Joe Barnett

Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb.               —Revelation 19:9 The wedding banquet had been scheduled. The invitations had gone out. The RSVP returns were coming in. Some of the invited guests sent their regrets. One had bought a piece of property and […]

Run in such a way as to get the prize.              —1 Corinthians 9:24 Ours is a winner-oriented world. In sports, business, and politics, it’s winning that counts—and winners that count. It filters down even to the trivial. I received an email from a lady who told me she had

Do not worry about tomorrow.              —Matthew 6:34 Peter wrote that with the Lord “a thousand years are like a day” (2 Pt 3:8). I confess that I can’t get my head wrapped around that. My life is measured by the calendar: years, months, weeks, and days. God is timeless,

Be gentle toward everyone.                —Titus 3:2 An incident of road rage or a random freeway shooting reveals the breaking point of someone who has spun out of control. Most people never reach that stage—even so, in every vehicle there’s a story being played out in real time. Each

Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.                                    —James 4:7 Satan messed up Eve’s garden with a one-point game plan: He got her to covet the one thing that was off-limits. Eve lived in paradise, a farm

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil.                                        —Isaiah 5:20 John Wayne said, “There’s right and there’s wrong. You got to do one or the other. You do the one and you’re living. You

Leave it alone for one more year.                    —Luke 13:8 When the vineyard owner said to chop down the fruitless tree, the vinedresser asked for one more year: “If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.” It’s the gospel of another chance.

Why should it use up the soil?                   —Luke 13:7 Jesus pictured a vineyard owner who’d had it with a fruitless fig tree: “For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should

They are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.                  —2 Peter 2:20 Kids find it hard to resist throwing a rock through the window of an unoccupied house. Emptiness invites mischief. Jesus told a story about an evacuating demon, wandering for a spell

We have this treasure in jars of clay.              —2 Corinthians 4:7 If you’ve purchased a pricey piece of jewelry, it was probably gift-wrapped on a black velvet background, designed to draw the recipient’s eye to the gem, not the packaging. Paul wanted his readers to know that the gem