THE WATERFALL OF GRACE

JOHN 13:15 NKJ 15 "For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. JOHN 13:34 NKJ 34 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. JOHN 14:12 NKJ 12 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.  JOHN 15:12 NKJ 12 "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. EPHESIANS 4:31-5:2 NKJ 31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you. 1 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet- smelling aroma. EPHESIANS 5:25 NKJ 25 Husbands, love your wive...

Deuteronomy 10:17 "For the LORD your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality nor take a bribe. Job 34:19 Who shows no partiality to princes Nor regards the rich above the poor, For they all are the work of His hands? Acts 10:34 Then Peter began to speak: "I now truly understand that God does not show favoritism, Romans 9:14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Absolutely not!  God does not show favoritism. Several other translations say "there is no partiality with God." God does not practice discrimination with people, favoring one above another. All of us have equal opportunity to receive God's help and blessing. God loves everyone, but allows us to choose whether to seek Him, or not. Six times the Bible tells us that God does not show partiality or favoritism.  2 CHRONICLES 19:7 NLT 7 Fear the LORD and judge with integrity, for the LORD our God does not tolerate ...

ISAIAH 61:3 NKJ 3 To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified." Jesus came to give us beauty instead of ashes. To transform the ashes of our life into something beautiful -- for His glory. As I was walking one day, I came upon a tree. It was short, twisted, and poorly shaped. Obviously, it had faced many storms and had suffered greatly. To be honest, the tree itself, was ugly. But that day something transformed that ugly tree into something gloriously beautiful, and very pleasant to look at. It was covered with little pink flowers. In fact, the tree was bursting with life coming from inside its gnarled branches. As I looked at the tree, enjoying the beautiful sight, it reminded me of us as believers -- who may not be very desirable on our own -- but with Jesus' life ...

GENESIS 8:22  "As long as the earth endures, seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease."   Planting seeds. Then harvesting the crop. As long as the earth exists, this is the way things work on earth. This is true in the spiritual realm as well as in the physical realm. The Bible teaches that our words and our actions are the seeds we plant, that produce a harvest in our life. If we are merciful to others, we will be treated with mercy. If we show love and respect, others will show love and respect to us. If we speak words of faith and blessing, good things will increase in our lives. But if we continually speak fear, doubt, and trouble, life will not go well for us. GALATIANS 6:7 NIV 7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The world has a saying based on this principle, "what goes around, comes around." We reap what we sow. Using modern terms, we harvest what we plant. And the...

1 TIMOTHY 6:12 Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.  Too many people have the idea that if something is God's will for them to have that it will just automatically happen without any effort or involvement on their part. Not so! We have to cooperate with God. We must believe what He says. We must resist doubt and fear. To walk in the fullness of blessing God desires for us, we must fight the good fight of faith. Israel was our example. 1 CORINTHIANS 10:11  These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. They had to fight the giants in the land to possess what God said was already theirs. The promised land belonged to them already because God had given it to them. But it was still inhabited by others (including giants), who had to be driven out ...

GENESIS 3:1 NKJ 1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?"  The original temptation, still being used by the devil to keep people away from the blessings of God today, is to doubt that God's Word is truth and that God desires the best for us . The devil's false idea is that God is holding out on us, keeping back something good that would make our life better and more enjoyable. But God is not withholding anything good from us. When He gave us Jesus He gave us everything. Now it is our responsibility to learn how to receive what He has given us and use it for the glory of God and the good of mankind. God's way is actually the very best for us. God's will for you is actually what you would also choose for yourself if you had all the information God has. Just like a good parent, God does try to pro...

MATTHEW 16:6,12 Then Jesus said to them,6 "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees." 12 Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.   Why did Jesus warn His disciples to beware of the Pharisees? What did they do wrong? (An entire chapter of the Bible (Matthew 23) is Jesus' teaching against the Pharisees.) The Pharisees were conservative, faithful "church" members. They accepted the Bible as the written Word of God. They paid tithes. They believed in miracles (at least in days past). They wouldn't dream of stealing, committing adultery, or such things. You would like living next to a Pharisee as they were model citizens. But instead of having a living relationship with God, the Pharisees took the Word of God and made just another dead religion out of it. The Pharisee way of thinking is: keep up appearances. "It doesn'...

MALACHI 3: 8-10 8  “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. 9  You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation. Tithe means tenth. So tithing is giving ten percent to God. In Malachi 3:9 God told Israel they were under a curse. It was because of their disobedience. Their covenant with God required them to obey the Law of God, which included tithing, in order to enjoy God's blessings and be free from the curse. But we live today under a New Covenant which does not have the same requirements. Our covenant is a better covenant established on better promises (Hebrews 8:6). The New Covenant is between God and Jesus of Nazareth, so it does not depend on the obedience of anyone else. We are included in this wonderful covenant only by receiving Jesus and thus being in union with Him. The Bible refers to this as being "in Christ." If you are "in Christ,...

Romans 3:21-26 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood-to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished- he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.  This is one of the greatest "But now..." passages in the Bible! We focus on the bad news that it is impossible for us to do anything to earn a right standing with God. We have all missed the mark and...

 1 JOHN 4:8  The person who doesn't love doesn't know God, because God is love. Wouldn't it be nice to live where every one loved and was loved with a perfect love? A place where there was no selfishness, where everyone put the interests of others before their own interests. The good news is that there is such a place! It is where Jesus is Lord. It is the Kingdom of God, which could also be called the Kingdom of love, because God is love. Everyone is invited. All are welcome. There is room for everyone. There is just one problem. If you are allowed in -- while still a selfish being -- you would ruin it for others. So you can't enter until you are changed, made right, made into a person of love, a person who is not selfish. "But all humans are born selfish! We can't help it! It is who we are."  JOHN 3:3  Jesus replied to Nicodemus, "I can guarantee this truth: No one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above." Yes, hum...

Luke 15:25-28 "Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.' "The older brother became angry and refused to go in. All is not well in the family. Meet the second son of the Prodigal Son story. This is the son who stayed home. This is the son who did not humiliate his father or create a public scene by asking for his share of the inheritance. This is the son who has consistently worked in the fields and has sought to do good. He is obviously not pleased that his brother is home or that his dad would throw a party for this loser. Why the anger? Because this son has come to believe that parties are only to be thrown for those who by their own efforts have been faithful. He truly misses the reason for the...

2 KINGS 6:17 NKJ 17 And Elisha prayed, and said, "Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see." Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. What we see with our physical eyes is not all that's happening. Spiritual forces are active around us. Unless God "opens our eyes" we're in the dark to what's really happening. Of course, it shouldn't be necessary for us to "see" into the spirit realm to believe what God has said, such as that His angels would keep charge of us always to protect us. COLOSSIANS 1:16 ESV 16 For by[a] him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.  ACTS 26:18 NKJ 18 'to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may ...

 JOHN 3:16 NKJ 16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son... GALATIANS 2:20 NKJ 20 ". . . I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. EPHESIANS 5:25 NLT 25 For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her... Love is only expressed through giving. If there is no giving, there is no evidence that love exists. The only proof of love is giving. Giving is the action that demonstrates love. So, the measure of your giving is the measure of your love. The more you give -- of yourself, your time, your attention, your affection, your patience, your treasure -- the more you love. This is what Jesus meant in John 15:13. JOHN 15:13 NKJ 13 "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. Why did Jesus say there was no greater love than to give your life? Because you can't give any more. That's total commitment! So, whenever you s...

Matthew 14:25-30 During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." "Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water." "Come," he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.  Over and over, Peter says the wrong thing or does something stupid. Each time he just went "all in" for Jesus, he learned something invaluable in his walk of faith! In this story, Peter eventually winds up doing a belly flop into the water of what is seemingly embarrassment and failur...

John 14:9 Jesus said to him, “…He who has seen Me has seen the Father…   Imagine the following scenario: A father tells his little girl, “Come here, girl. Mummy says that you have been playing by the roadside. Is that true?” “Yes, Daddy. I am sorry.” “Sorry? How many times have I told you not to play near the road? Come here! Lie down on the road and stretch out your legs!” Daddy drives his car over his little girl’s legs. You can hear the sound of bones being crushed and the poor girl screaming in pain! “Now, darling, you know that Daddy loves you. And Daddy did that to teach you a lesson, that playing by the roadside is dangerous.”  You are probably shaking your head in horror by now, wondering which sick father would do that. Yet, there are many Christians who believe that our heavenly Father does the same thing. They say that He gives people sicknesses, accidents, earthquakes and death to teach them lessons. But Jesus said, “If you have seen Me, you have s...