Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, John 15:1-2, Psalm 1:3, Galatians 6:9, Genesis 8:20-22, Mark 4:26-29, James 5:7-8, 2 Timothy 4:1-7, Hosea 6:3, Daniel 2:21, Acts 1:7, Psalm 104:19, Genesis 1:14
I have observed through the years that most Christians have little understanding of the word ‘season’. Our Lord is a seasonal God; He comes, He departs. His faithfulness never changes, but His seasons...
Transition is one of the givens in our lives, and we only live well, we only manage our lives well, when we manage these transitions well. Our world changes; the circumstances of our lives change. The...
Leader: So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” People: He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Fat...
The Texas-based pastor Matt Chandler spent a decade working with teenagers, and during that time, he realized how a specific change takes place between sixth graders and ninth graders. As Chandler say...
John 1:14, Colossians 1:19, John 2:11, Acts 2:22, Matthew 9:35
Just as every natural event is the manifestation at a particular place and moment of Nature's total character, so every particular Christian miracle manifests at a particular place and moment the ...
Summary The lectionary texts since Easter have focused on the accounts of the spread of gospel after Pentecost. There has been opposition in Jerusalem, to the point of imprisoning apostles. But the b...
Luke 2:8-14, Acts 2:42-47, Matthew 14:13-21, John 2:1-11, Romans 15:7, 1 Peter 4:9, Luke 14:15-24, 2 Corinthians 9:7-8, Luke 10:27, Hebrews 10:24-25
Now Christmas is come, Let us beat up the drum, And call all our neighbors together, And when they appear, Let us make them such cheer, As will keep out the wind and the weather.
Summary The gospel has been spreading in Acts and the gospel is meeting resistance, with apostles being imprisoned. By the Holy Spirit, they are released from jail. The Spirit then instructs them to ...
Job 38:1–11, Jonah 1:4–17 , Exodus 14:21–31 , Mark 4:35–41, Acts 27:13–44 , John 20:24–29
It was late October 1991. The crew of the fishing boat Andrea Gail , out of Gloucester, Massachusetts, had taken the vessel five hundred miles out into the Atlantic. A cold front moving along the...
Every five hundred years, give or take a decade or two, Western culture, along with those parts of the world that have been colonized or colonialized by it, goes through a time of enormous upheaval, a...
Exodus 12:14, Exodus 13:8-9, Joshua 4:6-7, Acts 2:42, Joel 2:15-16
Rituals are procedures or routines that are fused with meaning. Ritual actions include various rites of passage (birth, marriage, death) or calendrical rites (religious holy days, national holidays), ...
God, you come to us and meet us in the strangest ways: sometimes in the stillness at the eye of the storm or in the midnight of our lives; sometimes in the raging whirlwind or in the high noon of our ...
1 Corinthians 8:, Acts 10:9-28, Luke 15:11-32, Jonah 3:4, Luke 18:9-14
It is incredibly tempting to disparage people who didn’t “change” with us. I have criticized the words of others when the same words came out of my own mouth just two years earlier, which is incredibl...
James 1:19, Proverbs 17:27-28, Matthew 5:9, Luke 10:38-42, James 1:17, Acts 20:35, 2 Chronicles 13:11
The monks at a remote monastery deep in the woods followed a rigid vow of silence. Their vow could only be broken once a year—on Christmas—by one monk. That monk could speak only one sentence. One Chr...
John 5:39-40, Hebrews 4:12, 2 Peter 3:9, 1 Corinthians 1:27, Mark 9:14-29, Acts 17:27, Luke 8:9-14
The famous entertainer W. C. Fields, known for his humor, love of drink, and agnosticism, found himself bedridden in his final illness. When a longtime friend visited and noticed Fields reading the Bi...
John 12:1-8, Mark 14:1-2, Matthew 26:3-13, John 11:45, Luke 7:44-47, Matthew 26:6, Mark 14:3, Luke 7:40, John 11:50-53, Luke 24:41-43, John 21:10-14, Acts 10:40-41, John 12:7, Philippians 2:6-8, Romans 6:1-10
Introduction This narrative is slightly changed from the Synoptic accounts. Matthew and Mark’s Gospels place this narrative two days prior to the Passover (Matt: 26:6-13; Mark 14:1). Three Evangelist...
Isaiah 9:6-7, Luke 2:1-20, Luke 2:13-14, Luke 2:8-20, Romans 15:13, Luke 1:46-55, Psalm 96:11-12, Luke 2:20, John 1:9, Luke 2:29-32, 2 Corinthians 4:6, Matthew 4:16, Matthew 5:14-16, Acts 2:1-4, Isaiah 11:6-9
Leader: Tonight old dreams die and new dreams come to life. The Promise is fulfilled! People: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace. Leader: Hope gives way to joy and prayer to proclamati...
Luke 2:29-32, Luke 1:78-79, Isaiah 9:2, John 8:12, Matthew 4:16, Acts 13:47, Psalm 98:2-3, Luke 2:10-11, John 1:9, Revelation 21:23
Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people, To be a light to lig...
There were three annual festivals in Israel—Passover along with the Feast of Unleavened Bread, The Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), and the Feast of Tabernacles. You can read about them in Leviticus 23 and...
This scripture guide is adapted from the Summer Settings sermon guide. For purposes of practicality and relatability, this series considers the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea “oceans.” The poi...
Jeremiah 1:4-10, Isaiah 6:null, Acts 1:8, 1 Peter 4:10-12, Mark 16:15, Galatians 1:15, Ephesians 4:12
Preaching Commentary Calling People often give me weird looks when I talk about being “called” by God. A pastor can be “called” to devote their working time to shepherding a church. A parent can be...
Notes on the Passage Besieged from All Angles: The context of this passage is best summed up with the words recorded throughout the letter: Trouble, Distress, Suffering, Hardship, Death at work, Ja...
Preaching Commentary An Introduction from Luke Our passage begins with a note from the author (Luke) to his reader (Theophilus), which reminds us that Luke-Acts was initially meant to be two parts ...
Genesis 1:2, Exodus 14:21, 1 Kings 19:11-12, Psalm 104:3-4, Acts 2:2-4, John 3:8, Matthew 6:25-34
If birds could write books, their story of creation would no doubt read quite differently than ours. In the first place, I expect they would make quite a lot out of that wind of God that swept over th...
In this excerpt, author David Zahl challenges the common belief that religion is “in decline.” He argues that while Westerners, particularly younger generations, may be distancing themselves from the ...