Jesus said: "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms; provide yourselves with purses that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. "Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the marriage feast, so that they’ may open to ...
As we struggle with the burdens of the day, we sometimes wonder, but let the word go forth this morning that we have a future, that however threatening the skies appear, there is no cause for faith to fail. We have the promise of our Lord for that, and he is just as active in our world as he has ever been in anybody’s world. He is at work, in a series of unfolding promises, to bring his ultimate promise to fulfillment. The promise of our Lord is urgent on my heart whenever as a pastor I have opportunity to ...
And the people stood by, watching; but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, "He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!" The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him vinegar, and saying, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!" There was also an inscription over him, "This is the King of the Jews." One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!" But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you ...
COMMENTARY 1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26 Hannah gives her first child, Samuel, to the service of Yahweh under the high priest, Eli, at Shiloh where Samuel grew physically and spiritually. Samuel was the answer to Hannah's prayer for a child. When she weaned him, she took him to Eli at Shiloh to serve Yahweh permanently. Each year when Hannah came to worship, she brought Samuel a handmade robe. The little lad, wearing a linen apron-like vestment, an ephod, ministered to Yahweh. In this service Samuel grew physically ...
Let us pray: Gracious and eternal God, we come to you this day seeking to have your Holy Spirit lead us as we enter the week which is called "holy." May we in these moments deepen our faith and draw closer to Jesus as we reflect upon what he has done for us. In his precious name we pray. Amen. We have sung together "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?" The words of this old and familiar hymn give us reason to pause and consider the meaning of Christ's sacrifice for us as he gave his all so that we ...
"Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" were Henry Stanley’s opening words to David Livingstone on the shores of Lake Tangayika. "And now, here’s Johnny." Ed McMahon’s basso profoundo’s opening chord in a Carson opus begun over two decades ago, on the Tonight show. First encounters are close encounters of the most important kind. Boswell meeting Dr. Johnson. W. S. Gilbert’s lyrics meeting Arthur Sullivan’s music. And what would the line be without Mason’s encounter with Dixon? Without his partner, Richard Rogers ...
We owe Luke a great debt. For in his Gospel alone is told a dramatic story that capsulizes for us what the mission of Jesus was all about, and in turn what the mission of the church is all about. The event happened while Jesus was passing through Jericho, the city of palms. Writes Luke: “And there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector, and he was rich.” In one sentence we are told the story of a human life. Here’s the background. Nothing in first century Judea was quite so hated and ...
The noted author, John Killinger, tells a powerful story about a man who is all-alone in a hotel room in Canada. The man is in a state of deep depression. He is so depressed that he can’t even bring himself to go downstairs to the restaurant to eat. He is a powerful man usually the chairman of a large shipping company… but at this moment, he is absolutely overwhelmed by the pressures and demands of life… and he lies there on a lonely hotel bed far from home wallowing in self-pity. All of his life, he has ...
Two weeks before his first heart attack in 1955, President Dwight Eisenhower summoned evangelist Billy Graham to the presidential retreat at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. After nearly four hours of conversation, the President suddenly looked Graham squarely in the eye, and said, "Billy, I want you to tell me why you believe in heaven, and why you believe in the afterlife." Dr. Graham declares President Eisenhower talked with him many times on the subject after that, including his last conversation with him in ...
Someone told me about a man who got tired of the Christmas hoopla. All the frantic haste and the crass commercialism disgusted him. So, he decided not to go along with the crowd. Among other things, he decided not to send Christmas cards, feeling that the expense and effort were non-productive. For the first ten days of December he felt good about his decision. But then, as the mail brought him greetings from friends near and far, he began to feel more and more guilty about sending no cards. Finally, four ...
Did you notice an article in the Commercial Appeal last week about a young man from Costa Rica? Roger Madrigal longed to represent his country in the Olympic white-water competition. But due to lack of funds, it seemed to be an impossible dream. Roger happened to meet a Memphis couple, George and Ginny Steffens, who are members of Christ Church. The Steffens were touched by his situation. Along with some of their friends, they raised enough money to bring him to the Olympic qualifying event last month in ...
Another of the apostles of Jesus, the Messiah and Savior, was selected by our congregation as one of the favorite men of the Bible: John, often called "the beloved disciple." Like Simon Peter, he too was one of the "inner three" - the three disciples whom Jesus seemed to choose to be with him on special occasions. Jesus had a large group of followers; of those, he selected twelve. Of the twelve, he seemed partial to the "inner three." And if we go one step farther, John was probably even closer to Jesus ...
It was getting too hot too risky - for Jesus in the Jerusalem area, and he thought it prudent to get away from town for awhile before his enemies could do him harm. The Pharisees had threatened to stone him, and, on another occasion, to arrest him. So he and his disciples hurried to a remote district in TransJordan, "to the place where John at first baptized, and there he remained" (John 10:40). He had been there about three months when some messengers, sent by his good friends Mary and Martha of Bethany, ...
First Lesson: Acts 3:12-19 Theme: Times of restoration and refreshing repentance Exegetical note In the aftermath of his and John’s healing of a lame man, Peter delivers a sermon attributing the power behind the event to the name of Jesus, the Resurrected one, faith in which leads to the restoration of health. Peter therefore urges everyone to repent, promising them "refreshing times" as a result. Important in this entire story is the fact that neither faith nor refreshment on the part of the lame man ...
1 Samuel 16:1-13, 2 Corinthians 4:1-18, Mark 2:23-3:6
Bulletin Aid
Paul A. Laughlin
First Lesson: 1 Samuel 16:1-13 Theme: Human perspective versus God’s perspective Exegetical Note This account of Samuel’s choosing and anointing of David as Saul’s successor is very rich, but a key element is the distinction it makes between Samuel’s human perspective, which focuses on outward appearance and to which several of the candidates looked promising, versus God’s perspective, which looks upon the heart and thus finds regal potential in the least likely and last considered of all, a very young ...
We were sitting at the side of the road - near where it begins its incline toward the gate to the City. We could see the dust of the road being kicked up into a great cloud off toward Bethany. It was a sure sign that a large group of pilgrims was coming. The dust of the air began to be mingled with the shouts and cries and singing of the people. It was a happy mob that walked by us, and surged toward the arching stone gateway to Jerusalem. They were escorting a young man into our Holy City. He was seated ...
THE GATHER OF GOD'S PEOPLE Greeting and Worship Notes Prelude Gathering Pastor: Emmanuel: God, you are with us. Congregation: We have heard the promise of the prophets; Pastor: We have caught the notes of the angel's song; Congregation: We have seen a star in the heavens, we have believed. Pastor: Tonight we have come to be with you because you have come to be with us. Congregation: We seek an innocent, helpless baby in a crude manger; Pastor: We seek a Messiah who will reign with justice; Congregation: ...
"... A thorn was given me in the flesh ..." 2 Corinthians 12:7, RSV Paul had a problem. We don’t know what the problem was. We only know that Paul called it his "thorn in the flesh." A thorn. Paul spoke of his limited humanity, his suffering, his weakness, his problem in terms of a thorn. How about your problems? A thorn. Perhaps it was a sickness which Paul experienced. Some say it was epilepsy. Do you have a physical adversity which can help you turn in a deeper way to God and find grace to sustain you? ...
The woman whose heart is broken because her husband cheated on her cannot get past that experience and has vowed never to love again. Two brothers have not spoken to each other in years because a business they built together failed due to the skimming of profits by the older brother. The young man who has not visited or spoken to his mother and father in ten years because of an abusive childhood cannot bring himself to forget the past, forgive his parents, and move on with his life. These are just a few ...
In the Gospel of Mark, the story of Jesus’ dramatic encounter with Blind Bartimaeus in Jerich takes up only seven verses of scripture, and yet within these seven verses, we see the crux of the Christian gospel in a swiftly drawn portrait of Christian love. As Jesus encounters Bartimaeus here, He portrays for us the ways in which we as Christians are called to love other people. Now, love is difficult to define (as we all know) but it can be demonstrated, and that is precisely what Jesus does here. He ...
The noted author, John Killinger, tells a powerful story about a man who is all-alone in a hotel room in Canada. The man is in a state of deep depression. He is so depressed that he can’t even bring himself to go downstairs to the restaurant to eat. He is a powerful man usually the chairman of a large shipping company but at this moment, he is absolutely overwhelmed by the pressures and demands of life… and he lies there on a lonely hotel bed far from home wallowing in self-pity. All of his life, he has ...
Familiar stories. Two of the approximately 300 direct or indirect references in scripture to angels. That is a lot of talk about angels. Lots MORE talk in the world. Best seller lists regularly have popular titles about angels; book stores have whole sections devoted to angels. On TV Patty Duke hosted an NBC special called "Angels: The Mysterious Messengers." Michael Landon starred for five years as an angel sent to earth to assist mortals in "Highway to Heaven," and CBS currently has one in the same vein ...
Have you been watching the Olympics? I have...some. I am a sports fan. And even though these winter events do not have the same appeal for me as some others, I still watch. I am glad that Dan Jansen finally won a medal. After so many tries, on his last ever attempt, he came through. Strange, isn't it - here is a man who is recognized in speed skating as the best sprinter in the world, but just because he had never won an Olympic medal, people asked, "What's wrong with Dan?" Just three weeks ago, the most ...
Somewhere or other I heard of a Sunday School teacher who had just finished telling her third graders about how Jesus was crucified and placed in a tomb with a great stone sealing off the only way in or out. Then, wanting to share the excitement of the resurrection, and the surprise of Easter morning, she asked: "And what do you think were Jesus' first words when he came bursting out of that tomb alive." A hand shot up into the air from the rear of the classroom. It belonged to a most excited little girl. ...
"SDG" -- Soli Deo Gloria, "to God alone be the glory." On each manuscript he completed, Johann Sebastian Bach wrote these three letters. When we imprint those three letters on everything we do, we are living as God would have us live. Soli Deo Gloriato -- God alone be the glory. A teacher of the law asked our Lord, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: `Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart ...