Genesis 32:22-32 (NLT)

It is when we are alone with God that He is able to speak in that still small voice, asking us the hard questions. God asked Jacob, What is your name? To Jacob, that question meant much more than simply what do people call you? It meant he had to answer God […]

Acts 21:1-16 (NLT)
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a man who saw into the future and was able to visualize how the world should be. In his famous speech I Have a Dream, he shared with his audience his unquenchable vision for America.
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day […]

Genesis 4:1-26 (NLT)
Genesis 4 is a favorite story for moralists, those people who are always looking for a moral lesson in every biblical story. This is surprising, because the story of Cain and Abel blows the whole project of moralism out of the water. Read the entire chapter moralistically, rather than just the opening verses, […]

John 1:35-42 (NLT)

In today’s passage, we encounter two men who have come to discover God’s love for them in Christ Jesus. As we carefully examine the text, we can discover a general principle on the process of how one is properly led to God’s love.
Two disciples of John the Baptist first heard the message from […]

Philippians 2:1-18 (NLT)
Leonard Bernstein, the late conductor of the New York Philharmonic orchestra, was once asked to name the most difficult instrument to play. Without hesitation, he replied: “The second fiddle. I can get plenty of first violinists, but to find someone who can play the second fiddle with enthusiasm, that’s a problem. And if […]

Acts 10:9-33 (NLT)
Jacob DeShazer flew on an American bomber to drop bombs over Japan. But his plane and crew did not make it out of Japan. Captured and imprisoned, he developed a deep hatred toward the Japanese. Then one day he was given some time with the Bible. God captured his heart. But what effect […]

John 10:1-21 (NLT)
Urban realities limit our understanding of the intimate care of a shepherd towards his herd and the life-dependent relationship the sheep have to their caretaker.
I happen to be an urbanite displaced in what can only be described as farmland. Every morning, I drive out from our street to be greeted by a fenced-in […]

Colossians 3:1-17 (NLT)
Shamdeo was a child who was abandoned by his mother at birth. The helpless baby was left to die at the hands of forest wildlife. It just so happened, however, that when a den of wolves came upon the baby, instead of making a meal out of him, they decided to take the […]

Acts 9:32-43 (NLT)
It’s easy to forget that there’s more to these stories than the healings. They’re important, to be sure, and they are remarkable, there’s no denying that. It is dangerous, however, to fix our eyes on just the healings, because to do so sets us up for discouragement when healings do not happen. I’ve […]

Acts 8:9-25 (NLT)
The man named Simon mentioned in this passage liked being the center of attention. When he was a sorcerer, people “oohed” and “ahhed” at his magic. You can be sure that whatever power he had, it did not come from God, but the folks in Samaria sure thought there was something divine about […]

Acts 12:1-19 (NLT)Today’s text brings out mixed emotions. There are two different fates for the men who used to be the disciples of Jesus. James, the brother of John, falls to the sword of King Herod and dies the death of martyr. Peter, we read, experiences a miraculous delivery from God, while he is thrown […]

John 11:38-44 (NLT)Today’s reading is the famous story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Previous verses indicate that Lazarus’ sisters asked Jesus to come to heal His beloved friend, Lazarus, and for reasons they could not understand, he had delayed. The healing the sisters had both longed for had not occurred. While Jesus gave no […]

Jude 12-13 (NLT)
When I was in elementary school, letters sent home to parents from school were written in two languages. One side of the ditto sheet had words in English and if you flipped over to the back the same letter was there in Spanish. One day, walking home from school, I happened to look […]

John 19:38-42 (NLT)
Have you ever thought about your own funeral? I am by nature an organizer, and since I serve in the church, I attend many funerals. So I must admit that there were many occasions while sitting in these services, where I would secretly decide that I would want the simple lavender hydrangeas set […]

James 5:1-6 (NLT)
The Bible always seems to be very harsh on the rich. The prophets spoke against them. Jesus compared the difficulty of the rich entering the Kingdom of God to a camel trying to get through the eye of a needle. And here again, James has no sympathy for them. Is God really categorically […]

Acts 1:12-26 (NLT)The disciples returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, where they had just witnessed the most phenomenal event—right before their very eyes Jesus ascended into Heaven, to sit again at God the Father’s right hand in glory. But before He was taken up, He gave them instructions and a great commission. Their […]