Matthew 28:1–3; Mark 16:1–20; Luke 24:1–49; John 20:1–31 Just this week I watched a program that featured an interviewer on the streets of New York who was asking random passersby what holiday was coming up this weekend. More than 50% of the people had no clue. They gave answers such as Memorial Day, Father’s Day…even the Fourth of July! Some …
Dead and Buried!
Matthew 27:62–66 I’m thinking back to one of the times when I wanted to hang out with my next-oldest brother and his friend. They were around 11 or 12 years old, and I was maybe 6. Why I wanted to camp out with them I have no idea, but I did and they let me. Well, there we were, only …
What’s So Good About “Good Friday”?
Matthew 27:1–66; Mark 15:1–47; Luke 22:66–23:56; John 18:28–19:37 Years ago, a powerful story was told about a mountain-area school that had a hard time keeping a teacher. It seems there was a group of big, rough boys who took pride in running the teacher off. The biggest and roughest of them all was named Tom. A new young teacher won …
A Great Way to Remember Him
Matthew 26:17–30; Mark 14:12–26; Luke 22:7–23; John 13:1–10 Surf the Internet and you’ll find many sites that claim to offer ways to help improve your memory. You’ll discover memory techniques, memory tests and quizzes, and supplemental “nutrients.” For me, I’ve found that certain events in my life, mostly emotional ones, cause me to remember more readily and vividly than anything. …
Be Still and Know that He Is God
Mark 14:1; John 12:1; Psalm 46:10; Isaiah 2:11, 17 I recall a time when I was in my early teens working on a farm, and one requirement was to finish bringing in the crop before the forecast rain came. All of us workers began at 6 a.m. and we didn’t stop, other than for a lunch break and a couple …
Truth and Consequences
Matthew 21:23–24:51; Mark 11:27–13:37; Luke 20:1–21:36 Back in the day, as some say it, there was a game show called “Truth or Consequences.” The premise of the show was to mix the original quiz element of game shows with wacky stunts. On the show, contestants received roughly two seconds to answer a trivia question or a bad riddle correctly (usually …
It’s a Great Day for a Clean House
Matthew 21:10–17; Mark 11:15–18; Luke 19:45–48 I recall some years ago taking my son with me as I made a house call to someone who had recently visited the church. During the drive, a discussion about God’s forgiveness came up. My son was 11 or 12 years old at the time and trying to understand as best he could how …
The Day Hope Rode into Town
Matthew 21:1–11; Mark 1:1–11; Luke 19:28–44; John 12:12–19 When I think about hope, many things come to mind. One is when I was around 8 years old and growing up in rural North Carolina. I come from a large family by today’s standards – 10 children – and we enjoyed a nice balance of five boys and five girls. My …
Passion Week Devotional
“Passion Week,” also known as “Holy Week,” refers to the time period from what we call “Palm Sunday” (the day of Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem) through “Easter Sunday” (also called “Resurrection Sunday,” the day when Christ rose from the tomb). On Palm Sunday, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a young donkey (a colt), and the crowd welcomed Him with …
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ
Easter, also known as Resurrection Day, is the event on which the entire Christian faith hinges. Paul, once a Jewish zealot hostile to Christians, became a believer when he met Jesus on the Road to Damascus (Acts 9). The Apostle Paul made it abundantly clear that without the resurrection, there is no basis for faith in Christ. “And if Christ …