Posts by Craig Middleton (Page 2)
The Sound Of The Trumpets
The Jews’ New Year’s Day (known as Rosh Hashanah) is a special day which serves as “a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets” (Lev. 23:23-25). Have you ever been listening to the radio or some random playlist, and a song begins which triggers a memory in your head? Maybe it takes you back to some joyful event from your early childhood, or maybe even something tear-filled, tragic, and painful from your teenage years? How many have been deeply moved in…
O Jerusalem Jerusalem
In a span of three chapters – Matthew 21-23 – we encounter a fascinating collection of Jesus’s personality and character traits. He first rides into Jerusalem like aristocracy on “Palm Sunday” (21:1-11). Quickly transitioning from king to combatant, He then rushes the temple and takes no prisoners with his homemade whip (21:12-17). The next morning, He curses at a fig tree which lacks fruit (21:18-22). When interrogated with difficult questions, Jesus displays incredible wisdom and composure with His answers (21:23-27;…
Zebras, Fish, Ticks, & Dogs
Here is just a small sampling of the more than fifty “one another” statements which the Spirit addresses to the church in the New Testament: “love one another”, “welcome one another”, “pray for one another”, “bear one another’s burdens”, “forgiving one another”, “be kind to one another”, “bearing with one another”, “submitting to one another”, and “encourage one another”. On the backs of many checks, one might find a message stating that this check should not be cashed unless one…
Wise and Innocent
Romans 16:19b (ESV) – “…I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil.” Special agent Evans watches approvingly as a man with a scowl is handcuffed and placed in the back of the unmarked car. A rookie police officer who is also at the scene approaches Agent Evans in amazement. “I can’t believe he was using counterfeit money this whole time,” the rookie cop begins. “I mean – how do you…
Earn This
James Francis Ryan is the last surviving brother of four – the other three killed in action while serving the United States of America during World War II. In order to spare Ryan’s mother the unspeakable tragedy of losing all four of her sons to the same war, Captain Miller and a group of eight soldiers accept the mission to find Private Ryan wherever he may be in the danger-ridden French country and to get him home safely. While ultimately…
Dinner Time Christianity
“Do you have a dinner-time Christianity?” It might come as a surprise, but dinner time is not always a joyful experience at my house. As some of you know, I have three children, and, in response to the food that is on their plates, I have witnessed a potpourri of negative reactions: whining, complaining, crying, weeping, yelling, and the ever-popular “whole body going limp and collapsing to the floor.” While there are a multitude of voiced complaints, a majority basically…
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