Jesus Heals the Leper

Praying this scene from The Chosen over those infected with the coronavirus!



We studied this passage in our men’s group last night by conference call. In this scene we see the first century protective face mask, and Pastor Randy pointed out that people probably needed to stay six feet away from lepers and wash their hands for 20 seconds after being exposed to them, but Jesus touched them. They didn’t infect Him. He made them clean. Praying the Lord will touch people through us during this unique time for everyone.

Then we discussed Jesus healing the paralytic, and The Chosen has a scene on that story, too:



We focused on how the pharisees were upset because Jesus wasn't playing by their rules, but Jesus came to bring Life. As Paul wrote to the Romans, "For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death." If you've been trying to live a good life but don't find that you have the power to do that, you can know the only Power who can enable you to do that. Our men's group talked about how we've all seen that in action as we've walked with the Lord!

If you haven’t seen The Chosen they’re going to live stream all eight episodes of Season One starting Sunday at 9PM Eastern: https://studios.vidangel.com/the-chosen/live

#BingeJesus

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See the rest of Olympic champion Eric Liddell's Chariots of Fire story in Beyond the Chariots. Watch it online and book a live performance.

The Chosen

We really enjoyed Season One of The Chosen, the first multi-season series about Jesus and his followers. They have such an interesting take on each character. It gives it all such depth and clarity.

Find out how to watch it at www.TheChosen.tv.



Here's a scene for life during a pandemic:

What happens next is through the roof:

Here's one of my favorite scenes: 

The Bible

Our denomination (Church of the Nazarene) is endorsing The Bible Series, which starts on the History Channel this Sunday:

On Sunday, March 3, at 7:00 PM Central/8:00 PM Eastern, the History Channel will begin a 10-hour, five-week miniseries, The Bible. The miniseries, which begins with Genesis and ends with Revelation, will dramatize some of the great stories from the Bible, including the Garden of Eden, Noah and the Flood, the Exodus, and David and Goliath. The series concludes on Easter Sunday, March 31, with the story of the Crucifixion, Resurrection, Ascension, and prophecy of the Second Coming of Christ. Rick Schatz, CEO of pureHOPE, says, “I have seen some of the promotional material and the trailer for this series, and the quality of the production looks to be stunningly wonderful. I believe these programs would encourage Christians across the United States and increase their faith in the Holy Scriptures.” I encourage you to share this information with the people in your church. Click here to view the trailer. Sincerely, Woodie J. Stevens Director Sunday School & Discipleship Ministries International

A most AMAZING plane ride

I read the following story, posted by MasterWorks MasterClass instructor Bev Holloway, just after an extraordinary encounter on a plane ride that we might have missed: 

“A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that 1,100 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by, and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace, and stopped for a few seconds, and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping, and continued to walk.

A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried, but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally, the mother pushed hard, and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money, but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the most talented musicians in the world. He had just played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, on a violin worth $3.5 million dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste, and priorities of people.

The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?” [Posted by Knowledge of Today. Full article in the Washington Post.]

Now back to the plane ride: The gentleman sitting next to us told us about his mind-blowing career in the entertainment business. Then he asked us what we did, and when Joyce told him she is a pastor he told us his wife is a Christian, and he loves going to church with her, but he has doubts that creep into his mind. 
I mentioned the reality TV show that concludes on Thursday about a former atheist's life as a Catholic: Minor Revisions with Jennifer Fulwiler. Joyce told him about Mark 9:24 (ESV): "I believe; help my unbelief!" 

He asked if we'd pray with him, so we all three took hands, and prayed on row 36. When we said amen all three of us were crying. Okay, I was sobbing! He said when we prayed he felt something like doubt leave his heart. Then he wanted to pray, and he prayed a beautiful prayer of commitment to the Lord.

We might have hurried past this gorgeous work of Art to get to our books or the movie. Lord, don't let us ever miss a MasterPiece like this!

Our new friend told us that we have to tell this story. So if you'd like to offer a prayer or word of encouragement to him in a comment below, we'll be sure to share it with him. We know he'd be touched.

Minor Revisions

Joyce and I were at the Faith Film Festival in Brooklyn last week with our friend Jenn Gotzon, who was in two films with me (Alone Yet Not Alone and The Screenwriters). 

While we were there we heard a producer talk about a show she was doing on a woman who was an atheist that is now a committed Catholic. It's just phenomenal. I wish it was airing on one of the networks at prime time.

Thanks to a technical glitch brought on by more viewers than expected for the premiere's simultaneous web stream, the producers of the show have put it on YouTube in its entirety: http://brandonvogt.com/revisions-youtube/

Also, here's the schedule for the upcoming episodes and rebroadcasts: http://netny.net/minorrevisions/episode_schedule.pdf

Here are the other ways to watch: http://www.conversiondiary.com/my-tv-show