(Gal.3:22-29;   Ps.105:2-8;   Lk.11:27-28)   “Each of you is a son of God because of your faith in Christ Jesus.”   Praise God!  “Glory in His holy name; rejoice, O hearts that seek the Lord!”  For He has come among us.  Born of the womb of Israel, the Messiah is in our midst.  And so we should “sing to Him, sing His praise, proclaim all His wondrous deeds.”  For now by faith in Him we live, and are truly blest. Brothers and sisters, “before faith came we were under the restraint of the law… the law was our monitor until Christ came to bring about our […]

(Gal.3:7-14;   Ps.111:1-6;   Lk.11:15-26)   “All who believe are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.”   But those who do not believe cannot be called “sons of Abraham,” in whom “all nations shall be blessed,” for they have not the faith of the father of many nations.  For those who do not proclaim the Lord’s “renown for His wondrous deeds,” but rather say of His “gracious and merciful” acts: “It is by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that He casts out devils,” there is only a curse.  They curse themselves and scatter their own salvation to the […]

(Gal.3:1-5;   Lk.1:69-75;   Lk.11:5-13)   “I can’t get up to look after your needs.”   Does Jesus ever speak these words to us?  Does He ever deny our petitions, failing to bring them to His heavenly Father?  Do we ever find ourselves empty-handed when we come to Him “in the middle of the night”?  Does He ever tire of serving us, of saving us from our sins?  Then neither should we turn our back on our brother’s needs; neither should we fail to hear his cry and give him food. Brothers and sisters, is it not “you before whose eyes Jesus Christ was displayed upon the […]

(Gal.2:1-2,7-14;   Ps.117:1-2,Mk.16:15;   Lk.11:1-4)   “He who worked through Peter as His apostle among the Jews had been at work in me for the Gentiles.”   And that same Spirit, that same God, that same Lord and Creator is at work in all His holy apostles, and is the Father of all who call upon His Name. “Father, hallowed be your name.”  You are great and you are glorious, and you bless all your children, your children of light.  From every nation you call us by the power of your Word.  You send out apostles as you sent out Paul, to the ends of the earth.  You gather […]

(Gal.1:13-24;   Ps.139:1-3,13-15,24;   Lk.10:38-42)   “The time came when He who set me apart before I was born and called me by His favor chose to reveal His Son to me.”   Paul speaks of his conversion to the faith today.  But before he changed and became the Lord’s great Apostle, he tells us, “I made progress in Jewish observance far beyond most of my contemporaries, in my excess of zeal to live out all the traditions of my ancestors,” and that he “went to extremes in persecuting the church of God and tried to destroy it.”  Now, isn’t Martha as Paul was?  Is it […]