| John 3:14-21 | For God So Loved the World | Rev. Dr. Don L. Davis | |
| | Season of Lent | |
| As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so that healing occurred as they saw the serpent and believed God for healing, so too Jesus must be lifted up on the Cross, and all those who believe in him will not perish but have eternal life. God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, sending him not to condemn the world but to save it through his atonement. |
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| 1Corinthians 1:18-25 | Christ, the Wisdom and Power of God | Rev. Dr. Don L. Davis | |
| | Season of Lent | |
| The word of the Cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved the Cross is the power of God. God is pleased to use this folly of preaching the Cross to save all of those who submit to its saving power. While the religious demand signs and the intelligentsia seek wisdom, we preach Jesus Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the Greeks, but to us the power and wisdom of God. |
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| Mark 8:31-38 | The Way of the Cross | Rev. Dr. Don L. Davis | |
| | Season of Lent | |
| Jesus foretold his death and resurrection to his disciples, teaching them that he would suffer many things, be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed. After three days, however, he would rise. Jesus rebuked Peter’s renunciation of this message, and told his disciples that if anyone would come after him, let that one deny himself or herself, take up their cross, and follow him. |
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| Mark 1:9-15 | Christ the Victor | Rev. Dr. Don L. Davis | |
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| After being baptized by John in the Jordan, Jesus was immediately driven into the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by Satan. Jesus withstood his temptation, and at the end, was ministered to by the angels. After John was arrested, he came into Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God, and announcing the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God in himself. |
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| Mark 9:2-9 | The Transfiguration | Rev. Dr. Don L. Davis | |
| | The Transfiguration | |
| Jesus was transfigured in the presence of his three disciples, joined by two significant figures representing the Law and the Prophets, Moses and Elijah respectively. As key mediators of God’s Kingdom to the nation, they both attest to Jesus as Messiah and to his impending death in Jerusalem. The Father’s voice sounds in the midst of a cloud at the end of this visitation, declaring that the disciples must listen to him, i.e., Jesus, who is in fact God’s Son and the King of glory, the anointed One of God. |
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| Mark 1:40-45 | Jesus, Our Healer | Rev. Dr. Don L. Davis | |
| | Season after Epiphany | |
| One day a leper came to Jesus imploring him for cleansing and healing. Jesus was moved with compassion, and stretched out his hand and touched him, pronouncing him clean. Jesus is our healer, ever present to cleanse, heal, and provide for our dis-ease in whatever form, at whatever time. |
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| Isaiah 40:21-31 | The Greatness of God | Rev. Dr. Don L. Davis | |
| | Season after Epiphany | |
| The Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is great and glorious, the creator and maker of the universe, the covenant keeper to Israel, and the savior of the world. He is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth, and his understanding is infinite. Those who wait on him shall neither grow weary or faint. |
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| Deuteronomy 18:15-20 | God's New Prophet Like Moses | Rev. Dr. Don L. Davis | |
| | Epiphany Season | |
| Through Moses the Lord prophesied that he would raise up for Israel a prophet from among them, to whom they would listen. God promised to put his own words into the mouth of this prophet, who would speak everything that he would command them. Whosoever would fail to hear that prophet would be cut off from among the people. Jesus of Nazareth is that prophet. |
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| Mark 1:14-20 | The Kingdom of God Is at Hand | Rev. Dr. Don L. Davis | |
| | Season after Epiphany | |
| After John the Baptizer was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the Gospel and asserting that the time was fulfilled and the Kingdom of God was at hand. He commanded all to repent and believe the Gospel, and called apostles to himself whom he promised he would make into fishers of men. |
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| John 1:35-43 | The Call of Phillip and Nathaniel | Rev. Dr. Don L. Davis | |
| | Season after Epiphany | |
| Jesus of Nazareth called Philip of Bethsaida, and Philip found Nathaniel and introduced him to Jesus as the one whom Moses in the Law and the prophets wrote. On seeing and hearing Jesus, Nathaniel proclaims him to be the Rabbi, the Son of God and the King of Israel. |
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| Mark 1:1-14 | The Baptism of Jesus | Rev. Dr. Don L. Davis | |
| | Season after Epiphany | |
| John the Baptizer appeared as the forerunner of Jesus, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus of Nazareth came to him to be baptized, and coming out of the water, the heavens were torn open, and the Spirit descended on him as a dove. A voice came from heaven, saying, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” |
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| Philippians 2:5-11 | May the Mind of Christ Our Savior | Rev. Dr. Don L. Davis | |
| | Christmas - Holy Name of Jesus | |
| May the mind which was in Christ Jesus be reproduced among ourselves, his humility to join himself to humankind through the Virgin Mary, his emptying of himself and taking on the form of a servant, and his obedience to the point of death, even to the shame of the Cross. For this, God has magnified him above all names, and now all knees must bow and all tongues confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the Father’s glory. |
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| John 1:1-14 | The Word Became Flesh | Rev. Dr. Don L. Davis | |
| | Christmas | |
| As we celebrate the Nativity of the Lord, let us affirm the incarnation of God into the earth. The Word which was God and with God, was made flesh and dwelt among humankind. His glory was seen by the apostles, the glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. He alone has made the Father known. |
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| 2Samuel 7:1-16 | God's Covenant with David | Rev. Dr. Don L. Davis | |
| | Advent Season | |
| God confirms the ancient Abrahamic covenant in his promise to David and his seed. From the tribe of Judah, Abraham’s great-grandson, David emerges, and is given the promise that a ruler would come from his line who would never cease to rule over the house of Judah. From the clan of David a Messiah would be born who would be the Messiah, God’s anointed king to rule forever on his throne. |
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| Luke 1:46-55 | The Magnificat | Rev. Dr. Don L. Davis | |
| | Advent Season | |
| Let us rejoice with Mary, the Virgin, for the Lord has visited his people in the promise of his Son. His name is holy, his mercy extends to all generations, and he has done great things for the humble, the poor, and the hungry. Our God has helped his servant Israel, and remembered his covenant mercies as he spoke to the fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever. |
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| Isaiah 11:1-10 | Prepare the Way of the Lord | Rev. Dr. Don L. Davis | |
| | Advent Season | |
| There will come from the stump of Jesse a shoot and a branch that shall bear fruit for God. The Spirit of the living God will rest on him, he will delight in the fear of the Lord, and judge the poor with righteousness and decide for the meek of the earth with equity. In him shall all the nations be blessed, and through his reign the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. |
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| Isaiah 64:1-9 | Petition for Mercy and Help | Rev. Dr. Don L. Davis | |
| | Advent Season | |
| As we await the coming of Christ, let us humbly confess our faults and shortcomings, affirming to our God that we are the clay, the work of his hands, and that he is the Potter, our maker and Lord. Only the Father can forgive and help us, and only his Son can provide healing for us. |
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| Matthew 25:31-46 | The King on His Glorious Throne | Rev. Dr. Don L. Davis | |
| | Reign of Christ the King | |
| At the final judgment when the Son of Man comes in his glory with his angels, he will sit on his glorious throne, and judge the nations, separating them as it were, sheep from the goats, with some receiving eternal life and others eternal punishment. The final disposition of the judgment will be determined on how we treated the least of these, his brothers, for how we treated them, so did we treat him. |
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| 1Thessalonians 5:1-11 | The Day of the Lord | Rev. Dr. Don L. Davis | |
| | Kingdomtide | |
| The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, with severe, sudden, and lasting consequences on those who do not know the Lord. In light of this, we ought to cease all works of darkness, for we are the children of light, children of the day, and are neither of the dark nor of the night. |
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| 1Thessalonians 4:13-18 | The Coming of the Lord | Rev. Dr. Don L. Davis | |
| | Kingdomtide | |
| When the Lord appears, we who are alive and are left until his coming will not precede those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. By the word of the apostles, the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command and the voice of an archangel, with the trumpet of God; the dead in Christ will rise first, then those who are left will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and then the redeemed will ever be with the Lord. |
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