Jesus causes quite the stir in Luke 4 (his first public words). In the synagogue in Nazareth, he reads from Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and...
This is a season of celebrations and transitions. We have celebrated the birth of our Savior. We celebrated the love of friends and family. We celebrated the wonderful blessings God has given us and we prepare for the end of one year and the beginning of another. The...
We are starting a new series on the Life and Teachings of Jesus on Sunday, December 3. As we’ll see, Jesus always challenges our preconceptions. Take, for example, the story of a rich young man who approaches Jesus and asks, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit...
We are entering the season of the year that is usually the busiest for churches and individuals. Thanksgiving will be here in just a few short weeks and the Christmas season follows immediately after that. There will be numerous family gatherings, huge meals to cook,...
My daughter Evelyn’s favorite song as a young toddler was “One Day” by the Hasidic Jewish reggae/hip-hop beatboxing artist Matisyahu (honestly). I take credit for this. (Oh, the joys of having exclusive control of the iPod in those days…) In this song Matisyahu offers...
The Old Testament book of Haggai tells part of the story of rebuilding the Temple after the people returned to Jerusalem from exile. In Haggai’s day, the people were discouraged because things were not going as well as they expected. They saw the Temple that was...
