The Best Day Ever.  [A Timely piece.] Ephesians 2.4-6

Today I was driving on the Pacific Coast Highway looking at the aqua blues of the ocean, which always puts a smile on my face and makes me think of the Creator. You know, some folks feel God in the mountains most keenly; yet others, in the desert. While I love the mountains, especially those covered with snow, I certainly see and feel God in the waves of the Pacific Ocean that crash faithfully upon the shore. Yes, I live in a surf…

"That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death."

Hebrews 2:14

O child of God, death hath lost its sting, because the devil's power over it is destroyed. Then cease to fear dying. Ask…

Matthew chapter Six, all of it.

Before we break it into sections, it is wise to look at a passage in its entirety. If you are looking at this Morning Briefing, you will note that all of Matthew chapter six is in red ink, meaning these are the spoken words of Jesus. He addresses doing our good deeds in front of people so as to earn the praise of others vs. doing them in private. Then Jesus answers the request of the disciples who ask him how to pray, by teaching them what some call…

Taking a Journey with the Apostle John – Part XVI

1Jn 3:11-15 NIV84  This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.  (12)  Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous.  (13)  Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you.  (14)  We know that we have passed from death to life, because we…

My name is Carissa. I feel like God is calling me to help others in a certain situation. The first thing I will do before helping someone is to seek God's face and asking him to give me the right words to say. God has called us to be a light to others by sharing his story with the hurting and the broken. I do think it's important to help people in need and bring them out of darkness into the light. On March 31st of this year 2015, I saw the movie Do you believe? It's about 12 different…

Default mode – God is Good.

When something in your world goes haywire, to what do you default? Sure, your computer has default settings, your brain has a default mode network, but do you, one that keeps you emotionally upright, when the world seems to have turned upside down? One that keeps its faith, even when shaken, but does not lose itself? In the recent days, I have been involved in relational settings—

--when a much-loved high school student died from leukemia at…

Strength from the Rock. 

Strength from the Rock. 1 Timothy 1.12; Psalm 61.2-3; Psalm 18.2

The phone rang twice from one son. The phone rang again from the next son. The phone rang yet again from the third son. I missed them all, because I had left my phone upstairs. All were calling about the same thing—a fallen brother. It has been more than a year now since Matthew (now 32) was diagnosed with epilepsy after blunt force trauma to the head, and he has actually been doing quite…

Flashbacks and warm feelings. Matthew Five

Perhaps it happens most frequently with a photograph. We walk by the same picture hanging on the wall in our house every day, but on this day—we SEE it. We see it, and we remember, and it takes us back. For instance, on one wall of my home, there is a portrait of me lifting Amy’s (my daughter) veil to kiss her after she was just pronounced ‘…wife,’ with tears brimming in my eyes. Just like that, I am back in that wedding in the park and…

Getting back to the Gospel of Matthew.  (Chapters 1 – 5, recap)

Greetings:…

Springtime and Growth.

Hello.…

In the 1800's, English orphans were housed in disease-infested institutions, forced to work long hours, barely fed, and harshly treated.*



George Mueller (1805-1898) gave up all he owned and worked without salary for the sake of these orphans. 



Without asking for money, he prayed three orphanages into…

Taking a Journey with the Apostle John – Part XV

1 John 3:7-10

John emphasizes the fact that the people to whom he is writing, including us that are saved today, are children of God. This identification must forever be recognized and embraced by the believer in…

*** PRAISE THE LORD FROM THE EARTH,YOU GREAT SEA CREATURES AND ALL THE DEPTHS.FIRE AND HAIL,SNOW AND CLOUDS ; STORMY WIND,FULFILLING HIS WORD ; MOUNTAINS AND ALL HILLS ; FRUITFUL TREES AND ALL CEDARS ; BEASTS AND ALL CATTLE ; CREEPING THINGS AND FLYING FOWL ; KINGS OF THE EARTH AND ALL PEOPLES ; PRINCES AND ALL JUDGES OF THE EARTH ; BOTH YOUNG MEN AND MAIDENS ; OLD MEN AND CHILDREN . LET THEM PRAISE THE NAME OF THE LORD , FOR HIS NAME ALONE IS EXALTED ; HIS GLORY IS ABOVE THE EARTH…

Let it be Springtime in your Heart!

Springtime is here!  With the harsh winter the East Coast of the United States endured, (pictured is a Chicago city street, but no doubt Boston and the New York area)-- all are looking for spring tulips to pop through the ground!…

Why does the Resurrection Matter so Much?  Easter, 2015.  Last one.

Howdy. …

"First faith, then obedience. If by that we mean that it is faith which justifies, and not the act of obedience, all well and good, for that is the essential and unexceptionable presupposition of all that follows. If however we make a chronological distinction between faith and obedience, and make obedience subsequent to faith, we are divorcing the one from the other -- and then we get the practical question, when must obedience begin? Obedience remains separated from faith. From the point…

"On him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus."

Luke 23:26

We see in Simon's carrying the cross a picture of the work of the Church throughout all generations; she is the cross-bearer after…