Read Acts 2:1-21 and 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13. And then keep going into chapter 13. A rushing wind. Tongues of fire. Tongues of other peoples. I’ve always had a fascination with spiritual gifts such as healing or prophecy or speaking in tongues. Paul names nine such gifts and seems to imply Read more…
Read John 17:1-11. I once heard the complaint that we don’t really get to know much about Jesus in the gospels. We see his activities, we hear his sermons, but who was the man? What did he love? What were his hopes and plans? What kinds of thoughts ran through Read more…
Read 1 Peter 3:13-22. A. The country is being torn into pieces. How then should we live? B. Unity is the most important thing. You are to be one in spirit. You are to love each other, have sympathy for each other, repay evil with good. This is your calling, Read more…
Read John 14:1-14. Jesus’ discourse to his disciples on the night of the last supper as related by John is one of the most sublime sections of the Bible. In it Jesus tells his disciples all the remaining things they need to learn. He addresses the deepest matters—the relationship between Read more…
Read Acts 2:42-47. The author of the Cloud of Unknowing describes how to enter into yourself and to seek God in love. “God is apprehended not by reason but by love,” “for it is love alone that can reach God in this life.” Thus, the prayer he describes is a Read more…
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in Read more…
Read 1 Peter 1:3-9. I have a little red spot on my hand. It itches. It looks like a reaction to poison ivy, though I don’t think I’ve come into contact with any while holed up in my house during this pandemic. Maybe I’ve developed a new allergy to something Read more…
Read John 17. But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. (John 17:13) Jesus wept. Jesus was troubled. Jesus mourned over Jerusalem. Jesus was rejected and persecuted and put to death. But Read more…
Read 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10. For it is indeed just of God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to the afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those Read more…
Read Romans 8:5-11. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the Read more…