Category: Message of the Day

GONE FISHIN’

“Jesus said to them, ‘Come after Me; I will make you fishers of men.’ ” –Mark 1:17 Have you gone fishing yet this year? The Lord wants you to fish for men and women every day. Fishing as Jesus knew it was more a matter of repeated effort than skill. Fishers needed skill to know where and when to fish, but mostly it took just plain hard work. Fishing in Jesus’ day had nothing to do with bait, reels, or poles. Fishing was simply throwing a heavy net into the sea and dragging it back. The more times they cast...

“THE PROMISE OF MY FATHER” (Lk 24:49)

“Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan.” –Mark 1:9 At the Jordan river, God told Joshua: “Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know I am with you” (Jos 3:7). Then Joshua led the Israelites across the Jordan river into the land of promise (Jos 3:14ff). Once in the promised land, the Israelites “ate their fill; when filled, they became proud of heart and forgot” God (Hos 13:6). In the same Jordan river, Jesus, the new Joshua, was baptized. When Jesus rose out of the waters...

THE LAST SHALL BE FIRST

“Anyone who sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly, should petition God, and thus life will be given to the sinner.” –1 John 5:16   Many have not had Christmas because they have not repented of sin in their lives. We should petition the Lord for sinners and life will be given to them. Through the Lord’s forgiveness, they will be given Christmas just before the season ends. The devil grinch thought he had robbed them of Christmas. However, by prayer, we rob the robber and give many people another opportunity for Christmas. On this second last...

VICTOR OR VICTIM?

“Who, then, is conqueror of the world? The one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” –1 John 5:5 We are victors over the world or victims of the world. Only by faith in Jesus as God will we escape being victimized. Unless we pray to the Lord, we will become the prey of the world. Either Jesus runs our lives, or we are manipulated into running our lives into the ground, even into hell. By ourselves, we are unable to protect ourselves from unscrupulous, hateful demons. Of ourselves, our lives are necessarily out of control. Jesus is...

OUR LIVES AND THIS YEAR

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me; therefore, He has anointed Me. He has sent Me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind and release to prisoners, to announce a year of favor from the Lord.” –Luke 4:18-19 This year can be one of the greatest fulfillments of Jesus’ proclamation of Isaiah’s prophecy of “a year of favor” (Lk 4:19; Is 61:1ff). If Jesus has His way, this year the poor of the world will hear as never before the good news of “liberty to captives, recovery of...