The Reward
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:10) Encouragement to believers persecuted for their commitment to Jesus Christ. First, be prepared More →
Category: Righteousness
Warning: Appetites Ahead
Admonition, Alert, Appetite, Appetites, Beware, Blessed, Blog, Body, Calling, Christ, Christians, Consistent, Controlled, Correctness of Acting, Correctness of Feeling, Correctness of Thinking, Crave, Dangerous, Delights, Delusions, Desire, Desires, Dignity, Drank, Drink, Eager, Erik Garthe, Escape, Evil Things, Examples, Faithful, Filled, Followed, Food, Fooled, Hunger, Integrity, Intent, Long, Lust, Lusted, Mind, Natural Reactions, Need, No Longer Conformed, Painfully, Paul, Powerful, purity, Purity of Life, Refresh, Resist, Righteousness, Rock, Run, Seek, Spiritual, Spiritual Rock, Temptation, Tempted, Thirst, Virtue, Warning, Warning: Appetites Ahead, Warnings, Water
0 Comment
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” (Matthew 5:6) Hunger is to crave or seek with eager desire, and thirst is to painfully long for things that refresh. Hunger and thirst are natural reactions More →
Good Grief
Blessed, Blog, Chastened, Children, Christians, Cleanse, Comfort, Comforted, Condemned, Confess, Confessed, Dead, Disobedience, Double-Minded, Draw, Erik Garthe, Exhorting, Faithful, Fallow Ground, Forgiveness, Gloom, Good, Good Grief, Grief, Grieve, Ground, Hands, Hard, Hearts, Holy Spirit’s, Humble, Humbling, Joy, Judge, Judged, Lament, Land, Laughter, Lord, Loved One, Ministry, mourn, Mourning, No Longer Conformed, Offense, Planting, Plowed, Prophet, Purify, Repentance, Resistant, Responsive, Righteousness, Seed, Self-examination, Sin, Sinful, Sinners, Sins, Sorrow, Sowing, Spiritually, Uncategorized, Unplowed, Unrighteousness, Weep, world
0 Comment
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” (Matthew 5:4) The word translated “mourn” is pentheo which means to grieve for the dead. Spiritually, it implies to grieve for the spiritually dead—mourning over sin; More →
Helplessly Poor
Acknowledging, Believers, Blessed, Blinded, Blog, Christ, Circumstances, Deceitful, Efforts, Erik Garthe, Fade, Fear of the Lord, Filthy Rags, Forgiveness, God, Good Standing, Happiness, Happy, Heart, Helpless, Helplessly Poor, Honor, Humility, Imputed, Indwelling, iniquities, Instruction, Jesus Christ, Justified, Kingdom of Heaven, Labor, Lost, No Longer Conformed, Personal, Pharisees, Pleasing, Poor, Poor in Spirit, Pray, Pride, Problem, Righteousness, Righteousnesses, Roadblock, salvation, Satisfied, Sinner, Spiritual Helplessness, Tax Collector, Temple, Trust, Wicked, Wind, Wisdom
0 Comment
Matthew 5:3 reads, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” There are two important words in that passage: blessed and poor. The word “blessed” (makarios) literally means More →
Jesus Crucified
Abuse, Accuse, Acquitted, Bleeding, Blessed, Blog, Brutally, Condemned, Criminal, Cross Piece, Crown of Glory, Crown of Thorns, Crucified, Crucifixion, Death, Disgraceful, Enemies, Erik Garthe, Excruciating, Exhaustion, Feet, Forever, Gawking, Guilty, Hands, Honored, Injured, Innocent, Intent, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Jesus Crucified, Life, Mocked, Nailed, Naked, No Longer Conformed, Pain, Passion, Perfect, Raw Timber, Reviled, Righteousness, Roman Soldiers, Satan, Save, Scourged, Sin, Sins, Six Hours, Stripped, Substitute, Suffered, Suffering, Thorns, Upright Part, Vicariously, Vital Organs
0 Comment
Matthew 27:26-49 describes the suffering that Jesus Christ experienced after He was condemned to death. He was brutally handled by Roman soldiers, and then suffered the crucifixion. More →
Avoid the Woes! (Part 1)
Avoid, Avoid the Woes! (Part 1), Believer, Believers, Blog, Christ, Condemnation, Converts, Declarations, Devour, Disciple, Erik Garthe, Example, Genesis, God, Hindering, Houses, Hypocrisy, Hypocrites, Integrity, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Kingdom of Heaven, Land, Legalism, Life, Linus, Lord, Lucy, Manuscripts, Mark, Matthew, Men, Minister, Narrow Gate, No Longer Conformed, Noah, Obscured, Peanuts, Pharisees, Prayers, Pretended, Pretense, Problem, Promise, Promised, Proselyte, Rainbow, Religious Leaders, Resources, Righteousness, Scribes, Sea, Self-Righteous, Sincere, Sinful, Son of Hell, Spiritually Mature, Taught, Theology, Travel, Widows, witness, Woes
0 Comment
Hypocrisy is a problem for many, but it doesn’t have to be. When Jesus confronted the religious leaders in Matthew 23:13-33, He revealed how to avoid the woes by declaring the opposites of integrity. First, be an example More →
What Kind of Heart?
Attitudes, Blog, Camel, Confession, Disciples, Erik Garthe, Eternal Life, Eye of a Needle, Faith, First, God, Heart, Impossible, Jesus, Kingdom of God, Last, Lord, No Longer Conformed, Obey, Outward Appearance, Peter, Poor, Possessions, Possible, Priest, Reward, Rich Young Man, Righteousness, salvation, Samuel, Sin, Sincere Heart, Sorrowful, Treasure in Heaven, What Kind of Heart
0 Comment
God told the priest Samuel, “Man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7) The account of the rich young man in Matthew 19:16-30 demonstrates how the Lord deals with More →
What Me Worry?
Anxiety, Blog, Clothing, Earthly, Erik Garthe, Eternal, Faithless, Food, Futile, Kingdom of God, Needless, No Longer Conformed, Priorities, Righteousness, Trouble, Trust, What Me Worry?, Worldly, Worry
0 Comment
Someone wrote, “Worry gives a small thing a big shadow.” People worry about things or events over which they have no control: the unexplained, the unexpected, the unreachable, the unavoidable, or the unknown. Jesus taught More →
Happy Christianity!
Blog, Brokenness, Christianity, Erik Garthe, Happy Christianity, Meekness, Mercy, mourn, No Longer Conformed, Peacemaker, Persecution, purity, Righteousness, Self-control, Spiritual Poverty
0 Comment
What makes a Christian happy in life? When you enter the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of God enters you—spiritual growth. Matthew 5:1-12 presents eight steps that lead to a More →
Overcoming Family
Blog, Challenges, Circumstances, Deceiver, Erik Garthe, Faith, Family, No Longer Conformed, Obedience, Overcoming Family, Righteousness, Self-control, Spiritual Growth
0 Comment
Every family has its stories. Some are entertaining; some are terrifying. Chances are good that you face some unusual circumstances in your family. Genesis 37:1-4 tells the difficult circumstances of Joseph’s family. Here’s a real-life look at those verses: More →
1 2