... Washkansky, a fifty three year old grocer with a debilitating heart condition. Unfortunately Mr. Washkansky survived only 18 days after the operation. The first successful transplant was performed on Dr. Barnard’s third patient, a ... Word, every time we kneel in prayer is a time of new beginning. It is not only possible. It is not only necessary. It is inevitable. John Ortberg in his book Faith and Doubt tells about a man named Bill Moore who discovered what a new beginning is all about. Bill grew up in ...
... the repenting in the world that you and I try to do cannot change our circumstances and will not in itself make us new. John Calvin made a fine point in this connection. He once wrote: It is wretched sophistry to infer from this, that the grace of God is ... of the fact that Christ has reconciled us to God, forgiven us for how we’ve been lousing up our lives to date (vv.18-19). And it’s like anti-Apartheid leader Bishop Desmond Tutu once said: “Forgiveness says you are given another chance to make a new ...
... for the movie to end. I imagine that’s how Peter felt on the mountaintop with Jesus. One day Jesus took Peter, James, and John up a mountain where they could be alone, away from the crowds and the other disciples. The three might have guessed something special was ... 35). On Mount Carmel, when Elijah prayed for God to come down, God answered with a bright flash of fire (1 Kings 18:36-38). Now here on another mountain, Jesus is transformed with a dazzling bright light. Perhaps seeing Jesus so transformed was ...
... a cleric in the Middle Ages. The earliest known manuscript of the hymn was discovered 1740. The discovery of the manuscript is attributed to John Francis Wade. In England he was a copyist and writer of church music. At this time there was a Holy War between the ... by Pope Leo X. After his excommunication, as ordered by the pope, Luther appeared before the Diet of Worms on April 18, 1521. Before the gathered hierarchy of the Catholic church, Luther still refused to recant. At the conclusion of the assembly Pope ...
... will ask God to do something he cannot do. But if God is God, then be realistic. Ask the impossible! A few months ago my husband John took a man to see the doctor. His wife had requested it because she was confined to a wheelchair, and therefore was unable to do it ... Only three required antibiotics, 16 of the "unprayed for" needed the drug. Only six of the prayed for suffered pulmonary edema, while 18 of the non-prayed for did. There was 20 percent faster recovery, for those prayed for. One of the prayed for ...
... upon the cross that the glory of God was revealed. What was revealed was God's love. God in the flesh was dying for sinners. Paul says in that pitiful moment of weakness God showed his power (1 Corinthians 1:18). It is at the cross of Christ you touch God's glory and his power. For Your Sake John records that when Jesus spoke his brief prayer a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it (my name), and I will glorify it again." What the voice meant was that God had revealed his glory in the creation of ...
... three things as he seizes their moment of wonder: 1) Don't look at us (v. 12); 2) Look at God and his Son (vv. 13-18); 3) Look at yourself (vv. 17,19). Why did Peter stand up and say all this? He said it because a spectacular miracle had just ... -eyed amazement. He was no longer crippled, but his feet and ankles were strong. He was healed and he was clinging to Peter and John. Peter says: Don't Look At Us After seeing this undeniable miracle and its result, the people, even as today always looking for miracles ...
... and I will make you fish for people." And immediately they left their nets and followed him. -- Mark 1:17-18 This text is a statement about a radical discipleship. It needs to be pointed out at the beginning that this reading ... afford the price-of-living in Jerusalem. What are his career prospects? The chances appear rather clear that he will end up like his friend John the Baptist -- facing both prison and death. These four fisherman seem to be taking a calculated risk by following a leader whose future is ...
... man's belief and trust were rewarded with the renewed health of his son. Jesus' action is more than a miracle; it is an act of hope. John says that Jesus realized that the people of Galilee would not esteem him. Yet, the Lord returned to the area of his childhood in order to show ... and to challenge. Let the special presence of God, in its many forms, transform us this day. Saturday Week FourJeremiah 11:18-20John 7:40-53 Seek The Truth We have all heard the expression, "they live on the other side of the ...
... Into every life some rain must fall! Jesus never promised us that we would never have trouble. Jesus said: "In this world you face persecution" (John 16:33). So the issue now for Job was not whether trouble also comes to the righteous. Trouble had already come into his life. ... give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you" (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). Paul did not say give thanks for everything. Paul said "in" everything give thanks. We can give thanks in trouble because ...
... the identity, in this text, of the suffering servant. This poem was perhaps written, originally, to describe the nation of Israel. John R. W. Stott, in his comprehensive work, The Cross of Christ, says, "It seems to be definite, beyond doubt, that Jesus ... a result of our rebellion, "Cursed is the ground for thy sake ... thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth unto thee (Genesis 3:17-18)." Even nature testifies to our sin, and our wondrous S & L took the sign of the curse of our sin and wore it on his ...
... Christians through the ages testified from their own experience that God is sometimes silent and absent from them when they pray. John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, had a famous conversion experience at a place called Aldersgate. He said that ... coming. Finally, he relented and gave her what she needed, because, he said, "she will wear me out by her continual coming to me" (Luke 18:1-5). This is how we must be in prayer. When God seems absent, we need to keep coming at Him with our prayers. We ...
... Peter, the burly fisherman who became Christ's leading disciple and the rock upon which Jesus built His church (Matthew 16:18). Peter failed greatly many times. Many times, he showed his confusion and lack of understanding about the message and ministry of ... very deep, because what he has really said is, "Jesus, you are the Son of God. You are the Word made flesh to dwell among us (John 1:14). You have power to judge the world and all of our lives; You hold in Your hands the keys to the kingdom of heaven. ...
... The first road I want us to travel is the road to the wilderness. William Barclay, that great Bible scholar, said that when John the Baptist summoned people to the Jordan river Jesus went there also because he "knew that for him the hour had struck." Something ... He had a special wire going to where the deacons were seated. He said, "Who will give $1,000?" He pushed that button and 18 deacons were electrocuted. They just would not decide. Have you sorted out what you are going to do with your life? Could you ...
When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. (John 20:20) Have you ever wondered what Jesus really looked like? The Bible is no help whatsoever in telling ... 's Where Is God When It Hurts?, (Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1977), pp. 163-165. children's lesson Why The Holy Spirit? Text: John 20:18-23 He breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit." (John 20:22) Suppose you had a hundred dollar bill in your hand, and you announced that you wanted to give it away. You'd be ...
... began: "It was a story about The Bomb, and who wanted to hear about that? The report came out of Princeton that John Aristotle Phillips, an aerospace-engineering student, had taken to the drawing board and produced The Design - a blueprint for an atomic bomb ... That’s the point at which I got involved in this campaign." She concluded, in a column by Larry Batson (Minneapolis Tribune, March 18, 1982): The most tragic thing about all this is that we’ve raised a whole generation of young people with no hope ...
... are some of the actual excuses she received. "Marge could not come to school because she was bothered with vary close veins." "John was absent from school because he had two teeth taken out of his face." "My sun is under the doctors care and should ... God is angry with the wicked every day." (Psalm 7:11) God said, through his prophet, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." (Ezekiel 18:4) When Ahab and Jezebel conspired to cheat Naboth of his vineyard, it was so easily and cleverly done, but they failed to take ...
... I’m sure that’s where I first encountered the resurrection message. Two angels first told Mary Magdalene the good news. "He is not here. He has risen!" (Luke 24:6) Then she in turn went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord." (John 20:18). Who first told you the good news of resurrection? If that person is still alive, tell them on this Easter weekend how grateful you are. The second step in spreading the Easter good news is this: WE INQUIRE FOR OURSELVES. When Simon Peter heard the news ...
... so-called viruses: viruses B and H. B for boredom and H for haste. It is said of the great naturalist, John Burroughs, associate of John Muir and Theodore Roosevelt, that from the time of his birth until his death eighty-four years later, he never seemed ... He didn’t say the rest of the verse - he experienced it - "... With the glory which shall be revealed in us." (Romans 8:18) He found that even his sufferings had brought him to the place of complete submission to God. He knew that all things were working ...
... ," he was not quitting. Had he been announcing defeat, he would have spoken with a whimper. But that's not how Jesus said it. John is the only one of the four gospel writers who tells us precisely what Jesus said at this point. The other three report just ... declares, "No one has ever seen God; but God's only Son, he who is nearest to the Father's heart, he has made him known. "(John 1:18) The cross reveals a God who hurts when we hurt, who is wounded when we sin, who aches when we are hungry or oppressed, who ...
... and a cross. Our mission is to tell and live a cross-centered gospel, empowered and taught by the Holy Spirit. Our founder John Wesley said, "The renewal of the soul, after the image of God...can never be wrought in us except by the power of ... life-style. How does one do that? FIRST, ASK EACH DAY FOR A FRESH INFILLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. In Ephesians, chapter 5, verse 18, Paul issues this command: "Be filled with the Spirit." Those who are filled with the Holy Spirit are those who crave it, who are ...
... to overcome all that separates us from God, from our true selves, and from one another.” Finally, hear the scripture, I Peter 3:18: "For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God." As you can tell from your ... about it. Though I can't comprehend it completely, I have been saved by it. Listen to the way our Methodist founder John Wesley expressed it: "The Methodist trusts in Christ alone for his salvation. The Methodist knows that the blood of Jesus has cleansed ...
... day… Oh, one day, he tells the, your grief will turn to joy! - And finally he prays. He prays for himself. He prays for his disciples. And then he prays for you. (Respectively: 14:26, 14:27, 15:5, 15:9, 15:18, 16:20, 17:1, 6, 20) Isn’t that a remarkable after dinner conversation? The gospel of John has 21 chapters and five of them record the events of Thursday night around the dinner table the day before his death. Jesus wants them to be ready, to be calm, to be free of a troubled heart. II He wanted ...
... Jesus looked at his own mission in this frame of reference, "He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives" (Luke 4:18). Many are tempted to say in the lines of Faust, "The end of everything is nothing." History seems to be a dead- ... resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die" (John 11:25). He told us that he was preparing a place for us and therefore we should not let our hearts be troubled and uptight. When ...
... Bible tells us of this kind of snake worship in the temple of Jerusalem during the reign of King Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:4). Apparently, it was getting out of hand, because the good king had the image destroyed. Archeologists have uncovered bronze images ... for today, we have the surprising connection between the snake on the pole and the Son of God on the cross. If nothing else, John in his gospel makes clear the primary point, and that is that God provided the means of healing after the people had repented. ...