MAC KIRK

Lees’ prayer “ Gracious God, we thank you for the witness and lives of your servants Greg and Mary Lee today as they celebrate their Golden Wedding Anniversary. In their love they have enriched us and brought gladness to all of their friends and family; now bless and preserve them. Guide them in the continued use of your gifts. We thank you for your sustenance in temporal and spiritual needs ( especially this dinner prepared especially for tonite). May You grant a clear vision of the paths you are calling us all to walk in. Especially continue to be present with our Marines, Soldiers, Airmen & Naval personnel in our country and abroad. May we all travel with the One who is Way, the Truth, and the Life, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

What Will Make Us Happy- Luke 12: 13-21 “ Patience allows others to approach us because they feel welcome. Patience is the gift we must pray for. It makes us able to accept the stranger and Christ. ” I heard this thought on a sermon from England this mid week. It is quite jarring then to hear this parable about the man concerned about his inheritance. I thought he must be quite unhappy. I suppose if we listed all the things that the Bible tells us will make us unhappy we would get close to knowing what will make us happy. ( And we may find we have started in the wrong place after all if we start with ‘ What will make us Happy’ ) This person in Luke 12 was referring to possibly Deuteronomy 21:17 which talks about inheritance. Jesus does not really trifle with that but goes straight to the problem. “ Take, heed and beware (12:15)against all covetousness…” The force of the original is “ that of taking a positive action to ward off a foe.” If we are truly to be happy in our li...

from The Morning Message by Rev. G. Campbell Morgan, c. 1906 " And none is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. " John 10:29 " God is superior to the slum or the tenement, to ungodly companions or influence. God is greater than the sneer of the mocker. Live in God consciously, and thou hast found the environment that is highest and closest and strongest, the environment which is superior to all others." ---Live in God consciously is the key to this thought I think. We should keep Him before us in all the tasks of our life at each hour and minute and in our conversations with others. Have a blessed week. David McMillan+

PRAYER-Luke 11:1-13 The text this morning is one we all know. It is breath taking. Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever seen something so wonderful and remarkable that you cannot get over it? I think the first time I went to sea in the merchant marine was such a time. I did the 360 turn and could not see anything but sea. That was breath taking. Another time was in Iraq in 2003 when I was with the 4th Infantry Division and we got to Saddam’s palace in Tikrit . The Marines had been there before us. But there was a perfect rose garden all around the grounds! I was stunned. And for the next 5 months while I was there I enjoyed the roses! The Lord’s prayer is such a prayer for us. It is breath-taking and it takes our breath away with its focus on God, our daily needs as well as our shortcomings and sins. Jesus reminds us in the story after the prayer of how we should keep asking for God’s gifts . “…(your father) knows how to give good gifts …” Luke 11:13 John N...

When I was in college at the US Merchant Marine Academy in New York ( Kings Point) I had the wonderful blessing of being able to travel down to Philadelphia once a month to see my grandfather . While I visited him I was also able to attend his church in Philadelphia, Chambers -Wylie Memorial Presbyterian Church ( across from the Academy of Music). I roamed his manse and found a delightful book called, The Morning Message which are a short series of thoughts for each day from the Scriptures from his father, G. Campbell Morgan. Here is today's- " He will not grow faint or be discouraged." Isaiah 42:4 Here is the thought , " Every worker with God is conscious of the presence of evil in the world. Let that consciousness always be held in connection with the glorious fact that over all, Christ is absolute Master. The Church is not fighting a conflict, the issue of which is uncertain. The victory has been won, and therefore it must be won." You can apply that on...

Troubled, anxious and distracted. These three English words describe Martha in this Sunday’s Gospel. The Greek words are as follows- troubled at its origin means tumult , outwardly. Anxious is also in Matthew 6:25 denotes inward uneasiness. Distracted is only here in the NT means literally “to draw from around” Martha’s attention instead of centering around Jesus was drawn hither and thither. There are many ways to serve. Tonight we will speak of Andrew from The Great Physician who was one who was behind the scenes yet very active. Jesus commends Mary in this short Scripture passage for having ( Luke 10:38-42) “ chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” Many think that Mary did not serve. The word also is in many Greek texts and is left out of the translations yet in the original. Mary “ also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His Word.” In other words she was serving as well. Martha at other places in Scripture notably John 11:20 was the one who rushed to mee...

Holy Communion- “ The Good Samaritan” Luke 10: 25-37 The story of the good Samaritan has captivated people for years. It is even coined in our language, someone who stops and helps a stranger in need is “ a good Samaritan.” First we find that Jesus despite the lawyer’s test correctly answers that the law in the Old Testament was absolutely correct. Deuteronomy 6:5 “ You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. “ Leviticus 19:18-“ you shall love your neighbor as yourself…” I pause there for just a minute. So the law is correct. We have the Gospel people of God in the Old Testament. It is there. We are told our duty there to God to love Him with all our hearts , souls and minds and our neighbors as ourselves. Some people leave out the Old Testament in their reading and thinking but Jesus did not. He revered the Law and the Prophets knowing they were the words of God and eternal life. So we should not neglect the Old T...

I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery." – Thomas Jefferson Deism, with me, is but another name for vice and depravity. I hear it is said by the Deists that I am one of their number. And indeed that some good people think I am no Christian. This thought gives me much more pain than being called a traitor. Being a Christian is a character which I prize far above all this world ...has, or can boast." — Patrick "give me liberty or give me death" Henry The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, anarchy and tyranny commence. If 'Thou shalt not covet' and 'Thou shalt not steal' were not commanments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society before it can be civilized or made free." — John Ad...ams, signer of the Declaration of Independence and America's second president Human law must rest its authority ultimately upon the authority of that Law which is divine. F...