Author: Joshua Goodling

In Matthew 5, the first four Beatitudes are about our relationship with God. Then, the next four are about our relationship with our fellow man – as well as God. In Matthew 5:7, Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” Mercy is a characteristic of those who are in God’s Kingdom….

We come now to kind of the pivotal in the Beatitudes. The first three are about our relationship to God. 1. We realize we are nothing and have nothing to offer. 2. We sorrow over our sin and wicked state. 3. We humble ourselves before Him and realize Jesus Christ alone is everything. And then…

Jesus’ teaching was and always has been completely contrary to the world’s thoughts, and even contrary to many religious people’s thinking. During His time on this earth, the Pharisees and other “religious” leaders were all about “Look at me! I am SO perfect in my religious activities and my standing with God.”, yet the true…

As Jesus continues His teaching, He comes second to this important principle. “Blessed are those who mourn…” (Matthew 5:4) Now, it is important to realize these principles, beatitudes, truths, or whatever you want to call them, are given by our Lord in their proper order. We MUST start with the first one, “Blessed are the…

In Matthew chapters 5 – 7, we read what is commonly referred to as the “Sermon on the Mount”. It is called that simply because the passage starts out “Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught…

In the book of Jeremiah, there are many verses that cut right to the heart in pointing out the judgement of God upon the nation of Israel because Israel forgot God and wandered away from Him to serve themselves, their flesh, and other “gods”. While this book was written by the prophet Jeremiah to the…

Psalm 96:3 tells us, “Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!” Jesus commanded us in Matthew 5:16, “…let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” As Christians, we have a relationship with Almighty…

In 1807, after graduating from college, Adoniram Judson set out to see America on horse. The first night he stopped at a country inn. The landlord mentioned, as he showed him to his room, that he had been forced to place him next door to a young man who was exceedingly ill, probably in a…

I used to love eating watermelon. However, about a year ago, I purchased some cut up watermelon at the deli near my office and took it back to my desk and ate it. Well, it wasn’t but just a few minutes later, when I began to feel very sick to my stomach, and I finally…

One of the difficult things to get people to realize is the fact that if we TRULY follow Jesus Christ and obey Him – most people in this world are NOT going to be our friend. It is human nature for us to seek the approval of our fellow man, especially our friends and families….

When Jesus hung on the cross, dying for the sins of the entire world, one of the criminals beside Him said, “One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, ‘Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!’” (Luke 23:39) Here, this criminal’s thoughts were like so many of our own –…

f we are really serious about making our front lawn nice and green and clean looking, we have to get rid of the weeds that will grow up and choke out the grass. If we keep having spots where weeds continue to grow up and all we do is grab our weed trimmer and trim…

In Luke 4:23-30, we read about a conversation between Jesus and some of the Jewish leaders in Nazareth. “And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Physician, heal yourself.’ What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.” And he said, “Truly, I say…

We light a candle and watch the little flame bouncing around. It’s just a little small flame, what harm can it do? But, if we get too close to it – it will do great damage. It may be small, but it can still burn us if we put our hand over it, and let…

One of the most difficult things for us to learn as Christians, is – once we give our lives to Jesus Christ, it’s no longer about us! Everything is about Him and His will. In 2 Samuel 10, we read about King David and his army commander, Joab, and how Israel was caught up in…

Most Christians are quite familiar with the passage in Proverbs 3:5-6, which implores us, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” One of the definitions of the word “acknowledge” is to recognize the…

In John 15:9-11, Jesus said ” As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy…

All too often, we compare our lives as Christians with other people who we know claim to be Christians. We look at their lives and say, “Well, they are Christians, and they still do this or don’t do that….so I will just do what they do, and I’ll be fine!” Or we hear a sermon…

The Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 3:8, “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.”  He had surveyed his life, and on one…

In the book of Jonah we read: “Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” BUT Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.” (Jonah…

When the Apostle Paul was on his way to Rome to stand trial before Ceasar, one of the leaders under control of the Roman’s whom Paul stood before was King Agrippa. As Paul stood before this King and shared with him why he preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ – we read in Acts 26:28,…

Many people seem to get happiness and joy mixed up.  Happiness is momentary, depending upon outward circumstances.  Joy is lasting, depending on the condition of our heart and inward status.  We can be happy when everything is going our way, we’re having a good day, good things are happening.  The word happiness is based on…

In Matthew 22:35:38, we read, “And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. ‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?’ And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is…

In John 5, we read the story about the man who had been invalid for 38 years, and was lying at the pool of Bethesda.  We read how Jesus came to him and in verse 6 the Bible tells us, “When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a…

In Luke 23, we read about Jesus crucifixion. Note verses 33-34: “And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’” There are volumes…

People often talk about the high cost of following Jesus Christ. That is TRULY following Him. And one of the favorite passages we often relate to this discussion is Matthew 16:24, “Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.’” And…

Before the Apostle Paul became a Christian, he was named Saul, and he zealously went around persecuting Christians trying to destroy them. After his salvation, his life made a COMPLETE change, and he was now trying to spread the faith he once sought to destroy. Of course, back in those days they didn’t have the…

One of the most catastrophic things people have done to Christianity over the years is to try to make everything “easier” to believe and less likely to drive people away. People often argue, “Oh, well – we don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings or turn them off to God.” However, Jesus had an entirely different…

If you know the story of Joseph in the Old Testament, you’ll remember how he was sold into slavery by his brothers. He ended up as a slave in Egypt, and his master’s wife accused him of rape, which of course he didn’t commit. He was thrown into prison for those wrong accusations. While in…

When God brought the nation of Israel to the promised land, Canaan, He told them to destroy all of the inhabitants of that land. The people who lived in the land were wicked people, they worshipped many false gods, and even sacrificed their own children to the gods. The people were perverse and corrupt, and…