'celebrate' Tagged Posts
Daily Devotions
But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” vs. 23 Matthew 13:18-23 Even though Jesus used parables to describe the Kingdom of God, most people did not understand what he was talking about… and the parable of the sower, as he explained it to his disciples, was a way to…
Daily Devotions
I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you.” vs. 18 John 14:18-21 It’s not unusual for people to have mixed feelings about their mothers. Occasionally children will blame them for any number of their emotional or psychological hang-ups, but more often they are held in deep regard and honored as a prime source of warmth and love. As a result, Mother’s Day has become the primary “Hallmark Holiday,” and outside of Christmas and Easter, is often the…
Daily Devotions
The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish. Then I called on the name of the Lord: ‘O Lord, I pray, save my life!’” vss. 3-4 Psalm 116:1-4 The psalmist had a powerful story of deliverance that he believed would lift up and encourage the entire congregation of believers. He’d been close to death, perhaps with a dread illness, and had cried out to the Lord for help. And…
Daily Devotions
Christmas Day And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” vs. 14 John 1:1-14 Christmas is the day chosen to celebrate the birth of Jesus, and the name was chosen quite deliberately. It would not have been adequate to call it Jesusmas. Not only would that name have been clumsy to say, it wouldn’t have come close to expressing the…
Daily Devotions
Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house.” vs. 11 Deuteronomy 26:1-11 The Israelites, convinced that the God of their ancestors had directed them to cross the Jordan and take possession of the land, codified thanksgiving as a part of their written law. Each year after the harvest they would take a portion of the firstfruits…
Daily Devotions
But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.’” vs. 14 Mark 10:13-16 There is some evidence in scripture that Jesus may have been involved in baptisms during his ministry, but there is no indication that he baptized little children or even advocated such a thing. He didn’t know about infant baptism, though…