God Is Worth Waiting For

In his book The Pursuit of God, A.W. Tozer made the following observation: "It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply." To put it another way, God cannot do much with people who have not passed through a time of suffering, sickness, sacrifice or struggle. How can we be a blessing to people who are going through the hardships of life if we ourselves somehow have been exempted from such hardships?

Fourth Sunday of Advent (A): A Sign from God

Christians have laid claim to this passage as one of the many Old Testament passages-along with Isaiah 9:6-7; Micah 5:2 and others-that seemed to point hundreds of years beyond the time they actually were written to foreshadow the appearance of Jesus Christ. In this instance, the idea that a "virgin will conceive and bear a child" as recorded in Isaiah 7:14 is seen as being fulfilled with the birth of Jesus as described in Matthew 1:18-23.

Third Sunday of Advent (A): Are You the One?

Jesus and John the Baptist are two men who are linked together in all four of the gospel narratives. In Luke, they are linked together from before their birth. John was the miracle child born of Zechariah and Elizabeth when she was well past the age of giving birth. Jesus was the miracle child born of Mary and of the Holy Spirit while she was still a virgin; fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14 where a virgin (almah) would bear a son (Luke 1:26-38).

A Question in the Crowd: Who Is This?

According to the Gospel of Matthew, Palm Sunday was the first time Jesus ever appeared in the great, bustling city of Jerusalem. Jesus knew that His ministry would not be complete and His mission would not be successful unless and until He took His gospel message from the small towns of Galilee in the northern part of Israel and declared it in the great Temple in Jerusalem.

After All I’ve Been Through I Still Have Joy

As you may know, Cleveland, Ohio, is the home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. That's because back in the 1950s, there was a disc jockey by the name of Alan Freed who worked for an AM radio station in Cleveland. He began referring to the music of Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley as "rock 'n' roll music." Even though the inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame take place in New York City, the origin of the term rock 'n' roll music began in Cleveland.