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Category: Matthew

  • Lest We Forget – Remembrance Day Thoughts

    Lest We Forget – Remembrance Day Thoughts

    Tomorrow is Remembrance Day (Veterans Day in the US,  Armistice Day in some other nations), so there will be no Gleanings. We remember lest we forget. The cost of forgetting is too high.

    Remembrance Day is a time to stop and remember all those who have shed their lives in the various wars fought to keep our world free from tyranny. Our lives in some ways are dependent upon those who sacrificed theirs. Even the veterans who returned physically unharmed carry their own scars.

    Even those veterans currently serving, and those who never saw a day’s conflict, are unsung heroes. They signed a blank check to King and County, willing to give their lives for the sake of others, if need be.

    Today, I salute you all. Thank you for your service. We remember this Remembrance Day and forever.

    War is a horrible thing. In some ways, it can bring out the very best in people, but more often, it reveals the most vile and evil aspects of our nature. War is a consequence of living in a fallen world where someone believes that their wants or perceived needs trumps those of others.

    Like poverty and injustice, conflicts and wars have been around since the earliest days of humanity and will continue in some form until the culmination of all things.

    Jesus warns us of these things but reminds us that He will return.

    As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. Matthew 24:1-8

    It is futile, as many have tried to do, claiming that any particular war or conflict is “The one” that signals the Second Coming. He told us that no one knows except the Father.

    What we can know, though, in the midst of any circumstance, including poverty, injustice, oppression, persecution, conflict, and war, is that God is still on the throne and His church is called to love and serve.

    Whatever you are facing right now, whatever may lie on the near and far horizon, Believers have Jesus. The world can strip us of everything else, but it can never separate us from Him.

    Many have died in the service of their nation and are worthy of remembrance. Jesus died for all of humanity, so that all who came to Him would be restored to the Father.

    As we remember, lest we forget, let us also remember what He did for us.

    Hallelu Yah (Praise God)

    Be blessed, 

    Kevin

    Gleanings From The Word – Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life. 

    A different type of remembrance


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    All contents, “Gleanings From The Word” and “Experience an Extraordinary God in Ordinary Life,” are © 2001, 2025 K.F. “Kevin” Corbin, Gleanings From The Word. 

    Unless otherwise noted, “Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

    From Gleanings From The Word (Kevin Corbin, 2001– ), a Scripture-based devotional work.


  • Who Is James?

    Who Is James?

    Icon of James the brother of Jesus

    Yesterday morning, I was reading in the Epistle of James. As  Kathy and I discussed what I had been reading, the question of “who was James?” arose.

    What does the Bible say?

    James is identified as one of Jesus’ brothers. “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? (Matthew 13:55, see also Mark 6:3)

    Jesus’s brothers did not believe. After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jewswere seeking to kill him. Now the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand. So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” For not even his brothers believed in him.  (John 6:1-5)

    Jesus appeared personally to James after His resurrection. “Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.” (1 Corinthians 15:7)

    He was a key player in the Jerusalem council when the issue of rules for gentile believers was debated. (Acts 15)

    Paul calls James an Apostle.  “Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother.” Galatians 1:18-19

    Paul also refers to him as a pillar in the early church. “…James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me; they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.” Galatians 2:10

    James himself only identifies as a servant of Jesus. “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: (James 1:1)

    Church history tells us that James was the first leader of the church in Jerusalem, effectively its first pastor. That comes through in the pastoral concern for his flock that shows in his letter.

    Church history tells us that he was most likely stoned to death by the Jews in the early 60s AD, a fate shared by Stephen and other martyrs.

    For me, James is a marvelous example of the grace of Jesus. The Lord took a hardcore unbeliever and transformed him into a willing servant and leader. The Apostle Paul gets mentioned often for being a hardcore Christian hater who was converted, but let’s not forget that Paul was not the only one.

    I pray for all the hardcore disbelievers (of which I was one) to come to Christ and that their zeal for the enemy might be converted into zeal for the Lord.

    Praise the Lord that He can soften the hardest heart.

    Hallelu Yah (Praise God)

    Be blessed, 

    Kevin