“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, i do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining [...]

Some of my favorite television programs are these popular “house cleaning” shows: How Clean Is Your House, Clean House, neat, Clean Sweep, etc. People either nominate themselves, or a friend or family member nominates a household in trouble with dirt and clutter in the home. These are people at their wits’ end – overwhelmed, with [...]

Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed amazing miracles and signs among the people. But one day some men from the Synagogue of Freed Slaves, as it was called, started to debate with him. They were Jews from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and the province of Asia. None of them could stand against [...]

read Luke 5:1-11Luke 5:1-11English: Contemporary English Version (1999) – CEVJesus Chooses His First Disciples 5 1 ; . Jesus was standing on the shore of Lake Gennesaret, c Lake Gennesaret: Another name for Lake Galilee. teaching the people as they crowded around him to hear God’s message. 2 Near the shore he saw two boats left there [...]

When red is juxtaposed with green, both colors pop – though nothing truly changes in characteristic, both colors seem to increase in intensity, in clarity. The same is true when opposing natures are compared – when Isaiah saw himself in light of the Lord and His perfection, he saw his sin painfully clearly (Isaiah 6). [...]