“Addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart…” (Eph. 5:19 ESV)

Sing to God with thankful hearts

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” (Col. 3:16 ESV)

Sing cheerfully to God with praise

“…Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.” (James 5:13 ESV)

Sing to Him with your spirit and your mind

“What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.” (1Cor. 14-15BESV)

Therefore…

“Sing to God, sing praises to his name; lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts; his name is the Lord; exult before him!” (Psalm 68:4 ESV)

“Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” (James 1:19-20 ESV)

A wise man listens

“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.” (Prov. 12:15 ESV)

Do not be hasty in words

“Do you see a man who is hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.” (Prov. 29:20 ESV)

Don’t give an answer before you hear

“If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame.” (Prov. 18:13 ESV)

Keep your mouth and tongue still

“Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble.” (Prov. 21:23 ESV)

Be discerning with sweetness of speech  

“The wise of heart is called discerning, and sweetness of speech increases persuasiveness.” (Prov. 16:21 ESV)

Therefore…

“The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” (Exo. 14:14 ESV)

“Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish” (Luke 5:4 NLT).

Simon and Andrew had worked hard all night but had caught no fish

“‘Master,’ Simon replied, ‘we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again’” (Luke 5:5 NLT).

They obeyed Jesus

In the passage at top, Jesus told Peter and Andrew to go into deeper waters and let down their nets. The brothers were worn out from working hard all night and had caught nothing. They were tired and probably discouraged. Doing what Jesus said to do, “Go out to where it is deeper and let down your nets” involved obedience, trust and risk — it involved faith. But there’s no faith without risk. Even though they were tired and it was illogical and didn’t make since, they obeyed Jesus. Therefore, God gave them so many fish that their nets tore and they had to enlist the help of other fishermen.

A great quantity of fish

“When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break; so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink.” (Luke 5:6-7 NLT)

They became fishers of men

“And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men.” When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.” (Luke 5:10-11 NLT)

Therefore…

“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” (Eph. 3:20 NLT)

“…thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress…” (Psalm 4:1 KJV)

There is no way to completely avoid trouble as long as you’re in this world

“…In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." (John 16:33 NLT)

Jesus has overcome the world, and, as His follower, so should you!

When troubles and distressing things come your way you can take heart knowing you have Jesus, who is bigger than your problems. The passage at the top says, “thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress.”

The one within you is greater

“You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4 NIV)

Therefore…

“What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31)

“…because everyone born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith.” (1 John 5:4)

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” (John 14:26 ESV)

Remembering how God has helped us in the past

Recently we had a few things go wrong which forced us to abruptly change our plans and work to fix the problems. At first they looked daunting, even impossible to fix, but, we remembered how God had helped us so many times in the past in similar situations. Remembering God’s past faithfulness and provision gave us great comfort and bolstered our faith in Him. And, as in the past, we came through our current problems successfully as God helped us each step of the way.

Forget not His benefits

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits…” (Psalm 103:2 ESV)

Remember that His steadfast love never ceases

“The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lam. 2:22-23)

Remember that He is merciful and gracious

“But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” (Psalm 86:15)

Remember that God is faithful to keep His commandments

“Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations…” (Deut. 7:9)

“Your faithfulness endures to all generations; you have established the earth, and it stands fast.” (Psalm 119:90)

“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Eph. 5:1-2 ESV)

Walk how Jesus walked

“Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” (1 John 2:6 ESV)

“For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.” (1 Peter 2:21 ESV)

Be imitators of God

“Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”  (1 Cor. 11:1 ESV)

Three things a Christian should NEVER say

1) I hate you

“Anyone who hates another brother or sister is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don’t have eternal life within them.  (1 John 3:15 NLT)

2) I will never forgive you

“And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” (Mark 11:25 ESV)

“Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times? “Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” (Matt. 18:21-22 NIV)

3) I will get you back for that

“Do not say, “I will repay evil”; wait for the Lord, and he will deliver you.” (Prov. 2:22 ESV)

“'Vengeance is Mine, and retribution, In due time their foot will slip; For the day of their calamity is near, And the impending things are hastening upon them.’” (Deut. 32:35 NASB)

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Rom. 12:20-21 NIV)

Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers,[a] what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matt. 5:43-48 ESV)

Do good to those who hate you

“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you…” (Luke 6:27 ESV)

Bless those who persecute you

“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.” (Rom. 12:14 ESV)

Therefore…

“Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles…” (Prov. 24:17 ESV)

“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Eph. 4:32 ESV

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.” (1John 4:7 ESV)

“But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.” (Luke 6:35 ESV)

And, remember this…

“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:8 ESV)

“I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God's gift to man.” (Eccles: 3:12-13 ESV)

God prepared you to walk in good works

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Eph. 2:10 ESV)

Therefore…

• Trust and do good faithfully “Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.” (Psalm 37:3 ESV)
• Serve with gladness and singing  “Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!” (Psalm 100:2 ESV)
  
• Don’t give up  “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” (Gal. 6:9 ESV)
  

“Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.” (John 15:3 ESV)

Your heart sprinkled clean

“Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” (Heb. 10:22 ESV)

As white as snow

“Come now, let’s settle this,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.” (Isa. 1:18 NLT)

The blood of Jesus cleanses you

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7 ESV)

“How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” (Heb. 9:14 ESV)

You are washed

“And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Cor. 6:11 ESV)