Matthew 16:13-20 / Mark 8:27-30 / Luke 9:18-21…Jesus was revealed as Christ, the Son of God, and the Apostles were given the responsibility of founding the early church. Jesus wasn’t simply exalting Peter; He was exalting the fact that His church... [ ... ][ abbreviated | read original blog ]
Mark 8:22-26…These differing instances we see in the gospel accounts point us to the fact that we are to look to Jesus in faith, not look for a formula or method. It is about the relationship that results, not simply the results themselves. To be... [ ... ][ abbreviated | read original blog ]
Matthew 16:5-12 / Mark 8:14-21…We often make category errors in dealing with God. We are thinking about one thing and Jesus is trying to teach us about another. The physical stuff may seem to be more relevant at the moment, but the spiritual stuff... [ ... ][ abbreviated | read original blog ]
Matthew 16:1-4 / Mark 8:11-13…The Pharisees and the Sadducees hated each other, but they hated Jesus worse than that. Hatred makes for strange companions in the fight against truth. They asked him to show them a sign from heaven. God had already giv [ ... ][ abbreviated | read original blog ]
Matthew 15:32-39 / Mark 8:1-10…Jesus was once again showing that He was the answer to our needs, no matter who we are. When He had fed the 5000, it was a Jewish crowd. Yet He was in Gentile country when He feeds the 4000. The grace of God is... [ ... ][ abbreviated | read original blog ]
Matthew 15:29-31…Jesus shows us His mission, to embody God’s compassion for the lost and broken as He ministers to their needs. He wants to bless them that they would in turn bless God. This was the pattern. Crowds come, bringing people who need a... [ ... ][ abbreviated | read original blog ]
Mark 7:31-37…People wanted to see this deaf and speech impaired man healed. Jesus agrees to help, but seems to go about things in a rather unusual way. He performs six actions that speak to us before He speaks the word of healing to the man. It was... [ ... ][ abbreviated | read original blog ]
Matthew 15:21-28 / Mark 7:24-30…Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Paul, and all the great people of prayer throughout history have experientially known the truth that sometimes God makes us fight for our blessings. He wants us to prevail in prayer, but He... [ ... ][ abbreviated | read original blog ]
Matthew 15:12-20 / Mark 7:17-23…The Pharisees added many man-made laws to surround God’s Law. The logic was that if one could keep from violating the added tradition, then one would be kept from violating the Law. But Jesus didn’t validate these... [ ... ][ abbreviated | read original blog ]
Matthew 15:10-11 / Mark 7:14-16…Is Jesus saying that those things that we think are bad are not actually bad, and that it doesn’t matter what we put into our bodies and our minds? No, what He is saying is that it is the heart that makes us want bad... [ ... ][ abbreviated | read original blog ]
