January 15, 2021
DON’T LET COVER-UPS AND CONSPIRACIES CAUSE YOU FEAR Jesus warned his disciples that as His followers, they would sometimes suffer persecution. Yet, He instructed them not to be afraid. For the hateful and ugly nature of their persecutors would be revealed to their shame and reproach. If not in this life, certainly in the next.
January 14, 2021
STOP WORRYING ABOUT HOW TO WITNESS When Jesus sent His disciples out as witnesses, He gave them detailed instructions. He even prepared them for times when they would be persecuted or questioned concerning their faith. He instructed them not to “worry” about defending their faith because God’s Spirit would give them the words to say
January 13, 2021
CHRIST’S EARTHLY MINISTRY AND OURS The apostle Matthew described the earthly ministry of Jesus as having three important aspects. They were teaching, preaching and healing the sick. These three aspects of Christ’s earthly should also be ours as members of Christ’s body, which is the Church. Teaching. Jesus had a teaching ministry. This ministry was
January 12, 2021
GO AND LEARN The Pharisees asked why Jesus ate with sinners and He answered with a rabbinic response: “Go and learn.” For rabbis were known for sending their students back to the Scriptures to discover the answers to their own questions. Jesus quoted from the prophet Hosea where God had said, “For I desire mercy
January 9, 2021
HAVE YOU BUILT YOUR LIFE ON THE ROCK? What foundation is your life built upon? Your beliefs, your passions and loves, your pursuits… what is your guiding principle? On what basis have you built your house, your marriage, your parenting, your life? Jesus never promised that those who followed Him and built their life on
January 8, 2021
TURN YOUR INWARD WORRIES INTO UPWARD PRAYERS In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus discussed the sinful and wasteful human activity of worry. Clearly, worry is sinful because it is an expression of anxious doubting. And doubt is the opposite of faith. Three times in this sermon, Jesus said, “Do not worry.” Now, if He
January 7, 2021
DO YOU PRAY “MY WILL” OR “THY WILL” PRAYERS? That which is called the “Lord’s Prayer” might rightly be called the Lord’s teaching prayer or model prayer, for He gives it to us to teach us how to pray. Even the order of the prayer should be considered as we learn to pray. Notice He
January 4, 2021
HAVE YOU SEEN THE LIGHT? After Jesus’ baptism and 40 days in the wilderness, He didn’t return to Nazareth. Instead, He began His public ministry in a town on the Northern shore of the Sea of Galilee called, Capernaum. This was in fulfillment of the prophet Isaiah, who had prophesied that a “great light” would
February 12, 2020
DO YOU THINK YOURSELF INNOCENT OF CHRIST’S BLOOD? Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor over Judea, made a show of washing his hands and declaring himself “innocent” of Christ’s blood. Yet in reality, he was fully responsible as the ranking representative of Roman law. How strange that the one who condemned the Innocent One to death
February 11, 2020
THE SILENT SAVIOR WHOSE SACRIFICE SPEAKS LOUDER THAN WORDS The Roman governor, Pontius Pilate marveled greatly at Jesus’s silence in the face of His accusers. Surely he had judged and condemned many a man, but never one like this. Who was this man that stood silent with such quiet dignity? Neither Pilate nor the