Tag Archives: Gospels

People You Can’t Stand

Jesus places the people you can’t stand at the front of your neighbor list! Opening Thoughts: I want you to be totally honest with yourself on this question. Have you ever hated someone? Or maybe hate would be too strong of a word. So maybe you have strongly disliked someone even to the point that when someone else is talking about that person it makes you feel upset and uncomfortable? I’ve been there, and I’ve had to repent and ask God to flood my heart with grace many times. The Jews felt this way about the Samaritans. Below is some interesting information that will paint a picture for you as to why the Jews strongly disliked (hated) them. INFO: Through Samaria was the usual route taken by travelers from Judea to Galilee, though strict Jews, in order to avoid defilement, could bypass Samaria by opting for a longer route that […]

I Will Follow You

Opening Thoughts: Tonight we wrap up Luke chapter 9. One of the common threads throughout the Gospel of Luke is Jesus emphasizing what it really means to follow Him. This very day and throughout history the church has been filled with people that are both true disciples and false disciples. What I mean by true disciples is people that God has made a commitment to, not the other way around. We humans make so many commitments that we never follow through on. In fact many times we say things to people that we never even intend to get around to. Take for instance the phrase, “We should hang out sometime”. Now you likely have said that to someone or had it said to you, and you may or may not have actually intended to ever follow through with it. Or maybe you have said “I’ll give you a call”, can […]

Are you Expecting?

As of today I am 33 weeks and 5 days pregnant. I’m sorry to say I had to actually look at a calendar and figure out what week I was on to provide that information for you. We are expecting our third child, and while our excitement and love for him or her is equal to that of our first two children we are just too busy to count down the days until “the Big Day” as we did for the others. Besides, as many of you know who have children already, rarely does the precious package arrive on “the Big Day”. For most of us, we know that baby arrives precisely when he or she is ready and not a moment too soon. A few days before “the Big Day” (sometimes a few weeks before) expectant parents eagerly wait for any sign of labor. I remember with my first […]

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 […]

“Daddy Save Me!”

Sometimes as I’m reading my Bible I am hit hard by a passage of Scripture that I have read what feels like a million times before, yet this time I feel like I understand it for the first time. It’s this profound revelation that strikes my heart so deeply, then I wonder if everybody else already got it and I’m just a slow learner. Either way I am grateful for God’s patience and long suffering with me as I strive to understand the mysteries of his Word and how to apply it to my life in the way he intended. I’m currently reading in the book of Matthew. I decided to read it again after I finished 1 John last Christmas because of 1 John 2:6 which says, “..whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” I knew I needed to […]

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, […]

Should Temptation Really be Tempting?

Jesus was Tempted – Luke 4:2-4 Opening Thoughts: First of all I want to acknowledge brother David Wilkerson who passed away yesterday April 27, 2011 in a car accident. David Wilkerson has been one of those people that I take very serious. Both my wife Danae and I have expressed on many occasions that this is a man that scares us when he preaches, and when we say scares us we mean it seams as though you are sitting listening to one of the prophets from the Bible. He preached with such conviction it could make a drunk snap out of a drunken stupor. I loved to listen to him, and God through his preaching has impacted my life in a very big way! David Wilkerson will not be a name forgotten around our home. I was reading today in Luke 4:2-4 I’m working my way through Luke’s gospel right […]