June 19- 25
19 Trinity Sunday Romans 1:7 -THL 251 Grace and peace to you! 20 Genesis 1:1-25 – THL 9 Is the Universe Trinitarian? (Cf. John 1:1-5) 21 Genesis 1:26-31 – THL 21 God stamped humankind… June 19- 25
June 12- 18
12 Pentecost Acts 2:37-47 – THL 231 His promise to you and your children. 13 John 7:37-39 – THL 230 Jesus can rescue souls from mummification. 14 John 14:15-21 – THL 234 We thrive… June 12- 18
Pray for the Spirit
When I was a young child, I recall feeling somewhat disappointed when I heard this Bible verse. It was building up to a grand conclusion, “If you then, being evil know how to give good gifts….” Then I expected, “How much more will your heavenly Father give even greater gifts to those who ask!”
Again, as a child I thought about all the greater things God could give. When the passage continued, it somehow wasn’t quite what I had in mind: “How much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.”
I soon realized that there is no greater gift than the Holy Spirit!
Earthly fathers can give us only earthly gifts: food, clothing, a home, and other things to enjoy in this life, but all such things are temporary. Through the Holy Spirit, however, our heavenly Father can give gifts that last forever!Pray for the Spirit
May 30- June 4
30 Numbers 6:22-27– THL 50 Both His blessing and our prayer. 31 Luke 11:1-13– THL 454 God’s business first; our welfare second. 1 John 16:24-33– THL 21 No good reason to be a stranger… May 30- June 4
May 23- 28
23 John 15:9-17– THL 37 We hold each other close while Jesus is away. 24 John 16:5-15 – 227 Oh, Friend from heaven, keep us straight! 25 John 17:9-17– THL 283 Sanctify us by… May 23- 28
The Means of Grace
During the Age of Enlightenment in the 18th century an insidious philosophy – namely, rationalism — spread throughout Europe and America. Rationalism’s proponents asserted that human reason, unaided by divine revelation, is the sole guide to all attainable religious truth.
Human reason became the new god. The idea put forth was that if the human brain could not figure something out, it could not be true.
People began to turn away from the “other-worldly” focus of the Middle Ages toward the more worldly focus so prevalent in our day.
The Bible, however, speaks of a whole different concept of attaining truth.
The “carnal mind is enmity against God” (Romans 8:7). Without God’s Spirit, people walk in darkness, unable to find truth. “The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14).