ADVENT: Looking Past, Present and Future
The season of Advent is a season of waiting designed to cultivate our awareness of God's actions - past, present, and future. In Advent we hear the prophecies of the Messiah's coming as addressed to the people of Israel and the rest of the earth. As we live in a very similar circumstance, our hearts are meant to empathize and even find comfort in their waiting for Christ's second coming and the consummation of His Kingdom. In Advent we heighten our anticipation for the ultimate fulfillment of all Old Testament promises, when the wolf will lie down with the lamb
Giving Thanks in 2020
Written by Gary D. Myers on Monday, November 16, 2020 (https://www.nobts.edu/geauxtherefore/articles/2020/Thankfulness.html) The account of Paul and Silas in the Philippians jail (Acts 16:25-34) captured my attention as a child. Being in prison was about the worst situation I could imagine at the time. The fact that Paul and Silas praised God and sang hymns surprised my young mind and provided a powerful testimony of what it means to trust God. But my marvel at what happened did not stop with them singing praises – it continued as God used them to lead an entire family into the faith that night.
GEN12: Blessed to Be a Blessing
Written by Mike Pettengill. https://www.billygraham.ca/stories/living-in-light-of-the-resurrection-the-same-power-that-raised-jesus-from-the-dead-is-at-work-in-us/ Read: Genesis 12:1-2 God has provided enormous blessings to today’s Christian church in the Western world. We enjoy amazing freedom, resources, and opportunity. Yet world poverty and Christian persecution endures. Why has God blessed our churches in such times? God’s call to Abraham gives us insight: “And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing” (Genesis 12:2). Our country, our churches, and our families have been blessed in order to be a blessing to the world. Are we using
What to do with the end of Mark’s gospel?
Here is the article I alluded to in the sermon this past Sunday (11/8/20) concerning how to think about the ending of Mark’s gospel. May it encourage you to trust and rejoice in the amazing reliability of our Bibles! https://ca.thegospelcoalition.org/columns/ad-fontes/what-do-you-do-with-the-end-of-marks-gospel/
Living in Light of the Resurrection
Written by Kjell Axel Johanson. https://www.billygraham.ca/stories/living-in-light-of-the-resurrection-the-same-power-that-raised-jesus-from-the-dead-is-at-work-in-us/ Read: Mark 16:1-8 As a Scandinavian I know what it means to pine for the new life of spring to appear every year. Our winters are long, cold and dark. It is the assurance of spring with its abundant life—snow melting, birds singing and thousands of flowers blooming in the life-giving warmth of the sun—that keeps us persevering through the winter months. When spring and summer come, our countries change dramatically—it is as if we all moved to another country. We change from introverts to extroverts. Even during the most severe winters we are certain spring
Wise Thoughts as We Wait for the Election Outcome
As we wait for the clear decision on who will be our next president, I ran across this thoughtful post by pastor Bart Barber. It is his pledge concerning his response as a Christ-follower to whomever wins the election. What ought your pledge be? https://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2020/november/election-day-pledge.html
Seeking A Homeland – And Its Politicians
Everyone acknowledges politics are imperfect now. While we live and vote responsibly in today’s world, Jesus promised us he would bring his administration to this Earth some day. Let’s say hello to what that promised future will be like — what kind of leaders would I love to have and vote for... Judges who works for justice to the weak — the illiterate and socially awkward — and fatherless, and those afflicted and sick. And even judges who bring about good for the poor who cannot afford a lawyer to help them fight their cause. (Psalm 82:3, Exodus 23:6)Presidents (or
Keeping the Cross at the Center
From What is the Gospel by Greg Gilbert (Chapt. 7). Read: Mark 15:21-47 At one point in John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, the hero of the story, Christian, finds himself talking with two sketchy fellows named Formalist and Hypocrisy. Like Christian himself, they insist, they are on their way to the Celestial City, and they're quite certain they'll make it because many in their country have gone this way before. Of course, the names give it away. Formalist and Hypocrisy aren't going to make it to the city at all. The first time Christian sees the two men, they are tumbling over
Why Did the Crowd Turn on Jesus and Yell “Crucify Him”?
Adapted and updated from The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah by Alfred Edersheim (Book V, Chapter https://www.christianity.com/jesus/death-and-resurrection/holy-week-and-passion/why-did-the-crowd-turn-against-jesus-so-quickly.html Read: Mark 15:1-20 During the Passion Week, the crowd in Jerusalem seems to have had a major swing in opinion. Jesus entered the city to praise and adoration but, by the end of the week, faced a crowd shouting "Crucify Him!" demanding for his crucifixion. Can such a change really happen so quickly? Why Did the Crowd Turn on Jesus and Yell "Crucify Him"? We must consider first that the people shouting "Hosanna" when Christ arrived were not the residents of Jerusalem. Instead, He rode in the
The Look of Love
Written by THABITI ANYABWILE | FEBRUARY 21, 2010, https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-greatest-prayer-in-the-world. Read: Mark 14:53-72 Each of the four gospel writers record that faithful night when the apostle Peter denied our Lord with three statements of increasing rejection. They tell us of Peter’s bitter weeping when he realized that Jesus correctly predicted his denials before the rooster crowed. But Luke includes a profound little detail. Luke 22:61 says that just as Peter was denying Jesus for the third time and the rooster crowed, “The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him….” That look must have killed Peter a
