MAC KIRK

  Luke 18  Prayer and the Widow/Unjust Judge "God can pick sense out of a confused prayer. Richard Sibbes" "The angel fetched Peter out of prison, but it was prayer fetched the angel. Thomas Watson" "Attending church in Kentucky, we watched an especially verbal and boisterous child being hurried out, slung under his irate father's arm. No one in the congregation so much as raised an eyebrow -- until the child captured everyone's attention by crying out in a charming Southern accent, "Ya'll pray for me now!"  Jean McMahon (Dyer, Ind.) in Reader's Digest, April 1980. ----1.  See the context, the ch. before.  Jesus talks about His Coming Again in Glory to judge the world.  In the days of Noah, so it shall be when He comes again. So He picks up on this and tells the story of the unjust Judge. 2.  We should never give up on prayer---have we given up on our prayers that seem unanswered?  That is the theme of this parable.  " We ought al...

  Lent I The Road to Holiness   "Recently I was looking at some of my many files under the "quotes" folder. One such quote is called, "The Road to Holiness." A seeker after truth came to a saint for guidance. "Tell me, wise one, how did you become holy?" "Two words." "And what are they, please?" "Right choices." The seeker was fascinated. "How does one learn to choose rightly?" "One word." "One word! May I have it, please?" the seeker asked. "Growth." The seeker was thrilled. "How does one grow?" "Two words.: "What are they, pray tell?" "Wrong choices." I believe that this is God's purpose in times of testing, to help us grow and to show us that we have the faith and ability to stand up to the testing so that we will trust God in difficult times -- to strengthen our faith and Christian character. At the same time, Satan has his own purpose -- ...

 Sunday before Lent.  Quinqagesima .  I Corinthians 13; John 15 "GEORGE MACDONALD A heart has to be taught to love, and its first lesson, however well learnt, no more makes it perfect in love, than the A B C makes a savant. The man who loves most will love best. The man who thoroughly loves God and his neighbour is the only man who will love a woman ideally – who can love her with the love God thought of between them when he made man male and female. The man, I repeat, who loves God with his very life, and his neighbour as Christ loves him, is the man who alone is capable of grand, perfect, glorious love to any woman." " There are people who are filled with knowledge, but empty of mercy and love." Jonathan Edwards Does following the way of love mean actually doing it, with the concluding vs in 14:1?  " Follow after love..."  the word follow there is strong in the original .  In other words we understand we should practice love , but seem to fail more than ...

 Presentation of Jesus in the Temple by Mary and Joseph - February 2 The End of the Christmas Season Luke 2 Today we certainly are at the end of the Christmas Season. It is Candlemas or Purification of the Virgin Mary. ( 40 days after the birth of Jesus) " The light was the inspiration for the celebration with candles. It was and still remains to this day a Christian celebration of the purification of Mother Mary and the first appearance of Jesus in the Temple. During the early years, people would place their candles outside the church in order to be blessed. They would then carry them in a procession to church in order to imitate the appearance of Jesus in the Temple." from holidaycalendar.com in England. France and Belgium  ( from nationtoday.com/candlemas Candlemas Day is celebrated with a specific method of preparing crepes. Mexico Candlemas Day is celebrated with tamales. Puerto Rico Bonfires and singing mark the end of Candlemas Day. Luxembourg Children roam the streets...

  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 enc...

 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...

  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 Er...