(1Cor.4:9-15;   Ps.145:17-21;   Lk.6:1-5)  “God has put us apostles at the end of the line, like men doomed to die in the arena.” “Up to this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, poorly clad, roughly treated, wandering about homeless,” the great Apostle Paul tells us of the persecution and slander all the Lord’s apostles must undergo.  And yet “when we are insulted we respond with a blessing,” for this is our call in the Lord: to love even our enemies, that we might show the love of God to all, that we might indeed become “a spectacle to the universe, to angels and men […]

(1Cor.4:1-5;   Ps.37:3-6,27-28,39-40;   Lk.5:33-39)  “The salvation of the just is from the Lord.” “For the Lord loves what is right, and forsakes not His faithful ones.”  And so He comes.  He comes bearing a new garment; He comes with the blood of a New Covenant, His own blood, to wash us clean and make us whole as He is.  Drinking this new wine indeed we are made holy. It is not as “John’s disciples” or as “the disciples of the Pharisees” we shall find our salvation – only as disciples of the Son of God, only by “commit[ting] to the Lord [our] way” will […]

(1Cor.3:18-23;   Ps.24:1-6;   Lk.5:1-11)  “Amazement at the catch they had made seized him and all his shipmates.”  What a truly remarkable scene!  Here upon the call of the apostles, the first of apostles, Simon Peter, “fell at the knees of Jesus.”  Here in his barque, boats once desolate now suddenly fill to bursting with fish flopping about everywhere, unable to be contained…  This is a painting for the ages, this blessed moment!  It is this image which drives the Church forth, filling the barque of Peter with blessed, saved souls.  “From now on you will be […]

(1Cor.3:1-9;   Ps.33:12-15,20-21;   Lk.4:38-44)  “To other towns I must announce the Good News of the reign of God, because that is why I was sent.” “And He continued to preach in the synagogues of Judea.”  And He continues to preach to all hearts through His blessed apostles, and His Church continues to grow.  To the ends of the earth the kingdom progresses, and we each have a hand in its rising. Yes, “he who plants and he who waters work to the same end,” but “neither he who plants nor he who waters is of any special account, only God, who gives the growth.”  As […]

(1Cor.2:10-16;   Ps.145:8-14,17;   Lk.4:31-37) “We have the mind of Christ.” The demon has been cast from us and we see the Lord as He is: “Good to all and compassionate toward all His works.”  “The glorious splendor of [His] kingdom” is before our eyes, and it is this which gives us light.  We have bowed ourselves down before Him, the demon has thrown us “to the ground before everyone’s eyes,” and we have found that “the Lord lifts up those who are falling.”  No longer “the natural man” who finds “what is taught by the Spirit of God” complete […]