Digging In His Word

Our two previous lessons were both focused on the same sermon of Jesus.  It was a longer sermon, so it was broken into two lessons.  Today’s lesson happened at that same time, but it was not part of that sermon.  It is an event which occurred while Jesus was giving that sermon. 

Today’s lesson is very much a continuation of our previous lesson on Jesus and Beelzebub.  If you have not yet reviewed that lesson, I strongly recommend that you do so now, before reviewing this lesson.

Today’s lesson will once again center around Jesus casting out a demon.  This was something Jesus was called upon often, in His ministry, to do.  Read today’s text in Matt 12:22-37.

I love the story that we are about to study today.  It is about a woman whose life was changed by Jesus.  It is a dramatic story, and we must dive deep into the culture of the time to truly understand it.  Read today’s text in Luke 7:26-50.

Doubt.  Such a troubling thing.  If you have been a Christian for a while, you probably have a good head knowledge of Jesus Christ.  You will have some real roadside experience of the things He can do and does do.  You know He is real and you aren’t troubled too much with doubt.  But here we are talking about head-doubt.  Not too much of a problem for those of us with long-standing relationships with the Lord.  What I want to talk to you about today is heart-doubt.  That deep-down… not can He?, but will He?  Jesus promises to meet our needs and answer our prayers if we love Him and don’t doubt, if we serve Him and obey.  Do I trust Him enough?  Do I believe Him enough?  He can heal me, but He hasn’t yet.  Does He love me?  My aunt is still dying, will He let her?  Is there an area where I haven’t done enough to serve Him?  Have I let Him down?

We have just seen Jesus heal the centurion’s servant in Capernaum.  Now, He is going to another place called Nain.  It is 25 miles southwest of Capernaum.  Quite a walk!  And as they are arriving there, they come upon a funeral procession.  Read today’s text and compare the two miracles.

When Jesus finished delivering the Sermon on the Mount, He went to Capernaum.  There in Capernaum was a centurion, whose servant (slave) was sick and about to die.  Now, the Roman government had been ruling Palestine for about 100 years.  A centurion was a soldier who was in charge over 100 men and most Roman soldiers were known for being cruel and harsh.  Some, however, had been influenced by the Jewish religion in the area and had learned kinder ways, which we will see in our lesson today.  The centurion in our story today was kind to the Jews and had built the synagogue in Jerusalem.  This was the synagogue where Jesus had taught and had healed the demoniac (Mark 1:21-23).

There are many folks out there preaching the way into Heaven.  Unfortunately, most of them are wrong.  There is but only one way into Heaven and that is through Jesus Christ (John 14:6).  Good works or deeds will not get you there (Eph 2:8-9).  God sent His Son into the world to provide a way of salvation for us (John 3:16).  In today’s section of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus talks about the Narrow and Wide Gates leading into Heaven and about True and False Prophets.  These are important topics and we mustn’t get them wrong.  They will make all the difference of whether or not we get into Heaven when the time comes.  Read today’s text at Matt 7:13-23.

Prayer.  How often do we go to God in prayer believing that we will receive what we ask for?  Do we believe that He is able?  Do we believe that He is willing?  Are we sure we are asking in His will?  Do we believe that He cares?  So many times, people pour out their hearts to God hoping that He cares enough to answer their requests, but what does the Bible teach us on whether He will answer?  Read today’s text in Matt 7:7-12.

As Christians, it is sometimes easy to become pious and look down our nose at others thinking that they just don’t measure up to what God would have them to be.   We can get the idea that we have somehow managed to become what God wants and others have just missed the boat.  It is easy, sometimes, to lose sight of our own shortcomings and forget that we, too, still are creatures of sin, just like everyone else.  In today’s portion of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus addresses man’s tendency to judge others.

 How many of us have ever been guilty of worrying about our needs from one day to the next?  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told His followers that they did not need to do that.  For those of us who love Jesus, we can rest assured that He knows our needs and makes sure that they are met.  Read today’s text in Matt 6: 25-34 to see what Jesus had to say about worry.