Hello, again. I’m Arlen Yoder from the Soulwinnersr.us website. Remember—the angels in heaven rejoice when a loved one or friend gives their heart to Jesus.
The title of today’s post is, “ARE YOU WITH ME—OR AGAINST ME?” It’s based on a Bible verse I read recently that startled me. It’s found in Luke 11:23, where Jesus speaks to a crowd of people. Here it is:
“Anyone who is not with me is against me, and anyone who does not gather with me scatters.”
I’ve heard sports coaches yell the line, “Are you with me?” to rally the team to heed his advice or encouragement to work hard to win the game—or at least give it their best shot. If a teammate has a bad attitude, it’s evidence that the player is not 'with' the coach and is indeed 'against' the coach. That player is usually a detriment to team success and is often sidelined or even asked to leave the team. They, in a sense, are not ‘gathering’ the team together, but have a ‘scattering’ influence away from the coach’s advice or encouragement.
The startling thing to me about what Jesus said to the crowd was how stark His statement was about people who might even just be on the fence about Him. Or those who have never heard, or heard very little, about Him. You would think that God, in His great mercy, would give them a pass.
But, to the contrary, Jesus indicated in strong words how serious the matter of following Him is, no matter what point a person is at in the spiritual spectrum. He wants on His team of believers, those who are ‘with’ Him, not ‘against’ Him. He knows they will then ‘gather’ other people toward Him, and not ‘scatter’ people away from Him.
See you next time.
Hello, again. I’m Arlen Yoder from the Soulwinnersr.us website. Remember—the angels in heaven rejoice when a loved one or friend gives their heart to Jesus.
The title of today’s post is, “THE HOLY SPIRIT GETS US 'COMING AND GOING'!”
The word pictures Jesus and the apostles used were, quite frankly, amazing!
Paul the Apostle wrote an example in Romans 5:3-5: “And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” So, on the one hand, Paul said of the believer in Romans 5 that by the incredible power of the Holy Spirit, God’s wonderful love was ‘pouring’ or ‘coming’ into our hearts.
Jesus in John 7:38 said, “The one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.” So, Jesus said of the believer in John 7 that by the incredible power of the Holy Spirit, God’s wonderful ‘living water’ was ‘flowing’, or ‘going’ from deep within us out to the world around us.
So, the bottom line for the believer is: “The Holy Spirit gets us coming and going!”
Hello, again. I’m Arlen Yoder from the Soulwinnersr.us website. Remember—the angels in heaven rejoice when a loved one or friend gives their heart to Jesus.
Today’s post is entitled, “BIBLE WORDS MATTER! So do certain Bible ‘superlatives’ help dispel the perception that the Christian life is ‘boring’, ‘dour’, and ‘uninteresting’?”
Recently, I’ve noticed certain words, 'superlatives', if you will, in the Bible. What’s a ‘superlative’, you might ask? A superlative is defined by Merriam-Webster as a word used “to denote an extreme or unsurpassed level or event."
Many assume that the Christian life is ‘boring’, ‘dour’ or brooding, and ‘uninteresting’. But some of the ‘superlative’ words the Bible authors used to describe God’s greatness, and specifically God’s greatness toward His people, blow this assumption out of the water.
I’m just going to focus on three of these ‘superlative’ words that the Bible authors used, but there are many more. Here are the three I chose:
1. ‘Superlative’ Word #1: “Incomprehensible.”
2. ‘Superlative’ Word #2: “Inexpressible.”
3. ‘Superlative’ Word #3: “Immeasurable.”
Now, let’s look at one Bible verse associated with each ‘superlative’ word and break it down a little bit:
1. ‘Superlative’ Word #1: “Incomprehensible" verse: Jeremiah 33:3.
“Call to me, and I will answer you and tell you great and incomprehensible things which you do not know.”
a. Synonym #1: “Mysterious.”
b. Synonym #2: “Unintelligible.”
c. Synonym #3: “Unfathomable.”
Conclusion: The Christian life is, or should be, very far from boring.
2. ‘Superlative’ Word #2: “Inexpressible" verse: 1 Peter 1:8-9.
“Though you have not seen him, you love him; though not seeing him now, you believe in him, and you rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy, because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
a. Synonym #1: “Incredible.”
b. Synonym #2: “Indescribable.”
c. Synonym #3: “Unspeakable.”
Conclusion: The Christian life is, or should be, very far from dour or brooding.
3. ‘Superlative’ Word #3: “Immeasurable” verse: Ephesians 1:18-19.
“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the mighty working of his strength.”
a. Synonym #1: “Infinite.”
b. Synonym #2: “Endless.”
c. Synonym #3: “Unlimited.”
Conclusion: The Christian life is, or should be, very far from uninteresting.
Final Conclusion from the Bible Superlatives written by Bible Authors is the following: Living for and with Christ and His Holy Spirit is so wonderfully good that it can’t be described—and I pray that each of us realizes it deep within our souls. It will make a big difference in how we live our lives.
See you next time.
Hello, again. I’m Arlen Yoder from the Soulwinnersr.us website. Remember—the angels in heaven rejoice when a loved one or friend gives their heart to Jesus.
My question I have for the new year: “ARE YOU LOST IN 2026? DO YOU NEED SOMEONE TO SEEK AND TO SAVE YOU?”
The ABC TV show “Lost” was a very popular science fiction adventure drama that followed the survivors of an airline flight that crashed on a mysterious tropical island in the South Pacific. The survivors faced trial after trial, challenge after challenge, trying to overcome the various dangers the island held, not to mention the interpersonal battles they all faced. Their goal—to survive until someone came to seek and to save them.
Also, the other night I watched the movie “The Diary of Anne Frank”. It was very reminiscent of the story of Corrie Ten Boom entitled “The Hiding Place”. Anne Frank, her family, and several other Jews hid from the Nazis for over two years in very cramped quarters in an Amsterdam secret attic of a business. They had to keep very quiet all day during business hours and at night when Nazi guards were trolling the streets. They desperately wanted the Allied Forces to seek and to save them. Sadly, it never happened, and Otto Frank, Anne’s father, was the only survivor in his family of the Nazi concentration camps. It was reported that Anne, at the age of 15, and her sister Margot, at the age of 19, both died from typhus fever after only about three months in one of the camps.
Let’s face it. Life on this earth is full of trial after trial—challenge after challenge. We are, however, blessed in America that most of us don’t face starvation, murder, or as much disease on a regular basis as people in many other countries do. But all of us will, at some point, face a serious trial or challenge. For example, I have a brother who was shot and almost killed on the job in 2001. He ended up with medical complications and is currently 100% blind. He is a reminder that most people face trial after trial and challenge after challenge. And the rampant turmoil and wars in the world today are constant reminders of the lostness of people in need of someone to seek and to save them.
About a month ago, praise the Lord, I read Jesus’ profound pronouncement found in Luke 19:10. He said of Himself, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.”
The bottom line is—Jesus is the ultimate and the best one ever—to seek and to save you if you are lost in 2026!
See you next time.
