I've had an Epiphany!

Artwork: The Visitation Artist: Jan Lievens Date: 1607-1674 Technique: Oil on canvas Location: Musee du Louvre, Paris   Worship Theme: Since Adam, all have come to life in the sinful image of the first parents. With that image comes death. But now comes one who will shepherd his people Israel , one born God and man, the Word made flesh to bring salvation to every generation. The judgment is coming, yet the Lord’s deliverance for every generation is at hand.     Old Testament: Genesis 4:1-2, 6-8, 25-5:5 Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, "With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man." 2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. … 6 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at...

Luke 3:7 John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 9 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire." 10 "What should we do then?" the crowd asked. 11 John answered, "The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same." 12 Tax collectors also came to be baptized. "Teacher," they asked, "what should we do?" 13 "Don't collect any more than you are required to," he told them. 14 Then some soldiers asked him, "And what should we do?" He replied, "Don't extort money and d...

Why? Why would someone cause such pain, heartache and death? Why is there so much evil in this world? Why does the world seem to keep getting worse – theater, temple, school? Why? The Bible answers our questions of “Why.” “Because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16 ). “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). “There will be great distress in the land” (Luke 21:23 ). Jesus predicted that things were going to get bad in these End Times. Satan and cohorts will unleash their evil upon this world. But when conditions worsen, when unexplainable tragedy strikes, Jesus encourages us, “See to it that you are not alarmed” (Matthew 24:6). Trust in the ultimate victory that is ours. We live with one foot in this world and one foot straining for the next. We embrace the twin realities of current tragedy and eventual triumph. Yes, life is cruel. But it won’t be forever. As one of my friends likes to say, “Everything will work out in t...

God’s Wisdom Puts Human Wisdom to Shame I.                     In the way he chose to have the Son of God become the Son of Man II.                  In the way he chooses to have sons of men become sons of God   One of the greatest earthly gifts our Creator has given us is our mind.   Although there are plenty of people who tell us that the mind developed pretty much by chance, the Bible tells us that it is by design that you and I have our minds.   You see, God wanted to share some of his secrets with us—secrets about who we are and who he is and what his plans for us are.   He couldn’t very well have done that if you and I had been blocks of granite or puppy dogs or rain clouds.   Our mind is the God-given vessel into which God can place his truth and by whic...

If you’re like most people, you do your major giving toward the end of the year. This probably occurs for several reasons. Thanksgiving, Advent, Christmas, and the coming New Year remind us of our many great blessings in Christ and move us to want to give. The closing of the tax season reminds itemizers to take advantage of income tax deductions. And appeals from various charities remind us of the needs and opportunities that we can help support. Here are five tips to help you make the most of your year-end giving: 1. Calculate your income. Try to get a handle on your tax liability for the year. Did your unearned income increase? Did you sell any appreciated assets? Will you owe more taxes? This alone may motivate you to increase your giving before December 31. In fact, you may even want to move some of your giving forward from next year to create a larger income tax charitable deduction for yourself this year. Non-itemizers may especially find this “grouping of gifts” use...

What do Maya calendars, mayonnaise and mayors have in common, aside from the fact that they begin with the letters “M,” “A” and “Y”? Zero. This also happens to be the precise amount of doomsday predictions actually made by Maya calendars, despite what you might have heard on the airwaves or seen at the box office. Over the past several years, the mysterious Maya calendar has remained at the epicenter of pop-culture and pop-Christianity’s chronic addiction to End Times mayhem. Men like Hal Lindsey and Harold Camping have routinely proven it really is mad, mad world. Although these predictions will go the way of the Mayans, mankind’s obsession with conspiracy theories and end-times predictions, sadly, will never go away. But these false predictions do give us the opportunity to once again examine the truths that the Holy Bible presents for us about these End Times. The Mayans are an ancient culture who lived in parts of Guatemala and Mexico . They were not Christia...