... is born. If we confess our sins, God who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (I John 1:9). As I sorted through some of my father's belongings this week in moving him to a nursing home, I thought about a ... recovery of sight to the blind, the release for the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor (Luke 4:18). Because there is a Savior, pardon is plentiful. Because there is a Savior, faithfulness is feasible. Because there is a Savior, righteousness ...
... of people afraid of failing to really live. In the movie, Dead Poet's Society Robin Williams plays the role of John Keating, a transformational teacher in a rigid, regimented private school. On the first day of Literature class, Keating takes his students ... . In her book, A Deepening Love Affair Jane writes: “I began seeing life as a gift when I survived a collision with an 18-wheeler on October 2, 1990. After crawling out of my battered car, I wobbled around a field in a daze. What I remember most ...
... . 800 million people in the world are malnourished. It would take 13 billion dollars a year to end hunger. The U.S. and Europe spend 18 billion dollars a year on pet food. There is a knock on our door in the midnight hour. Like the neighbor in the scriptures we ... leaves us anxious for more tomorrow. Jesus says to the hungry crowd, after feeding the five thousand, ‘Get a life. A Long John Silver’s on every corner with free fish every Friday may fill your stomach, but it will never satisfy your soul.’ ...
... the good of the world. Someday God is going to ask you, “What have you done with what you have?” God can help us hear the cry of the needy. We are not Christian until our hearts are broken by the things that break the heart of God. 1 John 3:17—18 “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him. Dear children let us not love with words or tongue, but with actions and in truth.” What can God do for us? He ...
... a generation of people who live cocooned lives, tethered to our home entertainment systems, barricaded behind our electronic alarms, isolated from one another even in our own homes. The Bible says “It is not good for people to be alone" (Genesis 2:18). We are created for community. John Wesley said, “If your heart is with my heart in love and loyalty to Jesus Christ, take my hand." Paul said, “In Christ Jesus there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female for all of you who were ...
... the overwhelming feeling that surged through my soul—this is where it all began—Peter and Andrew, James and John leaving their nets, abandoning their boats and following Jesus. What makes normal, ordinary, business people do that? A. TRUST ... the questions don't matter much. Will you follow? Jesus calls us. To follow is to act. It takes action to follow. B. ACTION In Verse 18 we read “At once they left their nets and followed him." And then in Verse 20 it says, “Without delay he called them, and they ...
... is a verb, not a passive verb, but an active verb. It's not something done for us, it is something we do." John Killinger, a long time ago, helped me understand worship as drama. Not a drama you sit in a theater and observe, but one ... contempt on all my pride." I need to see a cross when I get to church. We worship by tradition. We worship by Reason. In Isaiah 1:18 we read, “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow." Christians need to be ...
... west, Shalom is translated “peace," but the word is much more complex than that. Shalom is completeness, wholeness, and unity. John Wesley would have called it sanctification – the holiness of heart and life. I was intrigued by an editorial in The Tennessean Friday concerning the ... moral lapses of religious leaders. It was written by an 18-year-old kid. In it he laments, “If we cannot have faith in people held in such high moral regard, in whom ...
... Spirit to perfect us in love. The real fruit of the Spirit-filled church is not emotion packed services where people speak in tongues, but a community of believers where outsiders are shocked at the depth and sincerity of their service to others. I John 4:18 says, “There is no fear in love, for perfect love drives out fear." Love ends competition, comparison, self-defense, judgment, bigotry and gossip. They will know we are Christians by our love. To be righteous is to care for the least of these — the ...
... Does it flow from your lips? Can you even get through a worship service without being grateful? Thank you, Jesus. Gratitude is a language that we learn. Gratitude is a life we live. John F. Kennedy once said, “We must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words of gratitude but to live them." I Thessalonians 4:18 says, Give thanks in all circumstances. Not for all circumstances but in all circumstances. Let me explain what I think that means. I don't think it means to give thanks for ...
... relationship with Jesus Christ brings true meaning." Eighteen-year-old Will Hinds could not find a reason for life, so the kid who could jam with the best of bands took his life without a word of explanation. Every 18 minutes somebody in this country commits suicide. Many of them are teenagers. John said, In Him was life, and that life was the light of all people. Life is small, fragile, tender, vulnerable. No plant will survive without tender loving care! What is more helpless than a baby? There in a tiny ...
... being forgiven, I have had to realize that I am not in charge of other people's forgiveness of me. When I have practiced Matthew 18 to the best of my ability (and I believe the Church ought to be practicing it in its relationship to one another) and no reconciliation ... Housewives frantically trying to keep her perfection intact. Perfection here is Teleos: completeness, wholeness, maturity. And our founder, John Wesley, was not shy about asking his followers if they were going on to perfection, as a concrete ...
... Him. That’s the reason Jerry and I are totally committed to the “Because We Care” program of our church. You heard John announce those goals earlier $3 million, $4 million, $6 million sequential goals. You’ve caught the heartbeat of what this is all ... each month of what we were going to save for retirement, and we’re adding that to our pledge. Over 3 years that will amount to $18,000. Added to the other $6,000 we had decided upon, our pledge now stood at $211,000. But the more we thought about it, ...
... day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” Jesus said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our ... God always keeps God’s promises. 1. Thomas G. Long, Christian Century, March 21, 2006, Vol. 123, No. 6, p. 18. Cited by The Rev. Charles Booker-Hirsch, http://www.northsidepres.org/worship/sermons/sermon/51. 2. Dr. Dan L. Flanagan, ...
... TO TRIUMPH. II. Tragedy to Triumph Let's look at the passage of Scripture which describes the TRAGEDY OF THAT FIRST GOOD FRIDAY. John 19:14-30 (NRSV) [14] Now it was the day of Preparation for the Passover; and it was about noon. He said to ... ] and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha. [18] There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus between them. [19] Pilate also had an inscription written ...
... approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." And Hebrews 2:18 says; "Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested." JESUS GIVES: Jesus gives us ... the Good News is that JESUS FORGIVES. Romans 10:13 "For, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." 1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness ...
... the flaming arrows of the evil one. [17] Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. [18] Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the ... no defense like a good offense. Let me give you an example. While deployed in Afghanistan, a Marine received a "Dear John" letter from his girlfriend. IN the letter she explained she had found someone else, wanted to end their relationship and ...
... flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. [18] Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. [19] And ... our heritage or the breath of God. This balloon represents life before Pentecost. We are filled with the breath of God, or what John Wesley called "Prevenient Grace." The presence of God's Holy Spirit in our lives before we are aware of God. And this balloon ...
... of that prayer. It's like a Blast From The Past. And we feel it. So, let's look at the passage that tells us about this Blast From The Past. Read here - John 17:1-19 (NRSV) Jesus prayed for the Disciples, the each church that would grow and become the church which we belong to, and for all of His followers, which includes us. Jesus ... Hamilton, Massachusetts 2. http://www.preachingplus.com: Mark Moring, Elburn, Illinois; sources: Sports Illustrated (11-18-02), The Herald-Dispatch, Huntington, W.Va. (11-10-02)
... turn whining into anything. Sometimes we might need snakes. There is a story of three men who live on a ranch out west, the father, John, and his sons, Jake and Joe. They never had any use for the church until one day Jake is bitten by a rattlesnake. The doctor ... which the people brought sacrifices. Finally, the practice became so outrageous that good king Hezekiah smashed the thing to pieces (2 Kings 18:4). It is easy to lose focus. That is a good lesson for the church —keep the focus. Look and live. And ...
... urgency. Consider those fishermen responding to the call of Jesus. "Immediately they left their nets and followed" (v. 18). Jesus called out to them, and suddenly doctors stopped doctoring, traders stopped trading, taxi drivers pulled over and ... with earthquakes, Ninevah didn't argue with the five blunt prophetic words of Jonah, and when Jesus called them, Simon, Andrew, James, and John realized in a flash that those famous and overworked words, "it's now or never" applied to them and applied to them now. ...
... 's scripture reading: "I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also" (John 14:3 NRSV). Invitation Look around you! We live in a dying world. Dead trees, dead vegetation, and dead animals are everywhere! I ... laid up for many years; take your ease' ... But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you' " (Luke 12:18-21 cf). He was a nice fellow, perhaps. We read no hint of any immorality about him. He certainly provided for his family's long ...
... a reality that is deeper and richer than human history would suggest, a reality that permeates our existence. He states in verse 18 that he focuses on the "unseen," on the spiritual realm. To borrow a term from the Civil Rights Movement and Negro spirituals ... women, despite Paul's omitting them from the list of witnesses in 1 Corinthians 15) were captured by the power of death. In John's account, Mary Magdalene cannot recognize the risen Jesus even though he is standing right in front of her, talking to her. ...
... this passage by quoting a verse from a powerful event in Israel's collective memory: the Exodus. He quotes from Exodus 16:18 in reference to the manna that God provided for the wandering Israelites to eat in the wilderness after their escape from slavery in ... s gracious Spirit guide us in our search. Amen. 1. Dorothee Soelle and Luise Schottroff, Jesus of Nazareth (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002), pp. 33-34. 2. Jacques Ellul quote from an unknown source. I first encountered it on a ...
... “visual aid” to accompany vice-president Joe Biden’s concurrent visit with Chinese political leaders. On August 18 the “Hoyas” played against the “Bayi Rockets” of Shanghai at the Beijing Olympic Basketball Arena. Unfortunately all the ... we can claim the “team spirit” advantage that the Holy Spirit brings and that a commitment to genuine “agape” love gives us. John Wesley said that the most important description of God in the whole Bible is this three word statement: “God is love.” ...