Providing for Others Through Jesus

Luke 9:16 (NIV) Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people.

The disciples were about to learn some new things from Jesus when they were faced with a large crowd that was listening to Jesus teach. When He finished teaching them, they suggested that Jesus send the people away to find food for themselves, but Jesus shocked them by telling them to give all of tho

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A Goal With Great Results

2 Corinthians 5:9 (NIV) So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.

The vast majority of people in the world today do not live in a way that pleases God. This is also true of the vast majority of people who have ever existed. This makes me marvel at the great mercy and patience of God. It wasn’t long after Adam and Eve sinned that the world experienced its first murder. Cain murdered his brother Abel out of jealousy and bitterne

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Learning How to Clothe Yourself

Romans 13:13-14 (NIV) Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.

There are things that as believers, should not have to be mentioned among us. The things mentioned in the first part of the scripture passage above are things that may have been part of wh

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From Lowest to the Greatest

Matthew 21:10-11 (NIV) When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?” The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

On the day that we know as Palm Sunday, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey while a crowd of people waved palm branches and laid their cloaks on the road as He passed by. They shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” among other things. It was a huge happening but when he arrived in Jerusalem,

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He Hears You

Mark 10:46-49 (NIV) Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they ca

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When You Just Don't Get It

Mark 6:49-52 (NIV) But when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.

This in the story of when the disciples went ahead on the lake to Bethesda at

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Perfect Before Perfection

Hebrews 10:14 (NIV) For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

As most of us have learned in life, there is no such thing as perfection. We can create incredible things with our God-given intelligence and abilities, but everything we do and everything that we create is imperfect. We may come close on some things, such as the great works of art from the famous painters and sculptors who have created masterpieces over the centuries but if

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Teach the Children

Judges 2:10 (NIV) After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel.

The Book of Judges is a very sad book of the Bible as it wasn’t long that the people of God that had finally entered and taken possession of the promised land wound up going astray and worshipping other gods. From there, they would be conquered by other people that were still living in the land. Then the Lo

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Say No to Camel-Swallowing

Matthew 23:24 (NIV) “You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.”

The Pharisees were one messed-up group of teachers. They had everything backwards. They taught and emphasized things that they thought were important that at the same time were in violation of the very scriptures that they taught. For example, they gave their tithes, but they neglected justice, mercy and faithfulness (Matthew 23:23). They majored on the minors. Jesus also called them “whitewa

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Only One Altar

Joshua 22:10-12 (NIV) When they came to Geliloth near the Jordan in the land of Canaan, the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an imposing altar there by the Jordan. And when the Israelites heard that they had built the altar on the border of Canaan at Geliloth near the Jordan on the Israelite side, the whole assembly of Israel gathered at Shiloh to go to war against them.

When the Israelites had finally finished conquering all the people of the la

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The One That Wandered Off

Luke 15:3-4 (NIV) Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?”

Jesus asked a question of the disciples while He was teaching them. He was talking about one sheep that belonged to someone that owned a hundred sheep. That one sheep wandered away. Jesus stated something in this parable that He saw as obvious. “Doesn’t he leav

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The Power of Repentance

Jonah 3:10 (NIV) When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.

One of the things that God is not given credit for by unbelievers is His great mercy. That mercy is extended to any person, no matter what they have done, who repents. That’s what had Jonah upset enough to try to foolishly run away from God. God had told Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh in Assyria. There was so much

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Your Part in Your Salvation Story

2 Peter 3:13-14 (NIV) But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.

Without a doubt, the Word of God is very clear about the fact that salvation is a free gift from God (Ephesians 2:8). We cannot work for our salvation. God, in His infinite mercy, came to rescue us by comi

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Be Sure-Footed

2 Peter 1:10-11 (NIV) Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I used to think that living the life that Jesus spoke about was not possible on this side of eternity. I thought that there was just no way that anyone could live like Jesus did. But then I would read the challenge

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Things Revealed

Deuteronomy 29:29 (NIV) The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.

As human beings, we want to know things. As a matter of fact, we want to know everything. We don’t like being in the dark about things. That is why the Word of God is so challenging to so many people. Many turn away from God and from His Word because they don’t understand everything, and there a

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