Joe Barnett

Do everything without grumbling.              —Philippians 2:14 One of the most significant choices you make is your choice of attitude. It is more important than your successes or failures, more important than what people think of you or say about you, more important than your past or present. Your attitude […]

You haven’t returned to me.             —Amos 4:6 The nouveau riche of Israel had become proud, profane, and profligate. God repeatedly reminded them of his attempts to bring them to repentance, and after each reminder said, “Yet you have not returned to me.” They neither repented nor returned, and within

[Noah] walked faithfully with God. —Genesis 6:9 In Luke 17:26–29, Jesus pictured what most people were doing in the days of Noah and Lot. The contrast is graphic: most people were absorbed in the ordinary things of life, too busy to be concerned about God, whereas Noah and Lot listened to God and did what

Whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.                        —Luke 14:27 “Follow me” was frequently on the lips of Jesus. Some said, “Yes!” “Follow me,” he said to a quartet of his first disciples—and they left kin and career and

Don’t be afraid; just believe.             —Luke 8:50 In the last half of Luke 8, there are three stories that reveal Jesus as the hope for the hopeless. He healed a hopelessly wild demoniac whom everyone feared, and no one could tame. Jesus transformed him into a missionary (vv. 26–39).

God will meet all your needs.        —Philippians 4:19 “She’s rich as Rockefeller!” How rich is that? When John D. Rockefeller died, his accountant was asked, “How much did John D. leave?” “All of it!” he said. There’s a vast difference between the “Haves” and “Have Nots” while we’re here. But when we

Rend your heart and not your garments.                                —Joel 2:13 The nation of Judah was experiencing an agricultural disaster. Locusts were demolishing their crops. The prophet Joel warned them that the worst was yet to come. Unless they repented! They could

Even the wind and the waves obey him.                          —Mark 4:41 It’s nearly noon as I write these words, but outside my window it’s dark as night. Rain is torrential, streets are flooding, there’s been a tornado citing—and there’s nothing I can do to

Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.                            —Luke 8:8 Luke 8:5–8 records Jesus’ Parable of the Sower; and verses 11–15 explain its meaning. The parable pictures the four kinds of soil on which the seed—the Word of God—falls: the unresponsive heart

There was no room for them in the inn.                                   —Luke 2:7 The trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem was arduous for pregnant Mary and anxious Joseph. When Joseph sought lodging in the inn, he was turned away. The innkeeper