A personal relationship makes all the difference in the walk of Christian discipleship. Paul writes to Timothy concerning his suffering for the sake of the gospel (see 2 Corinthians 11:21b-33).

This lection is for the Thursday before Trinity Sunday. Paul writes of the reality that Jesus Christ has always been coexistent with God the Father since before the beginning of time (chronos) which is recorded time as opposed to kairos time (God’s seasons of time, not limited to a human frame of reference). Here, Paul encourages

Jesus invokes the image of water once again in his teaching. Earlier in John’s Gospel he shared the “living water” with the Samaritan woman whom he encountered at the well. This was a one on one conversation in a very relational context. However, this time, Jesus is at the temple during the Feast of Tabernacles. He went there a

When we become a believer in Christ, we are immediately born again and filled with the Holy Spirit of God. We are baptized into the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

There is within this text the supposition that we are called to “birth” new opportunities through our Spirit filled living and working. As believers, we have been given the gift and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Paul writes of the current sufferings we endure with the simultaneous expectations of the future hope of redeemed bodies in a redeemed earth. This redemption is afforded through the one who liberates us from bondage. Christ as the first born Son of God is in essence

Psalm 104:1 tells us that God is very great. The Hebrew word for “great” has to do with strength. The word implies three strands of twine woven together. Alone they are weak, but together they are strong. Ecclesiastes 4:12 says, “…a cord of three strands is

Can we see others’ needs like Jesus “saw” the needs of the people in Matthew 5? They needed teaching. And in Matthew 14:14 Jesus “saw” with eyes of compassion that the people were hungry. So Jesus first gave the teaching, or the “Bread of life” to the people. Then Jesus gave them food to eat. Spiri

As Children of God, we are recipients of God’s grace. 1 John 3:1 tells us that we are God’s children because of his great love for us: “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!