“Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven…” (Matthew 6:14). As God’s children, we ought to live our lives under the “umbrella” of God’s will as it has been presented to us in the Bible. Last Sunday, the Old Testament reading contained the (well known) verse: “He has told you, O man, … [Read more…]
“Your kingdom come…” (Matthew 6:14). One of the ancients observed that God “…has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). (Actually it was a divine inspiration rather than observation…). What is eternity? … [Read more…]
“Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10). There are … [Read more…]
“This, then, is how you should pray: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name…” (Matthew 6:9) The story of Jesus – the Son of God – is a story of simplicity and deep reverence of God. He came as the Father’s Son, yet without any “bells and whistles”.Jesus’ teachings reveal that God doesn’t require … [Read more…]
“This, then, is how you should pray: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name…” (Matthew 6:9) Making New Year resolutions is a tradition, most common in the Western World “in which a person resolves to continue good practices, change undesired behaviour, accomplish a personal goal, or otherwise improve their behaviour at the beginning of … [Read more…]
“…Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him” (Matthew 2:2). A picture is worth a thousand words. The “Christmas picture” is a mundane/common picture: it represents a normal life event. A baby being born is a normal life … [Read more…]
“From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another” (John 1:16) Let us use our imagination, shall we? This is the challenge: What would Christmas look like – without the Gospel stories about Jesus’ birth? No visiting angels; no heavenly host; no star… Without the well-known ‘nativity scene’? Without the … [Read more…]
”And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David…” (Luke 2:4) The promise of a deliverer – “the serpent’s head crusher” was made to “cancel” the evil one and his plans. … [Read more…]
“King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, sixty cubits (27m) high and six cubits wide, and set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon “ (Daniel 3:1). This particular story begins by describing the actions of a mad, self-delusional, power hungry king of Babylon. The statue he built which was … [Read more…]
“There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit” (Isaiah 11:1). Isaiah, from what I recall, has been called the evangelist of the OT – the good news bearer. He, more than any other prophet, is in the good news business. The passage, today, … [Read more…]