23 Sunday Mar 2014
Posted in Reflection
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Amena Brown is a poet, speaker, author, and event host. I really love this performance. It is simple, yet truth. I hope you enjoy it.
If you ever come across anything you’d like me to post on this blog, please feel free to contact me at dino.evangelista@gmail.com.
15 Wednesday Jan 2014
Posted in Daily Reading
Today, as we begin Acts 13, the story of the early church shifts from Peter to Paul as the central figure of the book. Paul completes three missionary journeys and ends up imprisoned in Jerusalem, then transported to Rome. The book of Acts will end abruptly showing the history of our faith is not yet complete. It is important to remember that we are part of the ongoing history of the church as God continues to write the story. We should all count it a privilege to be written into His story and be used for His purpose.
30 Tuesday Apr 2013
Posted in Reflection
Today’s Reflection post is a six (6) minute video by John Piper. It is a great reminder that no matter where we are in our life, no matter how close or far we are from God, we never outgrow the need to have the Gospel in our lives. I hope you enjoy the video. Please comment below any thoughts you may have.
If you ever come across anything you’d like me to post on this blog, please feel free to contact me at dino.evangelista@gmail.com.
25 Wednesday Jul 2012
Posted in Daily Reading
Today we start one of the most powerful books of the Bible; Romans! This book was written by Paul before he ever even visited the Romans. It was written as Paul prepares for his visit to Jerusalem and approximately 57 years after Christ’s sacrifice. He writes this letter as a presentation of his faith to the Roman people, which does not give it the typical form of a letter except for brief greetings at the beginning of the book and more detailed greetings at end. His intention in writing this is to introduce himself to the Roman church which is mostly Jewish, but also has a considerable number of Gentiles.
Within the first few verses Paul gets to the point very quickly and delivers the premise of his message. Verse 16 says, I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. Paul does not mince words in expressing his belief and faith in the gospel of Christ. He was definitely not ashamed and he proved it over and over with each form of persecution and near death experience. Where we live in Franklin, TN it is not difficult to carry the flag of my belief in the gospel. My boldness and desire to serve God must go beyond the comfort of where I live. I pray that I am never ashamed to share what I believe no matter where I am or what I’m doing because the gospel is truly the power of God shown through salvation which is available to everyone, no matter where they live or what they have done.
01 Sunday Jan 2012
Posted in Daily Reading
There is a lot in this very first chapter of Luke to consider and absorb. Starting off with the fact that Luke was a gentile believer who did not actually have a first hand account of Jesus. According to tradition, Luke spent a lot of time gathering information from others who had first hand accounts. He apparently spent time with Mary to capture her story from her first hand account. From a historical sense, Luke also wrote the book of Acts, which can be read with the book of Luke straight through as a historical account of Jesus and the early church.
I love that Zechariah was chosen by “lot” to serve in the temple that day. What was seemingly a random occurrence, lead to the angel Gabriel announcing John the Baptist’s coming into the world and the important role he would play. By the way, this past year when we studied the book of Daniel we learned that there are only two angels that are named, Michael and Gabriel. Michael leads in conquest and Gabriel always bring important messages from God.
Finally, there is so much about the coming of Jesus as the messiah that can not be denied it came from God. First, both John and Jesus were names give directly by God. Neither man was named by family tradition or human distinction. Both came from specific meaning given by God Himself. Second, Mary who was a young, poor, female (all strikes against her in that society) was chosen directly by God to take on the greatest task in human history; bringing the Messiah into the world. And finally, when Elizabeth greeted Mary, she chose to great her as “The mother of my Lord”. I don’t think we can deny the Holy Spirit’s hand in revealing that to her.
