I have a confession to make: I love listening to other people’s conversations. Sitting in a coffee shop and listening to the conversations around me is fun. Any time I need a break from reading or writing, I’ll sit there and allow my focus to gravitate toward the loudest conversation...
Focus your mind for a moment on a man Simeon living in Jerusalem some 2000 years ago. He has followed God his whole life and has been faithful and devout in everything that God has asked him to do. As long as he could remember, he had been reading the...
If you have never taken the time to sit down and read 1 John as a whole, this is the week to do it. 1 John is a 5 Chapter book that probably will take you less than 15 minutes to read. While it certainly has some challenging sections, the...
In Mark 2, Jesus is having dinner with his disciples and, to the Pharisees’ surprise, sinners and tax collectors. Instead of asking Jesus directly, the scribes of the Pharisees question Jesus’ disciples about this. Jesus overheard though, and he answered, “It is not those who are healthy who need a...
When is the last time you prayed specifically for boldness? The quality of boldness is not one that is always admirable. Boldness means to be fearless before danger (Merriam-Webster). While that sounds like something we all would want to be, there are plenty of people whose mindless fearlessness has resulted...
Perhaps no other city received Paul and Barnabus with more love than the city of Lystra. In Acts 14 after Paul had healed a lame man while speaking the good news of the Gospel, the people proclaimed out loud, “The gods have become like men and have come down to...
As I was reading Luke’s gospel account this week, I came across an interesting theme. The theme centers around one question, “Who is this?” The question first appears immediately after Jesus begins his ministry. As “news about him went out through all the surrounding country” people started asking, “Is not...
In our Sunday sermons, we are studying through the teachings of Jesus. Our study aims to focus on what Jesus says to us through God’s Word so we can know God’s will (Psalm 40:8; John 6:38, 40). Although we have shored up our thoughts with other verses throughout the Bible,...
Over the past few years, fashion has seemed to change dramatically. Those who have lived in the ’70s and ’80s have probably seen some of their childhood and young adults’ clothing styles come back around. Teenagers are raiding their parents’ and grandparents’ old clothes to find “vintage clothing.” This has...
“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.” This passage is one of the most interesting pieces of advice that Jesus gave his disciples. Before he sends them out to preach the good news of the kingdom...