We should see the destruction of Jerusalem for what it is—a warning to all who reject the things of God for the doctrines and teachings of this world. We are Christians. We are God’s chosen people and like the city of Jerusalem in our text, we are held to a different standard than those of this world. We are citizens of heaven and God demands that we act like it. More...
Jesus spoke first the parable of the lost sheep, then the parable of the woman and the lost coin and finally, Jesus closed His discussion with the Pharisees with the parable of the prodigal son. Then Jesus changes His audience and speaks this parable of the unfaithful servant and He is speaking only to His disciples. What is Jesus trying to teach us? More...
Today’s text has so many lessons for us to learn but we must limit ourselves to one aspect of the truth. Paul says we must live by the Spirit that is within us. Every Christian has the Holy Spirit dwelling within him and it is by listening to the Sprit within us that we should live our lives. More...
We must work to preserve the ability to read the words of God in their purity. Luther understood that and that is why the schools were so important to him and to the Church. If we are not reading the Bible in Hebrew we lose much of God’s message. let’s examine some examples. More...
This is the traditional text used by some church bodies to proclaim the doctrine of baptism by immersion, but we need to go beyond that. We can see a physical picture of a person being buried in the water and rising from baptism a new man in Christ, but is that Paul’s complete message?—NO! Paul is using the example of baptism to teach us about the Holy Spirit. More...
As we discussed many times in the past, when Christ ascended into heaven He left one Church in this world. He sent only one Holy Spirit to dwell among us and within us. Christ left one Church and we are to remain true to the Word of God until His return. God’s Word will maintain us in the truth until His return—one Church family—brothers and sisters in Christ. More...
This is the first in a series of parables Jesus uses to teach the Pharisees and scribes the lesson of why He eats with sinners. First the Parable of the Lost Sheep. Next the Parable of the Woman who lost her coin, The Prodigal Son and ending with the Parable of the Unfaithful Steward. Today we focus on the Parable of the Lost Sheep More...
Our Lord’s choice of the invitation to the supper is not by chance. Supper is the evening meal--the last nourishment before going to sleep—-the meal before the coming of darkness. In this case of the parable, the supper is the feeding of the Holy Gospel—-the last doctrine God gave us and the doctrine that will usher in the end of the world. The supper is free to those who are invited, but the man giving the supper paid a great price for it--the life of His Son. More...
The story of Lazarus and the rich man gives us a view of heaven that we receive nowhere else in Scripture. The rich man is in hell and Lazarus is in heaven. Some teach that the lesson here is that if you are rich in this world you cannot go to heaven. It doesn’t say that at all. Abraham was rich. Job was rich. Solomon was rich. And I believe that we will see each of these men in heaven. More...
The traditional text for Trinity week is Jesus’ conversation with the learned Pharisee Nicodemus. At first we might not recognize how appropriate this text is. There are many who deny the Holy Trinity because they don’t understand it. For some, if they cannot reason through a concept, it cannot exist. But for us Christians, we see the things of God with our hearts. The Holy Spirit reveals them to us and that is going to be the lesson for Nicodemus. More...
On Pentecost Day, 50 days after the resurrection of our Lord Jesus, the promise of the sending of the Holy Spirit was fulfilled. That is what our text is about today, the coming of the Holy Spirit. More...
Mark’s account of the events of Jesus’ ascension include a concise summary of the events from Easter Eve to Jesus’ ascension 40 days later. Jesus is instructing the disciples who must carry the Gospel message to the world. He tells them they have what they need. The gifts of the Holy Spirit will come to provide the tools to do the job. After the Lord spoke He ascended into heaven to be at the right hand of the Father until He returns again to take us home. More...
Jesus just explained that He would be going away and sending the Holy Spirit to the disciples to comfort them and teach them. In our text Jesus tells His disciples that they have not asked Him for anything while He walked with them. When He goes away to return to heaven they do not need Him to go to the Father on their behalf. The Father loves them because they believed the Son and they loved the Son as the Son of God. They should pray to the Father and ask that He keep His promises.More...
Jesus’ disciples were thinking that Jesus would establish an earthly kingdom and they would be part of that kingdom. However, they misunderstood these things from the beginning. Now Jesus is telling them that He will leave and He will send them the Holy Spirit and that it will be a good thing that He leaves. More...
In the past, we spoke of the institution of the office of the Apostles and the successors of the apostles. These would also be called shepherds and they would speak the message of Christ, just as He taught us. Today there are many pastors, or shepherds leading parts of the flock but there is only One Good Shepherd and there is only one flock.More...
There is a tradition in the Lutheran church. When a child enters the teenage years they study Luther’s Catechism in classes with their pastor. My granddaughter just completed those studies with me. It is a great privilege to study with her and I learned much from her. I hope I also taught her many things about God’s Word and how to apply what she learned to her daily life.More...
This lesson comes on the first Easter evening when the disciples were gathered together trying to make sense of the recent events they had witnessed. Jesus was arrested. He was judged by liars and thieves representing themselves as God’s servants. He was nailed to the cross. He died. He was buried. And now, on this 3rd day, they have seen the empty tomb and some have seen Jesus walking and talking.More...
We will also be victorious over death. We too will be raised on the third day, just as Christ our redeemer and our example. The first day is our time on earth—our time of suffering and passion. Then, we die from this earth and take our Sabbath Day’s rest in the earth awaiting our resurrection. The third day is Judgment Day when we will be resurrected to spend eternity with God in heaven. This was demonstrated for us in Scripture. When Christ arose so did many of the saints.More...
The garden of Gethsemane was a favorite place for Jesus to pray. It was secluded. It was near the temple and Jerusalem and it was a quiet and peaceful place. Judas knew this place and he would deliver the soldiers and the other workers of Satan for the arrest. But it is more than just a quiet place that Judas could find. It was fulfillment of Scripture.More...
Jesus chose to assume a poor humble position in life. And, He chose to allow Himself to be arrested. And, He chose to enter and leave this world at the time that He entered and left. And, everything Jesus did was out of love for man.More...
The Jews refused to accept the truth and there are those today who do not accept the truth. If you are not one of God’s believers, then you belong to the Prince of this world—the devil. This must have been quite a dilemma for these Jews. Jesus was perfect. They could not refute one thing He spoke. Yet, they could not admit that He was the Holy One they read about in Scripture. They could not believe because they were not of God. They couldn’t bear God’s truth.More...
This is a demonstration of God’s unconditional love for man. Jesus fed those that believed and those that did not believe. All that came could eat. Ours is a loving and compassionate God and we need to understand that the spiritual feeding of the 5000 is no different than the physical feeding. The Word was spoken to the believers and to the unbelievers. More...
The Jews thought their sacrifices pleased God because of their works or their obedience. NOT SO! These sacrifices were pleasing to God only because they represented the Sacrifice to come—the Ultimate Sacrifice—the crucifixion of Christ Jesus—the Son of God. More...
During this Lenten Season we try to understand the things of Jesus and the suffering of Jesus as He approached persecution and death on the cross. In this lesson Jesus teaches His disciples and us about faith.More...
The devil tempted Jesus throughout His ministry in the persons of Pharisees, scribes and finally Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus to be killed in accordance with God’s plan. We all face temptation everyday. We all are human and all believers possess the Holy Spirit. Use this lesson of Jesus’ temptation to teach you how to defend yourself against the devil. Use God’s Word and beat him back. That’s what Paul instructs us to do. Help others who are tempted and know that our temptations will be within our capabilities to withstand. More...
Jesus was that Lamb. He knew He was entering Jerusalem for the slaughter. That was God’s plan. The innocent Lamb of God would be sacrificed, once, for all. That Lamb wants everyone to remember that He is the fulfillment of that verse written by the prophet Isaiah under inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Jesus spoke these words now, knowing they would not be understood, but they would be remembered, for example, after the resurrection. The women approached the tomb and the angels reminded them of what He said before His death. More...
Scripture is filled with symbolism. God intended it that way. Today we examine a parable which Jesus presents and interprets for the benefit of His disciples—the parable of the sower. Scripture is intended to interpret Scripture. All of God’s Word works together. The parable today is Jesus’ teaching His disciples by using the parable and the Old Testament writings. This lesson is included in three of the four Gospels so there is plenty of opportunity to grasp its lesson completely. But not everyone will grasp the lesson. Jesus makes it very clear that some will hear the Word and not understand. More...
Jesus' transfiguration on that mountain affected John, James, and Peter for the rest of their lives and it also affected Jesus—reminding Him of His real home in heaven. For those few moments on that mountain top Jesus was reminded that He was not alone. He could confide in Moses and Elijah—two men who God sent to save His people in the Old Testament. More...
This is the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry. He was baptized, spent His 40 days in temptation by the devil and now He attends a wedding feast with His family and His disciples. Why is this wedding important to us as Christians? Jesus is participating in the wedding. This is a demonstration to us that the institution of marriage remains valid in the New Testament. What do we know of marriage in the Scriptures? More...
The supposed wise men of God’s Law--the rabbis, Pharisees, and learned Scriptural scholars--had not recognized Jesus as the Christ when announced by the shepherds. So God sent these wise men from Arabia to fulfill Scriptural prophecy. Perhaps they would see God’s Son through the message of these foreigners. The scroll of Isaiah the prophet, which was read in every synagogue every week, spoke if this. More...
Here is a sample of the many Old Testament prophecies of the coming of the Christ. When God the Father sent His Son, the prophets had been silent for 400 years. This was a dark time in the history of God’s people and light was used to announce the birth of the Christ Child to the shepherds in the fields. Note the use of darkness and light in the announcement. Scripture is filled with symbolism and that symbolism is especially present here. The announcement of the birth of Christ comes at a time of darkness and the message is delivered by a glowing and very bright angel. More...
Jesus came as a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes but He was no stranger to this world. He guided the Israelites as they escaped the bonds of Egypt. He guided God’s people through the wilderness for 40 years. He fed them and gave them drink. And now, in a manger in a strange stable in the middle of the night, He returned as a human to defeat the Law on man’s behalf. He would defeat death so all believers could have eternal life. More...
Our responsibility is no different than for John the Baptist. It is our responsibility to tell others how it is that they should repent and that they should seek the Kingdom of God. We are chosen just as John the Baptist was chosen. More...
God sent the manna to give life to the Israelites, God’s chosen people. Now God sends the gift that gives everlasting life to all believers—heaven itself. How great is that? We cannot even describe it. The manna fed only the Jews for a few years. The Bread of Life, the Christ sent by God for us, feeds our souls for all eternity. More...
In our text, Paul is talking about the fruits of our faith. He is speaking to Christians to remind them that they are different from the other men who are of this world who do not recognize Christ as their Savior. Paul wants to make sure the Christians understand who they are and what they have in their GIFT of salvation. More...
This incident teaches us that our Lord has power over death and life. We know that men must die. Men have been dying since Adam and Eve. Men will continue to die until judgment day. We know these bodies are temporary for this world. Paul even calls this body a tent--a temporary dwelling. More...
Paul admonishes converted Jews who believed in salvation by the Law. Paul tells them to hold fast to the one true doctrine received from the beginning. We are not to be too confident of our own wisdom. We have no independent authority. We have only the authority given by Scripture. We must guard against pretenders who claim to have a superior doctrine. Paul knows these converted Jews and he wants them to understand true salvation. He warns them of the dangers in trusting in their ability to live according to the Law. More...
The lesson: As long as we forgive we have grace. When we refuse to forgive our own forgiveness slips out of our grasp. Forgive your neighbor and God forgives you.More...
For most of us, our faith starts out with a simple understanding in a Savior, not knowing much about how we are saved, but grasping the hope of our salvation. But it shouldn’t stay like that. It should grow and continue to grow until we are called home. Surely the nobleman was driven to learn more about Jesus after his son was healed, just as we must also continue to learn more about our Lord, continuously getting to know Him better by immersing ourselves in the Word of God. More...
Today we celebrate the anniversary of the Reformation of the Christian Church. As you study the early Church you will find how the Gospel was spread by the persecution of those early Christians. The Reformation caused a similar occurrence when religious persecution in Europe forced Christians to flee to America. God used circumstances of persecution to spread His Word. More...
Jesus knew that there was much misunderstanding of the teaching of the law and the application of the law. So He is teaching that the law is not the external discipline of God’s people, but it is a way for believers to have confidence in their love of God. The law constantly reminds us that we cannot obtain salvation on our own. God uses the law to remind us that we love Him. The law exists to remind us that we can be obedient to the will of God. More...
The Church is not a building. The Church is not a place and the Church is not an organization. the Church is a gathering of every one on this earth that believes Jesus Christ is our Savior and if you are a member of this one Church—THANK GOD! For it is by God that you are called to this Church. It is by the gift of the Holy Spirit that you believe Jesus is your Savior and that He is Lord of all. More...
Now this widow had no idea that she would soon be returning to town with her son who will be raised from the dead by the Son of God. Jesus had compassion on her. God has always had compassion for His people and Jesus is the promised manifestation of God, who being God, had the power of God and the compassion and mercy of God—compassion that existed throughout both the Old Testament and the New Testament. More...
(Matthew 6:24-34 NKJ) "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. More...
In our text Jesus is challenged by a man described as a lawyer—a man who was a master of the Old Testament teachings. Jesus answers the question intended to trick Him. He answers a question with a question. Jesus is prompting the man to examine what he already knows and by asking the question of the young man Jesus teaches the application of the Old Testament.More...
Our Gospel lesson deals with the healing of one man but the lesson is for all mankind and the lesson is timeless—it applies to Christians forever. All of Creation cries out the Name of God but mankind cannot hear. He is deaf to these sounds. Man’s senses are dulled as he is distracted by the things of the world. Those of us who cannot hear the glories of God because we are spiritually deaf cannot speak either. Those that are deaf are also mutes. This applies both spiritually and physically. Natural sinful man cannot hear the voice of God. He also cannot speak to God and he cannot speak about God. Natural man is spiritually deaf. More...
Stephen was brought before the priests of the synagogue and questioned for the charge of blasphemy by his false witnesses. Stephen testified of the Christ, and was eventually drug out of town to be stoned because the priests, scribes, members of the council, and the Pharisees could not prevail in arguments against Stephen. They could not succeed in their argument because they were not arguing with Stephen, but they were arguing with the Holy Spirit, just as Jesus told us it would happen. More...
We continue with our discussion on prayer and how we should pray. Sometimes we have a friend who suffers and needs help. We pray for them. does it do any good? What should we pray for? How should we pray? We begin our examination of God’s Word.More...
This lesson on prayer is part of Jesus' teaching on the mountain. His audience was predominately Jews, and many were Pharisees and scribes. Jesus knew that these men understood the words of the Old Testament, but they did not understand the application of the words to their daily lives. There were many people on that mountain that day, and Jesus wants them to properly understand the Old Testament lessons.More...
It is God within man that gives life. Paul knows God gives life and Paul knows we are all dead to our sins in this world. Paul also knows that when God resurrected His Son in glory everything changed for man. Listen to Paul's description of these changes. Hear how the natural body dies and decays but the resurrected body is raised incorruptible, that is, a body that cannot and will not decay comes from the resurrection. Our bodies in heaven will last forever. More...
This miracle feeding of 4000 men came after the feeding of the 5000. The feeding of the 5000 was mostly a crowd of Jews that Jesus was teaching. The 4,000 were mainly Gentiles and Jesus did not teach them with words. He healed everyone they brought to Him and this made them understand that the God of Israel is the true God. The healings attracted attention so the Word could be heard. Every full-bellied attendee walked away knowing Jesus is Lord. Who else could do such great miracles? If we study the accounts we find that the feeding of the 5000 teaches us that Jesus is the Bread of Life and the feeding of the 4000 teaches us that the Lord provides for our needs.More...
(Ephesians 2:8-9 NKJ) "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." Exactly what does this mean? We say it all the time: by faith we are saved. It is important that we understand how we are saved and that will be our lesson for today. How are we saved by faith?More...
This lesson is a teaching of faith, both spiritual faith and faith in God to provide all things that we need to survive this world. As we begin to examine God’s Word we find Jesus teaching a multitude of people along the shore of a lake. The crowd surrounding Him are intent on hearing more of His teaching. The crowd is pressing forward to try to be near Jesus. He will soon be pushed into the lake if He doesn’t take some action. Jesus calls to the fishermen for help. Jesus would make a fishing boat His pulpit. More...
Last week we discussed Jesus' parable of the lost sheep and considered the love of Christ as he used a series of parables to teach the Pharisees and the scribes the truth of salvation. Jesus was gathered with sinners and tax collectors and He knew that the Pharisees and scribes were complaining. Jesus presented a string of parables to show these learned men the way to true heaven—the only way to heaven. More...
Jesus is teaching this lesson at the beginning of what would become a hostile relationship between Jesus and the Pharisees. The Pharisees were highly educated Jews who were especially knowledgeable of the Old Testament but they tended to be arrogant and looked down at those they considered sinners. They were not patient with those that needed help to understand. They despised Jesus and took every opportunity to publicly attack Him. Jesus does not confront them and antagonize them. He offers them a simple and neutral parable to allow them to see clearly the truth while removing anything confrontational or personal so that they might see and understand the simple truth and most importantly, they might be saved. These particular Pharisees and scribes might be the lost sheep Jesus came to seek. More...
Consider the lesson of the text. Our Lord’s choice of the invitation to the supper is not by chance. Supper is the evening meal—the last nourishment before going to sleep--the meal before the coming of darkness. In this case of the parable, the supper is the feeding of the Holy Gospel, the last doctrine God gave us and the doctrine that will usher in the end of the world. The supper is free to those who are invited, but the man giving the supper paid a great price for it, the life of His Son. More...
Why did God make us? Why did God place us here today? These questions are now yours to ponder and yours to act upon. Each of us has a purpose. Each of us has gifts from God to do His work and each of us is given opportunities to do God’s work. Some are here to do good works as the fruit of the Holy Spirit and some are here to suffer. But we’re all here for a purpose that will be revealed to you internally. The Holy Spirit will equip you and guide you. More...
The word Trinity is not in the Scriptures, but the concept of God in three persons is quite clear. It is clear in the Old and New Testaments. It is clear in Jesus’ instructions in our text. Everything we know about God is what He reveals to us in His Word. Today we will read selected verses to remind ourselves of what God tells us about Himself and His relationship with man. One of the most telling things about who God is was written by the Apostle John as he wrote his first letter to the Church in 1 John 4:7-8 NKJ: "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love." More...
Pentecost is the day the Church celebrates Jesus’ sending of the Holy
Spirit The Holy Spirit was there at creation, throughout the Old Testament and came upon the virgin Mary to
deliver the Son of God. But that is not what the Pentecost celebration is all
about. Pentecost is all about God giving man the power to defeat the devil
himself. Pentecost is the beginning of the end--salvation and eternal life for
believers and condemnation and eternal death for unbelievers.
More...
Jesus ascended into heaven. He left the Church in the hands of the Apostles who were first-hand witnesses to the things of Christ. they had the Holy Spirit breathed into them by Jesus on resurrection evening. This is where Jesus established the Church in this world. He had completed all things except the sending of the Holy Spirit to all the world as was promised through the Prophet Joel: (Joel 2:28 NKJ) "And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh." More...
There are some who hear the Word of God but do not heed the Word, nor do they obey the things God tells us to do. It is equivalent to looking into a mirror seeing a soiled spot on your face and walking away without doing anything to correct the dirty spot. The sinner that hears the Word recognizes his own sin and walks away without doing anything to correct the sin. That person is an unrepentant and unforgiven sinner. We cannot attend worship, hear the Word and walk out of church to resume living our lives any which way we want. We have a responsibility to live our lives for the Lord. What does that mean? It means that we live our life loving God and loving our neighbor—-living to serve God by serving others who need our help. God gave us Jesus so that we may have salvation. In appreciation for the comfort of knowing that we are citizens of heaven we share what we have with others, including our knowledge of God and His grace and mercy. More...
NKJ John 14:1 "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. More accurately translated "Stop letting your heart be troubled" —stop doing something you are already doing. There was no reason for the 11 to be troubled if they properly understood Jesus’ departure. God sent Jesus to this earth on a mission. The mission was now almost complete and Jesus was about to return to the Father. Jesus’ message was simple. Believe in God. Believe in Me. Jesus is God. More...
There is still only ONE CHURCH on this earth and that is the Christian church of believers. There is only one flock as Paul taught us in his letter to the Corinthians: NKJ 1 Corinthians 12:12-13: For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body -- whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free -- and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. More...
The office of the Apostles established by Jesus passes on to the successors of the Apostles today’s ministers of the Word. The preachers, Ministers of the Word, are part of the army fighting in this world’s war of good and evil and we are armed just as the Apostles were armed. We have the power of the Word and we have the power of the Holy Spirit. The resurrected Jesus gave it to them and it has been passed on from generation to generation ever since. More...
The resurrection shows that the demands of God were satisfied--The demands that man must live a life of perfection under the Law to inherit salvation. Jesus Christ in His human nature met those demands. Otherwise, God would not have lifted Him up in His resurrection from death. Jesus fulfilled the Law and this set man free from the punishment of his sin. Until the Law was fulfilled, until man lived a life of perfection, the Law could not change. More...
Jesus could have prayed alone in the upper room but the Gospel clearly states that He took the disciples with Him to the Garden of Gethsemane. Surrounded by His 11 faithful disciples, why did He go to the garden? Why this particular garden? Is there any significance to this place? Is there significance to the details we are provided? More...
Jesus had two natures His human nature, born of a woman. But, He was also God, born of a woman, yet conceived by the Holy Spirit. It is His nature as a man that Jesus lived His life perfectly in accordance with the Law. An it is as man and God that He offered Himself as the unblemished Lamb of God as the sacrifice required by God to pay for our sins. God the Father and God the Son are One. They are joined together by the common factor of love. God is love and that love is the key to understanding who we are. More...
Jesus was nailed to the cross at the 3rd hour of the Jewish 12-hour day. That would be at about 9 o’clock in the morning. The sun went dark at the 6th hour. That would be noon time. Noon is when we would expect the sun to be at its brightest, not dark. Historians of that day record that the sun darkened everywhere in the world, not just in Jerusalem. It is not just in Scripture but it is in historical writings. darkness for 3 hours beginning at noon on the day our Lord hung dying on the cross. More...
A custom in the day of Jesus was that the Romans would make a sign announcing the crime a man committed. The sign would be placed on a cord and hung about the neck of the criminal for the march to the place of the crucifixion. There is no such record specifically stated in Scripture regarding our Lord Jesus. We do not know if the Romans placed a sign around His neck or not, but we do know a sign was made and we do know that the sign was hung above Jesus’ head as He hung on the cross. Could the sign be another symbol for our learning? More...
When we consider the details provided in God’s Word pertaining to the crucifixion of our Lord, we find that information like the exact location of the event and the gory details of His attachment to the cross are missing! Yet, we are told that He was offered this drink of bitter gall and vinegar. Every detail that God provides has a lesson. What is the lesson of the drink? More...
As our Lord made His way to the place of the crucifixion, He spoke to the women who followed Him who did not hide in the crowd. They walked along in a state of shock. What was happening to their Lord? It is interesting that the women were the last to hear Jesus’ teachings and the women were the first to see the empty tomb. Why were the women selected for this privilege? Perhaps to teach us all a lesson on increasing our strength with the power of Christ. Paul understood this lesson. The weaker we appear in human terms, the stronger our faith can make us through the power of Christ. There is no limit to our faith and there is no limit to the strength of Christ available to us. More...
Lent is a time of observance and remembrance of the suffering of Christ. Today as we begin to look at the suffering and sacrifice of Jesus, we begin with a look at the harmony of the Old Testament and New Testament writings concerning the sacrifice of Jesus the Christ. More...
The symbolism of Scripture cannot be underestimated. I have read this story of the crucifixion many times and I have overlooked much of the symbolism until I read a collection of Johann Gerhard’s writings from the mid sixteenth century. In our text Jesus is carrying His cross to the place of the crucifixion. There are many lessons we should learn from these few sentences. More...
We are all blessed with the opportunity to experience the glory of our Lord on that mountain. We experience it through the eyes and ears of Peter and John and we experience it in the Light of God’s Word. Jesus shined on that mountain, just like He shines in heaven. Peter, John, and James witnessed that shining light on the mountain and we will all experience it in heaven because we are only on this earth by the will of God. Our citizenship is in heaven. More...
Once again we see a connection between the Old Testament and the New Testament. In our text, Jesus commands the water of the Sea of Galilee to calm and He commands the wind to stop blowing. Jesus is using the stormy waters to teach His disciples about faith and trust in God. In the Old Testament God used the great flood over all the earth to kill evil and save God’s people. Noah and his family were saved in the ark. In our text Jesus saves His disciples from the water in a boat. More...
There are some that teach that the man had to have faith before Jesus could heal him. That is absurd. Do you really believe Jesus needed the help of the man to heal him? There are so-called faith healers today that claim that if you have enough faith you can be healed. Ridiculous! Healing is in the hands of God, not in the hands of man. Think of the Scriptural examples of healings and even people being resurrected and they were not even aware that Jesus had been summoned to help them. If they didn’t even know Jesus was asked to help, how could they have the opportunity to believe or not believe? More...
Paul is teaching us about the church. And, as we discussed many times there is only one church on this earth. There was one church when Jesus left and there is one church today. We are members of that church—and we need to understand what that means. Being a believer and a member of THE unified Church of believers on this earth is not like being a spectator at a sporting event. It is more like the example we used to explain our sermon hymn—Onward Christian Soldiers. More...
The people of Nazareth who attended the synagogue that day were standing in the presence of salvation and they rejected it because they thought they knew Jesus. They had their own worldly opinion of the Messiah and they had their own opinion of who Jesus was. More...
Circumcision was an outward sign of faith in the Savior to come. Jesus was that Savior, yet He subjected Himself to circumcision. He put Himself under the Law to defeat the Law for all of us. More...
The angels serve God, and they always have, and they always will. When God reacted to man’s fall into sin, He used His angels to guard the way to the tree of life. We were separated by the sword, as described in Scripture. Now God is sending His Son to redeem us from sin and the angels were given the honor of announcing the birth of this Christ Child. This is not by chance. It is part of God’s glorious plan of mercy and grace. The things of heaven and the things of earth would once again be united in accordance with God’s plan and God’s mercy. More...
What a beautiful example in Scripture for us to consider to understand that Christ could have come as the Angel of the Lord and led us to safety, but instead, He chose to come as a little Babe to make the Way for each of us to go to heaven for all eternity. We examine our text and answer four questions — 1) Why this time? — 2) Why this place? — 3) Why this mother? — 4) Why this form of birth? More...
Traditionally we consider the coming of John the Baptist on the third Sunday in Advent. John the Baptist was the fulfillment of prophecy. Malachi the prophet spoke of the one who would come. Elijah was the voice of God crying in the wilderness. He was a man in unusual dress. Elijah lived in the wilderness. Sometimes he even lived in caves and he ate what God provided. Elijah was a very special prophet indeed. angels communicated with Elijah to make known God’s will. There is no doubt that God chose Elijah to do His work and there is no doubt that God was pleased with the work Elijah performed because God took him to heaven without Elijah dying. More...
Paul is explaining how we should apply the lessons Jesus taught Christians. Paul is in a special position to explain these things. He studied under the Pharisee Gamaliel—the greatest teacher of the Old Testament of that day. Paul is a Jew’s Jew. He makes that clear in his letter to the Philippians. If anyone deserved to go to heaven based on being a Jew, Paul said he was that person. But, he could not enter based on his heritage or knowledge. He knew he could only have salvation through Christ. Just like the least educated poorest person on earth, even the Gentiles could have heaven if they knew God the Father sent Jesus the Christ to be their Savior. Jesus is the WAY. More...
For years I thought the genealogy of Christ was boring and of little value except to those who were Biblical scholars studying the most minute details of Scripture. Howevery, I have since learned to appreciate the review of Old Testament events leading up to the birth of our Lord. Christ's genealogy provides that review. More...
Every year we Americans have a tradition of gathering together as family and celebrating a holiday we call Thanksgiving. It is a time to reflect on the early inhabitants of our nation—the pilgrims and the native Americans. It is good to think about that first Thanksgiving-a small group of Europeans who came to America to have the freedom to worship their God their way! Many died on the journey. Many died in the early months of colonization and we owe a great debt to those brave souls who felt so strongly about worshipping God. More...
This is the time of the church year when we traditionally speak of the end times—the time when this world will end and a new world begins. How do we know this world will end? God told us in His Word. He revealed it in John’s revelation of heaven and God told John to write it down. More...
Our earthly body will eventually fail us but our heavenly body awaits us. Jesus,
through His discussion with Martha, told us we will never die. He spoke these
words while Lazarus lay dead: NKJ John 11:26 "And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?"
More...
The Pharisees attacked Jesus to prove to themselves, and all those listening, that Jesus was not the Christ. The Pharisees were the most intelligent and most educated of all the Jews, yet their wisdom was made foolishness by Jesus. They couldn’t catch Jesus violating God’s teachings—not in His words—not in His actions—but they wanted him dead. More...
The word angel means messenger and certainly the reformers were messengers of God. Wycliffe, Huss, and Luther brought the message to the common man. They were not interested in increasing the power of the organization on earth called the church. Instead, they were sincerely interested in improving the average man’s understanding of their Savior Jesus Christ and understanding of the promises God made to man, which would lead to understanding of their salvation. More...
Jesus spoke in parables to explain who He is to the believers and to impose a form of “judgment” upon those who “choose to refuse” to accept the teachings and direction of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is poured out upon all men. Some of us listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit within us and some of us reject the message and follow the things of this world. This situation existed then and still exists today. More...
What a beautiful example of faith—true faith. this nobleman didn’t know much about Jesus, but he knew enough to believe in His ability to heal his son. That healing was driving the nobleman to find Jesus and to ask for His help. I’m sure he will seek to learn more about Jesus after the healing.More...
Paul is teaching to stay focused clearly on the Word of God. Every Christian must make this a personal concern to retain the pure Word of God in the Church. Everyone must guard this truth!
There are pastors who become more focused on secular interests then on God’s will They focus on accumulating worldly wealth and treat the office of ministry as a job instead of a calling. They become uncaring and unloving. They abandon God’s will and God’s Word. They exchange God’s Word for human doctrine and his congregation will soon be just like he is and will defend his actions and follow him instead of following the ways of God.More...
Jesus’ priority in this healing is to heal the soul, then heal the body. Jesus sends the sins of this man so far away that they will never be seen again. He sends our sins so far away that we can’t even describe where they are. This man’s sins and our forgiven sins are as far as it is from east to west. More...
Jesus taught us that God the Father loved Him—He loves us—and through love we are all part of Him. But He began that lesson with a warning –just as Paul is warning the Corinthians in our lesson. If we are not part of Christ, we will be condemned for eternity. We must obey the law written on our hearts. Listen to the urgings of the Holy Spirit within us and do the work God provides. More...
Man cannot lead man to heaven by his reason or intellect, but God’s children can lead others to heaven by their example and by their actions, that is, by living their lives as an example which will cause unbelievers to ask why is that person different? And that is what this life is all about. More...
After Jesus raised the widow’s son from the dead and returns the son to her—the widow, her son, and all who accompanied the widow to the funeral site certainly stood in awe at the power and grace of our Lord Jesus the Christ, the Son of God. This man changed death into life. More...
The lesson we learn is that Paul is not saying we have to pay for the services of a preacher or teacher as many teach from this verse, but we need to support the preacher with respect and encouragement. Money has always been an issue in the church, just as false preachers have always been an issue. Iin Paul’s case he did not want anyone to feel that he was preaching for personal gain. Therefore, he took offerings from a distant church to support himself. This eliminated the opportunity for an enemy of the Gospel to accuse him and Barnabas of filling their pockets as a motivation for their message.More...
This Gospel lesson is simple. Ten lepers demonstrated great faith. Jesus demonstrated mercy and compassion and healed the ten lepers. He attributed the healing to their faith. More...
Love God and love your neighbor. All of the commandments can be broken into these two. The real lesson of our text is that although the words of these two commands are simple, it is not always easy to recognize the right thing to do. To help the young lawyer understand the error of his way, Jesus shares this parable with him. This story about the Jew who is beaten, robbed, and left for dead. A Samaritan comes to his aid after a priest and a Levite pass without stopping. This parable is intended to help the man understand that he neither loved God nor loved his neighbor. More...
Christ is the only way to salvation. oses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all those Old Testament men of faith serve as examples of the Christ to come. All of the Scriptures point to Christ. Men are sent to minister the Word and help others understand the things of God, but it is the Word that has the power to fill men’s hearts with the Holy Spirit.More...
Paul understood that Christ’s crucifixion did not save us. His resurrection saved us. Today many of us wear various forms of crosses as a symbol of our faith. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to wear little open tomb jewelry. Another thing we have to understand is that most of the people in Paul’s writing audience believe that Jesus was resurrected from the dead. There were many witnesses to corroborate the testimony of that event. However, many did not believe that there would be a resurrection on Judgment Day. More...
The Lord is talking about the city of Jerusalem, but He is really warning all who have God’s Word, but despise it, take it for granted or do not trust it. We must guard ourselves against every sin, especially the sin of despising God’s Word. More...