and later will be with you.”” (John 14:15-18, NLT)

“”I am leaving you with a gift -peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the wold cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.”” (John 14:27, NLT)

“”And when He (the Holy Spirit) comes, He will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment. The wold’s sin is that it refuses to believe in Me. Righteousness is available because I go to the Father, and you will see Me no more. Judgment will come beause the ruler of this world (Satan) has already been judged.”” (John 216:8-11), NLT

“”Jesus asked, “Do you finally believe? But the time is coming-indeed it’s here now-when you will be scattered, each one going his own way leaving Me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with Me. I have told you all this so that you may have peace in Me. Here on earth, you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”” (John 16:31-33, NLT)

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The Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians:

“For the love of Christ constrains (compels) us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.

Therefore, for now on, we regard no one according to the flesh (the wordy point of view). Even though have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer (we no longer regard Christ in this way).

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

Now all things are (a gift) of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ and has given us a ministry of reconciliation (God brought us back to Himself through Christ), that is that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them (no longer counting people’s sins against them), and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us (God is making His appeal through us); we implore you on Christ’s behalf to be reconciled to God (Come back to God). For He made Him (Jesus Christ) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (made right with God through Christ).

(2 Corinthians 5: 14-21, NKJV, with addition from parentheses from the NLT)

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Excerpts from 1 John 2 and 3

“And now, dear children, remain in fellowship with Christ so the when He returns, you will be full of courage and not shrink back from Him in shame.

Since we know that Christ is righteous, we also know that all who do what is right are God’s children.” (1 John 2:28-2, NLT)

“See how very much our Father loves us, for he call us His children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know Him. Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but He has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He really is. And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as He is pure.

Everyone who sins is breaking God’s law, for all sin is contrary to the law of God. And you know that Jesus came to take away or sins, and there is no sin in Him. Anyone who continues to live in Him will not sin. But anyone who keeps on sinning does not know Him or understand who He is.” (1 John 3:1-6, NLT).

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“”But now, O Jacob, listen to the Lord who created you.

O Israel, the one who formed you says,”Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are Mine.

When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will to drown.

When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you.

For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

I gave Egypt as a ransom for your freedom; I gave Ethiopia and Sea in your place. Others were given in exchange for you. I traded their lives for yours because you are precious to me. You are honored, and I love you.

Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will gather you and your children from east and west. I will say to the north and south, Bring my sons and daughters back to Israel form distance corners of the earth.

Bring all who claim Me as their God, for I have made them for My glory. I was the one who created them.”” (Isaiah 43, vv. 1-7, NLT)

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“Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from His love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? Then make me (the Apostle Paul) truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.

Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.

You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, He gave up His divine privileges; He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When He appeared in human form, He humbled Himself in obedience of God and died a criminal’s death on the cross.

Therefore, God elevated Him to the place of highest honor and gave Him the name above all other names, that the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:1-11, NLT)

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“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves His children. We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey His commandments. Loving God means keeping His commandments and His commandments are not burdensome.

For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve the victory though our faith. And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the son of God.

And Jesus Christ was revealed as God’s Son by His baptism in water and by shedding his blood on the cross – not by water only, but by water and blood. And the Spirit, who is truth confirms it with His testimony. So we have these three witnesses – the Sprit, the water and the blood – and all three agree.

Since we believe human testimony, surely we can believe the greater testimony that comes from God. And God has testified about His Son. All who believe in the Son of God know in their hearts that this testimony is true. Those who don’t believe this are actually calling God a liar because they don’t believe what God has testified about His Son.

And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s done does not have life.” (1 John 5: 1-12, NLT)

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“Then David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly:

O Lord, the God of our ancestor Israel, may You be praised forever and ever!

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power , the glory, the victory and the majesty. Everything in heavens and on earth are yours. O Lord, and this is Your kingdom. We adore You as the one who is over all things. Wealth and honor come from You alone, for the rule over everything. Power and might are in Your hand, and at your discretion people are made great and given strength.

O our God, we thank You and praise Your glorious name! But who am I, and who are my people, that we could give anything to you? Everything we have has come from You, and we give you only what You first gave us! We are here only for a moment, visitors and strangers in the land as our ancestors were before us Our days on earth are like a passing shadow, gone soon without a trace.” (1 Chronicles 29: 10-15, NLT)

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“O Lord, I will honor and praise Your name, for you are my God. You do such wonderful things! You planned them long ago, and now You have accomplished them. ” (v. 1, NLT)

“But You are a tower of refuge to the poor, O Lord, a tower of refuge to the needy in distress. You are a refuge from the storm and a shelter from the heat, for the oppressive acts of ruthless people are like a storm beating against a wall, or like the relentless heat of the desert. But You silence the roar of foreign nations. As the shade of a cloud cools relentless heat, so the boastful songs of ruthless people are stilled. (vv. 4-5, NLT)

“”In Jerusalem, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will spread a wonderful feast for all the people of the world. It will be a delicious banquet with clear, well-aged wine and choice meat. There He will remove the cloud of gloom, the shadow of death that hangs over the earth. He will swallow up death forever! The Sovereign Lord will wipe away all tears. He will remove all insults and mockery against His land and people. In that day, the people will proclaim, “This is our God! We trusted Him and he saved us!”” (vv. 6-9, NLT)