Jesus gives His followers a parable to teach them how people respond to the good news of the Gospel. Some people embrace it enthusiastically, but quickly fall away because it wasn’t rooted deep within them. Others have it snatched from them before it even enters their consciousness. Still others bel

A prostitute walks into the dinner party of a prominent religious leader. She cries over Jesus’ feet, then uses her hair to dry the tears. She then pours very expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet. The religious leader is indignant. Surely Jesus can’t be a prophet if he’s letting this woman touch him! Th

Are you disillusioned with God? Are you disappointed because your expectations haven’t been met? Maybe God didn’t heal you or provide certain finances? John the Baptist dealt with these same struggles. The very man who proclaimed Christ as the Messiah was now doubting that himself. John dealt with h

Have you ever been faced with someone who is mourning a death, and not known how to respond? It’s easy to turn away and not comfort them, because we don’t know what to say or how to handle their grief. Jesus meets grief head on. When faced with a widow who was burying her only son, He doesn’t shy aw

Most of us would like to have more authority. We would like people to do what we want, when we want it. The centurion in Luke actually did have this kind of influence. When he said something, it was done. But when this powerful man came across Jesus, the centurion was the only one who recognized tha

Everyone is in a way like a tree. We can each bear a certain kind of fruit. A friend might bear bad fruit because of his thoughtless actions. While a coworker bear good fruit, which is seen in her work habits. How does a person produce good or bad fruit, and how can you change the fruit of your own

We all love to point out the faults of others. It’s difficult to see anything wrong with ourselves. Other people’s sins always seem much bigger than our own. How do we live that we hold others accountable for their actions, while not being hypocrites ourselves? How do we take the speck out of our fr

You know some times it’s hard to love the people we like. If our friends and family can drive us crazy, how can we expect to love people with we don’t want to be around? We all know many people who have this problem. Jesus commands us though to love in this seemingly impossible way. How can we follo

Most leaders want a stellar group of followers to represent them and do their bidding. Some gather a group of intellectuals. Others surround themselves with people who are wealthy. Still others find followers with social influence. But who is it that Jesus chose as his apostles? To support this min

Do you feel like your life is always in the fast lane? Are you worn out juggling your job, your family, and your other relationships? Do you wish you could help others, but are too burnt out or simply don’t have time? Do you find yourself yearning for a space in life where you can rest? Jesus offers

Have you ever warned your kids not to hang out with the wrong crowd? The ones who cheated and did drugs, and didn’t have good character? We Always tell our kids to choose their friends wisely. But did Jesus himself follow these rules when picking out his disciples and friends? Who did he hang out wi

Sin makes us like first century lepers: disfigured, unacceptable both to God and other people, and unable to help even ourselves. The leper in Luke was an outcast. He was considered as good as dead by his society, but he still ran to Jesus and cried out for healing. How did Jesus respond to him? How

Have you ever been doing something that you love. But then something else so important came up that you gladly dropped everything for it? Well Peter found himself in this exact spot when Jesus came along. He was faced with a decision that could change his entire life forever. How did he respond to t

Different people exercise their authority in different ways. A general does it by barking out orders and enforcing strict military discipline. The traffic officer does it by blowing his whistle and by handing out citations. The tax man does it by conducting an audit and assessing penalties. But how