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“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.” Proverbs 13:12 Expectations and desires are such a beautiful and yet dangerous part of life. To have a dream, let alone seeing it fulfilled, creates a feeling in your heart that is essential for a meaningful life. To have desires […]

Bible Reading: Joel 2:11-14 Digging Deeper: After graphically describing the Day of the Lord (vv1-11), Joel ends with these words, “Who can endure it?” Joel asks knowing that the answer is, no one can endure. The only thing to do is to respond wholeheartedly to the gracious offer of God. God wants the nation to […]

“What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?” Romans 8:31 I have read chapters five through eight of Romans plenty of times. It is full of the most tremendous promises and acts of God in saving his creation – saving my soul, […]

“In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name.” Psalm 33:21 I am unsure of the source of my thinking of who God was before I became a believer – for I perceived him as both a far removed punisher but also a really old man. My understanding of who our God […]

James, Jesus’ brother, is a wonderful letter of practical living in our new life. The book could be known as the New Testament Proverbs, or a sermon series on the Sermon on the Mount. We see why as one reads through the five chapters of James. Reading through the text of James, I cannot escape […]

Synoptic Accounts (Mark 1:1-7; Matthew 1:18-2:12; Luke 1:5-2:21) of Jesus’ birth plus John’s reflection (John 1:1-18) Storyline snapshot 1.      Priest Zechariah, husband of Elizabeth given angelic promise of John the Baptist (the one preparing the way, like Isaiah promised) 2.      Mary receives her angelic promise of a son named Jesus, the Son of the Most […]

Suffering has a negative connotation to it, as it should, because it is not a pleasurable experience.  In suffering we experience negative thoughts and emotions which influence how we are likely to behave.  Suffering can be challenging, frustrating or even painful.  Although we try to avoid it, we have to accept that suffering is part […]