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February 15, 2017 Wednesday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Gn 8:6-13, 20-22At the end of forty days Noah opened the hatch he had made in the ark,and he sent out a raven,to see if the waters had lessened on the earth.It flew back and forth until the waters dried off from the earth.Then he sent out a dove,to see if the waters had lessened on the earth.But the dove could find no place to alight and perch,and it returned to him in the ark,for there was water all over the earth.Putting out his hand, he...

In spite of the original date, this was an excerpt on The Aquila Report today, assuming because it is about to be released as a movie. _______________________________________________ The publishing world sees very few books reach blockbuster status, but William Paul Young’s The Shack has now exceeded even that. The book, originally self-published by Young and two friends, has now sold more than 10 million copies and has been translated into over thirty languages. It is now one of the best-selling paperback books of all time, and its readers are enthusiastic. According to Young, the book was originally written for his...

“These words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” (vv. 6–7). - Deuteronomy 6:6–9 Commentators on Scripture during the medieval era developed a complex means of interpreting the Bible known as the quadriga. According to the medieval quadriga, every biblical passage had a fourfold meaning—a literal sense, a moral sense, an allegorical sense, and an anagogical sense. To know the literal or...

February 14, 2017 Memorial of Saints Cyril, Monk, and Methodius, Bishop Reading 1 Gn 6:5-8; 7:1-5, 10When the LORD saw how great was man's wickedness on earth,and how no desire that his heart conceivedwas ever anything but evil,he regretted that he had made man on the earth,and his heart was grieved. So the LORD said:"I will wipe out from the earth the men whom I have created,and not only the men,but also the beasts and the creeping things and the birds of the air,for I am sorry that I made them."But Noah found favor with the LORD. Then the...

"I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it" (Phil. 1:6). God always finishes what He starts. All who love Christ desire to be like Him in spiritual perfection and absolute holiness. We want to please Him in every respect. However, that noble pursuit is often met with frustration and discouragement as human frailties and sin block our pathway. Paul's cry in Romans 7 is ours as well: "That which I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I...

“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know . . . what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might” (Ephesians 1:18-19). God’s power is seen in creation, preservation, redemption, and resurrection. Think of all the energy we get from the sun, and multiply that by the innumerable stars in space. But God by His great power created all the stars with no effort whatsoever: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and...

“This God—his way is perfect; the word of the LORD proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.” - Psalm 18:30 Because Scripture is the only source of special revelation that we possess, it is the only infallible and final authority for the church. This is the doctrine of sola Scriptura, which the Protestant Reformers embraced in order to correct errors that said other authorities such as post-biblical church tradition are equivalent to Scripture as a rule of faith. As we have seen, the doctrine of sola Scriptura is a necessary consequence of passages...

February 13, 2017 Monday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Gn 4:1-15, 25The man had relations with his wife Eve,and she conceived and bore Cain, saying,"I have produced a man with the help of the LORD."Next she bore his brother Abel.Abel became a keeper of flocks, and Cain a tiller of the soil.In the course of time Cain brought an offering to the LORDfrom the fruit of the soil,while Abel, for his part,brought one of the best firstlings of his flock.The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering,but on Cain and his offering he...

This morning I listened to Dr. David Jeremiah's sermon on John 3:16 on http://www.oneplace.com/. In his sermon, Dr. Jeremiah mentioned the numerous "John 3:16" signs displayed by football fans in the stands. He also mentioned Tim Tebow's writing that verse reference on his eyeblack. Tebow is as identified with "John 3:16" as he is with kneeling in the end zone.

February 12, 2017 Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Sir 15:15-20If you choose you can keep the commandments, they will save you;if you trust in God, you too shall live;he has set before you fire and waterto whichever you choose, stretch forth your hand.Before man are life and death, good and evil,whichever he chooses shall be given him.Immense is the wisdom of the Lord;he is mighty in power, and all-seeing.The eyes of God are on those who fear him;he understands man's every deed.No one does he command to act unjustly,to none does he give license to sin. Responsorial...

The Joy of Intercession "Always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all" (Phil. 1:4). Intercessory prayer is a powerful tool in the hands of a righteous person. There's the story of a special nurse who knew the importance of intercessory prayer. Each day she used her hands as instruments of God's love and mercy toward those in her care, so she found it natural to use her hand as a scheme of prayer. Each finger represented someone she wanted to pray for. Her thumb was nearest to her and reminded her to pray for those who...

“The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth” (Psalm 145:18). Understanding God’s omnipresence should encourage us in times of distress and keep us from sinning. It is a great comfort as a Christian to know that God is always present in me both essentially and relationally. No matter what the trial, He is there. Sometimes He might seem faraway, but He’s really no further away than He’s ever been. His promise to us is, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you” (Heb. 13:5). God is always...

FULL TITLE: 'I love all my moms': Hundreds of polygamists and their families led by the 'Sister Wives' descend on the steps of Utah Capitol to demand the legal right to plural marriage The family on the TV reality show 'Sister Wives' and several hundred other protesters in polygamous relationships and their supporters said Friday they won't stop fighting for the legal right to plural marriage. Holding signs that read, 'I love all my moms,' and 'If we were gay, we'd be OK,' the group rallied in the rain on the steps of the Utah Capitol on Friday afternoon. The...

February 11, 2017 Saturday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Gn 3:9-24The LORD God called to Adam and asked him, "Where are you?"He answered, "I heard you in the garden;but I was afraid, because I was naked,so I hid myself."Then he asked, "Who told you that you were naked?You have eaten, then,from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!"The man replied, "The woman whom you put here with me she gave me fruit from the tree, and so I ate it."The LORD God then asked the woman,"Why did you do such a thing?"The...

“‘But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain Thee’” (1 Kings 8:27). God is in all places; He is not confined by space. No matter how big the universe is, God is bigger. His being fills up all of infinity. He is omnipresent—everywhere present. God says, “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” (Jer. 23:24). Solomon said at the dedication of the temple, “Will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain Thee, how much less this house which I have built!” (1 Kings...

“‘But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain Thee’” (1 Kings 8:27). God is in all places; He is not confined by space. No matter how big the universe is, God is bigger. His being fills up all of infinity. He is omnipresent—everywhere present. God says, “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” (Jer. 23:24). Solomon said at the dedication of the temple, “Will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain Thee, how much less this house which I have built!” (1 Kings...

“So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (v. 11). - Isaiah 55:10–11 The Protestant Reformers worked for many things, but perhaps the goal that they worked hardest to achieve was to restore the church’s confidence in Scripture. Stressing the unique inspiration and authority of the Bible, the Reformers sought to bring the Western church in submission to the Word of God after many years of the church’s following those who...

February 10, 2017 Memorial of Saint Scholastica, Virgin Reading 1 Gn 3:1-8Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the animalsthat the LORD God had made.The serpent asked the woman,"Did God really tell you not to eatfrom any of the trees in the garden?"The woman answered the serpent:"We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden;it is only about the fruit of the treein the middle of the garden that God said,'You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die.'"But the serpent said to the woman:"You certainly will not die!No, God knows...

Our readiness to perform our task becomes critical when we realize the world also has a mission—to capture and assimilate the church. If the church becomes an echo of the world, the mission of the world is accomplished. It is our task to build the city of God. It is supremely costly and extraordinarily dangerous. He who will work to build the kingdom of God must be on guard against arrows that are directed at his face—but perhaps even more on guard for the arrows directed at his back. Nehemiah’s work provoked hostile reactions from some of the pagans. But...

"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1:2). Nothing you face today is beyond the purview of God’s grace and peace. Paul's wonderful benediction for grace and peace was ever on his heart. He offered it in each of his epistles and expounded on it throughout his writings. Grace is the outpouring of God's goodness and mercy on undeserving mankind. Every benefit and provision you receive is by God's grace. That's why Peter called it "the manifold grace of God" (1 Pet. 1:10). Just as your trials are manifold or multifaceted, so...