We have come through a wonderful journey from Ash Wednesday to Glorious Easter.
My prayer is that the Holy Spirit has brought you closer to Jesus in humility and faithfulness to our Lord.
This is but one of many spiritual journeys you will travel. Every time you intentionally draw closer to you Lord and Savior you will be closer to your last breath on this planet.
As our faith in Christ Jesus increases every area of our life is affected.
What does Christ’s resurrection mean to you? If you haven’t read about it, Mark Chapter 16 below, recounts the event.
Mark 16:1-20 “And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.
If you think about it, the journey that Jacob took from Bethel to Peniel is a kind of Lenten journey that everyone of us should take.
Jacob was the younger brother of Esau who sought to take care of himself. Esau had the honored position in the family by being the first born.
This may have been a reason Jacob learned to live by his wits.
Last week we learned from Ephesians 2:1-3, that all mankind - by nature, and without exception - are children of wrath; dead in sins and trespasses; live according to the ways of Satan; and have his spirit actively working in them. That is the bad news. However, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the good news, and that is what we will examine today.
Eph 2:4 “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us…” Isn’t it wonderful that there is a “but”, and not a ...
Eph 1:15-16, “Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers.” Paul had been to Ephesus; but was here saying that after he left, he heard from others about the faith and love of these Christians.
ld Abraham to sacrifice Isaac as an offering, God directed him to a specific place on Mount Moriah. Moriah means “my teacher is the LORD” or “chosen of the LORD.” It turns out that Mount Moriah is a very significant place. 2 Chronicles 3:1 “Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.” I find it very interesting that ...
The fate of such notorious Indian chieftains as Geronimo, Sitting Bull and Mangas Coloradas is generally known. However, one historian wrote that the infamous Indio Juan, as he was called in Mexico, or Indian Joe, as he was called in the States, “disappeared into the vast mountains of northern Mexico and he was never heard of again.”
In 1994, I organized an expedition for El Paso art teachers into the Sierra Madre Mountains of Chihuahua, Mexico.
Ash Wednesday is its colloquial name. Its official name is the Day of Ashes. It is called Ash Wednesday because, being forty days before Good Friday, it always falls on a Wednesday and it is called Ash Wednesday because on that day at church the faithful have their foreheads marked with ashes in the shape of a cross.
Ash Wednesday, a day of fasting, is the first day of Lent in Western Christianity.
The story is told about a preacher that got up in the pulpit and apologized for the Band-Aid on his face. He said “I was thinking about my sermon while shaving and cut my face.” Afterward the treasurer found a note in the collection plate, “Next time, think about your face and cut the sermon.” Often speakers, even when staying in the allotted time frame, feel like they have only told half of what they desired to tell.
In I Kings 10:4-7 we have a record of the visit made by the queen ...
The emergency room doors banged open and a father, closely followed by his 16-year-old son, ran through cradling the unconscious form of his eight-year-old boy. The ER personnel responded quickly and whisked the boy away into the bowels of the big hospital leaving the two to pace back and forth in the waiting area.
The boys had left Mom at home to go on a weekend outing with their Dad to do some camping and fishing and to just spend some quality time together in the great outdoors.
