Read Luke 18:9-14 - Do you think the Pharisee was lying about the good things he did and about his moral character?  Why is it that God would justify the tax collector and not the Pharisee?  How can we pray prayers that are pleasing to God?

Read Joel 2:23-32 - The blessings in this passage are blessings that will come after the people have repented of their sins and after the Lord has disciplined them.  The purpose of discipline is not to destroy, but to get people to realize their failings and make changes.  God's great love always abides with his people and though He may have to discipline at times, it is only to prepare us for future fellowship with him and for service in his Kingdom.

Read Psalm 51 - This famous prayer of confession is attributed to David after he had been convicted of having adultery with Bathsheba and murdering her husband.  Notice that David makes no excuses for his sin and is relying on God's mercy and not his own merits.  It is only after David receives forgiveness and cleansing and power from God that he will once again be a witness for the Lord.  He doesn't say, "I'll praise You and teach sinners to fear You and after I have done all those good things, then I'll have made up for my sins and You'll have to forgive me."  No, for David it is, "You have forgiven me and so now I will live for You."  David would have made a good Reformed Church member!  He knows all about Guilt, Grace, and Gratitude - in that order!

Read Mark 4:35-41 - Jesus has authority over nature!  And He also has the power to calm storms that are raging in our hearts because of fear, doubt, and sin.  May Jesus continually come to us and say, "Quiet!  Be still!"  Because we are awfully good at stirring up storms.

Read Jonah 2 - Talk about feeling overwhelmed by your problems and your sins!  Jonah was literally drowning in his!  But he turned to the Lord in prayer and found deliverance.  May we always turn to God when we feel like we're sinking.

Read Acts 17:10-12 - We belong to a church in the Reformed theological tradition.  Part of what this means is that we as individuals, our congregation, and our denomination should be like the Bereans.  We should be searching the scriptures to see if what we believe is true.  And if we need to reform our beliefs and practices to bring them in line with God's Word, we shouldn't be afraid to do so.

Read Romans 3:21-26 - Martin Luther had tried to make himself acceptable to God by doing all that he could do.  He made a pilgrimage to Holy Rome.  He became a monk.  He scrupulously tried to confess absolutely every sin he could remember.  He spent hours in prayer.  Yet he still wondered if he had done enough and how he really stood with God.  But when he studied the book of Romans, his spiritual eyes were opened to salvation by faith and to the fact that we are righteous in God's sight, not because of what we do, but because of what God has done for us through Jesus Christ.  Praise His name!

Read Habakkuk 1:1-4 - Every day we see all kinds of evil in this world via newspapers, magazines, and television.  Is our response only to shake our heads at it and to sigh?  Or is our response the same one Habakkuk had - to cry out to God about it?

Read 2 Thessalonians 1:3-4 and 11-12 - In these verses we once again come up against the mystery of the partnership between God and Man.  Paul boasts about the Thessalonians' perserverance and endurance, but at the same time he thanks God for these qualities because he knows they ultimately come from the Lord.  He prays that the Thessalonians will be found worthy of God's calling, but he knows that it is God's power that will fulfill all the good works they try to do.  This is good news for us!  Your growth as a Christian doesn't depend on how strong a Christian you are, but on how strong God is!

Read 1 Peter 4:1-4 - The World won't understand Christians and will try to pressure you to conform to its ways.  But we are called to be willing to suffer the abuse the World will heap on us in order to live according to the will of God.

Read Psalm 127:1 - Humans can put in their best efforts on a project, but the ultimate success or failure of the project is in the hands of the Lord.  So let us pray for our building project.  Let's pray for our nation.  Let's pray for our families.  Let's not allow a lot of effort in many areas to be done in vain.  We need the Lord's blessings.

Read 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 - A foundation is so important for a building.  Without a strong foundation, a building collapses.  Of course, as a building is going up, we hope that the walls, roof, doors, etc. will also be strong or else a disaster may be looming.  When it comes to our spiritual lives, Paul makes it clear that the foundation must be Jesus Christ.  Without Him, everything crumbles.  But then he implicitly urges us to keep using "good building materials" as we build up our lives.  Things such as prayer, acts of service in love to God's children, biblical truth and a striving for holiness.  If we don't add these "materials," maybe we'll still be ultimately saved because of our foundation, but it will be as though our lives were wasted and meaningless.  Let's not waste our lives!  Let's build our lives to last - eternally!

Read I Corinthians 3:16-17 - Church buildings are tools that God's people use to carry out the ministries He gives them.  But God's Spirit lives within the corporate body of believers.  While we take care to make sure our new building project is going just right, let's also be working to make sure our congregation is strong in Truth, Love, Godliness, and Fellowship.

Read 1 Kings 8:10-13 - May our new building be a place where God is glorified and as we gather to worship and fellowship in it, may the glory of the Lord fill us, His church.

Read 1 Kings 8:22-30 - Solomon knew that God wouldn't really be dwelling in the temple.  But he still asked that the temple would be used by God to bless His People.  God certainly doesn't dwell within our current church building and won't live in our new addition, but we can pray that He will use them to bless His people and that He will give special attention to what goes on in the buildings owned and used by the American Reformed Church.

Read Isaiah 12:1-3 - Has the Lord become your salvation?  Does He put a song in your heart?  Are you drawing "water" from the "well" with joy?  Have we grasped how amazing and wonderful salvation really is?

Read Isaiah 12:4 - What does Isaiah mean when he talks about the Lord's name being exalted?  Part of what he means may be tied in to the way kings and rulers were addressed in his day.  Someone approaching a king might have said something like, "Oh Great And Mighty One Whe Has Conquered Your Enemies And Who Reigns With Wisdom And Compassion."  When we address God or speak to others about Him, we should be mindful of who He is and what He has done for us.  Isaiah may also mean that we should take care how we use God's name.  It's special.  It's not to be used as a curse word or as a common exclamation of surprise.

Read Isaiah 12: 5-6 - In what ways is the Holy One of Israel among us today?  How is He in our world, our church, your family, your life?  How can we become more aware that He is indeed with us?

Read Luke 21: 5-19 - Every time we turn on the news we see signs like those Jesus talked about in Luke, Chapter 12.  But notice that Jesus told his followers not to worry ahead of time about what would happen to them when they were arrested.  They were to trust him for the words to say.  And He told them if they stood firm in their faith in him, they would gain eternal life.  As we watch the news, let's not panic, but remember who we are trusting in and what lies ahead for us.

Read Luke 12:13-21 - When we think of preparing for the future, we usually think of such things as making sure we'll have enough money to live on or whether we'll have the education and training to get us the jobs we want, or where we will be living, etc.  But Jesus let us know that it's important to plan for the future by making sure we are rich toward God.

Read Jeremiah 23:5-6 - The ultimate fulfillment of this prophecy is, of course, Jesus Christ.  And notice His name is "The Lord Our Righteousness."  No wonder the Jewish people, who had a history of being punished for their sins, longed for the coming of such a king.  And no wonder we who sin everyday are thankful that such a king came.  We depend on the Lord's righteousness and not our own.

Read Colossians 1:9-13 - In these verses, Paul gives us good reasons to thank God regardless of what sort of day we're having and whether things in life seem to be going well or badly for us.  We can always thank God because He has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints, rescued us from the kingdom of darkness, brought us into Christ's Kingdom, and redeemed us from our sins.  Wow!

Read Luke 1:5-25 - The Lord's people in the Bible are called on to believe some pretty incredible things.  In today's scripture reading, Zechariah had to believe that he and his wife would have a son, though they were both old.  The Lord still calls on us to believe some pretty incredible things today - that the grave is not the end; that a man dying on a cross two thousand years ago was God and that He took away our sins; that God is at work in us transforming us into images of Jesus.  May we believe the incredible more willingly than Zechariah did!  Let's remember that these things come from our incredible God.

Read Luke 1:39-45 - The Holy Spirit was working in John the Baptist even while he was still in his mother's womb and caused him to praise the Lord after a fashion!  It's never too soon to pray that God will begin to work in the hearts of your children and grandchildren and the children of our church.

Read Luke 1:57-66 - When Zechariah could speak again; the first thing he did was to praise God.  Are God's praises and/or edifying words always the first things out of our mouths?