"the half of my goods I give to the poor". Zacchaeus had obviously heard about Jesus but he had not had a personal encounter. He wanted to see Jesus and did so from the branches of the tree he climbed. Now Jesus was going to his house: it was to be life-changing. Once in the ... Read more

"they left their images there, and David and his men carried them away". They 'burned them' as the AV says. Some things that are left to you are a snare and a hinderance and this is the best treatment to give them. Anything that detracts you from doing God's will is not worth storage space. ... Read more

"Sing unto the Lord a new song". You can only do this when you have a new heart, for the song of the Lord is known only by the children of the Lord. It is the song of the forgiven sinner. The song of praise for what the Lord has done is a refrain known ... Read more

"The woman said to him, 'I know the Messiah is coming' ". Until she met Jesus, the woman in Samaria lived in a 'one day it will happen' world. Many are like her today. She knew the Messiah was coming, but it seemed too far ahead to really affect her. And the very One to ... Read more

"we are not carrying on a worldly war". But we are fighting, all the same. The Christian wrestles with principalities and spiritual forces of evil that are attacking his own life and also hindering the success of his testimony affecting the lives of others. Those who hold there is nothing to being a Christian could ... Read more

"The spirit of Elijah is resting upon Elisha". This was how the company of the prophets described the transference of power from one to the other when Elijah was taken up into heaven. These words tell us that God has His chosen vessels ready to fill every vacancy that occurs when a servant of the ... Read more

"your sorrow shall be turned into joy". Jesus does not promise His followers exemption from sorrow. He does promise that whatever sorrow they experience will be turned into joy. It is a mistake to assume that if you walked closer to the Lord you would have no cause for sorrow: likewise it is wrong to ... Read more

"I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers". It is something to treasure when thoughts of a friend bring a sense of gratitude in your heart. When this happens, it is likely that this gratitude causes you to pray for God's blessing to be upon that friend. So it was when ... Read more

"many women were there". Women played an important part in the Gospel narrative. The place of women in society may have changed but the outstanding fact drawn from our text today is that many women were there when there were few, if any, of the twelve disciples. And it may well have been that these ... Read more

"Sing your song of praise". The Jew in the Old Testament and the Christian in the New have a song of praise on their lips. This song uplifts and magnifies the Lord our God. If the Lord loved us enough to die to save us we can be sure that love will extend to keeping ... Read more