Today’s Walk in the Word

Witness by Life

By Joe Barnett / October 14, 2021 / Comments Off on Witness by Life

Your very lives are a letter [from Christ] that anyone can read by just looking at you.                      —2 Corinthians 3:3 There are talented people with high-level media expertise in most of our churches today. We use their proficiency to transmit the message. With print, radio, […]

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Faith, Love, Hope

By Joe Barnett / October 13, 2021 / Comments Off on Faith, Love, Hope

We continually remember [you].            —1 Thessalonians 1:3 Paul had fond thoughts of the Thessalonians, saying he remembered, “your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope” (1 Thes 1:3). Calvin called possession of these three qualities “a brief definition of true Christianity.” Each […]

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God Knows All

By Joe Barnett / October 12, 2021 / Comments Off on God Knows All

O Lord, you have searched me and you know me.     —Psalm 139:1 Cheryl had been married to Bobby Love for forty years when the FBI arrested him. Bobby’s real name was Walter Miller. He had been incognito for nearly a half-century after escaping from a North Carolina prison. Cheryl knew nothing about his […]

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The How and the What

By Joe Barnett / October 11, 2021 / Comments Off on The How and the What

The Spirit himself intercedes for us. —Romans 8:26 I first learned Romans 8:26 from the American Standard version: “we know not how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit himself maketh intercession for us . . .” The New International Version—my translation of choice—has it: “We do not know what we ought to pray […]

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Saved by His Grace

By Joe Barnett / October 8, 2021 / Comments Off on Saved by His Grace

It is by grace you have been saved.               —Ephesians 2:8 Do you ever wonder if you’re good enough to go to heaven? You aren’t. That’s why you must depend on God’s righteousness, not yours. “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed” (Rom 1:17). Not a […]

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Paul’s Prayer and Ours

By Joe Barnett / October 7, 2021 / Comments Off on Paul’s Prayer and Ours

We have not stopped praying for you.                      —Colossians 1:9 In Colossians 1:11, Paul prayed that the Colossians would possess three qualities: Endurance, which no circumstance could defeat. Patience, which no person could defeat. Joy, which neither circumstance nor person could defeat. Endurance pertains to circumstances. […]

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Detachment

By Joe Barnett / October 6, 2021 / Comments Off on Detachment

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?                                    —Romans 8:35 There are at least five areas of detachment that interrupt human relationships. Distance detachment—an airport goodbye, where a tearful beauty clings to her deployed soldier sweetheart. Death […]

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Think of Me at My Best

By Joe Barnett / October 5, 2021 / Comments Off on Think of Me at My Best

Be devoted to one another.           —Romans 12:10 In Charles Dickens’ 1850 novel, David Copperfield, Copperfield says to his friend James Steerforth at bedtime, “Good-bye, my dear Steerforth! I shall be gone before you wake in the morning.” Putting a hand on each of Copperfield’s shoulders, Steerforth says, “Davy, if anything […]

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Little Towns and Small Churches

By Joe Barnett / October 4, 2021 / Comments Off on Little Towns and Small Churches

To the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse.   —Colossians 1:2 Colosse was once a thriving city at the crossroads of two high-traffic highways. But when they moved the main road to favor the more-prosperous Laodicea, Colosse began to decline—much like the small towns of our day that have been bypassed by expressways. […]

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And So Do I

By Joe Barnett / October 1, 2021 / Comments Off on And So Do I

Do you love me?    —John 21:17 F.W. Boreham in The Golden Milestone writes about an old English villager who gazed at a painting of the crucifixion of Jesus in a London gallery. Face bathed in tears, he said aloud, “I love Him! I love Him!” A stranger approached, grasped the old man’s hand, and […]

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