Colossians 2:6-7; A bookend message to address the questions posed by our Thanksgiving sermon from Matthew 7. Jesus warned the disciples, ” Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the the kingdom of heaven..”. Our follow-up comes from Paul’s letter to the Colossian church where he outlines five key indicators of a […]
Luke 2:1-7; God’s perfect plan for the arrival of Messiah was foretold for centuries before He set it into motion with Gabriel’s message to Zechariah. Both Mary and Joseph also experienced angelic messnegers to prepare them for their vitally important mission as the earthly parents of Immanuel. Even mighty Caesar Augustus had no idea his […]
Luke 1:39-45; The theme of angels from Advent wk2 continues with the visitation of Gabriel to Mary in our Advent reading. Mary learns she is to conceive and will give birth to Messiah, which Jospeh already learned from an angel in a dream. Soon after, Mary packs up and heads south to visit relative Elizabeth, […]
Matthew 1:18-25; The abundance of OT prophesies pointed forward to the coming of God’s Messiah, but the 400 years of heavenly silence after Malachi only fanned the flames of Israel’s desire for a savior. The silence was abruptly broken by the arrival of the angel Gabriel to Zechariah, foretelling the birth of their son John. […]
Micah 5:1-5; Yahweh-God commissioned chosen men to serve as messengers throughtout the Old Testament to reveal details about the coming of Immanuel. From Geneist 3 forward, the character and mission of Messiah was promised. Both Micah and Isaiah foretold a terrible siege of Jerusalem that would leave Israel a wasteland, due to their sinful disobedience. […]
Matthew 7:21-23; Following the warnings and rebuke that concluded Luke 9 to those wishing to follow Jesus, we shifted to the end of Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount for parallel teaching. Jesus told the Twelve and huge crowd at the sermon, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven”. […]
Luke 9:51-62; The Galilean ministry of Jesus comes to a conclusion, as Christ and His disciples begin the final journey south to Jerusalem. Four incidents take place at the end of chapter 9 related to discipleship. First, a Samaritan village rejects Jesus because he is headed towards Jerusalem. James and John wish to call fire […]
Luke 9:43b-50; Following the healing of the demon-possessed boy by Jesus, Luke includes three issues among His disciples that reveal their failure to drive out the evil spirit. First, their preconceived framework of Messiah was hindering their understanding of the Lord’s teaching about His impedning death. Seconly, their prideful focus upon personal greatness was missing […]
Luke 9:37-42; Returning from the mountain where Christ was Transfigured, Jesus and the Three find a crowd awaiting. A man calls out of the mass of people, imploring Jesus to heal his demon possessed son. He informs that he begged the remaining Nine to drive out the evil spirit, but they had failed. Jesus was […]