When Darlene and I first became Jesus followers we found ourselves in a church where a revival had been happening for several months. Even though the fervor was dying down we saw many miracles. Marriages restored, adversaries reconciled, and new believers added to the church were the norm. Our eyes were certainly opened to aspects of being a Jesus follower that we had never known or previously experienced, even though we both grew up going to church regularly.

Foundations for Living founders, Dick and Susan Driedger, were also profoundly impacted by the same revival. In fact, Dick left his employment to lead a discipleship ministry for all the people who were becoming Jesus followers in the church they attended.

This statement was true when Jesus spoke it and it is still true today. The people in Jesus day were very ready for the coming of Messiah. Some 400 years had passed since a prophet had spoken. The people were living in the hope that some very old prophecies about Messiah would come true in their lifetime.

Why does Jesus call "Love One Another" a new command? Multiple times in the old testament and in multiple situations, prior to this event, in the new testament era, Jesus told his followers to love one another, to love their neighbors as themselves, to show love to the poor, etc.

I have come through the Easter weekend of 2024 profoundly touched by what Jesus did for me and for you and for everyone else as well by his death on a Roman cross.

Along with her deep faith, the captioned phrase was a key factor in driving Francis Cabrini to accomplish all that she was able to do in her life.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were three Israelite teenagers among many others, who were in captivity and serving as slaves to King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. They were probably somewhat better off than some other captives because they had been chosen for leadership positions in the kingdom.

Two events in my life motivated me to pray that God would allow me to have a role in spreading his good news to the generations to come.

Sometimes people are drawn to church as is the situation in one of our praise reports today. More often attending church for the first time can be an intimidating experience. A person who attended a church for the first time recently was asked how he enjoyed the service. HIs response was:

"I did not know any of the songs"

" I did not get much out of what the speaker said"

At first glance we may assume that C. T. Studd is referring to work in Christian ministry. This would be far from the truth. In the very beginning God created work for Adam to do and it brought God glory when Adam cared for the garden. Regardless of what our life work is it can be done for self gratification and personal success or it can be done for the glory of Jesus Christ.

The Scripture reference today was the core verse that inspired Sabine Barrington Gould to write Onward Christian Soldiers in 1865. This hymn was written in 15 minutes and he later lamented:

"It was written in great haste, and I am afraid that some of the lines are faulty."

Smells have a powerful impact on us. My grandmother grew geraniums and she had a lot of them. I remember all the window sills in her house filled with potted geraniums. Even now some seventy years past my first memory of my grandmother, the smell of geraniums remind me of her.