Tag Archives: In Christ

Crazy Times

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And He went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. So, His fame spread. Matthew 4:23-24a ESV1

Read Matthew 4:23-25, Mark 3:7-21 & Luke 6:12-19

Do you feel overwhelmed with the craziness of your life? Are you inundated with responsibilities, deadlines, phone calls, emails, rough commutes, long lines, things that don’t work, needy people, messes, arguments, lost possessions, financial troubles, betrayal, unreconcilable situations, sickness, pain, or sleepless nights? Do you want to scream, “Slow down World, and let me off!” Jesus knows how you feel. He experienced similar feelings when His ministry here on Earth suddenly exploded.

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Evil in Disguise

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“What is this word? For with authority and power, He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” Luke 4:36 ESV1

Read Mark 1:21-28 & Luke 4:31-37

Something really good can come out of a not so good place. Jesus was brought up in the town of Nazareth. Though Nazareth was the home of the One Who Embodied all the Goodness of God, Nazareth lacked faith (see Matthew 13:58 & Mark 6:5-6) and was filled with wrath and hatred (see Luke 4:28-29). They rejected the Good that was in their midst. Capernaum, on the other, hand was full of faith. They openly accepted Jesus and received many blessings from Him. Yet, there was something evil lurking in the what should have been the most-godly place in Capernaum, their synagogue.

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Final Warnings from the Sermon on the Mount

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Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in Heaven. Matthew 7:21 ESV1

Read Matthew 7:13-29, 13:1-30 & Luke 6:43-49

Jesus was up on the mountain teaching His committed followers. He had already given them some pretty radical teachings on a variety of subjects. The above words are among His closing remarks. These final few paragraphs contain the most important instructions His followers were going to need to know as they headed down the mountain and back into their daily lives. If any of them were beginning to doze off, these serious words would have perked up them. They should do the same for us.

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Ask, Seek, Knock

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“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8 ESV1

Read Matthew 7:7-11 & Luke 11:9-13

These words on prayer were spoken by Jesus to the dedicated followers who had joined Him on the mountainside. They apply to those disciples as much as they apply to Christ-followers today. Jesus is very clear in this passage that God most definitely with absolute certainty answers prayer, but that may not be our daily experience. Let’s explore why.

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The Healthy Eye

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The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness. Matthew 6:22-23 ESV1

Read Matthew 6:19-24

Have you ever heard the idiom looking at life through rose-colored glasses? It means positively seeing things or having an optimistic outlook. Often, if one is wearing rose-colored glasses, he/she sees things better than they really are.

There doesn’t seem to be an idiom for the opposite of rose-colored glasses, yet that mindset definitely exists. Some people look through another kind of glasses, and those glasses are half empty. Those people have a negative outlook on life and circumstances. To them, things often appear worse than they really are.

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Model for Prayer

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Pray then like this… Matthew 6:9 ESV1

Read Matthew 6:6-15 & Luke 11:2-4

If you have been around Christianity for any length of time, you are probably familiar with the Lord’s Prayer. You may have repeated several times with others in church services, on your own in times of need, or even at an occasional sporting event. With as many times as you have heard and said it, you probably even have it memorized. But did you ever consider that you may not be using the Lord’s Prayer the way the Lord intended?

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Holy Perfectionism

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You, therefore, must be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.               Matthew 5:48 ESV1

Read Matthew 5:13-48 & Luke 6:20-36

In the Sermon on the Mount, (recorded in Matthew chapters 5-7) Jesus challenged His committed disciples to live lives on a higher plane than even the highly respected religious leaders of their day. This plane of perfection went beyond that which they had been taught. Jesus equated anger with murder (see Matthew 5:21-22) and lust and divorce with adultery (see Matthew 5:27-32). He called oaths evil (see Matthew 5:33-37) and commanded His followers to return retaliation and enmity with love (see Matthew 5:38-48). In teaching His disciples to obey not only the Law but the spirit of the law, He was teaching them how to show God to their world. This perfection was, and still is, a high road.

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Ultimate Satisfaction

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Seeing the crowds, He went up on the mountain, and when He sat down, His disciples came to Him. And He opened His mouth and taught them.                   Matthew 5:1-2 ESV1

Read Matthew 5:1-12 & Luke 6:20-26

Jesus had been going “throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people, so His fame spread throughout all Syria” (Matthew 4:23-24a). Once again, Jesus was confronted with a crowd of people wanting something from Him, but instead of immediately ministering to the multitude, He climbed a nearby mountain and got away from the hustle and bustle. Only those who were really committed to following Him joined Jesus on His climb. When they all reached a quiet spot, Jesus sat down and began to teach these disciples.

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It’s Not About Me

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“He must increase, but I must decrease.” John 3:30 ESV1

Read John 3:22-4:3

One day, “Jesus and His disciples went into the Judean countryside, and He remained there with them and was baptizing” (John 3:22) … Although Jesus Himself did not baptize, but only His disciples” (John 4:2). Jesus’ ministry was getting more and more visibility. Many of the people who heard Him speak and saw His miracles wanted to get right with God. To show their commitment to a changed life, they desired baptism. Jesus’ disciples were happy to help. But, without their realizing it, their actions began to cause an uproar.

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Tackling Temptation

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Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. Matthew 4:1 ESV1

Read Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, & Luke 4:1-13

Temptation is bad, isn’t it? Why then was Jesus led by the Spirit into temptation (see Matthew 4:1, Mark 1:12, and Luke 4:1)? We are supposed to plead with God not to lead us into temptation (see Matthew 6:13). And the Scriptures tell us God “tempts no one” (James 1:13b). Yet, God, through the Holy Spirit, led Jesus right into it. Why?

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