Ask for the Ancient Paths

There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’“ ‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.

“Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.

“Which of the two did what his father wanted?”

Matthew 21

Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets.

For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.

1 Corinthians 14

When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” At that, Paul left the Council. A few men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others. After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.

Acts 17:32ff

When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.

1 Corinthians 2:1-5

“This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel

after that time,” declares the Lord.

“I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.

I will be their God, and they will be my people.

No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying,

‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me,

from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord.

“For I will forgive their wickedness

and will remember their sins no more.”

Jeremiah 31

"Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people."

Karl Marx

Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.

Hebrews 12:14

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

Romans 12:18

Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.

Philippians 2:14-15

A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense.

Proverbs 19:11

See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.

Heberews 12:15

"Offense keeps you in this mess; offenses are going to come, but do not let them into your heart."

I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn (strength) of my salvation, my stronghold. I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies. God alone is my Rock and Refuge.

"When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."

Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand His decisions and His ways!

He has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,

“Never will I leave you;

• God brings Order from Chaos

We do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

Now the Green Blade Riseth,

Author: John Macleod Campbell Crum, 1928

Now the green blade riseth, from the buried grain,

Wheat that in dark earth many days has lain;

Love lives again, that with the dead has been:

Love is come again like wheat that springeth green.

In the grave they laid Him, Love who had been slain,

Thinking that He never would awake again,

Laid in the earth like grain that sleeps unseen:

Love is come again like wheat that springeth green.

Forth He came at Easter, like the risen grain,

Jesus who for three days in the grave had lain;

Quick from the dead the risen One is seen:

Love is come again like wheat that springeth green.

When our hearts are wintry, grieving, or in pain,

Jesus' touch can call us back to life again,

Fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been:

Love is come again like wheat that springeth green.

"Fear not, for I am with you."

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."