Romans 1:16

Title: The power of God

The gospel needs no embellishment or come-on to make it attractive and palatable because it is not a commodity up for sale to begin with. The power of God unto salvation can stand on its own without the puny gimmicks that really water down the good news for the sin of man that would condemn him to an eternity of shame and contempt.

All the gospel requires is a clean heart and a mouthpiece that would speak the truth in love and in all humility. Salvation is in God’s hands by the conviction of the Holy Spirit, and cannot be advanced even if someone were to rise from the dead.

1 Corinthians 6:20

Title: Bought at a price

“Paid in Full,” as Christians claim, referring to our deliverance from the marketplace of sin by payment of a price which is the life, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

And what else is within the scope of this purchase?

Can we venture to say that our good works, the sacrifices, the dangers we face for the sake of the gospel have also been paid for that we cannot boast of and glory in them?

In the Christian economy, there is no place for self-promotion. Let us not forget that the Son of God died that we might inherit eternal life, and that life is God’s and must be lived for the Lord’s pleasure and glory alone.

Ecclesiastes 12:1

Title: In the days of your youth

How else can a child know God, his laws and statutes, his mighty hand, if not for the parents dedicating their offspring to the service of the Lord, while their hearts are yet tender and they are most inclined to absorb information, by instructing them on the Word, from the time they take their first steps to the age of puberty, and beyond if given the opportunity?

Children who have been taught by their parents to reverence and fear the Lord are most likely to believe the gospel and persevere in times of trials and persecution.

1 Peter 3:15

Title:  Always be prepared

The context here, clearly, is suffering for righteousness; this is not an ordinary debate wherein a Christian ought to defend the faith.  This is an exhortation to answer while undergoing suffering in the hands of persecutors who would be amazed at the constancy of those who love God and carry in their bodies the testimony of the Lord Jesus, when threatened with loss of liberty and property, even death for the sake of the gospel.

Philippians 4:19

Title: And my God shall supply all your need

As we act to help others in their times of need, there is added into our accounts a promise guaranteed by the fullness of God, and resounded in the prayers of the recipient of the aid, that should we decline to a status of want, that the Lord, in view of His eternal riches, would open doors and raise up people who would provide our needs.

Luke 2:9

Title: And the glory of the Lord

We cannot claim honor and praise as preachers of the gospel. Our lives are mere representative of the glory of the Lord when announcing the good news to those whom God has chosen unto salvation, and will remain as such until our tenure on earth is over.

This is the only way by which the truth of God will be able to illuminate the darkness in and around mankind, if our own significance remains in the insignificant.

1 Timothy 6:18

Title: To be generous and willing to share

When we are ready to impart our riches beyond the confines of our homes, when we are willing to share with the poor, in fellowship with them, what we ourselves can use, in a manner that reveals proof to our knowledge and possession of the world to come, then our riches and possessions have truly come to us as blessings, and will depart in the same way.

Interchange

The whole year long
there are more private day
than we could covet
or let go
in public places,

but love
is the only sure way
out of our selves
and into each other.

Canticle

The time is a May morning,

the dew still in the grass,

never too early to start

over again,

and with the passing of days

and years

measure what we’ve lost

by a yardstick of what

we shall gain,

as love connects us

without missing a beat,

a rhyme,

a chance to go on caring

till we reach the borders

of our lives.

Waltz

Morning was nature’s dance

when once

I taught you

how to run

up and down

my summer hill.

Not unlike the movements

in a concerto,

I have memorized each step,

each turn,

where the grass ends

and where the sky begins,

all the way to the summit

and back.

Trust me with

your solemn time,

believing that I would

treasure it

as I do our time together

on our summer hill.

Colossians 1:17

Title: And in him all things hold together

Let us not induce ourselves to believe that God’s creation is something that could be likened to anything we have produced with our hands. While man can make and then leave, God could not have just created and left because the universe relies on the power of the Creator in order to continue existing. To be generated out of nothing, by a mere command, requires the persistent resonance of the Word spoken. Before anything else and to that degree we are to depend on God and be conscious of Him.

Hebrews 4:12

Title: Sharper than any double-edged sword

God’s truth must cut deep into the most secret recesses of our souls first before it can be an effective weapon in our hands. It must remain embedded in our minds and moral fiber and in our manners, a sweet but fearsome revelation in serving and accomplishing the purposes of the Lord.

Taking Our Time

One day

leads to another,

so we’ll not respect

too many boundaries

or landmarks

of rain and sunshine

on our trips

up chocolate hills

down green meadows,

taking our time

to be

what we could not have been

yesterday

or become

tomorrow.

Uncharted

I will miss you

even

before

you

are

gone.

John 4:34

Title: My food

While most people appreciate food for its appearance, aroma, texture, and flavor, and when we also consider it as a source of energy and pleasure, and a time of rest and fellowship when partaking of it with family or friends, the Christian derives the same in his dedication to fulfill the task God has ordained for him to accomplish.

And the task of announcing the good news of salvation in Jesus, the Christ, would not wait, in the same manner that the body would have to be nourished with such frequency and urgency day after day.

Ecclesiastes 4:4

Title: A chasing after the wind

We know that life is a vapor, without definite shape or assurance of tenure, but it doesn’t have to be meaningless as it is short.

We can be certain to give it character in nobility of purpose, and depth by acting uprightly and properly in the world. And to accomplish this, we have to achieve based on the principle of the good of the other, not on envious surpassing of one by the other which is a worthless expenditure of the breath of life itself.

Revelation 13:16

Title:  To receive a mark

It would be aesthetically inappropriate for a mark to be tattooed on or a chip to be implanted in prominent parts of the body, but what the verse might be pointing to are the two major segments of society: those who use their intellect (head) and those who do manual labor (hand), and each of us fall in one sector or the other.

One potential agenda in accomplishing total control over the population is through health-care initiative, as we see now being forced down the throats of the American people by a legislated Affordable Healthcare Act, a.k.a. Obamacare.

Everyone must enroll or be penalized for not doing so, and someday might not be allowed to buy or sell also.

Genesis 1:27; Romans 1:18-32

Title:  Male and female

Sodomy and lesbianism are not gender issues, since gender is the distinction of sex, and sex is (either of the two divisions into which persons, animals, and plants are divided according to reproductive function; male or female – Websters’ Dictionary).

It is clear in the pattern we see in nature, in human beings, in animal and plant life, that there are only male and female to propagate life, and if homosexuality were the norm among human beings, animals, and plants, life would cease to exist in merely twenty years.

Homosexuality is a sin issue, and has to be addressed through repentance toward God and trust in the Lord Jesus, or the offender would surely perish with no way of escape.