Balancing Ministry N' Work

As we take a look at what Jesus has to say in Matthew 24 and 25, we need to remember that our job is not to save a sinking ship, our job is to point as many people to Jesus as we can. One of the most important things we need to do is to know God’s Word. Read our Bibles, study them, and learn all we can to give us the knowledge to resist the false teachers and so we can share what we know with those the Holy Spirit puts in our path. God’s Word will equip us for both of these tasks. As we continue to dig into God’s Word my prayer is that our eyes will be opened and each of us will learn what we need to watch for as we draw closer to the Lord’s return. Some will say that we are wasting our time as Jesus will never come and others will tell us that we only a few days away. Some will point to a single sign or event, like some of the Jewish leaders have predicted the election turmoil going on in Israel this week ties to some of Zechariah’s prophecies. What we will find as we look at wh...

We started our series about the Life, Ministry, and Teachings of Jesus in December of last year and will continue to keep that focus going until Christmas this year. We have looked at the days leading up to His birth, many of His teachings, a handful of parables, His death, His resurrection and two week ago we looked at one of the times He appeared to His disciples after His resurrection. We are entering into the final phase of the series and will turn to some of Jesus teachings on the end times. There are a lot of opinions out there and one thing you have probably heard me say is that if the theologians who dedicate their lives to studying the end times do understand it all and cannot seem to agree, chances are neither will all of us. I continue to learn new things as I read the Bible, so I for one will tell you I do not have all of the answers about how the end times will play out. I am still learning. As we go through this phase of our series, I will obviously not try to pinpoin...

Last week we looked at a woman who worshipped Jesus with every ounce of love she had. She was not worried about what people thought, how she looked, or the cost. She held absolutely nothing back. As followers of Jesus we need to love our Savior like she did. We need to give Him everything we have and hold nothing back when we praise Him, when we serve Him, and when we Follow Him. We need to give Jesus our Pure Unfiltered Worship! This morning we are jumping forward to a time after Jesus’ death and resurrection. In John 21 we come to Jesus’ third appearance to His disciples. Peter and a handful of the other guys were hanging out and decided to go fishing, maybe returning to something they were comfortable with, or maybe just trying to take a break. After a night of a lot of fishing but no catching, Jesus appears and tells them where to cast the net. They pulled in a huge amount of fish and they knew then that it was Jesus. We are going to start with a conversation that happened after ...

When we last looked at the life and ministry of Jesus, we focused on the conversation Jesus had with the rich young ruler. He did not ask the rich young ruler to give up his riches because he was wealthy, Jesus was trying to get the young man to truly put his faith in Jesus. The young man needed to be 110% fully bought in on following Jesus, not a list of rules or things. Following rules will get us nowhere, we need to turn to Jesus, repent of our sins, and fully trust Him and follow wherever He leads. The Gospels tell of a woman who anointed Jesus. Each of the telling’s are slightly different and there is even some debate on if they are all telling us about the same event. Regardless, they all emphasize an important message. We will be taking a look at Luke’s version of the woman who anointed Jesus. Luke 7:36-38 “ 36  Then one of the Pharisees invited him to eat with him. He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table.  37  And a woman in the town who ...

Last week as part of our walk-through Jesus’ life, ministry, and teachings we looked at the parable of the lost son. We focused on the Robe that wrapped the son in the father’s love. This is the same as each one of us being wrapped in the saving Grace of our Savior Jesus Christ. Then we looked at the ring that symbolizes the son being restored to the rightful place and through our faith in Jesus we have been restored to our rightful place as a child of God. Then the sandals showed us that as new creations we are no longer of this world. As followers of Christ we need to leave our sinful ways behind. We can no longer walk in the mire; we need to walk along the new path that God has laid before us. This morning we are continuing our series and looking at a conversation that Jesus had with a rich young ruler. Matthew 19:16 “ 16  Just then someone came up and asked him, “Teacher, what good must I do to have eternal life?”” The young ruler approached Jesus and asked what he had ...

Today we will be looking at another of Jesus’ parables. As we have discussed before He uses them to teach those who have eyes to see and ears to hear. Luke 15:11-24 “ 11  He also said: “A man had two sons. 12  The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate I have coming to me.’ So he distributed the assets to them. 13  Not many days later, the younger son gathered together all he had and traveled to a distant country, where he squandered his estate in foolish living. 14  After he had spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he had nothing. 15  Then he went to work for one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16  He longed to eat his fill from the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one would give him anything. 17  When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food, and here I am dying of hunger! 18...

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...