Pentecost was a pretty exciting day. It started with the continued anticipation of the arrival of the Holy Spirit. Then there was the sound of the rushing of a violent wind. Then the tongues of fire appeared. The Holy Spirit had arrived! And he gave them to ability to speak in other languages. That’s a big day. Of course, the …
May 26, 2020 – Trust Jesus
“Mommy don’t leave!” “Daddy, don’t go!” It’s heart-wrenching to watch a small child’s reaction to separation. They don’t understand. They don’t have an adult’s perception of time or priority. They can’t see that sometimes Mom or Dad have to leave to take care of them. All they know is the fear and the pain. They have to learn to trust …
May 25, 2020 – Pentecost Power
We still get to experience the most exciting part of Pentecost. The most exciting part wasn’t the sound of the wind or the tongues of fire or the crowd that gathered. It was God’s pouring out the Holy Spirit onto his disciples. Centuries before, God had told his people that it would happen. In the middle of prophecies of judgment …
May 23, 2020 – Live as Strangers (Synod Devotion)
Dear Trinity Family, Here’s today’s devotion from our synod. “Live your lives as strangers here.”1 Peter 1:17 Live as strangers? It sounds like pretty shoddy advice when you first read it. You mean we shouldn’t make friends? We shouldn’t care about our family? We should be apathetic about others and not get involved in our community? It can’t mean those …
May 22, 2020 – One More Sight (Synod Devotion)
Dear Trinity Family, Here’s today’s devotion from our synod. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in …
May 25-30 Bible Reading Guides
Monday, May 25, Revelation 12 v. 1 — The woman is a symbol of the Christian church. v. 3 — “Crowns” is not the word for the crown of victory, but “diadem,” which implied deity. It was worn by the Persian emperors, by the mad Caligula and Diocletian (Roman emperors) and still later by the popes. Vv. 5-6 — The …
May 21, 2020 – Still There (Synod Devotion)
After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. Acts 1:9 I would assume that most of us have had the experience of watching a jet airliner flying across the sky. Eventually, to our eyes anyway, it gets so small that we can’t see it anymore. It’s not really …
May 20, 2020 Aha!
Don’t you just love “aha!” moments? When your mind is opened and you can see something you never knew before? I wonder how many “aha!” moments the disciples had after Easter. For three years Jesus had been teaching them. And, for three years they mostly didn’t get it. Here in Luke 24 Jesus opened their minds. Think of that aha moment …
May 20, 2020 – Aha!
Don’t you just love “aha!” moments? When your mind is opened and you can see something you never knew before? I wonder how many “aha!” moments the disciples had after Easter. For three years Jesus had been teaching them. And, for three years they mostly didn’t get it. Here in Luke 24 Jesus opened their minds. Think of that aha moment …
May 19, 2020 – Reminders
My phone buzzed again. It just reminded me of another appointment. It’s always doing that. Good thing, too. It’s easy for me to get lost in what I’m doing and then I forget about what’s coming next. God gave a reminder like that to the congregation in Colossae. He had Paul write it down to remind us, too. Good thing. …