Witness Written By Paul Zilmer As they’d agreed, they meet while it’s still dark. A few of them have brought what spices they’ve been able to locate. Quietly, they take the short walk out of the city to the cemetery. The moon is going down as the sunrise begins. They know what they want… Read More Today’s thought “It’s him! It’s him! He’s alive!” (October 01)
Today’s thought “The manifestation of the spirit for …” (August 30) We have come to that part of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians which is about the gifts of the Spirit which were possessed among the believers there. The Gospels were not yet in circulation, probably they had just been written. Now what was the… Read More Today’s thought “The manifestation of the spirit for …” (August 30)
Today’s thought Good and bad traditions (August 29) The word “tradition” can arouse a negative attitude in our minds because of the way Jesus condemns the religious leaders in the Gospels for their traditions; he told them “you leave the commandment of God and hold the tradition of men” (Mark 7:8). The word “tradition” is… Read More Today’s thought Good and bad traditions (August 29)
Our reading in 2 Kings 2 records the transfer of responsibility from Elijah to Elisha. Elisha requests, “Let a double portion of your spirit be upon me” (verse 9) and it is significant that Elisha ultimately performs twice as many miracles as Elijah. However, in doing God’s most important work and conveying God’s messages it… Read More Today’s thought “Elijah went up by a whirlwind” (August 28)
Today we start reading Paul’s letters to the Corinthians. The believers there had been converted from the foolish philosophies of the Greeks who believed in a spirit afterlife and in many gods of their imagination. Paul says, “The Jews demand signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to… Read More Today’s thought “It is not a wisdom of this age” (August 22)
Today we finished reading the Gospel of Mark. One needs to compare all the Gospels to appreciate the events after Christ rose from the dead. Such was the sight of Christ’s death at the stake that his followers could not begin to imagine he could rise again, like Lazarus: the one who had the power… Read More Today’s thought “They would not believe it” (August 21)
One characteristic of human nature is the capacity to be jealous, to envy others; many advertising tactics exploit this. The gospels repeatedly show that those in positions of authority were envious of the popularity Jesus enjoyed. In Mark 15 we see that it was easy for Pilate to “perceive that it was out of envy… Read More Today’s thought “It was out of envy” (August 20)
In Mark 14 we read a moving account of events in the Garden of Gethsemane. That evening the disciples had been together in the upper room where the last supper took place. As the bread and the cup were passed around (verses 22-25) the disciples could not appreciate what it was all about. Imagine the… Read More Today’s Thought (August 19): “Watch and pray”
Today we read what is known as ‘The Olivet Prophecy’. This was given by Jesus specifically to his disciples as they sat on the Mount of Olives looking down on the temple. He had shocked them by saying the temple was soon going to be destroyed. Much of Mark 13 is about the coming destruction… Read More Today’s Thought (August 18): “You do not know when the time will come”
(An excerpt from Samson Revisited by Michael Storey, page 35) Both Samson and the Lord Jesus had been separated for the Lord’s work and were blessed by Him. So too were Israel as God’s chosen people (Exodus 19:5,6; Deuteronomy 7:6-8). Under the law every man child born was to be holy to the Lord. But… Read More ‘Samson Revisited’ – The principle of separation
“Upon this I awaked and beheld; and my sleep was sweet unto me.” In the new creation of Jesus’ day of resurrection from the dead he awoke and beheld. Healed of his sacrificial wounds, he awoke to find … a “Bride” elect being prepared for the “marriage of the Lamb”, for which we are still… Read More Today’s Thought (August 10): Upon this I awaked
Jesus of Nazareth invested the tiny band that he called apart to testify to him and all he stood for with a staggering responsibility. Into all the world they were to go. Not with the hope of converting the world, but with the aim of creating and forming a redemptive society that would be as… Read More Today’s Thought (August 09): Stilling the storm
Before Jesus made his deliberate choice of twelve men he spent the night with his Father. All the great events in his life find him or leave him in prayer. It is the natural expression of the dedication of one whose meat and drink was to do the will of Him who sent him, whose… Read More Today’s Thought (August 08): The importance of prayer
The Gospel of Mark opens with the words: “The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God”, but we do not notice the concentrated wonder of the last three words, for we have heard them too often. Why does it not strike us as astounding that God should have a Son? It… Read More Today’s Thought (August 06): The Gospel of Mark, the Son of God
David saw that the Son of God would not be allowed by the kings of the earth and their partisans to enter peaceably upon the possession of his throne; in fact they would do their best to prevent it. In his last words (2 Samuel 23) he styles them “a thornbush to be thrust away… Read More Today’s Thought (August 05): Thorns to be thrust away
“As the Lord liveth, and as my Lord the king liveth, surely in what place my Lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also will thy servant be.” (2 Samuel 15:21) There is Ruth-like quality in this asseveration and there is almost an echo of it in the words of… Read More Today’s Thought: There will thy servant be
There are those who point out the increased sensitiveness of Christ to physical suffering; but have we realised his sensitiveness to sin? He lived in the presence of his Father, in an atmosphere of holiness and light. He went down to the shame and ignominy of a criminal’s death. His pure mind had to face… Read More Today’s Thought: Christ in Gethsemane
In the final day of judgement we shall not be able to excuse sterility in these essentials by reference to our strenuous labours to produce fruit for which Christ never asked. If any such excuses came to mind we should surely think of the unfaithful servant in the parable and become dumb. We have not… Read More Today’s Thought: A just Master
“Who am I, O Lord God? and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto?” When we take the lowest place and “seek not high things” we need have no fear of falling. Pride is the destroyer of men’s souls. We rise in the balloon of our own self-esteem, only to fall to… Read More Today’s Thought: The lowest place
One of the great tragedies of … every age is that men and women are so preoccupied with their real or imagined rights and privileges that the great revelations of God which have power to transform their whole lives are unheeded. It is an evil which can have its victims in the Household. At times… Read More Today’s Thought: Rights and privileges
Belgian Ecclesia Brussel - Leuven 