Each year, I listen to a daily audio Bible podcast—and complete the Bible in one year. This year marks my sixth year through the Bible.
Why don’t I stop?
Every year, I learn new aspects of the Bible because each year, I am in a different place in my life, and the Holy Spirit speaks to me where I am.
The Bible is always fresh! It is always alive!
It is the only book that has a Living Spirit within it.
Each year, when I get to Judges in the Old Testament, I say, “Oh boy!” because I know what is ahead.
Passover begins this evening.
It is one of the most significant Jewish Holidays, commemorating when the angels of God “passed over” the Hebrews as the firstborn children and animals of the Egyptians were killed—all because Pharoah would not set the Hebrews free as God commanded.
With this final plague on Egypt, Pharoah agreed to free the Hebrews so they might begin their journey to the promised land.
God instructed the Jews to commemorate the first Passover, when they had marked their houses with blood, alerting the angels to “pass over” their homes.
Christians draw parallels in their faith,
This week, I was listening to a minister on the radio who noted that in the days after His resurrection, Jesus did not appear to Pilate to tell him that he had been wrong in ordering His crucifixion.
Jesus did not appear to the Jewish leaders and chastise them for not believing and demanding His death.
He did not appear to the Roman soldiers who nailed Him on the cross.
Why?
Today, I was drinking in the beautiful hymns of Psalm Sunday. They are majestic, powerful, and inspirational!
Among my very favorites is All Glory, Laud and Honor. When I close my eyes and listen to the lyrics, I can feel all the emotions I imagine those present at Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. The hope. The joy. The expectation.
As Christians, we carry the hope, joy, and expectation at our Lord’s second coming. Feel this excitement. Play this song and sing along. It is a wonderful way to enter into the spirit of Holy Week.
What are some of your favorite Holy Week Hymns/ song?
This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday, commemorating the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Long before Christ, the celebration of Pentecost was a joyous occasion. It marked the wheat harvest, which occurred 50 days after the celebration of the barley harvest—the first fruits. The word “Pentecost” is Greek for “fifty,” which refers to the fifty days between the two festivals.
But, when Christ died, this celebration took a dramatic turn
Lent gives us time for serious reflection.
It’s the season for repentance and restarts.
What are you doing to fully enter Lent?
I find Lent to be a good time to do an inventory of what I want to clean out of my life—and what I should continue to pursue.
Many of you likely have heard about the revival that has taken place at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky
This Sunday, the Sunday before Christmas Eve, we lit the fourth candle. This is the candle of love. In this season, what could be more important than love?
One thing that the Bible makes clear is that even more than wearing crosses, the mark of a Christian is how well he or she loves—like Jesus.
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this, all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35 (ESV)
Is there someone in your life for whom you lack love? Someone, you need to reach out to this holy season?
In my last blog, I wrote about Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf and the influence he had on denominations’ focus on having a personal relationship with Christ and a more emotional experience of salvation, and on mission work/ evangelization.
But Zinzendorf also was part of a movement that many Christians today don’t know about. Zinzendorf was part of a prayer meeting that—through hundreds of men and women who took turns praying—continued twenty-four hours every day for more than one hundred years.
Yes, a prayer meeting that lasted for more than 100 years.
