You are here

Devotional
April 06 2017 By dvirtue QUESTIONS JESUS ASKED: My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me? - Matthew 27:46

“Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
(Isaiah 53:4-6)

Read more
March 28 2017 By dvirtue QUESTIONS JESUS ASKED: What Can Suffering Teach Me? - -- Hebrews 5:7,8

Jesus was not in denial about being human and having to suffer and to die. But that did not mean that he was immune to what it entailed. To the contrary he "offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears" as he suffered the anxiety of contemplating his own gruesome dying. In that respect he was dealing with what we all must deal with in our humanity.

Read more
March 24 2017 By dvirtue THE SONG OF MARY: MAGNIFICAT - Luke 1:46-55

The Bible is full of praise and thanksgiving. Biblical religion is a religion of rejoicing, of music and son. "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" (Philippians 4:4) It is noteworthy that Christianity has produced so much music. Christmas, in particular, is the season for so much beautiful music as we celebrate the coming of the Messiah and the hope he brings.

Read more
March 15 2017 By dvirtue QUESTIONS JESUS ASKED: For Which of These Good Works do you Stone me? --- John 10:31-42

The modern secular world wants to kill Jesus for claiming to be God. For anyone to claim divine authority is regarded as egotistical and an affront to the desire to be one's own authority -- to be autonomous and to create one's own identity apart from any constraints. They want to kill any unique claim to be God. They want to shame anyone who claims to speak for God. They want to eliminate God from the universe. They want to delete God from conversation except as a vulgar exclamation.

Read more
March 08 2017 By dvirtue QUESTIONS JESUS ASKED: Do You Want to Go Away As Well? -- John 6:67

There are many who would like to think of themselves as disciples/followers of Christ but who cannot accept the full teaching of Christ.

Read more
March 01 2017 By dvirtue WHO IS LISTENING? - (Revelation 4 and 5)

In April 1999 I took my staff team to a church growth conference put on by Walt Kallestad and his leadership at Community Church of Joy, Glendale, Arizona. It was a very productive conference on creating a vision for growth and putting it into action. In a Leadership Journal article in the Fall of 2008 Walt confessed his failures with his 12,000 member church. He said that his ministry philosophy had become: "The only way to capture people's attention is entertainment.

Read more
February 23 2017 By dvirtue QUESTIONS JESUS ASKED: You are Israel's Teacher and do you not understand these things? -- John 3:10

Jesus was rebuking him for his ignorance. Nicodemus ought to have known and understood what Jesus was saying. He professed to be a student of the Hebrew Bible. The necessity of the new birth ought not to have appeared strange to him. The Old Testament Scriptures spoke of the need for a new heart and a new spirit: "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

Read more
February 15 2017 By dvirtue QUESTIONS JESUS ASKED: What do you want me to do for you? - Mark 10:46-52

So many of us have questions, doubts, uncertainties, and fears, that we would like to have resolved. We cannot see through the fog of life's daily challenges to satisfactory conclusions. We are confronted with declining health of ourselves or our loved ones. We are having to deal with the problems of our family members. We are troubled by the national mood and the turbulence of politics. We face divided loyalties in our relationships. We worry about the future.

Read more
February 08 2017 By dvirtue QUESTIONS JESUS ASKED: Who Do You Say I Am? - Matthew 16:13-20

A young man discussed with me his undecided attitude to Christianity. He is somewhat cynical about the different claims of religion due to the unchristian behavior of some hardcore fundamental Christians he has experienced. Yet he is attracted to the teaching of Jesus. I tell him that we all have to make up our minds about Jesus. Who is he?

Read more
February 01 2017 By dvirtue Questions Jesus Asked: Why Do You Entertain Evil Thoughts in Your Hearts? Which Is Easier: To Say 'Your Sins Are Forgiven,' Or to Say, 'Get Up and Walk?' - Matthew 9:4,5

Yet here in the healing of the paralytic Jesus explicitly claimed divine authority. "So that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." How do we know that this claim is true? It seems to be an assertion that cannot be verified. How can you know whether sins are forgiven? You are not issued a written pardon by anyone.

Read more

Pages

Trinity School for Ministry
Go To Top