Sunday Mornings

Author: Horatio Gates Spafford  (1873) In November, 1873, Horatio Spafford sent his wife and four daughters on the French ship  Ville du Havre  from their home in Chicago to a vacation in France, planning to set out a few days later himself. Somewhere in the Atlantic, the  Ville du Havre  collided with a British ship coming the other way, and sank in just 12 minutes. Of his family, only Spafford’s wife survived.  Spafford took the next boat over, and as he passed the spot where the ship went down, began to write, “When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll,” and continued until he had the text, “It is well with my soul.” His good friend, Philip Bliss, composed the tune for his words, naming it after the ship, VILLE DU HAVRE.  In this hymn, Spafford has given all of us words of comfort and assurance in times of physical and spiritual crisis, paraphrasing those familiar words of Julian of Norwich: “And all shall be well...

But the people were displeased. "He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner," they grumbled. Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the LORD and said, "I will give half of my wealth to the poor, LORD, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!" Jesus responded, Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost. Luke 19:7-10 By God's grace today we will be concluding our study on the Jericho encounter. I trust that it has been an awesome time at the feet of Jesus. Glory to God for the success of the previous studies and for bringing us to today's study. One thing of significance about people who ever encountered God is that they left something behind after the encounter, or they had to forgo something. The woman at the well left her jar pot and rushed to the city to tell others about Jesus. Pet...

When Jesus came by, He looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. " Zacchaeus!" He said. "Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today."  Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy. But the people were displeased. "He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner," they grumbled. (Luke 19:5-7) Thank God for His grace to continue this study. In our  previous study , God helped us to practically and deliberately identify things that stand between our savior and us and God's grace we saw practical steps to live above these barriers that prevent us from seeing Jesus. Today God will continue speaking to us from the story of Zacchaeus. May the entrance of His Word bring light and understanding to our hearts. Amen. The gospel and the bible at large can be summarised in this phrase: the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.  And we will be going into today's study in the l...