Category: Message of the Day

“He instructed them to take nothing on their journey.” –Mark 6:8 Jesus sends out His disciples to unknown locations. He does not allow us to bring food, luggage, money, or a change of clothes (Mk 6:8-9). Moreover, we are not to have pre-arranged accommodations. Most people react to these words of Jesus with disbelief and fear. We think: “Jesus can’t possibly mean this.” Yet what if He really does mean it? However, Jesus does not say: “Have no food or money.” Instead, He says: “Take no food or money.” It may sound like Jesus is saying that we won’t be...

“I have sinned grievously in what I have done. But now, Lord, forgive the guilt of Your servant, for I have been very foolish.” –2 Samuel 24:10 One of the biggest understatements in the Bible is: “The wages of sin is death” (Rm 6:23). That’s putting it mildly. The wages of sin is mega-death. After David committed one of his lesser sins, the prophet Gad proposed three possible wages for David’s sin: three years of famine, three months of fleeing the enemy in a war, or three days of pestilence (2 Sm 24:13). David chose the three days, not because...

“When the day came to purify them according to the law of Moses, the couple brought Him up to Jerusalem so that He could be presented to the Lord.”–Luke 2:22 This book, One Bread, One Body, is published by Presentation Ministries. We are named after the feast of Mary’s Presentation, which is celebrated November 21. However, we also have a special devotion to Jesus’ Presentation, today’s feast. In contemporary English, the word “presentation” refers to presenting a talk or concert. The word is also used to describe the conferring of an award, academic degree, or special gift. For example, medals,...

“Before long they were begging [Jesus] to go away from their district.” –Mark 5:17 The people of the Gerasene town had lost two-thousand swine to drowning (Mk 5:13). They intuitively realized that if Jesus stayed around, they would lose even more things, so they told Jesus to leave. The Gerasenes cut their losses and cut their costs by asking Jesus to leave. We cut our losses when we refuse to lose our lives or lose anything further by getting more deeply involved in the kingdom of God. But “what profit does he show who gains the whole world and destroys...

“There are in the end three things that last: faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love.” –1 Corinthians 13:13 If we have not love, we are nothing (1 Cor 13:2). If we have not love, our best efforts are useless (1 Cor 13:3). “The man without love has known nothing of God, for God is Love” (1 Jn 4:8). “The man who does not love is among the living dead” (1 Jn 3:14). Life without love is death. We must have love. However, it is humanly impossible for us to truly love. It seems that we...