By: Dr. Dale Weckbacher Text: Psalm 64-65 Psalm 65:4 Blessed is the man You choose,And cause to approach You,That he may dwell in Your courts.We shall be satisfied with the goodness of Your house,Of Your holy temple. (NKJV) In a troubled world, we will have struggles and need to find a way to get through them. These psalms give us a glimpse into how David got through the many struggles in his life. Although oppressed by many enemies, David rejoiced in the Lord, knowing

By: Dr. Dale Weckbacher Text: Acts 9:1-19 Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. (NKJV) Saul has great plans for his life and is emboldened by letters from the chief priests to round up and arrest disciples of Jesus in Damascus. However, God has other plans for Saul and encounters him on his way to Damascus. This encounter with the Lord Jesus causes Paul to change

By: Dr. Dale Weckbacher Text: Psalm 61-63 Psalm 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,I will fear no evil;For You are with me;Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. (NKJV) Like many of the psalms written by David, these three psalms come from times of great struggle in his life. When God chose David as King of Israel, he was seeking a man after his heart (1 Samuel 13:14). These three psalms give us a glimpse into the heart of David and how

By: Dr. Dale Weckbacher Text: Acts 8:26-40 Acts 8:26-27a Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is [a]desert. 27 So he arose and went. (NKJV) Life is full of appointments and meetings. We have work appointments, meetings, and doctor's appointments. We meet friends and even strangers as we go about our daily routine. However, in this passage, we see Philip having a div

By: Dr. Dale Weckbacher Text: Psalm 59-60 Psalm 59:16-17 But I will sing of Your power;Yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning;For You have been my defenseAnd refuge in the day of my trouble.17 To You, O my Strength, I will sing praises;For God is my defense,My God of mercy. (NKJV) In a world of hatred and violence, those of us professing a belief in Jesus as our savior can become impatient and have doubts. We can become impatient, wondering when Jesus will

By: Dr. Dale Weckbacher Text: Acts 8:1-25 Acts 8:25 So when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans. (NKJV) In John 16:33, Jesus reminds those following Him that, in the fallen world in which we live, there will be trouble or persecution, but He promises that He has overcome the world. This is what Jesus demonstrated by resurrecting from the dead, conquering sin, and death.

By: Dr. Dale Weckbacher Text: Psalm 56-58 Psalm 57:9-10 I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples;I will sing to You among the [d]nations.10 For Your mercy reaches unto the heavens,And Your truth unto the clouds. (NKJV) Jesus told us in John 16:33 that we would experience trouble in this world, but with the promise, he overcame the world through his resurrection. David did not have the benefit of these words from Jesus, but in these psalms, he expresses his trust in

By: Dr. Dale Weckbacher Text: Acts 7:37-60 Acts 7:59-60 And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep. (NKJV) Stephen’s history lesson to the council has the purpose of showing these Jewish religious leaders that Jesus is the Messiah. Like anyone exposed to the Gospel, they must choose

By: Dr. Dale Weckbacher Text: Psalm 55 Psalm 55:22 Cast your burden on the Lord,And He shall sustain you;He shall never permit the righteous to be moved. (NKJV) In this text, David has been blindsided by an attack from those closest to him. This attack has left him with fear and trembling and a desire to run and hide. However, he contemplates his situation and resolves to bring his burden to the Lord, trusting Him to bring a resolution. When blindsided by the enemy thro

By: Dr. Dale Weckbacher Text: Acts 17:17-36 Acts 7:35-36 “This Moses whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one God sent to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 He brought them out, after he had shown wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years.” (NKJV) Stephen continues his testimony before the council by continuing his history lesson. In

By: Dr. Dale Weckbacher Text: Psalm 52-54 Psalm 52:9 I will praise You forever,Because You have done it;And in the presence of Your saintsI will wait on Your name, for it [c]is good. (NKJV) As we have observed so far in the study of the Psalms, they represent a contrast of good and evil in our fallen world and show how God is with His people. These three psalms are contemplations of David and demonstrate the peace, restoration, and deliverance from God that those placin

By: Dr. Dale Weckbacher Text: Acts 7:1-16 Matthew 28:19-20 Go [a]therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. (NKJV) One who becomes a believer in Jesus Christ as their savior is doing more than becoming part of some religion, but is entering into a personal

By: Dr. Dale Weckbacher Text: Psalm 51 Psalm 51:1 Have mercy upon me, O God,According to Your lovingkindness;According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,Blot out my transgressions. (NKJV) Since none of us who are reading this is perfect, we have done things in our lives that are sinful and displeasing to a righteous God. When we become aware of these shortcomings, we have a choice. We can choose to ignore the warning and go on living in our sin, or do as David did

By: Dr. Dale Weckbacher Text: Acts 6 Acts 6:7 Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith. (NKJV) As a church, like any other organization, grows, it will grow to be more than one man, or a small group of men or women, can manage. This is what the early church experienced in Acts 6, with them handling the situation through appointing additional men to the minist

By: Dr. Dale Weckbacher Text: Psalm 50 Psalm 50:23 “Whoever offers praise glorifies Me;And to him who orders his conduct aright I will show the salvation of God.” (NKJV) God is a righteous judge who will judge each person, but He judges His people differently than those choosing not to believe in Him. The judgment of those choosing to become a child of God is a judgment of rewards, whereas the judgment of unbelievers is a judgment of rebuke. A wise man will choose

By: Dr. Dale Weckbacher Text: Acts 5:17-42 Acts 5:42 And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ. (NKJV) Persecution was a common occurrence in the Church in the Book of Acts, with God making miraculous intervention, as seen in this text. The Church today faces persecution when it takes a stand for biblical truth in a woke culture. The question each Church must ask is, will it compromise or back off on dec

By: Dr. Dale Weckbacher Text: Psalm 49:1-20 Psalm 49:15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of [ f ] the grave,For He shall receive me. Selah (NKJV) Confidence is something every person needs, but it is crucial to ensure one’s confidence is in the right thing. David, the King of Israel who experienced many victories in battle, tells us that his trust was not in his weapons of war, but in the Lord ( Psalm 20:7 ). As you read this post, I encourage you to conside

By: Dr. Dale Weckbacher Text: Acts 5:1-16 Acts 1:8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be [ c ] witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (NKJV) Both truth and the holy Spirit are vital in the Church. Jesus tells us that knowing the truth sets us free ( John 8:32 ), while there is liberty in the presence of the Holy Spirit which is in all believers in Jesus as Savior ( 2 Corin

By: Dr. Dale Weckbacher Text: Psalm 47-48 Psalm 47:6-7 Sing praises to God, sing praises!Sing praises to our King, sing praises! 7 For God is the King of all the earth;Sing praises with understanding. (NKJV) I like reading the Psalms because they are a collection of men offering heartfelt praise and crying out to God. In these psalms, the psalmist offers praise to God as King over all the earth and his glory in Zion, the city of God. At the time of the writing of the

By: Dr. Dale Weckbacher Text: Acts 4:23-37 Acts 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness. (NKJV) The ministry of the apostles now threatens the same religious leaders that Jesus and his ministry threatened, as they see miracles performed by them. In an effort to stop things before