What Aileth Thee? In Gen 21:17, God appeared to Hagar when she thought she and Ishmael would die of thirst in the wilderness of Beersheba.  He asked her, “What aileth thee, Hagar”?  Well, the answer was obvious.  She thought she and her son were going to die.  God didn’t ask...

Name of God in Vain In Ex 20:7, we often limit the third commandment to blasphemy.  For example, imprecating someone with God’s name.  While this is certainly forbidden by the third commandment, there are more ways to take the name of God in vain. Vain to use God’s name to...

God Forbid “God forbid” is often spoken as an oath.  Sometimes the expression, “God forbid,” can be very instructive to us.  The following passages provide us with a good topical outline for some things that should never happen in our lives. God forbid that we should rebel – Jos 22:21-29 –...

Be Humble This is the seventh message in the series on the spiritual qualities that are essential in the lives of people who minister to others in the words of God. We must be godly, faithful, diligent, teachable, Spirit-filled, charitable, and humble.  Tonight we’re going to study the need to...

Hand of God and Man We have a relationship with the Lord when it comes to doing his will in our lives, Phil 2:12-13.  On the one hand, God’s doing something in our lives.  But on the other hand, we must work out on the outside what he’s doing on...

Fully Committed After you are saved, if you are going to go on to serve the Lord faithfully, there is a time when you get fully committed. Any of these common conditions could lead you to be fully committed: You develop over time – 2 Tim 3:15, Acts 16:1-3, 1...

Be Charitable We have been discussing the character qualities that should be in those who desire to minister to others.  Tonight we will discuss the need to be charitable. According to 2 Pet 1:4-7 we can have charity because we are partakers of the divine nature.  To brotherly kindness we...

Get Up A Crowd In Matt 14:34-36 we read, “All that were diseased were made perfectly whole”.  These were remarkable miracles performed by the Lord Jesus Christ during his earthly ministry.  From this passage we can find a great deal of simple and yet beneficial information to help us see...

Be Diligent On Wednesday nights, we have been discussing qualities and character traits that should be in you when you minister to others in your local church.  So far we have discussed the following traits: faithful, godly, Spirit-filled, and teachable.  We still want to study these qualities: diligent, humble, and...

Snares and Traps In Jos 21:43-45, the Lord gave Israel all the land he promised them, and he gave them rest.  There stood not a man of all their enemies before them; the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand.  There failed not ought… all came to pass. Consider...