“Our True Nature”
by AMN
Isaiah 1:1, 10-20
I often hear people say that this country is a godly nation and I see people take pride when “God Bless America” gets played. In Isaiah’s day, the Kingdom of Judah felt the same exact way about their nation. Who could blame them? With direct access to God, the beautiful temple of Solomon and having more priests and Levites than the ‘hood has liquor stores; it put the other tribes in the Northern Kingdom to shame.
by AMN
Psalm 82
“The Office of God”
In this Psalm of Asaph, the psalmist rightly talks about who is actually in control of everything and those who abuse God’s office of being a Judge and diviner of justice will one day have to answer for their doings; including those who sit as appointed officials in our government.
Galatians 6:1-16
“Restoration”
by AMN
“Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest you also be tempted.”
This verse is the essence of what being a follower of Jesus Christ is all about, but the hardest to execute among each other. I know, I myself, find it hard to exact the same kind of forgiveness that I expect to get for my shortcomings and give it to someone else.
Luke 9:51-62
“The Manner of the Spirit”
by AMN
In this passage, Jesus is on his way back to the Holy City and he stops by a Samaritan village on his way there. The Samaritan villagers give him unwelcoming gestures to leave their village because they know where he is headed. For those of you who don’t know the times, Jews and Samaritans had a very strong dislike towards each other. The Jews thought them to be lesser than them because the Samaritans’ fellowship with God got watered down over the centuries.
1 Kings 19:1-15
“That Still Small Voice”
by AMN
I hold this passage of God’s holy word very dear to my depraved heart. That still small voice that came to Elijah on that mountain came to me during a life-altering moment in my life. I was in solitary confinement and literally fighting against spiritual wickedness in my cell.
“Speak Truth with Power”
by CM
1 Kings 18:20-21 [22-29] 30-39
How difficult it can be to go against the grain, to stand when the currents are moving, and to resist when the crowd demands that one conform. And yet, how easy it is to let yourself think that you’re alone at such times.
PENTECOST, May 15, Acts 2
Pentecost is marked in the church with celebration and fire. Our clergy dress in red and our hangings use images of fire and wind. Pentecost is drama.
But to the observers of the first Christian Pentecost what was transpiring looked more like drunken excess. Was there ever a miracle of God so poorly misunderstood? Were there ever prophets more unlikely?
