Joe Barnett

I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened.    —Jeremiah 25:3 This morning I wrote down the names of five ministers who have been with one church for fifty years or more. Each has experienced times of discouragement, considered moving, or resigning ministry altogether. God said of Jeremiah: “Before I […]

We have seen his glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father.        —John 1:14 The scenes on the mountain of transfiguration and at the hill of crucifixion are in stark contrast. On the mountain, Jesus was revealed in glory; on the hill of crucifixion, he was held in contempt and

Turn away from these worthless things and turn to the living God.           —Acts 14:15 Paul urged his Lystra listeners to turn from idolatrous worship and turn to the living God, who “made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them” (Acts 14:15). Here is the psalmist’s description of lifeless

Every eye will see him.    —Revelation 1:7 British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, an avowed atheist, said in an El Mundo interview in 2014: “Before we understand science, it is natural to believe that God created the universe. But now science offers a more convincing explanation. [When I said] ‘we would know the mind of

He brought him to Jesus.         —John 1:42 The apostle Andrew is best-known for introducing his brother to Jesus: “The first thing Andrew did [after meeting Jesus] was to find his brother Simon and tell him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ . . . And he brought him to Jesus” (Jn 1:41–42).

Above all, be careful what you think.               —Proverbs 4:23 Jesus rattled the Jewish dietary cage when he said their “kosher” regulations had things backward: it’s not what goes into your stomach that corrupts but what goes into your mind. It is the thought-life that defiles you. For from

I am telling you now before it happens.                      —John 13:19 Several times Jesus gave his disciples advance warning, then added, “I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe” (Jn 13:19; 14:29; 16:4). Is trouble invading your

Don’t be alarmed.  —Matthew 24:6 Jesus warned his disciples that disheartening times would come: wars and rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes, deceivers, false prophets. “But don’t be alarmed,” he said. He didn’t want his followers to be caught up in the panic that grips unbelievers. Sometimes it seems that evil is winning, but it isn’t.

I know your soul is doing fine.                —3 John 2 Horatio Spafford had a peaceful and happy life with his wife Anna and their four daughters. In November 1873, Anna and the girls boarded the S.S. Ville du Harve for a vacation to Europe. In mid-Atlantic, the ship