The Good News Blog

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

“…Love is kind…” -1 Corinthians 13:4, NIV

TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria

You may have heard this verse many times before, but one translation says that “love looks for a way to be constructive.” In other words, kindness isn’t just about being nice; it’s looking for ways to improve someone else’s life. It’s bringing out the best in others.

When you start your day, don’t just spend time thinking about yourself or how you can make your own life better. Think about ways you can make someone else’s life better, too! Ask yourself, “Who can I encourage today? Who can I build up?” You have something to offer those around you that no one else can give. Someone in your life needs your encouragement. Someone in your life needs to know that you believe in them. We are responsible for how we treat the people He’s placed in our lives. He’s

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” -1 Corinthians 13:13, NIV

TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria

Spiritual maturity isn’t measured by how long you’ve been a Christian, how much you know, or how often you go to church. Spiritual maturity is measured by the way you treat other people. It’s measured by the love you allow to operate in and through you.

1 Corinthians 13 gives us a picture of what love looks like. When we are walking in love, we treat other people with courtesy and respect. In other words, are you kind to the person at the checkout counter that may be moving too slowly? Are you gentle when you are driving down the highway and someone cuts you off? Are you patient with your family and coworkers?

These are all characteristics of love. The Bible tells us that love

by Dr. Harold Sala

“Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.” -1 Corinthians 13:6

When you learn that your bitterest enemy has really “gotten it in the neck,” how do you feel? Do you quietly—or perhaps not so quietly—rejoice? “Good!” you think, “Got just what he deserved! I never liked that person anyway.”

Our natural reaction is the very opposite of that which God wants us to develop. In the greatest passage ever written about love, Paul gives us some words of advice—tough ones too! They grate against our natures like sandpaper on a glass table top, or like a chicken bone that turns sideways when you try to swallow it. He says simply that “love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth” (I Corinthians 13:6).

When we learn to love as God wants us to, we are saddened when a person falls in a moment of

by Dr. Harold Dala

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” -1 Corinthians 13:4-7

When the late cartoonist Charles Schulz dined in the home of a friend, the host remarked that he had just what Schulz needed to set off his dinner jacket. He disappeared and then returned in a few minutes with a heavy chain from which a medallion hung. Across the face of the medallion were the letters L O V E. Schulz fingered it for a few minutes and then handed it back to the host. With a wry “Charlie Brown” smile on his face, he said, “It’s just

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”. -Hebrews 11:1, KJV

TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria

The Bible says that faith gives substance to the things you hope for. In other words, faith brings those things into your life. Notice this verse starts by saying, “Now faith…” It’s not “later” faith or “one day” faith. It’s faith for today, right now.

So, what does it mean to have “now” faith? The basic definition of faith, according to the Bible, is simply believing in God’s goodness and believing that He rewards the people who seek after Him. It’s taking His Word as truth — right now. Can you believe that God wants to move in your life, today? Do you believe He can provide for your need, today? Do you believe He can heal your relationship, today? Do you believe He can give you that

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

“Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you” (Proverbs 4:25, NIV)

TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria

What are you looking at today? Not in the natural, but with your spiritual eyes. In other words, what is in the forefront of your mind and in your heart? Are you constantly dwelling on your problems or things that have happened in your past? In the natural, you will move in the direction that your eyes are looking.

In the spiritual, it works the same way. Whatever you focus your mind and heart on, you will move toward. That’s why today’s verse tells us to look straight ahead. If you are constantly dwelling on your problems or things in your past, wondering “what if,” then you will stay right where you are. But if you choose to forgive and release the past, then you can focus on what is ahead

by Dr. Harold Sala

And so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.” Luke 5:10

“Where is Zebedee?” asked George Stormont in Pointers. He continued, “I’ve been looking for him for nearly fifty years. The New Testament is haunted by his name. You read of his sons, his wife, his hired servants, his fishing; but you never meet him.”

To understand Stormont’s question and the issue, you need to know that Zebedee, of whom the writers of the New Testament speak, had two sons, James and John, two young men who were prominent in the ministry of Jesus. They came from a fishing village in Northern Galilee, Bethsaida—the ruins of which can still be seen today when a guide points them out from the tourist boat that takes visitors from Tiberias to Capernaum.

James and John

by Dr. Harold Sala

“…and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.” Matthew 2:9-10

The star of Bethlehem what was it, really? In 1613 the question occurred to Johannes Kepler, the European astronomer. It was just a week until Christmas and Kepler was fascinated by the confluence of the two planets Saturn and Jupiter in the constellation of Pisces.

“Could it be,” thought Kepler, “that the star which guided the Wise Men was really these two planets?” Kepler was intrigued by the idea and began to study. Whether he wanted to prove his idea or to discredit it is not certain, but before he died, Kepler’s brilliant mathematical deductions showed that a conjunction of the two planets did take place in the year 7 BC.

Kepler died before scholars discovered

The Edge Philippines On-Demand: Live Show last October 15, 2010

Watch live streaming video from theedgephilippines at livestream.com

by Dr. Harold Sala

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” -1 Corinthians 1:18

When the U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia spoke to a group of law-school students at a Christian university, he said that Christians are “destined to be regarded as fools in modern society” because of their belief in the supernatural.

Supporting his premise, this learned jurist and scholar quoted another intellectual who learned what it is to live outside the pale of acceptability, none other than Paul, the Apostle. Referring to what Paul wrote to the Corinthians when he contrasted the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God, Justice Scalia said Christians are “fools for Christ’s sake” who are scorned by the “worldly wise.”

And what’s wrong with that? The answer to that question depends on what you