Another Perspective of Visiting 52 Different Congregations for a Year By Candy DeHaan What do you do when God prompts your husband to take a one-year break from your home church to visit other congregations, a different one every week? You can’t argue with God, so you go on a fifty-two-week adventure by your husband’s […]
Peace Be with You! Today’s passage: John 20:19–20, along with Mark 16:14 and Luke 24:36–43 Focus verse: Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” (John 20:19) Having spent several days focusing on Luke’s account of the pair of disciples who travel to Emmaus, we segue from Luke’s gospel back to […]
God Loves Us and His Favor Lasts a Lifetime The book of Psalms gives us glimpses into God’s character and his love for us. Though some people view God, as portrayed in the Old Testament, as angry and vengeful, a more careful read gives us a different perspective. We see his love and his patience; […]
Today’s passage: 1 John 5:6–12 Focus verse: For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. (1 John 5:7–8) The Old Testament gives a rule that to convict someone requires two or three witnesses (Deuteronomy 19:15). The testimony of one person is not enough. Two people must […]
May We Never Become Indifferent toward Our Spiritual Practices and Faith Consider the adage that familiarity breeds contempt. While I hope that our familiarity with God will never breed contempt toward our Creator and Savior, I do wonder if our familiarity breeds complacency, that is a smug indifference or even apathy toward our faith. Recall […]
Discover How to Attract Visitors and Keep Them Coming Back On our year-long journey of visiting churches, we witnessed more than a few oversights, errors, and blunders that could turn off visitors. Sadly, many occurred more than once. Here are some tips for improvement to consider to not scare away guests. The Church Facility Realtors […]
…and the Mysterious Stranger Today’s passage: Mark 16:12–13 and Luke 24:13–18 Focus verse: As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them. (Luke 24:15) John doesn’t mention that two of Jesus’s followers make a trip to Emmaus. While Mark mentions this briefly, Luke gives us […]
Sheba Leads a Rebellion Against David After Absalom’s coup attempt to take over his father’s throne is squelched, a troublemaker tries to lead a rebellion against David. Here’s what happens: When Absalom takes David’s throne, David and his entourage flee the city. Safely away, his army fights against Absalom’s army. When Joab kills Absalom, his […]
Today’s passage: 1 John 5:1–5 Focus verse: Everyone born of God overcomes the world. (1 John 5:4) There is a lot packed into today’s passage, but most of it reviews what John has already written. He talks about believing in Jesus as our Savior (the Christ) for us to be born again. How loving the Father is […]
Forgive and be Forgiven As followers of Jesus, we shouldn’t judge others, but we do. Too often, we judge Christians for their theology. We must stop. When we evaluate others based on what they believe, we diminish them in the process. And we smugly elevate ourselves over them. When we do this, our egos show […]