Imagine a signpost in a field nestling a tributary of the Pine Creek. On the sign is written the words, “The Big Event Before the Big Event!” No one knows what the big event is, let alone what the big event before the big event necessarily means. Nevertheless, everyone goes out to check it out. Cars line up and jam up traffic. Energy can be felt in the air, as well as excitement, intrigue, and mystery. Everyone goes out. Everyone wants to know what is going on and what will come next. Continue reading
Jesus Christ
A Mysterious Sign from God (Luke 2:1-7)
A Jewish girl was taken and made the Queen of the King of Persia. It was a less than ideal situation. This King was violent and moody, a volatile combination. Continue reading
Love on the Last Day (1 John 4:17-18)
In the recent documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor, Mr. Roger’s wife, Joanne, shares some of his last moments dying of stomach cancer. Fred Rogers frequently read Matthew 25, where the Son of Man comes in glory and gathers all the nations before him. The Son of Man, who is Jesus Christ, separates them one from another, like a shepherd separates his sheep from the goats. The Sheep inherent the Kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world, but the goats are cursed and sent to everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. As Fred would read this, he would ask Joanne, “Am I a sheep?” Continue reading
Are You Sure? (1 John 4:13-16)
Pastor Alister Begg tells a story about the late playwright George Bernard Shaw. In the days when radio was relatively new in the British Isles, the playwright gave a talk on the peculiarities of the English Language. During his talk, he said there were only two words with the “sh” (s-h) sound but not spelled with a “sh” at the beginning of the word. One listener took it upon herself to write to the playwright and correct him. The only word meeting that criteria was “sugar,” she said. According to the story, Shaw replied with a postcard. Only one sentence was on it: “Madam, are you sure?” Continue reading
Your work today matters (Haggai 2:20-23)
One would expect a book about the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple to end with the completion of the Temple. That is not how the Book of Haggai ends (Haggai 2:23). Continue reading
Honoring Our Wives and Mothers (1 Peter 3:7)
Submitted by Andy McIlvain.
Speaking to the National Congress of Mothers in 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt said: “No piled-up wealth, no splendor of material growth, no brilliance of artistic development, will permanently avail any people unless its home life is healthy … No ordinary work done by a man is either as hard or as responsible as the work of a woman who is bringing up a family of small children; for upon her time and strength demands are made not only every hour of the day but often every hour of the night … The woman who is a good wife, a good mother, is entitled to our respect as is no one else …” Continue reading
The Foolishness of God (1 Corinthians 1:18-25)
A traveler arrives at the foot of a high mountain that he must get to the other side of. He looks one way and sees a path that appears well-worn, free of thicket, and wide. He looks the other way and sees a path that is narrow, full of thicket, and less worn. He knows he must choose wisely, or he may not make it to the other side. Continue reading
Is Christianity Just a Bunch of Rules? (Ephesians 3:14-21)
Many people say that Christianity is just a bunch of rules: don’t steal, don’t cheat, don’t have sex outside of marriage, don’t use the Lord’s name in vain, don’t do this, don’t do that. If Christianity is just following an agreed upon set of rules, we would all fail. Continue reading
A Place Where God Dwells (Ephesians 2:19-22), Part 1 of Growing Together in Christ
Lisa was looking for a church. She wanted to find a church where her children could learn the things she learned as a child, where she could participate in the church’s music, and where sermons were interesting and relevant to her life. The First Church of Anywhere fit the bill. But, when the church laid off the youth pastor for budgetary issues, when the music program became flat, and when sermons seemed less interesting, she left the First Church of Anywhere and ran to the First Church of Anywhere Else. Continue reading
What Clothes Are You Wearing? (Genesis 3:7-21), Part 2 of Jesus in Genesis
Last December Hamilton Gibson Productions performed a poem written by Presbyterian minister Henry van Dyke at Wellsboro’s Dickens of a Christmas Celebration. The poem is entitled “The Foolish Fir-Tree” and tells the story of a fir tree in the middle of the woods.
Although the little fir tree started out content and happy with his beautiful evergreen clothes, trouble came in the summer. Continue reading