Devotional

Religion Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20 DEVOTION “Ash Wednesday” and “Valentine’s Day” share the same calendar square this year. So, what will this day look like for you? Will it be festooned in red bows, bling, and balloons? Or, as ashes mark your forehead, will you “Remember you are dust and to dust you will return”? Maybe your…

Death I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.  Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.  When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death…

Sanctification Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what was customary under the law, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying, “Master, now you are dismissing your servant…

Sin He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field, but while everybody was asleep an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and then went away.  So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well.  And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’  He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and…

Creation And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind.” And it was so. God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind and the cattle of every kind and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:24-25 STORY Bob Barker was a fixture on daytime television for half a century, first as the host of Truth or Consequences from 1956 to 1974, and, most famously, starting in 1972, on The Price…

Humility If, then, there is any comfort in Christ, any consolation from love, any partnership in the Spirit, any tender affection and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests but to the interests of others. Philippians 2:1-4 STORY Charles Feeney was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey in 1931. His parents were devout Catholics. His father, Leo, was an insurance underwriter…

Second Coming “But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so, too, will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left. Two…

Christmas Meditation As we dwell in the shadow of Christmas Day, let us share together that wonderful editorial that the spirit of Santa Claus is real: Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole…

Christmas Let us read and enjoy together the classic Christmas story written by O. Henry which was published in 1905, and whose message still resonates with us this day… T h e  G i f t o f  t h e  M a g i ONE DOLLAR AND EIGHTY-SEVEN CENTS. That was all. She had put it aside, one cent and then another and then another, in her careful buying of meat and other food. Della counted it three times. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas. There was nothing to do but fall on…

Christological Titles – Jesus Thesis Samuel Langhorn Clemons is better known to us by his pen name Mark Twain. Four years after his birth, in 1839, his family moved to Hannibal, Missouri, a thriving port city. It was from this locale along the banks of the Mississippi River that Clemons became endured to the mighty river and the steamboats that traveled to-and-fro. At the age of 17, he left home for St. Louis to work as a newspaper reporter. However, the siren call of the river never parted from his ears, so pursuing his passion he secured his river pilot’s…