The Things Jesus Said

Lose Yourself

Our passages for today come from Matthew 10:37-39
For a lot of us in America, being a Christian is part of the culture.  It is like baseball, hotdogs, apple pie and Chevrolet.
We go to church on Sundays because we always went to church on Sundays.
And if asked, we would say without hesitation that we love Jesus!
 
But how many of us Love Jesus more than we love our parents, wives, husbands, kids, and even more than we love our own lives?

Swords Not Peace

From Matthew 10:34-36 Jesus, who is the Prince of Peace, warns us that following him would cause us to be at war, even with those we love.

Acknowledging Christ

In Matthew 10:32-33 Jesus teaches us there will be some people who, no matter what you say, no matter what you do, and no matter how many miracles they witness, that will deny Jesus.

Church is Messy

Being a follower of Jesus is not safe, it is not clean and it takes a whole lot more than an hour a week....

Beer, Bibles, and Eating with Tax Collectors

In Matthew 9:9-13 Jesus invites Matthew a Tax Collector to follow him.
 

Judging

Jesus teaches about judging others in Matthew Chapter 7:1-5.
When I first got into ministry, the most popular bible verse was John 3:16
And now and for quite some time the most famous verse is Matthew 7:1 Do not judge… and no other part of the verse is used.
That is because we have gotten to the point where think we are so good and so special that no one has the right to tell us anything that does not match what we are thinking.

Praying in Circles

From Matthew 6:5-8 Jesus teaches us how to pray.
 
Believe it or not, COVID mitigation was a positive thing for introverts! And so, for all of us introverts out there, here is some biblical proof that praying in circles is unbiblical!
 
 

Why? Who Are You Trying to Impress?

our Scripture for today comes from Matthew 6:1-4
 
Jesus is teaching about giving…..
But I think there is more to this passage than just giving.

More Than a Bunch of Sparrows

Our passages for today come from Matthew 10:16-31
Most of us humans have a need to be generally liked by other people.
Scientists will tell you that is from the need to be part of a community so that we can reproduce, have shelter and have human contact.
But that need is also our Achilles heel. We sometimes want to be liked so badly that we won’t tell the truth or say anything that might offend someone.
We might lose likes on Facebook, or they may unfriend us!  I think the term these days is ghost us.
Today, being a Christian offends people.  People in Western cultures and countries are being arrested for speaking about God.
People are being arrested for sticking to their principles.
People are being killed for the good news of Jesus
and Jesus predicted it.
 
 

Love Your Enemy

Jesus teaches us in Matthew 5:43-48 that we are to love our enemies.
I wonder sometimes if anyone other than Jesus could really even do this?