MAC KIRK

  Septuagesima Sunday.  3rd Week before Lent begins. 2 Timothy 2:1-13     ---We are leaving the time of Epiphany and moving into a few weeks of preparation for Easter ,soon the 40 days before on FEB 14. But these few weeks (3) are there for us to see the challenges, and think about the goal. The Second Reading today is about encouraging us to be strong (strengthened) in the grace that is the Second Person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ God's Only Son.   1.  Look at the Chapter before that talks about the setting for saying what the Apostle does in 2 Timothy 2:1.  Some had turned away  from the Apostle and his teaching.   1:13  He names them .  They were in Asia, Phygerlos and Hermogenes.  " It is evident....that many of these professed Christians have proved false to Paul in the hour of his need."  Erdman  This was also true in Titus 1:14 " commandments of me, that turn from the truth" The Apostle in vs. 9 encourages Titus to " hold fast the faithful word as

 Passion Burnt Out- Thirst Quenched- John 4:5-42 During this time of approach to Easter ( officially begin that next week ...the 3 Sundays the older Calendar used before the Lenten season), we are on a journey with Jesus to the Cross. You would think that the temptations that we normally deal with would not be a problem. We have gotten in the car, and are on a road trip! But they seem worse.  Would it be we could find our way in this world of sin to the Cross where we find relief. But the way is treacherous and the slippery. The world beckons us to take our fill of its delights, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life . (I John 2:16) These things are only temporary. In fact John says in his letter that “the darkness is passing away” 2:8 The world is in a state of decay . The flowers are here but they shall not last. Today we go to the woman at the well and look at her encounter with Jesus. (we have looked at this before in seeing a method of evangelism in the pattern of Jesus) Today I

  Faithful Followers & a Pattern for Us in Telling of Him- John 1:29-42    "Jesus is the way to the Father.  In these early manifestations, appearances and actions of Jesus we see an emphasis .  It is an open witness.  There is no shut door here.  Jesus is completely forthright with others and asks them questions like, “ What see ye?”  This question goes to our heart .  It shows us to be shallow in much of our own lives for we know we are often not looking for the right things that please God and serve others.  So Jesus is open with people .  “ Come and see” he says to the early disciples when they ask him “ Where are you abiding or living now? “ They are in pursuit of the thing which will satisfy their needs, give reality to their dreams and substance to their hopes.  They are soon to discover that the thing is in fact a person, the very Person who now confronts them.”  The Gospel of John by R. V. G. Tasker Charles Erdman tells of this lesson in three parts, Testimony, Faith

  Luke 2:41-52   Growing in Wisdom   1st Sunday after Epiphany. The Epistle Romans xii. 1. I BESEECH you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. The Gospel St. Luke ii. 41. NOW his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the fea