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Then Amaziah assembled the men of Judah and set them by fathers’ houses under commanders of thousands and of hundreds for all Judah and Benjamin. He mustered those twenty years old and upward, and found that they were 300,000 choice men, fit for war, able to handle spear and shield.⁶ He hired also 100,000 mighty men of valor from Israel for 100 talents of silver.⁷ But a man of God came to him and said, “O king, do not let the army of Israel go with you, for the LORD is not with Israel, with all these Ephraimites.⁸ But go, act, be strong for the battle. Why should you suppose that God will cast you down before the enemy? For God has power to help or to cast down.”⁹ And Amaziah said to the man of God, “But what shall we do about the hundred talents that I have given to the army of Israel?” The man of God answered, “The LORD is able to give you much more than this.”¹⁰ Then Amaziah discharged the army that had come to him from Ephraim to go home again. And they became very angry with Judah...

Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem.² And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, and walked in the ways of David his father; and he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.³ For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet a boy, he began to seek the God of David his father, and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherim, and the carved and the metal images. 2 Chronicles 34:1-3  LESSON Depending on how we read this passage in the context of the whole book, Josiah sought the Lord very early for his age (16 years) or very late for a king (it took him 8 years to get, plus another 4 years    before he did anything). The lesson for us is obvious: we are never too early or too late to live for the Lord, as long as we have breath. Let us seek the Lord whilst He may be found.

If the hammer does not break, it makes the iron into steel. Every blow makes it harder. If the fire does not melt, it hardens the clay into brick, as hard as stone. If the medicine does not heal, it poisons. If the word concerning Christ does not break your heart, it will make it like the nether millstone. ROBERT MURRAY McCHEYNE (Source : From the Preacher’s Heart) There is a non-neutrality involved in listening to the Word of God. It is a blessing to our souls or a curse. It is either healing our souls or condemning us to Hell. We listen to sermons, but they never leaves us neutral.

He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.  Colossians 2:13-14 LESSON Everyone has a dirty record of their life! A record of your high treason against God! On that record is written all the sins of your past. Some of the sins are common and run into millions of actions and thoughts. Other sins few and yet fill us with shame and heartache at the mere thought of them. Other sins are things we never did that we should have done! The record also has contains sins of the present. We have turned our lives to Jesus and yet everyday our actions and thoughts bring shame to the name “Christian”. Apostle Paul reminds us that “whatever does not proceed from faith [in Jesus] it is a sin”. Who can really say that faith in Jesus informs everything they do? The record sheet also contains sins of the future. Someone has said that there are only two things...

Prayer is a harbour to the shipwrecked man, an anchor to them that are sinking in the waves, a staff to the limbs that totter, a mine of jewels to the poor, a healer of diseases, and a guardian of health. Prayer at once secures the continuance of our blessings, and chases always the cloud of our calamities. O blessed prayer! You are the unwearied conqueror of human woes, the firm foundation of human happiness and the source of ever-enduring joy. The man who can pray truly, though languishing in extreme poverty, is richer than everyone else. The wretch who never bows the knee, though proudly seated as monarch of all nations, is of all men the most destitute. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM (349-407AD) I love the way Chrysostom moves from how prayer secures our blessings to how it keeps them. I was reading Richard Sibbes’ The Saint’s Safety in Evil Times’ earlier this week. He says “prayer gets blessings, thankfulness witnessed by obedience keeps them”. I think the reason we are prayerless is tha...

The Italian martyr Funinus was asked by someone why he was still joyful at his death when Jesus Christ himself was so sorrowful. He responded: "Christ, sustained in his soul all the sorrows and conflicts with hell and death due to us; by whose sufferings we are delivered from sorrow and the fear of them all."

Whoever keeps the commandment keeps his life;  he who despises his ways will die. PROVERBS 19:16 LESSON God is the ultimate life support! Next time we hear the word “ventilator”, may it reminds us of Him who is the precious ventilator of all life!  May it comfort us that not only is God holding our physical breath but in Jesus he holds our spiritual breath too.

He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the LORD. PROVERBS 18:22 LESSON Three lessons:  1. A wife is a rare gift - God helped the husband to search and find her successfully. 2. A wife is a good gift - God has entrusted the wife to her husband for safe keeping.  3. A wife is a gracious gift - God has given the husband a gift he does not deserve. Since all of this true, the husband should value the wife as a rare, good and gracious gift from the Lord. The wife should aspire to be outside what she is already inside. She must pray and work to be that rare, good and gracious gift to her husband.  And for those who are single here is the wonderful news: you are already married. All who trust in Jesus are the bride of Christ in this passage. You are the rare, good and gracious gift given by God to His Son, our Husband, the Lord Jesus. You are the pearl of great price! A day is coming when you shall attend your wedding feast in Heaven!