Tag Archives: Bible Commentary

Share in the Suffering

Sharing in the Suffering of Christ – Matthew 26:30-35 If the World Hates You… Suffering with Christ. This is a subject that I feel very unqualified to write about. As I sit in my warm living room sheltered, well fed, and safe it’s hard to imagine lying on the cold floor of a prison, being beat, or cast out of my family because of my faith in Jesus. I just finished reading several stories of Christian men and women who were persecuted and martyred for their unapologetic and unwavering devotion to Christ and biblical truth in Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. Then I went to The Voice of the Martyrs website and read the most current updates of Christians who are suffering right now as I write for their testimony of the gospel. One young pastor in Uganda is trying to recover tonight from the physical and emotional scars of being […]

Fools and Their Traditions

Hand Washing Rituals – Luke 11:37-41 Opening Thoughts: I’m going to start tonight by saying that Danae and I appreciate all of you that have been reading our material and posting your wonderful comments. It is encouraging to hear someone say, “What you wrote really spoke to me and has caused me to study the Word more”. What we hope not to hear is, “This is great, now I can just read your blogs and forget about reading my Bible!” Isn’t this what has actually happened in much of our church culture these days? We read books, articles, blogs, Twitter updates, Facebook Status updates and more, yet so many people don’t actually read their own Bibles. In many ways we’ve become more like cult followers rather than Christian Disciples. We have people read our Bibles to us and shed their opinions, then we can either agree or disagree according to […]

Woe to You Pharisees Part 1 – Tithing

Luke 11:41 – Woe to You Opening Thoughts: Have you ever been in the situation where you have been invited over to someones house for dinner and there is ongoing friction between you? Is it hard to enjoy yourself or even keep your cool for that matter? Let’s see what Jesus does. For those of you who are reading in for the first time I will set a bit of a background to the text. Jesus was invited to one of the Pharisees homes to eat. However He quickly stirred up a hornets nest when he failed to follow the traditions of men by way of ceremonial hand washing. Jesus purposely stirred things up so that He could point out areas of hypocrisy, how’s that for a meal with Jesus? Once the ice has been broken Jesus begins to pronounce woes on them along with revealing their sin. Luke 11:42 […]

Are You Booked?

Are You in the Book: I’m not sure if you have ever been mentioned in someones book? Can you imagine reading a book from some popular author who you didn’t know and he/she mentions you specifically in it. That would be an amazing thing, in fact, you would likely bring that book around to everyone you know and show them that you’re name is in there. It would be a noteworthy occasion. We know that type of situation would never happen, if you didn’t know them you would never even expect to have your name included in the book, would you? What about if you ‘knew’ an author who was really famous and you guys had hung out and spent time together. One day He publishes this book on everyday life and what goes on. You eagerly buy the book assuming for sure you will find your name on the […]

Have you Not Read?

Figure it out For Yourself As I was driving today I saw a van in front of me with a blaring neon yellow bumper sticker (stuck to the back windshield) that read “Try Jesus”, and that was it, off they drove evangelizing to all the vehicles around them that “Hey, if nothing else works, ‘Try Jesus’.” What happens when they “Try Jesus” and then their car gets broken into, or they lose their job or worse, their child? Of course Jesus is the only solution for all mankind, but if they don’t understand that their problem is actually their sin, then they will “Try Jesus” for the wrong reasons. I’m sure the driver of that van was well-intentioned, but it pays so much to tell it all, and not just try to condense the gospel to a couple of words on a bumper sticker. Figure it out with Help from […]

A Wedding Invitation

Mr. and Mrs. LeBlanc request the honor of your presence at the marriage of their daughter Danae Joy LeBlanc to Shane Dale Martin Saturday, the 14th of July at 1:30 in the afternoon Banquet to follow Ten years ago our wedding invitation read something like this. We recently celebrated our anniversary and it just doesn’t seem like it was that long ago that we were excitedly creating a guest list, licking stamps, sealing envelopes, and mailing out our wedding invitations hoping that many of our friends and family would be eager and able to join us for what was the most important day in our lives to that point. Last night I read Matthew 22:1-14 where Jesus tells a group of religious leaders the Parable of the Wedding Feast. After I read the passage I took a deep breath and picked up my journal and pen knowing it was going […]

The Issue of Blood.

The Woman With the Issue of Blood – Luke 8:43-48 Opening Thought: So it’s been quite some time since I last published a blog post, and now here I find myself at midnight, after spending the past 3 hours alone with my Bible, typing away to the thought of how I’m so thankful that Jesus never stops bleeding. His blood is always there and it’s available for all who call on His name in repentance. Oh how I’m thankful for that! Where I’m Reading: I have been working my way through Luke’s Gospel. It has literally been all I’ve been reading and studying for about 4 months now and I’m about ready to finish up chapter 8. Call me a slow reader but I’d like to think it’s “meditating on the words of Jesus” and “studying to show myself approved”. I find the more time I spend with God the […]

Is Social Justice the Gospel?

There are two separate subjects I want to address in this text. The first dealing with Social Justice and the Gospel, and the second dealing with healing itself. Luke 5:16-26 On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with him to heal. 18 And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, 19 but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. 20 And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” 21 […]

Who’s Desire’s do You Have?

Today’s study was awesome, as some of you know I’m going through the book of Luke, love this book. I think one of the biggest things that hit me in this book so far, has been the demonstration of what the Holy Spirit does when He invades our lives. Someone who claims to be in the Spirit should look, act and think about everything in a different way than the world does! Luke 4:14-15 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. The Holy Spirits Power: So in the beginning of Luke we see a couple who is visited by an angel and is told that they will have a son and that they were to name him John and that he would turn people […]

What is the fruit of your lips?

What is your favorite thing to talk about? That one topic that when it comes up you light up and could talk for hours…. I read this passage in Matthew 12 tonight and it produced two effects in my heart: It added to my fear of the Lord and it caused me to examine the fruit of my lips; the things I talk about the most and what I am most passionate about. I am thankful that the gospel remains my favorite topic, but I noticed some rotten fruit that needed pruning as well. Careless words flow easily when we couldn’t care less, so we must take care to speak words that reflect the Word and the Inspiration of the Word if that is truly what is in our heart. Matthew 12:33-37 .. “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, […]