loved ⁽⁶⁴⁾

Luke 4:14–30; John 7:1–9; Romans 13:8–10 Love is a powerful force. Jealousy, envy, and fear are also powerful forces. Over time, love does win over jealousy and envy, but it often takes a lot of time, and the hurt and pain can take a long…

Matthew 14:1–23 Jesus’ cousin and herald was dead. He was murdered. Why was he murdered? He called the powerful to account. Herod’s marriage to Herodias had some issues. Herod had visited Herodias while she was still married to Herod’s brother, Philip. They decided they like…

Psalm 122; Isaiah 61:1–9; John 15:1–8 (read online ⧉) The year of the Lord’s favor is probably not this year. The ever-changing nature of this year, and all the odd and bad things that are going on would in no way seem to be the…

1 Samuel 16:1–5; Luke 14:28–33; James 4:13–17 (read online ⧉) But mouse-friend, you are not alone in proving foresight may be vain: the best-laid schemes of Mice and Men go oft awry, and leave us only grief and pain, for promised joy! Still, friend, you're…

Joel 2:27–32; Acts 10:1–16 (read online ⧉) Visions. In our current culture, visions are portrayed as “mystical” to the point of being unbelievable. We now have organizational vision statements which, if we’re honest, seem to be about as unbelievable as the visions that we think…