Blogs
There are only three instances in Scripture that give us information about Martha. From these accounts, we can see that Martha had a brother named Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead, and a sister named Mary. Martha had misplaced her priorities on this occasion and was corrected by Jesus. Later, at a supper for Jesus in the home of Simon the leper, Martha was once again serving while Mary her sister was worshiping Jesus by anointing His feet with a costly perfume.
Martha was the first one to run and meet Jesus when He came to their home after the death of Lazarus. It was at this time that Martha said she knew Jesus could have prevented Lazarus from dying and that, even then,...
This question of "who is my neighbour" can be used by Satan to deceive us in more than one way. Not only can he deceive men into thinking they have fulfilled the command to "love thy neighbor as thyself" when they haven't, but he will also try to apply this command in a way that condemns those who are seeking to fulfill it, by making them think they are not doing enough.
We cannot meet the needs of every single person in the world. Jesus wasn't teaching that. This wounded man was directly in the path of these three men. The priest and the Levite had to walk around him. Jesus is simply teaching that we should take advantage of the opportunities we have. The fact that we can't help everyone is no excuse not to help anyone.
Jesus, through this parable, defined a neighbor as...
Just as with this lawyer, pride causes many people to resist the truth of justification by faith in the grace of God. This lawyer loved himself and the public recognition his "holy acts" gave him. He was not willing to love God first and his fellow man ahead of himself. His was not a sincere question but rather an evasive question to shun responsibility. This man was seeking to be justified in the sight of God through his actions. He knew he had not loved everyone as he loved himself, so he is tried to interpret the scripture (Lev. 19:18) in a way that would conform to his actions. He wanted to define "neighbor" as just his close friends whom he had treated well.
Self-justification always produces...
Have you ever had enough? Have you ever been sick and tired of being sick and tired? Does it seem as though Satan is ALL UP IN YO’ STUFF? A lot of times, it looks that way. It feels that way, and we react on those feelings. Well, I’ve learned over the course of my life that feelings kill. And it’s because emotions run our feelings, and with that, we often cannot make a clear-headed decision about anything when we’re like that.
Kid decisions, spouse decisions, work decisions, sometimes even faith decisions. I saw this come across my twitter feed from Toby Mac, and thought it was awesome and spoke a lot.
"Sometimes God will put a Goliath in your life for you to find the David within you."
Can you feel me now? Does that not speak to us and to our trials? David didn’t go looking for Goliath – remember, he went looking for his brothers. The situation happened upon him when he approached the camp. So, when our own personal Goliath...
We were never instructed to have a Ph.D. in demonology. However, some justify focusing on Satan and his activity to an inordinate degree. This will actually encourage demonic activity and become a device that Satan can use against us.
As Paul said, we should not be "ignorant" of Satan's devices. We certainly need to know that the devil and demons exist, and we need to recognize when we are facing demonic activity. But we need to keep our focus on the Lord.
Some people who are excessive in "spiritual warfare" actually spend more time talking to the devil each day than they do talking to God. That's not right.
The best defense against the devil is to be so "God-centered" that we give no place to Satan....
