But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. (Micah 5:2) The story of humanity points to Bethlehem—The focal point of history is Bethlehem. Everything in the Scriptures points to Bethlehem. In this Christmas season the prophet brings
To all ye Pilgrims, Inasmuch as the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, peas, squashes and garden vegetables, and has made the forests to abound with game and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as he has protected us, has spared us from pestilence and disease, has granted us freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our own
Are you declaring the things of God in and over your life? When you do that, you open the door for God’s favor to come flooding into your life and at the same time, you slam it shut on the things of this world that bring challenges. Praise God!! Psalm 30 is a psalm of thanksgiving, traditionally ascribed to David upon the building of his own royal palace—"I will extol
The human mind is an amazing creation of God. It can handle billions of informational bites, and process over eight hundred functions a second. No supercomputer will ever compare with the human mind’s amazing power. And what’s even more incredible is that we only use a fraction of its capacity. Scripture tells us, “As a person thinks in his or her heart, that is who they are.” (Proverbs 23:7) It
Being thankful isn't just for the Thanksgiving holiday—Scripture tells us to be ". . . thankful in everything, in all circumstances" (1 Thessalonians 5:18). When we find ourselves overwhelmed with burdens and worried about tomorrow, we can praise God for who He is and His promise to never leave us or forsake us. Gratitude or thankfulness comes from the Latin word “gratus”, which is defined as a feeling of appreciation
Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless
Judas is one of Biblical history's most unfortunate and tragic figures. He became a pawn in Satan's evil game to destroy the Messiah, an act that would ultimately fail as prophecy predicted in Genesis 3:14 - 15. Jesus invited him to be one of His original twelve disciples. It's natural for people to have strong or mixed feelings about Judas Iscariot. Some feel a sense of hatred toward him for
We often judge people by one mistake. We never let them forget it—And so often, we never let the world forget it either. When we think of David, we think of his sin. We forget what a great man he was despite his failure. When we think of Jacob, we think of how he stole his brother’s birthright. In Peter, we remember his denial. Shakespeare said, “The evil that men
John McKay, the former hall of fame coach of the University of South California Trojans once said “it is not the superstars who win the championships—It is all the average players who play their hearts out behind the scenes with no accolades, that make the superstars better and win games.” These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son
