It is easy, sometimes, to confuse knowledge of Christ with surrender to Christ. Some people know about Jesus, but they haven't surrendered their lives to Him. A case in point is the situation of the demon-possessed man in the country of the Gerasenes. When Jesus approaches the man, the demon speaks out: "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son ... [Continue Reading]
Quite the dinner guest (Matthew 12:22-50; Luke 11)
Can you imagine how you would respond if you invited a traveling preacher into your home for dinner, and while you were sitting at the table the guy started calling you a hypocrite and telling you that your fake front wasn't fooling him? My guess is you probably wouldn't be very happy about that, and I don't think the Pharisee who invited Jesus over was ... [Continue Reading]
What are you willing to sacrifice? (Matthew 13; Luke 8)
Jesus tells a story in Matthew 13 about a man who finds a buried treasure in a field. He quickly goes and sells all he owns so he can purchase the field. The man does not see his sacrifice as a burden, but he sees it as joy. Jesus tells the listeners that the kingdom of heaven is like that treasure. Which one of us wouldn't sell all of his ... [Continue Reading]
Show me the evidence (Matthew 11)
Have you ever found someone who, when he or she hears about Christ, wants to see the evidence to support that God is real? Even in my own life, I have wondered why miracles don't happen to the same capacity that they did when Jesus walked the earth. Wouldn't God want us to see physical evidence of His existence so that people would believe? The ... [Continue Reading]
The chain of authority (Matthew 8:1-13; Luke 7)
The centurion whose servant was deathly ill understood the concept of authority perhaps more than anyone else in the Gospels aside from Jesus himself. This man worked under authority because he was given a level of authority. As a centurion, he would have commanded approximately 60-80 soldiers and been responsible for their discipline. His authority ... [Continue Reading]
The lonely, narrow road (Matthew 5-7)
It's not hard to understand why people don't like Jesus' teachings. After all, it's not like He said stuff that was easy to swallow: Love the people who persecute you, don't look at a woman and lust, don't judge others unless you're ready to be judged. What Jesus taught was divisive and challenging, and people didn't like it ... [Continue Reading]
The overflow of the heart (Matthew 12:1-21; Mark 3; Luke 6)
Have you ever paused to think about what kind of fruit falls from an orange tree? Don't think too long because the answer is pretty easy: oranges. The same is true with an apple tree... it bears apples. Wouldn't it be truly amazing if you had an apple tree that produced oranges or an orange tree that produced apples? It would be amazing ... [Continue Reading]
How far will you go? (Mark 2)
I'm curious how far you will go to bring someone you know to Christ. In Mark 2 we learn of four guys who wanted their friend to see Jesus. The friend was a paralytic, and he wasn't able to push through the massive crowds. So these guys cut a hole in the roof of the house and lowered their friend down to the place where Jesus was ... [Continue Reading]
Do you want to be healed? (John 5)
At first glance Jesus' question to the lame man by the pool of Bethesda seems nothing more than insensitive. If not that, at least it seems like there should be an obvious answer. The man was waiting by the pool, hoping that someone would help him in when the waters started stirring. After so many years of this not happening, it's surmisable ... [Continue Reading]
Quenching the thirst (John 2-4)
Jesus' approach to the Samaritan woman at the well should be a guide for us as we learn how to handle people outside of the church. A study of the culture teaches us that the woman was an outcast (traveling to the well at the hottest time of the day - when other women wouldn't be there) and living an immoral life (having several past husbands in addition to ... [Continue Reading]
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