“Let all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; let those who love your salvation continually say, ‘God is great!’ I am oppressed and needy; hurry to me, God. You are my help and my deliverer; LORD, do not delay.” Psalm 70:4-5 There is an expectation here, a faith that seeking the Lord […]
“I tell you that many will come from east and west to share the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.”Matthew 8:11 Something about this verse caused it to resonate with me this morning, and to wonder at the grace of God in His calling of people from all places, nationalities, […]
“So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me.” Ezekiel 33:7 “Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the […]
“Everyone the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. This is the will of him who sent me: that I should lose […]
“John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins…And he preached, saying, ‘After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with […]
“After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), ‘I thirst.’ A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ‘It is […]
“Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John and followed [Jesus]. He first found his own brother Simon and told him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (which is translated ‘the Christ’), and he brought him to Jesus.” John 1:40-42 “And he brought him to Jesus.” Such a simple statement. But one […]
“But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned – every one – to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the […]
“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him […]
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 This morning I saw yet another disheartening headline. Another indication of a world increasing in wickedness and celebration of sin, a world increasingly hostile […]
In Pleasant Places 