Today's passage: Luke 24 Today's focus: vs. 9-12 Author: Pastor Sam (2021) 9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, 11 but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened. This past month as you read through the Gospel according to Luke, how did you respond? It is so easy to go through the motion of reading the chapters merely as a challenge. It is just as easily to go through December as a festive holiday and celebrate Christmas without ever celebrating Christ. A good way to gauge your heart is to observe how it reacts as you read Scripture or hear it preached. When the women told the disciples of Jesus' resurre
Today's passage: Luke 23 Today's focus: vs 39-43 Author: [from the archives of 2020] What was the "sinner's prayer" that you prayed to become a Christian? I've heard things like "I asked Jesus into my heart." The better ones have a profession of sin and asking for forgiveness. Do we see any examples of a structured prayer that you're supposed to "repeat after me" in order to become a Christian? I have not found a direct prayer we are to repeat. However, there are models we see in Scripture that is worth taking notes after. The thief on the cross is a great one: He fears God. We know this because he is bewildered that the other thief doesn't fear God. We must get rid of this trend where we tell people not to "fear God." Or we soften that to say "fear = respect." In Scripture, we see people fearing God and it has always been for the good! He recognizes that he deserves it. He calls it "just." They