DAILY, WEEKEND, AND HOLIDAY INTERNET EVANGELIZE TO THE WORLD MINISTRY

Fishermen and Their Methods Luke 5:2–7 Excerpt The strenuous life of fishermen required a strong physique ( Lk. 5:2 ), and their speech was sometimes rough ( Mk. 14:70f ). At least seven of Jesus’ disciples were fishermen: Peter, Andrew, probably Philip, who also came from Bethsaida (Aram. for ‘house of fishing’ ) on the Sea of Galilee , James, John, Thomas and Nathanael ( Mt. 4:18 , 21 ; Jn. 1:44 ; 21:2 ). Some of these were partners in fishing and were used to working together ( Lk. 5:7 , 10 ). The Bible mentions fishing by *net , specifically the casting-net ( Mt. 4:18 ) and the large drag-net ( Mt. 13:47 ). On the Sea of Galilee the fishermen used small boats, which were propelled by oars ( Jn. 6:19 ). The statement that the wind was contrary ( Mt. 14:24 ) may indicate the use of a sail as in the present-day fishing-boats on this lake. ( *Ships and Boats .) Often on the Sea of Galilee fishing was done at night ( Lk. 5:5 ;  Jn. 21:3 ). During the day the fisherman on the ...

Happy   New Year To My International Community's

December 31   Which hope we have as an anchor to the soul         Heb. 6:19 Anchor to the throne of God, and then shorten the rope! Selected Hardman, Samuel G., and Dwight Lyman Moody. Thoughts for the Quiet Hour. Willow Grove, PA: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing, 1997. Print.

December 31: From Beginning to End Lamentations 4:1–5:22 ; Romans 16:1–27 ; Proverbs 31:10–31 Endings are always difficult. But when they’re new beginnings, they’re revitalizing. At the end of Paul’s letter to the Romans, we not only see Paul the apostle, but Paul the empathetic and concerned pastor. Paul knows that if dissension or temptation rules over the Roman church, they will fail in their ministry, so he warns them ( Rom 16:17–19 ) and offers them a word of hope: “And in a short time the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you” ( Rom 16:20 ). Here, Paul is echoing God’s words to Adam, Eve, and the serpent after the fall, when, instead of carrying out God’s request to bring order to creation (as He had done in the beginning), humanity turned from Him, defacing His image ( Gen 1:1–2 , 27–28 ; 3:14–20 ). But while Gen 3:15 merely depicts Satan biting the heel of humanity and being struck on the head in return ( G...

December 31st Yesterday The God of Israel will be your rewarded. Isaiah 52:12 . Security from Yesterday. “God require's that which is past.”  At the end of the year we turn with eagerness to all that God has for the future, and yet anxiety is apt to arise from remembering the yesterdays. Our present enjoyment of God’s grace is apt to be checked by the memory of yesterday’s sins and blunders. But God is the God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them in order to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual culture for the future. God reminds us of the past lest we get into a shallow security in the present. Security for To-morrow. “For the Lord will go before you.” This is a gracious revelation, that God will garrison where we have failed to. He will watch lest things trip us up again into like failure, as they assuredly would do if He were not our rewarded. God’s hand reaches back to the past and makes a clearing-house for conscience. Secu...

Morning, December 31       Go To Evening Reading          “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.”            — John 7:37 Patience had her perfect work in the Lord Jesus, and until the last day of the feast he pleaded with the Jews, even as on this last day of the year he pleads with us, and waits to be gracious to us. Admirable indeed is the longsuffering of the Saviour in bearing with some of us year after year, notwithstanding our provocations, rebellions, and resistance of his Holy Spirit. Wonder of wonders that we are still in the land of mercy! Pity expressed herself most plainly, for Jesus cried, which implies not only the loudness of his voice, but the tenderness of his tones. He entreats us to be reconciled. “We pray you,” says the Apostle, “as though God did beseech you by us.” What earnest, pathetic te...

Righteous as a Moral Term Philippians 3:9 Excerpt In Scripture , righteousness is often a legal term, not a moral one. It means that a judge would pronounce someone righteous. Naturally, the ideal was that the person would actually be righteous, but the focus is on what the judge said. The verdict did not necessarily depend on the moral realities. In accord with that, the primary question of both Judaism and Christ ianity was “what must a man do if God is to declare that he is in the right and so give judgment in his favour? The Jewish answer was that he must obey the Law of Moses.”  For Paul, a righteousness attained by the law was only a relative self-righteousness. The best that could be hoped for was the blamelessness of which he spoke in 3:6b , but which he nonetheless had found inadequate for gaining salvation. Thus, the law provides one approach to righteousness, but it is a flawed approach. The problem is not the law. Paul taught that the law is good ( Rom 7 ). The pro...

The Sphinx ‎What is the Sphinx? It is the body of a lion couchant, with the head of a man— “a symbol of animal power and of human intellect.” The whole figure was typical of kingly royalty and set forth the power and wisdom of the Egyptian monarch. One traveler describes the present appearance of the great Sphinx as, “a ball of stone rising on a neck some forty feet above the sand.” Miss Edwards says, “the sphinx is purely an Egyptian monster and of immemorial antiquity. The great sphinx of Gizeh is probably the oldest monument in Egypt. There are thousands of sphinxes in Egypt of various sizes, but the great Sphinx is this one at the base of the pyramids. It is carved out of the summit of the original rock from which it has never been separated. Its body is over one hundred feet long; its head is thirty feet long and fourteen in width; the marks of paint still remain on the face—on the eye-brows and on the right cheek. The face is much mutilated; the body is hidden by drifti...

Ephesus Structural Details

Tiberias ‎Leaving Nazareth on the morning of the 8th of May, 1894, the artist and one of the editors passed through Cana of Galilee, and by twelve o’clock reached the high hill which looks down upon the Sea of Tiberias. In the picture we are looking to the east. The lake, because of its distance, appears to be a river not wider than the Mississippi. It is in reality about six miles wide where we now see it. Below us is the little city of Tiberias hugging the shore. The country rising beyond the sea is the region of the Gaderenes, where the swine ran violently down the hill into the sea. The city itself, which is a mere miniature from this point of view, is now called Tubariyeh. Herod Antipater named it Tiberias, after the Roman Emperor. According to Josephus, the building of the city began A. D. 16, and was completed A. D. 22. It was the capital of Galilee for many years, and was the most important town on the coast in the time of Christ , and the only one which has escaped the r...

All Authority ‎Only gradually did the knowledge of all their curse come home to our first parents. “The sins of the fathers are visited upon their children.” Science joins with religion to warn us of this solemn fact. The evil that we harbor within ourselves, we transmit in some form to our children. They inherit always something of our weaknesses as well as of our better gifts. Perhaps when Cain was born his father and mother still harbored something of resentment and bitterness toward God ; for the boy grew into a man sullen of mood and selfish, stern and fierce of wrath. ‎The parents taught both him and Abel to worship God , to sacrifice to heaven some portion of their possessions by building altars and burning the offered gifts, so that the smoke rose to the sky. Abel made his offerings gladly, so that God was pleased by his pure and trusting faith. But Cain acted as Eve and Adam had in paradise, with suspicion of the Lord , distrust of His intent, and with secret ange...

Respectful and Pure Conduct Excerpt The word “behold” in the Greek text refers to the act of viewing attentively. How carefully the unsaved watch Christ ians . The word “chaste” in the Greek means not only “chaste” but “pure” . The phrase “with fear” is to be understood as referring to the wives, not the husbands. It is their pure manner of life which is coupled with fear that is used of the Lord to gain these husbands. The Greek word “fear” here is used also in Ephesians 5:33 and is there translated “reverence.” The word in a connection like this means “to reverence, venerate, to treat with deference or reverential obedience.” Wuest, Kenneth S. Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament : For the English Reader . Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997. Print.

The Brazen Sea ‎The brazen sea was a huge bronze basin with a diameter of about 5 m. At the beginning it was put on twelve oxen, but they were removed later. In the Near East, there are several parallels for such basins that represent the freshwater subterraneous ocean. In erecting such a basin in the temple, it was made clear that the god worshiped here is lord over the freshwater, and thus he is the one providing people with water and fertility. ‎1 Kings 7:23–26 ; 2 Kings 16:17

Morning, December 30       Go To Evening Reading          “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof.”           — Ecclesiastes 7:8 Look at David’s Lord and Master; see his beginning. He was despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Would you see the end? He sits at his Father’s right hand, expecting until his enemies be made his footstool. “As he is, so are we also in this world.” You must bear the cross, or you shall never wear the crown; you must wade through the mire, or you shall never walk the golden pavement. Cheer up, then, poor Christian. “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof.” See that creeping worm, how contemptible its appearance! It is the beginning of a thing. Mark that insect with gorgeous wings, playing in the sunbeams, sipping at the flower bells, full of happiness and life; that is the end thereof. That caterpillar is y...

December 30   Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord         Gen. 6:8 Noah found grace in the same way that Paul obtained mercy ( 1 Tim. 1:16 ), namely, by mercy’s taking hold of him. Selected Hardman, Samuel G., and Dwight Lyman Moody. Thoughts for the Quiet Hour. Willow Grove, PA: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing, 1997. Print.

December 30: The Proverbs 31 Woman Lamentations 3:1–66 ; Romans 15:22–33 ; Proverbs 31:1–19 A Proverbs 31 woman is hard to find, but it isn’t for lack of effort. She’s been the topic of more than a few Bible studies. She can be recognized by her many positive traits—strong, courageous, and trustworthy. She is hardworking, discerning, giving, dignified, business savvy, wise, and kind. If we’re looking for a vice or an Achilles heel, we’ll have to turn to another passage in the OT (we’re sure to find more failures than achievers within its pages). As we look through the list of qualities, though, it’s hard to check them all off, even for Type-A personalities. But the key to understanding the list of characteristics isn’t found in what we can attain. It’s found in the last verse—the crux of the poem. The crown of the woman’s wisdom isn’t her charm or her beauty or even her ability to “get things done.” It is her fear of Yahweh. This relationship with God guides all of her act...

December 30th “And every virtue we possess” All my fresh springs shall be in Thee. Psalm 87:7 ( P.B.V. ). Our Lord never patches up our natural virtues, He remakes the whole man on the inside. “Put on the new man” —see that your natural human life puts on the garb that is in keeping with the new life. The life God plants in us develops its own virtues, not the virtues of Adam but of Jesus Christ. Watch how God will wither up your confidence in natural virtues after sanctification, and in any power you have, until you learn to draw your life from the reservoir of the resurrection life of Jesus. Thank God if you are going through a drying-up experience! The sign that God is at work in us is that He corrupts confidence in the natural virtues, because they are not promises of what we are going to be, but remnants of what God created man to be. We will cling to the natural virtues, while all the time God is trying to get us into contact with the life of Jesus Christ wh...

Diana of the Ephesians ‎Diana was a Roman indigenous goddess. Through contact with the Greeks, the Romans learned of their goddess Artemis and equated her with their traditional goddess, whom they believed to have many of the same attributes. The image shown here is a Roman statue of Diana, a variation of the Ephesian image of Artemis that had supposedly fallen from heaven. The animals pictured on her skirt and arms symbolize her role as ruler of wild beasts. ‎Isa 45:5 , Acts 19:24–35 , 1 Cor 8:5–6 , Gal 4:9

Bible as Progressive Revelation Excerpt ‎We speak of God’s progressive revelation. This does not mean God began to reveal Himself crudely and learned to do a better job as He went along. Genesis is as much His revelation as is John . Progressive revelation means God revealed Himself progressively to people as they were able to grasp and understand Him . Thus we have a clearer revelation of God in John than in Genesis , but t he same God is revealed in both books. ‎How would Einstein teach arithmetic to a small child? He would not start out with the equation for the theory of relativity or for splitting the atom. He would begin with two plus two equals four. That is not all the arithmetic he knows; but that is as much as the child can grasp. Years later he would teach the child, now an adult, about complex theories. This is also how God revealed Himself to humanity. He did not reveal everything about Himself at one time. He did it gradually. … Hobbs, Herschel H. My Favorite Illus...

Purity of Life Excerpt Verse 1 begins with the Greek imperative “Become, therefore, imitators of God .” The “therefore” ( RSV ) links this command with what immediately precedes, that is, forgiveness of one another as God has forgiven us. The command to “imitate God ” is unique in the New Testament . * It is justified by the fact that Christ ians are God’s dear children. As children, they must imitate their heavenly Father . The specific application of the command to imitate God is found in verse 2 : it is love, as the rule of the Christ ian life, which enables the children to be like their Father . The clause Since you are God’s dear children may be expressed as “since you are God’s children whom he very much loves” Bratcher, Robert G., and Eugene Albert Nida. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians . New York: United Bible Societies, 1993. Print. UBS Handbook Series.

Coin of Tigranes II of Armenia ‎The Armenian Empire started as Ararat ( 2 Kgs 19:37 ) and crested under Tigranes II ( “the Great,” ruled 95–55 B.C.), reaching south to Ptolemais ( Acts 21:7 ). Tigranes ended Seleucid rule in 83 B.C., governing from their capital Antioch ( Acts 11:26 ) until Roman conquest. This silver stater depicts Tigranes (obverse). The Orontes River, personified, runs by Antioch’s Tyche under the Greek phrase “Of King Tigranes” (reverse). Greeks, believing that local Tyches (destiny goddesses) ruled cities’ fortunes, bestowed names like Eutychus ( Acts 20:9 ) and Tychicus ( 2 Tim 4:12 ). ‎ Gen 8:4 , 2 Kgs 19:37 , Acts 11:19–30 , Acts 20:9 , Acts 21:7 , Gal 2:11 , 2 Tim 4:12 , 2 Macc 4:33

The Word and the Shepherd Excerpt The final stanza contains concluding petitions. Once more the psalmist prays for fuller understanding or discernment, and for the freedom of outward circumstance which will enable him to use it. As a ground of both of these appeals he pleads God’s word of promise. He prays for a spirit of joyous, exuberant thankfulness for God’s continuous teaching, and for the character of the law which is the substance of that teaching. He asks for help on three grounds: (1) he has deliberately resolved to obey God’s precepts; (2) he has long been waiting eagerly for deliverance from the hindrances to obedience which surround him; and (3) his devotion has been no grudging service, but his constant delight. The object of the revived life for which he has prayed so often in this psalm is that his whole self may praise God . At the moment he is as defenseless as a sheep which has wandered from the flock. Therefore he desperately needs for the good shepherd to “s...

Treasure in the field ‎To keep a treasure in a safe place in antiquity, one had to bury it. The coins or pieces of jewelry were deposited in a clay vessel, so that they later were easier to retrace. Time and again such treasures that were buried in antiquity were discovered during excavations. ‎Matt 13:44–45

Octodrachma of Ptolemy II ‎Egypt’s Ptolemy II issued this gold eight-drachma coin sometime after 265 B.C. The obverse features his parents, Ptolemy I and Berenice I . Above the couple, both deceased before this coin appeared, is the Greek word meaning “of gods.” The coin's reverse shows Ptolemy II and his second wife and full sister Arsinoe II under a Greek inscription meaning "of siblings." The coin’s unmistakable message? All of the people pictured are divine–the parents explicitly identified as gods, their children implicitly. ‎ Ps 82:6 , 7 , Isa 14:12–14 , Isa 45:14 , Dan 11:36 , John 10:34 , Rev 13:1–8

December 29   She [Hannah] … prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore … she, spake in her heart         1 Sam. 1:10 , 13 For real business at the mercy-seat give me a home-made prayer, a prayer that comes out of the depths of my heart, not because I invented it, but because God the Holy Ghost put it there, and gave it such living force that I could not help letting it out. Though your words are broken, and your sentences disconnected, if your desires are earnest, if they are like coals of juniper, burning with a vehement flame, God will not mind how they find expression. If you have no words, perhaps you will pray better without them than with them. There are prayers that break the backs of words; they are too heavy for any human language to carry. Spurgeon Hardman, Samuel G., and Dwight Lyman Moody. Thoughts for the Quiet Hour. Willow Grove, PA: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing, 1997. Print.

December 29: The Grace of God Shines Through Lamentations 1:1–2:22 ; Romans 15:8–21 ; Proverbs 30:1–33 I was once asked why the Bible is so brutal—why it depicts things like babies being killed and war. It’s true, the Bible has many moments of darkness and violence. But these depictions of the rawness of humanity—in all its ungratefulness and depravity—demonstrate how much people need God. And more than that, through these moments, the Bible shows how much people need a savior. The book of Lamentations is brimming with sorrow and gnashing of teeth. Little hope can be found in this book . The prophet weeps and moans over his fallen nation, over watching Jerusalem crumble. In this poetic work, we see people who don’t follow the God who loves them dearly and so badly yearns to see them return to Him. “How desolate the city sits that was full of people! She has become like a widow, once great among the nations! Like a woman of nobility in the provinces, she has become a forc...

December 29th Deserter or disciple? From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him. John 6:66 . When God gives a vision by His Spirit through His word of what He wants, and your mind and soul thrill to it, if you do not walk in the light of that vision, you will sink into servitude to a point of view which Our Lord never had. Disobedience in mind to the heavenly vision will make you a slave to points of view that are alien to Jesus Christ. Do not look at someone else and say— ‘Well, if he can have those views and prosper, why cannot I?’ You have to walk in the light of the vision that has been given to you and not compare yourself with others or judge them, that is between them and God. When you find that a point of view in which you have been delighting clashes with the heavenly vision and you debate, certain things will begin to develop in you—a sense of property and a sense of personal right, things of which Jesus Christ made nothing....

Morning, December 29       Go To Evening Reading          “Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.”             — 1 Samuel 7:12 The word “hitherto” seems like a hand pointing in the direction of the past. Twenty years or seventy, and yet, “hitherto the Lord hath helped!” Through poverty, through wealth, through sickness, through health, at home, abroad, on the land, on the sea, in honour, in dishonour, in perplexity, in joy, in trial, in triumph, in prayer, in temptation, “hitherto hath the Lord helped us!” We delight to look down a long avenue of trees. It is delightful to gaze from end to end of the long vista, a sort of verdant temple, with its branching pillars and its arches of leaves; even so look down the long aisles of your years, at the green boughs of mercy overhead, and the strong pillars of lovingkindness and faithfulness which bear up your joys. Are there no birds in yonder branches singing? Su...

Babel, Tower of Excerpt ‎The “Tower of Babel” was an ancient construction called a ziggurat—a step-pyramid building with a shrine at the top reserved for a divine being. The people built this construction in the plain of Shinar to make a great name for themselves and to avoid being scattered over the face of the earth ( Gen 11:4 ). God , however, disapproved of their plans and judged the people by confusing their language in order to scatter them ( Gen 11:6–8 ). The story explains the origin of languages and the nations, especially Babylon ( Gen 11:9 ). Cisneros, Johnny. “Tower of Babel.” Ed. John D. Barry et al. The Lexham Bible Dictionary2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 : n. pag. Print.

The Lower Pool of Solomon ‎The above view of the lowest and most extensive of the Pools of Solomon gives one an idea of the masonry used in the structure of this remarkable reservoir. Our artist stood upon a hill to the north of this pool. You may see in the picture our horses and dragoman down in the valley, and the few people at the further corner of the pool look like Liliputians. To the south beyond we see one of the Judean hills. If this reservoir were full it would float one of the largest of ocean steamers. In the narrow valley a short distance below the pools is the little village of Urtâs, with ancient ruins, which is supposed to be the Etham where Josephus says were the Gardens of Solomon . There are gardens and fountains there at this day, and it is very probable that upon those fertile slopes running down to the green cup of the hills lay the vineyards, orchards and pleasure grounds of Solomon; and he, walking through his great plantations here, may have communed w...

Egyptian Kitchen

Threshing floor with sledge at Neot Kedumim

Disease on Livestock

Yellowwood Yellowwood   yel•low•wood \-ˌwu̇d\ noun circa 1666   1:      any of various trees having yellowish wood or yielding a yellow extract especially: a leguminous tree (Cladrastis lutea) of the southern U.S. having showy white fragrant flowers and yielding a yellow dye   2:      the wood of a yellowwood tree Mish, Frederick C. “Preface.” Merriam-Webster’s collegiate dictionary. 2003 : n. pag. Print.

In the Spirit Revelation 1:10 Excerpt I was in the Spirit ( ἐγενομην ἐν πνευματι [ egenomēn en pneumati] ). Rather, “I came to be (as in 1:9 ) in the Spirit ,” came into an ecstatic condition as in Acts 10:10f .; 22:17 , not the normal spiritual condition ( εἰναι ἐν πνευματι [ einai en pneumati ], Rom. 8:9 ). Robertson, A.T. Word Pictures in the New Testament. Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1933. Print.

Elected by God’s Mercy Excerpt At this point one might wonder about man’s free will. Thus, the question arises: Does God accomplish His purpose in election by letting human freedom take its course? Yes, but one should not presuppose that human freedom takes precedence over God’s electing choice. Rather an omniscient God aware of all possible scenarios and their outcomes, elects first (using an undisclosed criterion), but then accomplishes His purpose through human freedom. That God uses human freedom to accomplish, as well as enforce, His choice may be illustrated through the Scripture account of Pharaoh( Exod 9:16 ). Only after Pharaoh initially rebels ( 5:2 ) and hardens his own heart ( 7:13 , 14 , 22 ; 8:15 , 19 , 32 ; 9:7 ) does God harden his heart ( 3:19–20 ; 4:21 ; 9:12 ). God , knowing beforehand Pharaoh’s response ( cf . Exod 4:21–23 ), uses him to demonstrate His power and declare His name throughout the earth. Therefore, if God chooses to withhold mercy and harden a hea...

December 28   The friendship of the world is enmity with God         James 4:4 It is like the ivy with the oak. The ivy may give the oak a grand, beautiful appearance, but all the while it is feeding on its vitals. Are we compromising with the enemies of God? Are we being embraced by the world by its honors, its pleasures, its applause? This may add to us in the world’s estimation, but our strength becomes lost. Denham Smith Hardman, Samuel G., and Dwight Lyman Moody. Thoughts for the Quiet Hour. Willow Grove, PA: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing, 1997. Print.

December 28: Unity Jeremiah 52:1–34 ; Romans 14:13–15:7 ; Proverbs 29:1–27 Paul calls us to refrain from judging others ( Rom 14:3 ). That’s easy enough to do when the people in our communities are the people we’d want to have over for dinner. What happens when those in our community don’t value (or devalue) the things we value (or devalue)? “Now may the God of patient endurance and of encouragement grant you to be in agreement with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, so that with one mind you may glorify with one mouth the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore accept one another, just as Christ also has accepted you, to the glory of God” ( Rom 15:5–7 ). In this portion of his letter, Paul asks the Roman believers to stretch themselves. For the Roman believers, judgment might have centered on the issue of eating the meat of unclean animals or the observance of Jewish holidays. Paul asks them to withhold judgment of one another because only God has ...

December 28th Continuous conversion Except ye be converted, and become as little children.… Matthew 18:3 . These words of Our Lord are true of our initial conversion, but we have to be continuously converted all the days of our lives, continually to turn to God as children. If we trust to our wits instead of to God, we produce consequences for which God will hold us responsible. Immediately our bodies are brought into new conditions by the providence of God, we have to see our natural life obeys the dictates of the Spirit of God. Because we have done it once is no proof that we shall do it again. The relation of the natural to the spiritual is one of continuous conversion, and it is the one thing we object to. In every setting in which we are put, the Spirit of God remains unchanged and His salvation unaltered but we have to “put on the new man.” God holds us responsible every time we refuse to convert ourselves, our reason for refusing is willful obstinacy. Our na...

Morning, December 28       Go To Evening Reading          “The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God.”             — Galatians 2:20 When the Lord in mercy passed by and saw us in our blood, he first of all said, “Live” ; and this he did first, because life is one of the absolutely essential things in spiritual matters, and until it be bestowed we are incapable of partaking in the things of the kingdom. Now the life which grace confers upon the saints at the moment of their quickening is none other than the life of Christ, which, like the sap from the stem, runs into us, the branches, and establishes a living connection between our souls and Jesus. Faith is the grace which perceives this union, having proceeded from it as its firstfruit. It is the neck which joins the body of the Church to its all-glorious Head.           “Oh Faith! thou bo...

December 27 Lesson 4 A GENEROUS GIFT DEVOTIONAL READING: John 1:10–18 BACKGROUND SCRIPTURE : Matthew 23:1–12 ; Mark 12:38–44 MATTHEW 23:2–12 2 Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: 3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. 4 For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. 5 But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, 6 And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, 7 And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. 8 But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. 9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. 10 Neither be ye ...