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“A Fruitful Tree” (Galatians 5:16-25; John 15:1-5; Psalm 1)We just heard a bunch of readings from a variety of places in the Bible--Psalm 1, Proverbs, Jeremiah, Paul’s letter to the Galatians, and words of Jesus from the gospels of St. Luke and St. John--and all of these readings, about trees bearing fruit. This is an image of course of people and the fruits or works that they produce in their lives. Now the first thing to recognize is that we all bear fruit. We all produce works in our lives. The question is, though: What kind of fruit are we...

 How Did James & John Envision Jesus' Kingdom?  They Asked to Sit at His Right & Left Hand; the Other Ten Were Indignant.  What Was This Kingdom They Thought They Would Rule?  What Eventually Became of Them All?  The Apostles Believed that Jesus Would Restore the Kingdom of David, Which Was at Its Greatest Extent and Stability in the Time of his son Solomon.  But Jesus's Apostles Spread His Kingdom Worldwide, Far Beyond the Greatest Extent of Israel's Empire.  The Apostles Never Could Have Imagined Their Eventual Fates.  The Apostles "Get Down to Business", Trying to Establish the Pecking Order...

“Watershed Moments: Jesus’ Birth and Our Own” (John 1:1-18; Titus 3:4-7)Today is Christmas Day. This is the day for celebrating the greatest birth in the history of the world, the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The birth of Christ marks the watershed moment in all of human history. By a “watershed moment,” I mean a moment so significant that it marks a division between what went before and what comes after. And so it is with the birth of Christ. We even divide up time according to it: “B.C.,” “Before Christ,” and “A.D.,” “Anno Domini,” “In the...

There might soon be thousands more licensed drivers in the Grand Canyon State. The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that Arizona must offer driver’s licenses to thousands of young immigrants who entered the United States illegally but were protected from deportation by a presidential order in 2012, The Associated Press reports. In a 6-3 decision, justices denied Gov. Jan Brewer’s request for a stay on a circuit court ruling. Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas said they would have granted the stay.

“Who Are You, John?” (John 1:6-8, 19-28) How would you like to be defined in terms of someone else? I mean, who you are, your life and identity--when people think of you, they always compare you to somebody else? Are you like this person? Are you like that person? I suppose it could get old after a while. Why can’t people just take you for who you are, on your own terms? Well, today we’ll meet someone whose life was always being defined in terms of someone else. And you know what? He was okay with it. And so this...

I think I speak for the VAST MAJORITY of those who voted Republican in the midterm election when I say F*** Y** John Boehner! This SOB IGNORED THE MANDATE OF THE MIDTERM ELECTION, thus back-stabbing all of us by spearheading passage and funding of amnesty and Obamacare. Save to mention he has just committed suicide of the Republican party! Job ONE of next year's newly seated members of the House is to REPEAL AND REPLACE JOHN BOEHNER AS SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE!!!! May you ROT in hell for what you have just done to the Republican party, Speaker Boehner!

There was once a time when "The Daily Show" was truly groundbreaking. That isn't the case anymore

Wow! Obama went off on National Journal reporter Major Garrett today during his press conference after the thumping he received in the midtern elections. “OK, let’s see. See, they may… OK, medical device tax… I’ve already answered, uh-uh, the question. We are going to take a look at whatever ideas… Let me take a look comprehensively at the ideas that they present. Let’s give em time to tell me… I’d rather hear it from them than from you. Major, you know, uh… conceivably I could cancel my meeting on Friday because I’ve heard everything from you. I think I’d rather...

MI5 and MI6 have identified the British fighter suspected of murdering the American journalist James Foley, senior government sources confirmed last night. The masked man with a London accent, who is said to be known to fellow fighters as “Jihadi John”, was seen in the shocking video of Foley’s death released by the Isis extremist army last week. While sources gave no details of the man they have identified, a key suspect is Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, 23, who left his family’s £1m home in Maida Vale, west London, last year. He recently tweeted a picture of himself holding up a...

NHS doctor from East London may hold the key to identifying the jihadi who beheaded James Foley. An NHS doctor from east London who was previously accused of kidnapping Western journalists in Syria may hold the key to identifying the jihadi who beheaded James Foley, intelligence sources have disclosed. Shajul Islam was arrested and charged with kidnapping a British journalist, John Cantlie, in 2012 but was released after his trial collapsed when Mr Cantlie was unable to give evidence. He had always protested his innocence, saying he went to Syria to use his medical skills to treat victims of the...

A Frenchman who was held captive with murdered American journalist James Foley for months said today he has a ‘rough’ idea who his executioner is. Didier Francois said a video of the suspected British jihadist stirred painful memories of being chained up in the dark with Mr Foley and other ISIS hostages in Syria. It came as a former MI6 chief said the British jihadist will be identified and the SAS will be sent to Syria to 'bring him to justice'.

The tall British executioner was clad in all black and is wearing a facemask, however, sources within Britain are already starting to identify him. He is the allegedly the leader of a group of British ISIL fighters in Syria. He is known, thus far, only as "John." A former hostage of these fighters identified him to The Guardian as the head guard in Raqqa. One of his former hostages described him as "intelligent, educated and a devout believer in radical Islamic teachings." He was born in the United Kingdom.

Longtime Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price and his top assistant were arrested Friday morning by the FBI on federal bribery conspiracy charges. An indictment filed Wednesday and unsealed Friday morning lists the following charges against Price, who was taken into custody about 8 a.m.: Conspiracy to Commit Bribery Concerning a Local Government Receiving Federal Benefits Deprivation of Honest Services by Mail Fraud and Aiding and Abetting Conspiracy to Defraud the Internal Revenue Service Subscribing to a False and Fraudulent U.S. Individual Income Tax Return "The indictment unsealed today alleges that for more than a decade, in a shocking betrayal...

U.S. Rep. Dist. 4 - Rep Steve King Republican Party 43,018 99.1% Write-in 376 0.9% http://electionresults.sos.iowa.gov/Views/TabularData.aspx?TabView=StateRaces^Federal%20/%20Statewide%20Races^83&ElectionID=83# Winner J. Boehner (i) 68.7% 46,948 J. Winteregg 21.8% 14,928 E. Gurr 5.5% 3,782 M. Ashworth 3.9% 2,673 http://www.politico.com/2014-election/results/map/house/ohio/#.U5D0rXZ9LLI

During a round of morning interviews with several of the major television networks on Wednesday, Secretary of State John Kerry accused NSA [National Security Agency] leaker Edward Snowden of engaging in the same kind of betrayal and traitorous activities that Kerry once participated in. When Kerry returned from the Vietnam War in the early 70's, he accused his fellow American soldiers of committing war crimes. Kerry's accusations provoked the ire of countless Vietnam War vets who said that not only was Kerry falsely maligning them, but that he was guilty of betrayal and that he was harming American POW's in...

Eric Cantor once praised Congressman Gutiérrez for his leadership on the issue of amnesty. Congressman Gutiérrez is here to set up a great deception that will allow Eric Cantor to claim he is opposed to amnesty, at the eleventh hour, just two weeks prior to the primary on June 10th. Congressman Cantor has spent countless dollars claiming that I’m a “liberal college professor.” This is the act of a desperate campaign. I am more conservative than Eric Cantor across-the-board. I am the constitutional conservative in this race. Eric Cantor is trying to buy this election with corporate cash from Los...

Prior to Hall's runoff loss, 256 straight incumbent Republican U.S. House members from the Lone Star State had launched successful renomination campaigns since 1870 Ending a Texas Republican Party streak that began over 140 years ago, 17-term U.S. Representative Ralph Hall lost his renomination bid in a primary runoff election Tuesday. Hall was defeated in the runoff by John Ratcliffe, who won with approximately 53 percent of the vote. Only one other sitting Texas Republican U.S. Representative in history has ever lost his party's nomination - although technically it was not a renomination bid.

Friend, You’re not going to believe this, but it's true. We’ve got a national debt that’s out of control, $17 trillion and climbing. Yet, John Kerry just gave foreign workers at the State Department a 42% raise. 42%! When was the last time you got a raise like that? The Obama Administration is simply out-of-touch with the challenges facing American taxpayers like you and me. Sincerely, Senate Republicans

Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday indicated he would comply with a House GOP subpoena to testify about Benghazi and other questions from the new select committee appointed by House Speaker John Boehner. But in his first comments on the topic since renewed attention to it began in the last week, Kerry batted away the inquiry into the September 2012 attack on the American consulate in Benghazi as a “partisan” effort that won’t bring forward anything that isn’t already known. “I think this sort of speaks for itself, frankly,” Kerry said at a press conference at the State Department...

Above: Afghanistan combat veteran Andrew Tahmooressi- by Brian Hayes | Top Right NewsSo our last report saw Mexican troops invading our borders -- even drawing weapons on our agents on U.S. soil -- and facing absolutely no consequences by the Obama Adminstration. But let one American make a wrong turn into Mexico -- and there will be hell to pay. That's exactly what happened to a U.S. Marine veteran last month, after he accidentally drove into Mexico with three legally owned guns in his truck. And he has been rotting in a brutal Mexican jail in Tijuana ever since.California Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter...