• Ministry > arpithaldar

    [Anna] never left the Temple but stayed there day and night, worshiping God with fasting and prayer. Luke 2:37

    Aling Maita’s wrinkled face beams with loving light whenever I visit her on the busy street corner where she sells fried bananas (Aling is a title of respect for older women in the Philippines). She always asks me how I am,…

    Arise, Jerusalem! Let your light shine for all to see. For the glory of the LORD rises to shine on you. Isaiah 60:1

    Our church meets the first Sunday of Advent for a Christingle service followed by a tea party. England at this time of year can feel damp and dreary, so embracing the light of Christ through the symbol of…

    The morning light from heaven is about to break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness. Luke 1:78–79

    “We’re going to give God all the glory right now.” The organ plays, the choir begins to sway, and the congregation starts to sing. But this is no church service, and the speaker is no preacher. Instead, it’s…

    Your unfailing love is better than life itself; how I praise you! Psalm 63:3

    Looking at the handmade Christmas ornaments my son Xavier crafted over the years and the annual mismatched baubles Grandma had sent him, I couldn’t figure out why I was not content with our decorations. I’d always valued the creativity and memories each ornament represented. So, why did…

    God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. 1 John 1:5

    Even as the darkness of death was present in his sickly body, Augustin-Jean Fresnel persisted in working on his powerful light. Finally, in the early 1820s, he tested the first Fresnel lens in France’s Cordouran lighthouse. The lens—a ring of beehive-like prisms—allowed sailors navigating dark, troubled…

    I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life. John 8:12

    The restaurant was lovely but dark. Only one small candle flickered on every table. To create light, diners used their smartphones to read their menus, look to their tablemates, and even…

    The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. John 1:9

    From the top of a hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, shines one of the brightest, most visible beams of light on earth. It’s so bright that a book could be read from its light miles away in space. At night, it also…

    I have come as a light to shine in this dark world. John 12:46

    During our church’s Christmas Eve service, one lit candle burned brightly on the platform. After singing carols together and hearing the nativity story, the lights were turned off and a darkness settled on the room. As the acapella sounds of “Silent Night” filled the sanctuary, candles throughout…

    Peace to you

    His Peace, Our Peace

    I now send you, to open their eyes…that they may receive forgiveness of sins…Acts 26:17-18 (NKJV)

    This verse is the greatest example of the true essence of the message of a disciple of Jesus Christ in all of the New Testament.

    God’s first sovereign work of grace is summed up in the words, “…that they may receive…

    IN-Compassion

    If we had the compassion of Jesus, it would change our families, churches, and neighborhoods for the better. It would allow us to give to others what all of us want for ourselves. It would enable us to fulfill the purpose for which we leave our footprints on this planet.

    This article by Vernon Grounds helps you discover how you can…

     

    In some ways, the king's story ends where it began. What started with a paradise lost ends with a paradise found. According to the king’s own predictions, the rebel and all of his followers will be defeated and removed from the earth. Through a series of catastrophic endtime events, the king will break the will of his enemies in…

    The teacher’s followers couldn’t make sense of what happened. One minute they were listening to the wisest, most loving man they had ever seen. The next minute he was subjected to an unfair trial, declared unfit to live, and sentenced to die. Now he was gone. The teacher’s life and vision for the future seemed to end as quickly as…

    The cry of a newborn broke the silence. History changed with the announcement of a birth. An old man looked into the face of a baby and said, “Now I can die in peace. I have seen with my own eyes what all of my life I have waited for.” Nearby, an elderly woman, who for many years had given…

    The king didn’t force the family to do what they weren’t ready to do. Instead of pushing his chosen people across the river and through the deep valley that lay between them and their promised land, he put them into a holding pattern. For 40 years he provided for them in a barren, hot, and windswept land. In his shadow,…

    In their loss of innocence, the caretakers changed in ways they could not have anticipated. For the first time they didn’t want to see the king. Suddenly they felt a need to cover themselves and hide. Never before had they blamed each other for anything. In the hours that followed, they learned the meaning of fear. When the king found…