If you’ve ever watched “A Charlie Brown Christmas”, you heard Linus van Pelt quote from Luke’s Gospel in today’s Bible reading. Charlie Brown complains that Christmas has become so commercialized. (The animated classic first aired in 1965) Exasperated, Charlie Brown asks, “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?” Linus replies, “Sure, Charlie…
We begin reading Luke’s Gospel in today’s Bible reading. Unlike John and Matthew, Dr. Luke was not an eyewitness to Jesus. He had to interview people and learn a lot about Jesus before he could write his Gospel. Dr. Luke spent considerable time traveling with Paul and he records these adventures in his second book,…
Today’s Bible reading is the entire book of Philemon. It’s no longer than a typical chapter in other books of the Bible, and this one-chapter-book is short and sweet. Paul writes this letter to Philemon who owns a slave named Onesimus. Onesimus has become a believer under Paul’s ministry and Paul sends Onesimus back to…
As a pastor, I receive emails from time to time asking me to complete a survey in exchange for a copy of an ebook. I completed one of those surveys this morning. To be honest, I really didn’t like my answers! Today’s survey questions asked about my prayer life: How much time do you spend…
A few weeks ago, I commented on a parallel passage that Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:18ff. Today’s Bible reading records Paul’s comments on letting God’s Word rule in our hearts. The results are the same in the two passages, so I would argue that being filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18) is the same…
In today’s Bible reading from Colossians 2, Paul addresses the Gnostic Heresy in Colossae head-on. From Webster, Gnosticism is, “the thought and practice especially of various cults of late pre-Christian and early Christian centuries distinguished by the conviction that matter is evil and that emancipation comes through gnosis (esoteric knowledge of spiritual truth held by…
