Balancing Ministry N' Work

The Bible shows us that Jesus fed thousands, twice. Peter preached, and three thousand people were added to the church in a single day. The Great Commission tells us: Matthew 28:18-20 “ 18 Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples  of  all nations, baptizing  them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” We are to go and make disciples of all nations. We are also familiar with Jesus’ final command before He ascended to be with the Father. Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” We need to witness to our community, our state, country, and the rest of the world. Sometimes when yo...

From Peter faltering when walking on water we learned that we need to keep our focus on Jesus. Does not mean that our wind and waves will stop hitting up, but it does mean that when we walk with Jesus, He will give us the peace, strength, wisdom, courage, and more when we need it. Our focus is to be on Jesus. From the Transfiguration we saw that Jesus is not like anyone else. On that mountain the disciples witnessed Jesus to be Transfigured into His glorified body. If that was not enough, our Father spoke from heaven declaring Jesus as His beloved Son, whom He was well pleased with, stating that He is the Chosen one and we need to listen to Him. Then Scripture showed us that the Almighty humbly returned to His human form and brought comfort to His disciples. Touching them and telling them to ‘Get up; don’t be afraid.’ The Chosen One of God, the King of Kings, willingly gets close and personal with those who follow Him. Talk about Love. The disciples witnessed a lot of things, but...

Last week we looked at how Peter stepped out of the boat and briefly walked on water, until the wind and waves go the best of him. Even after we made the choice to follow Jesus we have times of doubt, fear, insecurity, and lostness. The wind and waves are distracting and can tempt us to take our focus off or our Lord and move it onto our problems. We need to keep our focus on Jesus who will bring the needed calm and lift us up and help us to walk as if we are on solid ground. The wind and waves will not disappear, but when we are walking with Jesus our courage, strength, peace, joy, and so much more comes from Him. When going through the Gospels you see some repetition of what it tells us, the events themselves, but they are not exact copies. The differences could be due to who wrote the letter or who it was written to. Could have something to do with how the author remembered the events. Don’t get me wrong, all of Scripture is God breathed meaning that every word written was given ...

Late last year as we headed into Christmas we started talking about the life, ministry, and teachings of Jesus. This morning will be the 25 th message in the series. Might sound like a lot of messages, but when you flip through the Gospels it feels like we are barely scratching the surface. We could easily spend a couple of years going through each of the Gospels. As it looks today, we will spend the rest of the year looking at the life, ministry, and teachings of Jesus and still only hit the highlights. This morning we will be continuing our series in Matthew 14. Matthew 14:22-23 “ 22  Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23  After dismissing the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. Well into the night, he was there alone.” Jesus had tried to withdraw to a remote place earlier in the chapter, but the crowds followed Him. He healed the sick and then took 5 loaves...

Last week we looked at Jesus’ explanation on why He used parables to teach the masses. It was clear by reading His words that His intent was to make sure those that followed Him would understand, while those who actively resisted Him would be confused. Those who have the smallest amount of knowledge, as little as knowing they need Jesus as their Savior will have access to the secrets and mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. With that smallest tidbit of truth their knowledge will grow. If our eyes and ears are open even the smallest amount, we will have more than enough knowledge to carry us through what we are facing today. I hope you took time to pray for someone whose eyes and ears need to be opened this week. Pray for them every day until they find that smallest piece of truth that will set them free. We are going to continue in Matthew 13 this morning looking at some of the parables that Jesus taught. Matthew 13:31-32 “ 31  He presented another parable to them: “The ...

Every little thing we do that demonstrates that we embrace our faith in Jesus, demonstrates that we trust in Him, and our declaration of what He has done for us, does have an impact on others. Mary and Martha declaring their faith in Jesus caused some people to stay around. Jesus calling out to the Father got peoples attention. The stone being rolled away was a great example of faith being put into action and then the miracle happened. Without the declarations, statements of faith, and the following actions people would not have seen the miracle and believed. People are watching us, listening to the things we say, and they want to see if we are going to put our money where our mouth is. The Holy Spirit uses all of this to get their attention and then if they respond performs a miracle in their lives. The little things matter as we shine the light of Jesus into the world we live in. In Matthew 13 Jesus we find 7 different parables. Jesus tells the Parable of the Sower, which He...

Open your Bibles to John chapter 11 as we continue to look at Jesus’ life and ministry. John 11:1-4 “ 11  Now a man was sick, Lazarus from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2  Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair, and it was her brother Lazarus who was sick. 3  So the sisters sent a message to him: “Lord, the one you love is sick.” 4  When Jesus heard it, he said, “This sickness will not end in death but is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”” Jesus, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus were obviously friends. Verse 4 states that this is for the glory of God and so that the Son of God may be glorified… everything we are looking at this morning was done for the glory of God and so that the Son may be glorified, these words are also telling us to pay close attention as we are going to read about something that is truly amazing. We are going to read about God at work...