1 See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him. 2 Dear friends, we are...
1 My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. 2 He himself...
1 We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. 2 This one who is life itself...
1 In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He existed in the beginning with God. 3 God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. 4 The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life...
1 Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? 2 Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with...
This summer I had a memorable conversation with my Dad. He will turn 65 in a couple of months and he was talking to me about insurance options that my parents had been discussing. As we sat in that small coffee shop in Rehoboth Beach,...
As Christmas gets closer and closer, the feelings of long loved traditions and the nostalgia begins to set in. I find myself caught in this tension of living in remembrance of what was, and living in hope of what is to come....
18 This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph, to whom...
2 At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. 2 (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census....
David left a legacy behind him of both devotion to God and failure. As he leaves a legacy of corruption and generational disobedience for his sons in 1 Kings, he simultaneously praises the Lord and sacrifices all the resources and wealth he has left to...
57 When it was time for Elizabeth’s baby to be born, she gave birth to a son. 58 And when her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had been very merciful to her, everyone rejoiced with her. 59 When the baby was eight days old,...
26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, 27 to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. 28 Gabriel appeared to...
1 So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech. 2 Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment,...
Our current community group study has me excavating the depths of my heart and taking a thorough inventory of my sin patterns and their effect on my life. It’s a dark and lonely road. I am learning how easily I gloss over, legitimize, or even...
I so vividly remember the quiet, dark room where I lay holding my second child. It was only a couple of hours after she was born, my husband was sleeping on the hospital chair next to me, and for awhile now there had been no...
1 O Lord, I have come to you for protection; don’t let me be disgraced. 2 Save me and rescue me, for you do what is right. Turn your ear to listen to me, and set me free. 3 Be my rock of safety where I can always hide. Give the order to...
1 These are the last words of David: “David, the son of Jesse, speaks— David, the man who was raised up so high, David, the man anointed by the God of Jacob, David, the sweet psalmist of Israel. 2 “The Spirit of the Lord speaks through me; his words are upon...
2 Samuel 24 brings tension between our understanding of judgment and God’s perfect union of justice and mercy. God encourages David to take a census of the people, and although David’s advisors try to convince him otherwise, David follows through and tallies the people. The...
All I could think is “for once, I just want to hear some really good news.” ...
1 Then King David turned to the entire assembly and said, “My son Solomon, whom God has clearly chosen as the next king of Israel, is still young and inexperienced. The work ahead of him is enormous, for the Temple he will build is not...
1 As the time of King David’s death approached, he gave this charge to his son Solomon: 2 “I am going where everyone on earth must someday go. Take courage and be a man. 3 Observe the requirements of the Lord your God, and follow all...
1 So Solomon began to build the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to David, his father. The Temple was built on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, the site that David had selected. 2 The...
Absalom was known as the most cunning, handsome, and ambitious of David’s sons. The Bible describes him in 2 Samuel 14:25 saying, “Now Absalom was praised as the most handsome man in all Israel. He was flawless from head to foot.” I don’t know about...
1 Then David said, “This will be the location for the Temple of the Lord God and the place of the altar for Israel’s burnt offerings!”...
11 Then the Lord said to Moses, 12 “Whenever you take a census of the people of Israel, each man who is counted must pay a ransom for himself to the Lord. Then no plague will strike the people as you count them. 13 Each...