“ 10  Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, 11  “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” 12  But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” 13  Then Isaiah said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals that you weary my God also? 14  Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son and shall name him Immanuel” Isaiah 7:10-14

6  For a child has been born for us,    a son given to us;authority rests upon his shoulders,    and he is namedWonderful Counselor, Mighty God,    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.   7  Great will be his authority,    and there shall be endless peacefor the throne of David and his kingdom.    He will establish and uphold itwith justice and with righteousness    from this time onward and forevermore.The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this” Isaiah 9:6-7 . We are in the s

“ 7  Although our iniquities testify against us, act, O Lord, for Your Name’s sake; our rebellions indeed are many, and we have sinned against you. 8  O hope of Israel, its savior in time of trouble, why should You be like  a stranger in the land, like a traveler turning aside for the night? 9  Why should You be like someone confused, like a mighty warrior         who cannot give help? Yet You, O Lord, are in the midst of us,     and we are called by Your Name; do not forsake

6  With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?  7  Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,     with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?     Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?  8  He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.     And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy     and to wa

Today’s words from God through the Prophet Isaiah to His people were meant to teach them when they were going through all kinds of religious routine. Fasting, participating in religious rituals, but they were ignoring the poor around them. They were oppressing people around them. Or ignoring the oppressed around them. And God says to them that’s not what I’ve called you to do. This is not what devotion to me looks like, like empty religious ritual disconnected from care for t

1 “ Send me your light and your faithful care, let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell.   2 Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God.   3 Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him,    my Savior and my God” Psalm 43:3-5 . In ancient manuscripts, Psalms 42 and 43 form one psalm. Together they e

1  “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.  2  See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you.  3  Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn” Isaiah 60:1-3 . Isaiah 60 casts a magnificent vision of Zion’s — or Jerusalem’s — future — full of light, prosperity, and prestige. This is also what Christmas represents, a future

“ 16  Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight;     stop doing wrong.  17  Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.  18  “Come now, let us settle the matter,”says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool” Isaiah 1:16-18 . “Plead the cause of self-cleaning” is a phrase found in t

I know this isn’t what you may be thinking of Christmas, but my mind is on the people in Ukraine, and how this war is destroying hospitals, nurseries, homes and small businesses, and hitting hi-rises as well. As winter sets in, and the war continues to beat down the will of these innocent victims, PLEASE PRAY FOR PEACE. Why? Pray that Putin, who wants to go down in history as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, leader in the history of Russia, will lay down his arms onc

I know you are familiar with this text, but take time today, once again, to consider the grace of this teaching of Jesus. In so many ways we can say that this is why Jesus was born. This is what He wanted to tell us.: 25  “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26  Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor

“Jesus said: ’33 I have said this to you so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution, but take courage: I have conquered the world’”   John 16:33 . These words of Jesus make this point very simply and clearly: “In Me you may have peace” John 16:33 . That there is no other peace anywhere in this world except in Jesus Christ, begs the question for us all: DO YOU BELIEVE JESUS?  I do! And I know everything Jesus says, and everything He did, is true. So to