Luke 11:37-54…Jesus knew right what He was doing when He went in and did not do according to the religious custom. He was setting up a “teachable moment”. We would all do well to heed the lessons.He calls the religious leaders out as a group who is... [ ... ][ abbreviated | read original blog ]
Matthew 12:38-42 / Luke 11:29-32…The religious leaders were not sincerely looking to be convinced of the truth. They had already witnessed many miracles, and they had already made up their minds. They were determined not to believe in Jesus. They... [ ... ][ abbreviated | read original blog ]
Luke 11:27-28…We are often tempted to get excited about the periphery and miss the real point. It isn’t about how wonderful and exciting our encounters and experiences are. Rather, the real point is about feeding on the Word of God and walking it... [ ... ][ abbreviated | read original blog ]
Matthew 12:43-45 / Luke 11:24-26…Using the example of demon possession, Jesus warned it is not enough to go through an initial period of repentance and removal of sin. Breakthrough is wonderful but follow through is necessary. Unless reformation... [ ... ][ abbreviated | read original blog ]
Matthew 12:33-37…The Pharisees were supposedly the most righteous of all the people, but here, when contrasted with Jesus, their hearts are shown to be as dark as they really were. Even though they were accusing Jesus of being evil, it was they who... [ ... ][ abbreviated | read original blog ]
Matthew 12:31-32 / Mark 3:28-30…Many people have grieved over the idea that they may be guilty of this sin. What is the unforgiveable sin? It is to blaspheme the Holy Spirit. The immediate context was that they kept saying that what Jesus did was... [ ... ][ abbreviated | read original blog ]
Matthew 12:22-30 / Mark 3:20-27 / Luke 11:14-23… People were amazed at the power of Jesus, they couldn’t deny it. The exorcisms drew so much attention from people that it was impossible for anyone to even eat because it was so crowded aro [ ... ][ abbreviated | read original blog ]
Luke 11:5-8…Jesus is telling the disciples a story about the value of pleading. This illustration would have been very well understood by the audience of the day, as visitors were well treated (Genesis 18:1-8 / Hebrews 13:2). To tell a visitor that... [ ... ][ abbreviated | read original blog ]
Luke 11:1-4…Jesus had already taught the disciples how to pray (Matthew 6:5-15). But as they began to really understand how important prayer was to Jesus’ own life, and how it kept Him in contact with God (Luke 9:28-31), they were stirred up to ask... [ ... ][ abbreviated | read original blog ]
Luke 10:38-42…Sometimes it can be too easy to work too hard in doing too much. We can turn a wonderful opportunity for joy, celebration, learning, and love, into an obstacle to those very things, and we may even put the wall up for others as well.... [ ... ][ abbreviated | read original blog ]
