Focal passage: I Kings 19:19-21; II Kings 2:7-15 I’m very excited about the next five weeks of studies entitled Elisha: Seeing God’s Hand at Work. Elisha is one of my favorite Old Testament characters; I love his life stories! Plus, since retiring as a pastor twenty years ago, I’ve been serving churches in transition (when they’re in between pastors). So apparently I also love transitions; and the Elijah/Elisha saga

Focal Passage: John 20:1-2, 11-18 Through the years blockbuster films often billed its stars like this: “Gone with the Wind, with Clark Gable — featuring Viven Leigh.” A more famous actor would be designated “with,” while an upcoming star was labeled “featuring.” Today’s lesson might seem to be titled “The Resurrection, with Mary Magdalene — featuring Jesus Christ.” But it’s just the OPPOSITE: our focal passage certainly features the grieving/rejoicing

Focal Passage: John 11:25-27 38-44 Sometimes a chapter of the Bible is so filled with excitement and life-truths that to focus on only a few verses of it seems almost irreverent. That’s the case today; our focal passage is just ten verses (out of 57 jam-packed ones) in John 11. In the series All Signs Point to Jesus, we come to the seventh ‘sign’ the Apostle John selected to reveal

Focal Passage: John 9:1-11; 30-33 Many people have eye diseases, but only about 4 out of every 10,000 are born blind. Today’s study from John chapter 9 tells about one such rare individual. He became even more rare by being healed of congenital blindness. His story was the sixth of seven ‘sign-miracles’ that the Apostle John selected in his Gospel to prove Jesus’ deity and authority. In our focal passage,

Focal Passage: John 6:16-21 If people say a person “walks on water,” you know they consider that person to be a Godlike miracle-worker. You also know that the phrase walking on water originated with something our Lord Jesus Christ did during His life on earth. We see Him working that miracle in today’s study passage, John 6:16-21. It’s the fifth of seven sign-miracles the Apostle John recorded in his Gospel.

Focal Passage: John 5:1-11, 17-20 Today’s study is one of my all-time favorite stories from the life of Jesus, especially because of the question He asks. Out of one-hundred and thirty-five questions Jesus asked in the New Testament, this story contains one of His most startling!  Our series is entitled All Signs Point to Jesus and comes from the Gospel of John. Today’s focal text is John 5:1-11, 17-20, the

Focal passage: John 4:46-54 If you put “Signs of Christ’s Return” into an online search engine, you’d find many sites like “Eight Signs of Jesus’ Soon Return,” and “12 Signs …” and “6 Signs …” and “5 Signs …” and “SEVEN Signs …” and lots more. Obviously, people today are very interested in the signs of Jesus’ Second Coming.  The Apostle John was no doubt interested too, but even more

Focal Passage: John 2:1-11 Today marks the beginning of a series of lessons called All Signs Point to Jesus, from the Gospel of JOHN. Unlike Matthew, Mark and Luke, John tells the story of Jesus by highlighting seven of His many miracles, each being a sign of who Jesus was, each pointing to a different aspect of His divine character.  A frequently asked question is Why are there FOUR Gospels?

Focal Passage: Hebrews 10:19-25; 13:12-15 I remember reading an anonymous piece called ‘It’s Time to Plant our Gardens,’ that appeared in a number of church newsletters 20 or so years ago. The idea was this: in our ‘spiritual gardens’ we should ‘squash’ our differences, and ‘turnip’ for church services, and — one more — ‘lettuce’ be obedient and faithful. As sappy as such a veggie-tales play on words might seem,

Focal Passage: Psalm 63:1-11 In about the middle of my pastoral years (three decades ago!) ministers of music began introducing “praise and worship songs” into congregational hymn-singing. I especially remember two of those praise songs to this day; they were beloved — and were what I call ‘very singable.’ The words of both songs come directly from Psalm 63, our study-text for today: “Oh God, You Are My God” and