Mark 6:30-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-15; Mark 6:45-52; Matthew 14:22-33; John 6:16-21; Mark 6:53-56; Matthew 14:34-36 What motivates you to serve? What compels you to love people, especially those who are difficult? Our motivation should be the same as Jesus which is compassion. Jesus saw the crowds and seeing their need for food fed them. Yet what caused him to respond this way was a heart of com...

Matthew 9:27-34; Mark 6:1-6; Matthew 13:53-58, 9:35-38; Mark 6:7-13; Matthew 10:1-42; Luke 9:1-6 God chooses to do his work through us. This may seem like a strange idea since God can always do it better by himself, but he has chosen you to accomplish his will. From the very beginning of history, he called Adam and Eve to work his garden. Now at the beginning of Jesus' ministry, he calls his disci...

Mark 5:1-20; Matthew 8:28-34; Luke 8:26-39; Mark 5:21-43; Matthew 9:18-26; Luke 8:40-56 Jesus revealed his power throughout his ministry on Earth. He revealed his power over demons, death, and illness in his early ministry. His greatness was undeniable─sadly, not everyone responded correctly to his power. The most saddening response to Jesus was the crowd who asked Jesus to leave upon seeing the f...

Matthew 13:10-23; Luke 8:9-18; Mark 4:21-29; Matthew 13:24-30; Mark 4:30-34; Matthew 13:31-52; Mark 4:35-41; Matthew 8:23-27; Luke 8:22-25 Being a good listener is a necessary part of the Christian life. The psalms, the prophets (especially Isaiah and Jeremiah), and now Jesus tell us the necessity of listening well. Sure, we should listen to people, but the focus today is learning to hear from God...

Luke 8:1-3; Mark 3:20-30; Matthew 12:22-45; Mark 3:31-35; Matthew 12:46-50; Luke 8:19-21; Mark 4:1-9; Matthew 13:1-9; Luke 8:4-8; Mark 4:10-20 C.S. Lewis famously argued that Jesus is either a liar, a lunatic, or Lord. There is no room for the position that Jesus was simply a great moral teacher or revered religious man. He says people need to take the position he was intentionally deceptive, misg...

Matthew 8:5-13; Luke 7:1-17; Matthew 11:1-19; Luke 7:18-35; Matthew 11:20-30; Luke 7:36-50 Humility is a hard thing to live out. It runs against our flesh to acknowledge we are not the center of the universe, but this truth needs to be embraced by everyone. Notice the two very different people who embrace humility in Matthew and Luke. We see a powerful centurion who confesses he is not worthy to h...

Matthew 6:5-7:6; Luke 6:37-42; Matthew 7:7-20; Luke 6:43-45; Matthew 7:21-29; Luke 6:46-49 What are you going to do about it? Living in our broken world, this is a question we need to answer. We are surrounded by sin, darkness, and evil, so we must decide what we are going to do about it. Also, as we are confronted with God’s truth, we have to answer what we are going to do about that. Jesus touch...

Mark 3:7-19; Luke 6:12-16; Matthew 5:1-12; Luke 6:17-26; Matthew 5:13-48; Luke 6:27-36; Matthew 6:1-4 We often throw around the phrase, I'm blessed. Sometimes this is used as a recognition of God's grace in our lives, but often we are only talking about material blessings. Jesus' definition of those who are "blessed" in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) is potentially very different than how w...

John5:1-47; Mark 2:23-28; Matthew 12:1-8; Luke 6:1-5; Mark 3:1-6; Matthew 12:9-14; Luke 6:6-11; Matthew 12:15-21 It is easy to substitute things for God. Generally, these are things like money, possessions, comfort, and friendship but they can also be things like tradition, rules, and spiritual experiences. Religion can easily become a replacement for a relationship with God and we see this consis...

Luke 5:1-11; Mark 1:40-45; Matthew 8:1-4; Luke 5:12-16; Mark 2:1-12; Matthew 9:1-8; Luke 5:17-26; Mark 2:13-17; Matthew 9:9-13; Luke 5:27-32; Mark 2:18-22; Matthew 9:14-17; Luke 5:33-39 How do you feel when you have to keep good news a secret? Jesus has a very strange request in Mark 1 when he askes the healed man to keep it a secret. The man no longer has leprosy so not only is he medically cured...

Mark 1:14-15; Matthew 4:12-17; Luke 3:23; John 4:46-54; Luke 4:16-30; Mark 1:16-20; Matthew 4:18-22; Mark 1:21-28; Luke 4:31-37; Mark 1:29-34; Matthew 8:14-17; Luke 4:38-41; Mark 1:35-39; Luke 4:42-44; Matthew 4:23-25 We do not often think about kingdoms, but there are still a few kingdoms around such as the Kingdom of Bhutan, the Kingdom of Cambodia, and the Kingdom of Thailand. We may not use th...

John 3:1-4:45; Luke 3:19-20 The Old Testament was a series of signposts pointing people to Jesus. Now that he has come, Jesus uses every opportunity and conversation to point people to himself. He points religiously confused Jewish men like Nicodemus to himself and religiously confused Samaritan women to himself. Jesus saw every relationship and interaction as an opportunity. As he talked with Nic...

Do you ever feel like everyone is against you and you are met with criticism and opposition? Jesus’ life is filled with opposition even before his formal ministry begins. Herod tried to kill him after his birth and now Satan opposes him. In the first true test, can the Messiah succeed where Adam and Eve failed? This temptation is more difficult than the one in Genesis. Jesus was tempted after a fo...

Matthew 2:1-23; Luke 2:41-52; Mark 1:2-8; Matthew 3:1-12; Luke 3:1-18; Mark 1:9-11; Matthew 3:13-17; Luke 3:21-22 People can have very different responses to the same event. For example, after a sporting event half the fans are elated, and half are depressed. On a far more significant level, we see people responding in very different ways to Jesus. During his lifetime and even today, people’s resp...

Luke 1:39-80; Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 2:1-40 Before Jesus is born we learn much about his identity. Elizabeth recognizes that Jesus is Lord. He is her long awaited king. If you follow the word for Lord in her statement in Luke 1, she uses it for Jesus and then seemingly for God the Father in verse 45. Prior to Jesus having done anything other than exist in Mary's womb, Elizabeth seems to understand ...

Mark 1:1; Luke 1:1-4; John 1:1-18; Matthew 1:1-17; Luke 3:23-38, 1:5-38 What is the most beautiful bridge you have seen? The Golden Gate Bridge? The Sydney Harbor Bridge? The Brooklyn Bridge? There are many beautiful bridges around the world, but ultimately, they exist to connect two land masses that are separated by water. As we move from the Old to the New Testament, we may wonder how to connect...

Malachi 2:10-4:6; Joel 1:1-3:21 How would you summarize the Bible in a sentence? We are about to finish up the Old Testament, but how would you explain the Bible succinctly to someone who did not know what it says?Malachi and Joel help us to summarize the contents of the whole Bible. They express God’s desire for us to find life in him, but our continual pursuit of things outside of him (idols). T...

Nehemiah 12:27-13:6, 5:14-19, 13:7-31; Malachi 1:1-2:9 What was the best party you ever attended? Maybe your wedding, a surprise birthday party, or a 50th wedding anniversary? When the walls of Jerusalem were completed, Israel threw a massive party. The purpose of the celebration was not about their own accomplishment but to celebrate the greatness and faithfulness of God. The description of the p...

Nehemiah 11:1-12:26; 1 Chronicles 9:1-34 Today it is common to move from where you grew up to pursue education, a job, or even a relationship. This would have been nearly unheard of at this time in history when generation after generation remained in the same locale. As the Jewish exiles slowly trickled back into Israel, they would have returned to their cities of origin, but there was a need for ...

Nehemiah 8:13-10:39 It was time to celebrate. A Jewish remnant had returned and the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt. As Ezra read the Book of the Law, they realized it was time to observe the Feast of Tabernacles. They prepared their tents with branches to recall how their ancestors lived in tents when God brought them from Egypt to the promised land. The peoples’ “joy was great” at this celebrati...