In His Praise

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” John 12:13b The people of Jerusalem welcomed Jesus as a king. They worshipped Him, laid palm branches and clothes before Him. They shouted praises to Him — Hosanna! Hosanna!. It seemed everyone was happy to see their Savior. But it didn’t take long before the mood of the crowd changed. Only a few short days later Jesus was arrested, given a mock trial, beaten and sentenced to death on the cross. Pilate tried to let Jesus go free. But the chief priests and other officials began to chant Crucify Him, Crucify Him!  (John 19:6) Their chants soon incited the crowd to join in and some of the same people that worshipped Jesus a few days before were now ready…

“And this is what he promised us —even eternal life.” 1 John 2:25 In the second chapter of  1 John we find a section written to Christian believers warning them about false teachers and antichrists. During this time there were those that wanted to teach things that were contrary to Christian beliefs. John wanted to give the people encouragement and reminders of what was true and right. In verses 1-17 he reminds them of their salvation through Christ and what living in the light should look like. These people lived in perilous times. There were real dangers and real evil lurked around them. It was important that they be well grounded in the gospel. They needed to be strong in their faith, remember their salvation and be assured of the…

“I pray that you… may grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge…” Ephesians 3:17-19 Today’s Bible verse is a part of the prayer spoken by Paul for the Ephesian people. Paul wanted to encourage and strengthen their faith and to help them be more aware of the love that Christ had for them. Although, we know that we can never measure Christ’s love, we can see examples of it in our lives everyday and throughout the scriptures. Here a few thoughts to ponder on this subject: How wide is the love of Christ? So wide that He stretched out His arms on a cross to be nailed there for the sins of all the world.…

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23 Some may say that there is no such thing as ‘free anything”. Admittedly, with mankind there usually is a hidden catch. Anything that sounds too good to be true, usually is just that — not true. We have been conditioned to be alert to scams, tricks and deceit. We stay on our guard to prevent being taken advantage of or making a bad choice that we will regret later.  In Romans 6:23 though we read about a choice that we can make, which really should be a no-brainer. We all are given this choice. We can either reject Jesus and live in sin which will pay us with…

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.”  Hebrews 10:24  “I am not my brothers keeper!” We have all heard these words before and may have even spoken them. While it is true that we are not responsible for another’s actions, the Bible says that as part of a Christ’s body, we are to encourage (spur)  each other toward good deeds.   Cowboys are known to  wear spurs on their boots to help get their horses to move faster or to go in the desired direction. It is a gentle nudge. We can give these gentle nudges to others when we lend a listening ear,  offer a helping hand, or express sincere gratitude. It might also simply be a warm smile, a…

“I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.” Ephesians 1:18 The prayer that the Apostle Paul penned when writing to the Ephesians is powerful and timely. The recipients of Paul’s letter were already Christians and Paul expressed his thankfulness for them in verses 15 - 17. He went on to say though, that he was asking God for more for them. Paul wanted to see these people grow in their faith, he wanted to strengthen their hope in Jesus and he wanted to make sure they knew that God was working on their behalf. …

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 The truest, most wonderful love story of all is summed up in the words of John 3:16 and is demonstrated in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross!  God sent Jesus to be our Redeemer. Jesus fulfilled that role when He took on the sins of the whole world and  died on the cross. But the love didn’t end there, Jesus overcame death and rose to life again and now lives eternally with the Father, giving us a way to salvation. This week when you are giving and receiving Valentine cards and gifts, think about the One that loves you the most, the One…

“Be still, and know that I am God…” Psalm 46:10a Psalm 46 begins by declaring that God is our “refuge and strength’’, always present in trouble. The psalmist praises God for His power and describes His almighty actions to protect His people when overwhelmed with trouble.  In verse 10 God responds by telling the people to be still and know that He is God. We too face troubles that seem to overwhelm us. Stresses are everywhere — family, relationships,  jobs, finances. It is easy to let the problems of the world overtake us. It easy to become burdened down with worry and doubt.  But, we too are called to be still and recognize the almighty God. God will speak peace to our hearts and minds in those still, quiet moments…

“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 7:12 Treat others like you want to be treated. How many times have we spoken these words to our children as they were quarreling, or being selfish over a toy? We call it the Golden Rule, indicating its importance. Many probably learned it as a child in Sunday School. But Jesus’ words are not just parenting advice or words to memorize in Sunday School. They are not just suggestions to guide children. They are not advice, suggestions or just words at all— this is a command spoken by our Lord to teach us how we should strive to interact with others.   He said in everything…

“By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:35 People living in this area would probably say that the weather this past week was very trying. We had sub-zero wind chills, single digit highs, freezing rain, snow and frigid, high winds.  Businesses were closed, schools were closed and people were encouraged to stay off the roads. Events and activities had to be cancelled due to the weather. It was a tough several days. But through all of that, the love of God shone through. Churches and other organizations stepped up to open warming stations. Here people without heat could sleep, shower and get a hot meal. Individual businesses delivered food, medicine and other supplies to those in need. Coworkers  and some…