JUNE
29
Keyword:
FORGIVE by:
Rev. Victor Robert Farrell
Genesis 50:15-17:
When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “Perhaps Joseph will hate us, and may actually repay us for all the evil which we did to him.” So they sent messengers to Joseph, saying, “Before your father died he commanded, saying, 'Thus you shall say to Joseph: “I beg you, please forgive the trespass of your brothers and their sin; for they did evil to you.”' Now, please, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him
Let me conclude this little trilogy on forgiveness with the weeping test. It is a common misconception from those outside Christ to look into the confessional and grieving aspects of the repentant sinner and conclude that Christianity is a miserable path to walk. Indeed, that fact that many of us in the church are strangely and wonderfully happy to remain in the ‘wormology’ that the Biblical presentation of original ...
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JUNE
29
Keyword:
GOODNESS by:
Rev. Victor Robert Farrell
James 1:27:
Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
It was Dallas Frazier, former Cotton Picker from Spiro Oklahoma that wrote the old country song, ‘The Son of Hickory Holler’s Tramp.’ A beautiful and thought provoking country ballad first sung by OC Smith and later by Kenny Rogers and then others. Essentially, the song is the story of a mother of fourteen children ‘forced’ into prostitution when deserted by her husband. Don’t you just love country music! One ...
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JUNE
23
Keyword:
RESTORE by:
Rev. Victor Robert Farrell
Luke 5:12-15:
One day in one of the villages there was a man covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus he fell down before him in prayer and said, "If you want to, you can cleanse me." Jesus put out his hand, touched him, and said, "I want to. Be clean." Then and there his skin was smooth, the leprosy gone. Jesus instructed him, "Don't talk about this all over town. Just quietly present your healed self to the priest, along with the offering ordered by Moses. Your cleansed and obedient life, not your words, will bear witness to what I have done." (THE MESSAGE: by Eugene H. Peterson
The Parish church of St Peter’s, in the small village of Twineham sits nested amongst the green trees of England, not far from the base of the South Downs of East Sussex. The first incumbent Rector is listed in the 13th Century and the stone font dates to that same period. Apart from the overgrown area of the graveyard rented by non-conformist Quakers for a peppercorn rent of a few pennies and the last of the wooden ...
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JUNE
23
Keyword:
REJOICE by:
Rev. Victor Robert Farrell
Luke 15:25:
Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing
It makes me sweat. You know? Public dancing. Something deadly happened to my rhythm a long while ago under a disco ball in a church hall somewhere far away and it’s now atrophied. So when it comes to weddings and fun nights that involve dancing….Oh dear. Bring on the deodorant.
I am always astonished to find films rooted in their locality doing so well globally, an old film called the ‘Full Monty’ being one of ...
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JUNE
20
Keyword:
WITNESS by:
Rev. Victor Robert Farrell
Jeremiah 38:6:
So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the king's son, which was in the court of the prison, and they let Jeremiah down with ropes. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire. So Jeremiah sank in the mire.
My father would often come into my bedroom and cry "Clean this mess up! It's like he black hole of Calcutta in here!" When I joined the Royal Navy, mess deck inspection by senior NCO's would often be met with the same cry. "Clean this mess up! It's like the black hole of Calcutta in here!" I have of course removed the very colourful prefix that NCO's would often add to such commands! Whatever the black hole of ...
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