Matt. 15:21-28 Was Jesus insulting the Gentile woman when he referred to helping her as “giving it to the dogs”? What was His intended message? And what can we learn from it, today?
1 Samuel 15
Deut. 13:6-18 One of the greatest moments of every church is when we present the invitation, and people respond: when they accept God’s message, repent of their sins, and submit in faith in baptism. When they rise from the waters, so does our heart: a soul has been saved! The angels in heaven are rejoicing! But then, the water dries, the smiles…
Matthew 15:12-28 How is one defiled? And if the Jewish leadership was proving unfaithful, to whom would Jesus turn next?
Deut. 12:29-13:5 Today, we often spend so much of our attention on getting people to “obey the gospel”—but after a person comes up out of the waters, what’s next? We encourage them to keep coming—twice on Sundays and once on Wednesdays. We call on them to continue their study of God’s Word and to apply it to their lives—becoming a new person…
Aquila and Priscila were left behind in Ephesus to continue the work—supporting the local church and continuing to evangelize the city while Paul moved on to Caesarea and beyond. It’s then that Luke takes a break from following Paul’s journey and, instead, remains in Ephesus to account for the arrival of a Jewish man: Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria,…
Matthew 12:22-45 How would Jesus respond to the unbelieving Pharisees? And why wouldn’t they accept Him? In Matthew 12, we see three short parable-like sayings that all serve to explain the cause and affect of disbelief. By understanding them, more, we can understand the disbelief in the world around us!
1 Kings 18:20-19:21 Today, we often find ourselves feeling weak and defeated—far from our potential assoldiers and servants of God. But God has a way of awakening the wolf—of bringing outthe strength from even the weakest of men and women! And as we come to 1 Kings 19,we’ll see that God would use His wisdom and power to awaken the wolf in…
Acts 4:1-31 I don’t know for sure how much time passes between Acts 2 and Acts 4. It could have been a few days, or a few weeks. But while Acts 2 appears to show a church widely accepted by the community, Acts 4 begins to show the resistance by the ancient Jewish power center. Culminating in the priests, the Sadducees, and…
Matthew 11:16-17; Matthew 12:10-13 What lessons can we learn from how the Jewish people responded to Jesus and John? How should we react to those in need at inopportune times?