“Gratitude isn't only a celebration when good things happen: Gratitude's a declaration that GOD IS GOOD no matter what happens.”
“23 Verses About the Goodness of God” By Dr. David Jeremiah:
“God is good. But what does that mean—that God is good? The more I studied this word in the Bible, the more one central concept seemed to jump out: God’s goodness conveys His generosity. His goodness means far more than His generosity, but it certainly includes His infinitely generous attitude toward us. By nature, He longs to bring joy and blessing to all His creatures. The Bible repeatedly presents goodness as a core quality of our Lord, and I wanted to share just 23 of those occasions. These 23 verses point you to the goodness of our God and what it means for our lives.”
1. “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth.” —Exodus 34:6
2. “Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.” —1 Chronicles 16:34
3. “And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord: “For He is good, for His mercy endures forever toward Israel.” —Ezra 3:11
4. “Good and upright is the Lord.” —Psalm 25:8
5. “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” —Psalm 23:6
6. “The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works.” —Psalm 145:9
7. “No one is good but One, that is, God.” —Mark 10:18
8. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” —James 1:17
9. “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” —Matthew 7:11
10. “I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” —Psalm 27:13
11. “I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty, and on Your wondrous works. Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts, and I will declare Your greatness. They shall utter the memory of Your great goodness, and shall sing of Your righteousness.” —Psalm 145:5-7
12. “He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.” —Psalm 33:5
13. “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him!” —Psalm 34:8
14. “Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting.” —Psalm 100:4-5
15. “Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness.” —Psalm 107:8-9
16. “As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.” —Psalm 103:13-14
17. “Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; Your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness.” —Psalm 143:10
18. “The Lord is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.” —Psalm 92:15
19. “You are good, and do good; teach me Your statutes.” —Psalm 119:68
20. “You also gave Your good Spirit to instruct them, and did not withhold Your manna from their mouth, and gave them water for their thirst.” —Nehemiah 9:20
21. “Hear me, O Lord, for Your lovingkindness is good; turn to me according to the multitude of Your tender mercies.” —Psalm 69:16
22. “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knows those who trust in Him.” —Nahum 1:7
23. “Oh, how great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear You, which You have prepared for those who trust in You in the presence of the sons of men! You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the plots of man; You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.” —Psalm 31:19-20
The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,
“The Lord will again take delight in prospering you.” (Deuteronomy 30:9)
God does not bless us begrudgingly. There is a kind of eagerness about the beneficence of God. He does not wait for us to come to him. He seeks us out, because it is his pleasure to do us good. God is not waiting for us; he is pursuing us. That, in fact, is the literal translation of Psalm 23:6, “Surely goodness and mercy shall pursue me all the days of my life.”
God loves to show mercy. Let me say it again. God loves to show mercy. He is not hesitant or indecisive or tentative in his desires to do good to his people. His anger must be released by a stiff safety lock, but his mercy has a hair trigger. That’s what he meant when he came down on Mount Sinai and said to Moses, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love” (Exodus 34:6). It’s what he meant when he said in Jeremiah 9:24, “I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”
God is never irritable or edgy. His anger never has a short fuse. Instead he is infinitely energetic with absolutely unbounded and unending enthusiasm for the fulfillment of his delights.
This is hard for us to comprehend, because we have to sleep every day just to cope, not to mention thrive. Our emotions go up and down. We get bored and discouraged one day and feel hopeful and excited another.
We are like little geysers that gurgle and sputter and pop erratically. But God is like a great Niagara Falls — you look at 186,000 tons of water crashing over the precipice every minute, and think: Surely this can’t keep going at this force year after year after year. Yet it does.
That’s the way God is about doing us good. He never grows weary of it. It never gets boring to him. The Niagara of his grace has no end.
In our Luke reading, John the Baptist asks Jesus an interesting question: “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” This is surprising because John was called to be a forerunner of the Messiah. Was he shocked that the Messiah had come in...
Prayer: Our Father in heaven, you alone are holy, and we stand in awe of you because you are good and great, a God of lovingkindness and compassion. We are thankful that you have not treated us as our sins deserve, but instead, you have buried them in the deepest ocean and separated them as far as the East is from the West. We know you have done this because of the redeeming work of your beloved…
If it’s one man I love and respect, it’s our former President Barack Obama. And I’ve come to discover, that when the President of the United States comes to speak, it’s a rare opportunity. So if you desire to be physically present when he shows up to speak, you better get there hours early because of the mass of people that will be there as well! Think about it, it’s hard to find a place to park,…
Sermon
Purpose
Matthew 22:36 - 50
Matthew 28:19, 20
Worship
Discipleship
Evangelism
Fellowship
Demonstrate God's love
To Worship God
A reset. It resets our focus to be on Him.
Psalm 116
Psalm 73
vs 2
Bad people appearing to prosper
vs 11
People mocking God and seeming to do well despite their warped worldview.
vs 17
Entering the sanctuary of God.
Their focus is off their preoccupations and on God.
A new reality.
vs 18
The other people are on slippery ground.
We need to be on a stable ground.
Things can change in an instant.
Worshipping God and seeing His love and mercy in our lives
God is worthy of being worshipped.
Selfishness is a barrier to worship.
1. Worship is my response to God's love.
He sent His Son to die for us.
2. Worship is giving back to God.
3. Worship expressing affection to God.
Hosea 6
Exodus 34:
God is passionate about His relationship to us.
Romans 6:13
4. Worship is using my activities for God.
Colossians 5:35
Romans 12:1
The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness
Daily Verse First Reading – Exodus 34: 4-6; 8-9
Exodus 34:4-6
4 So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning, as the Lord had commanded him; and he carried the two stone tablets in his hands. 5 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. 6 And he passed in front of Moses,…
The Surprising Truth About Fasting for Lent | Ancient Origins
Author’s Note: This post contains a discussion of an eating disorder. If you aren’t in the head space to read this, feel free to skip this post.
https://www.ancient-origins.net/human-origins-religions/surprising-truth-fasting-lent-009815
The following is an unedited sermon manuscript; for an explanation of my sermon manuscripts, click here.
What do you do when something God does seems to contradict who God is? When His commands or actions seems to compromise God’s character?
When God informs Abraham of His intention to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham is shocked. And so might we be, were we in his shoes. He asks God, “Will…
“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:34)
Jesus does not want you to worry about tomorrow. He will give you all the help you need for today, and when tomorrow comes, fresh help will come from Him.
Even in the Old Testament, you read, "When the children of Israel were in the desert, God gave them fresh manna from heaven every morning. (Exodus 16) They did not have to worry about tomorrow because when tomorrow came, there was fresh manna again.
Today, God’s grace is sufficient for you to handle the challenges you might have to face. God wants you to simply rest in His ability to heal, deliver, protect and provide for you every day.
The Lord encourages us saying, “Do not be afraid nor dismayed… for the battle is not yours, but God’s… You will not need to fight in this battle… stand still and see the salvation of the Lord…” (2 Chronicles 20:15–17)
My friend, when you are knee-deep in trouble , don’t be dismayed, look to the Lord, He will never fail you. You don't have to be stressed and worried. All things will work together for your good, because you love Jesus. He will do for you what you are unable to do for yourself!
miguel o’hara was a young genetics genius employed at mega corporation alchemax, in the future city of nueva york of the year 2099 (a future universe where all superheroes got wiped out). he became spider-man when one of his experiments to replicate the powers of spider-man is used against him, his dna is rewritten and became fifty percent spider.
essential reading:
spider-man 2099 (1992), #1-10
spider-man 2099, #11-14
spider-man 2099 annual, #1
2099 unlimited #1-3 *
spider-man 2099, #15
ravage 2099, #15 *
x-men 2099, #5 *
doom 2099 (1993), #14 *
punisher 2099 (1993), #13 *
spider-man 2099, #16-22
spider-man 2099, #23-33
2099 unlimited #8 *
ghost rider 2099 #7 *
spider-man 2099, #34-38
spider-man 2099 special #1
spider-man 2099 meets spider-man #1
2099 unlimited #9-10 *
spider-man 2099, #39-46 *
2099: world of tomorrow (1996), #1-8 *
2099: manifest destiny *
* in early 1996, editor joey cavalieri was fired. it led to the cancellation of the 2099 titles. for spider-man 2099′s case, peter david (creator and writer) chose to resign in solidarity with his editor, finishing his run with issue #44. the last two issues of spider-man 2099 were done without his input and the series ended with issue #46.
* cross-overs are optional reading, they’re grouped together with the original spider-man 2099 issues because it’s part of their collection.
non-essential reading (crossovers):
fantastic four 2099 (1996), #4, #6, #8
captain marvel (2000) #27-30
exiles (2001-2008), #72 *
exiles #75-99
exiles annual #1
timestorm 2009-2099 (2009), #1–4 *
* exiles!miguel is a variant (not the same from his 1992 run), he’s from earth-6375 here.
* timestorm!miguel is a variant, he’s from earth-96099 here.
semi-essential reading (main marvel universe):
superior spider-man (2013), #17-21
superior spider-man #22-26
superior spider-man annual #1
superior spider-man #27-31
superior spider-man annual #2
essential reading (spider-verse event):
spider-man 2099 (2014) #1-5
amazing spider-man (2014) #1
amazing spider-man (2014) #9-15
spider-man 2099 (2014), #6-12
spider-man 2099 (2015), #1-5
spider-man 2099 (2015), #6-10
spider-man 2099 (2015), #11-16
spider-man 2099 (2015), #17-21
spider-man 2099 (2015), #22-25
spider-man 2099 meets spider-man (1995)
amazing spider-man (2018), #32-36
semi-essential reading (back to 2099):
spider-man 2099 (2019)
spider-man 2099: exodus alpha (2022)
spider-man 2099: exodus #1-5
spider-man 2099: exodus omega
spider-man 2099: dark genesis #1-5
other media:
spider-man: shattered dimensions (2010, video game)
spider-man: edge of time (2011, video game)
ultimate spider-man, the spider-verse: part 1 (2015, animated series)
spider-man: into the spider-verse (2018, film)
spider-man: across the spider-verse (2023, film)
this reading guide will be updated should any upcoming projects arise!
1 My son, do not forget my law, But let your heart keep my commands;
2 For length of days and long life And peace they will add to you.
3 Let not mercy and truth forsake you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart,
4 And so find favor and high esteem In the sight of God and man.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and depart from evil.
8 It will be health to your flesh, And strength to your bones.
9 Honor the Lord with your possessions, And with the firstfruits of all your increase;
10 So your barns will be filled with plenty, And your vats will overflow with new wine.
11 My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor detest His correction;
12 For whom the Lord loves He corrects, Just as a father the son in whom he delights.
When you are willing to change, God will do something new in you.
No one puts new wine into old wineskins; if they do, the wineskins will burst, the wine will leak out, and the wineskins will be ruined. Only by putting new wine into new wineskins will both be preserved (Matthew 9:17).
03/11 Bible verses
Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth. (Exodus 34: 6)
The Lord declared before him, The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and truth (Exodus 34:6).
03/11Good words
1. Life is like a butterfly. Without the courage to break out of the cocoon, there will be no beauty in flying!
2. You can learn from anyone, no matter who they are. There is something worth learning from everyone.
Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth. (Exodus 34: 6)