Applying the Bible

Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest’s house, and Peter was following at a distance. And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, “This man also was with him.” But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.” And a little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not.” And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, “Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean.” But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly. (Luke 22:54-62) Before this moment of repeated denial, Peter had been bold, confident, and even defiant in his loyalty to Jesus, as he declared, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death,” (Luke 22:33). But boldness without surrender is fragile. In the pressure of the courtyard, under the uncertain view of strangers, Peter crumbled. Not once, not twice, but three times he denied even knowing Jesus. And just as the rooster crowed, fulfilling the Lord's prophetic words – Jesus turned and looked at him. Can you imagine that moment? Jesus' look wouldn't have been a glare of condemnation or rage. It wouldn't have even been a look of disgust or rejection. I imagine in Jesus' eyes was a look of grief – not for Himself, but for Peter. Because Jesus knew Peter's pain was only beginning. He knew the weight of shame Peter would carry, the bitter sorrow of realizing he had denied the Messiah – the very Savior of his soul. And yet, even in that look, there was still love. A silent reminder that Jesus' mission was not over – and neither was Peter's story. Failure Is Not Final If we get caught up in what people think of us and fear how our identity in Christ will affect us here and now, we can falter in our faith and deny the very One who died to save us. That is a bitter place to be, but Peter's story reminds us that our failures here are not final with God. Yes, Peter wept bitterly. Grief is part of repentance. But Jesus had already spoken life into Peter's future: “When you have turned again, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:32). Jesus knew Peter would fall, but He also knew Peter would rise again – and he did. After Jesus' resurrection, Peter was restored, commissioned, and became a pillar of the early Church. Peter's denial didn't define him – his repentance and obedience did. And eventually, this same man who once shrank back from being associated with Jesus boldly preached the gospel to thousands. Church tradition tells us Peter died crucified upside down, unwilling to die in the same manner as his Lord. The man who once feared for his life to the point of denial, finished his race having found his identity entirely in Christ and willingly died as His humble follower. We all stumble. We all have our moments of fear, weakness, or compromise. But it's not about how we started – it's about how we finish. Will we allow our sin to drive us away in shame? Or will we let godly sorrow lead us to repentance and reconciliation? When the Lord looks into the depths of your soul after you've sinned, see the grief in His eyes—not because He's shocked, but because He longs for reconciliation and restoration. Share in that grief, and let it soften your heart to repentance. Return to Him, and let your story continue in His grace.

While he was still speaking, there came a crowd, and the man called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He drew near to Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus said to him, “Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” And when those who were around him saw what would follow, they said, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus said, “No more of this!” And he touched his ear and healed him. Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders, who had come out against him, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs? When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.” (Luke 22:47-53) In the chaos of betrayal by Judas, Peter, being zealous and reactive, drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear. It was an impulsive and dangerous act, and even though he asked Jesus if he should do it, he didn't wait for a response before he acted on his impulse. Not only was it an act of violence, it could have sealed Peter's fate with a death penalty because he had attacked a servant of the high priest – one of the most powerful religious figures in Israel. This situation could have meant not only Jesus' arrest, but Peter's death too. Complete Restoration But Jesus did something astonishing in the middle of that dark moment: He stopped the violence, spoke peace over the scene, and then healed the servant's ear, right then and there. No bandages, no scarring, no evidence that it had ever happened. The servant's ear was completely restored – and Peter's guilt, though very real, was suddenly without a consequence he'd have to pay. What a beautiful foreshadowing of the cross. Jesus didn't just heal the ear – He also removed the evidence of the disciple's wrongdoing. Jesus covered Peter's failure before it could condemn him to death. That's what Jesus came to do for us all on the cross. He bore our guilt and shame, and by His wounds, we are healed (Isaiah 53:5). Because of His sacrifice, God doesn't just forgive our sin – He removes the record of it. He makes it like it never happened. Sometimes we carry guilt for what we've done – the mistakes we've made, outbursts of anger that we regret, decisions we wish we could undo. And yet Jesus steps into the mess we've created, not to shame us, but to heal it. To touch what's broken and fully restore it. Confronting Injustice Yet notice that Jesus also confronted the injustice around Him. He rebuked the crowd for coming with swords and clubs, like He were a violent criminal. He called out their darkness – “But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.” Jesus didn't go blind into His suffering. He saw it clearly, knew it was unjust, and yet submitted – not because He was weak, but because He trusted the Father's plan. Remember, Jesus had just resolved in prayer to yield fully to the Father's will, and now, He was walking it out with unwavering grace, peace, and obedience. And when darkness surrounds us, when injustice seems to be winning, we can follow Jesus' example of trusting the Father and submitting to His will; not because it’s easy, but because He is faithful. And in the middle of chaos, whether caused by others or by our own failures—remember that Jesus still heals, still restores, and still covers our sin by His grace and mercy. Jesus not only healed the servant's ear then, He desires to heal your soul now. Trust God and let Him heal you completely.

And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.” (Luke 22:39-46) In the most agonizing moments of His life, Jesus did not run from God – He ran to Him. As the weight of the cross drew nearer, Jesus went to the Mount of Olives to pray, as was His custom. This wasn't new, prayer was a big part of Jesus' lifestyle – it was His safe place, His renewal of strength, His lifeline to the Father. And in this moment of overwhelming sorrow, He modeled what to do when temptation and suffering feel unbearable: pray. Jesus had every reason to feel tempted. The cross was not only physical torture – it was separation, public humiliation, and the crushing weight of all sin and God's wrath. Jesus knew what was coming, and He possibly could have remembered Satan's offer in the wilderness. That earlier temptation – “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me” (Matthew 4:9) – an offer meant to tempt avoidance of the cross. A temptation of an easier way – a way out. But instead of entering into that temptation, Jesus entered into prayer. He cried out, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” This is the essence of prayer: not to avoid all pain or get what we want, but to bring every fear, every weakness, and every desire to God – and then submit to His will in full trust and surrender. Jesus' instructions to His disciples are just as urgent for us: “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” Temptation is not sin—but without prayer, we are far more likely to fall into sin. Whether it's the temptation to give up, lash out, run away, or seek comfort outside of God's will, our greatest protection is not our willpower – it's our connection with the Father. Fervent and genuine prayer doesn't always change our circumstances, but it does change us. Prayer strengthens our resolve, reminds us of truth, re-centers our perspective, and fills us with grace to obey, even when it's hard. So, when you feel overwhelmed, pray. When you feel tempted, pray. When you don't know what to do, pray. Jesus has shown us the way and prayer is not a last resort – it's the path to victory. Our connection to the Father, and strengthening our resolve to do His will, is the pathway to victory over every temptation. May we always make prayer our first response, not just in moments of crisis, but in every moment of life. Let us not enter into temptation, but be led into deeper communion with God through prayer and overcome just as Jesus did.

And he said to them, “When I sent you out with no moneybag or knapsack or sandals, did you lack anything?” They said, “Nothing.” He said to them, “But now let the one who has a moneybag take it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one. For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors.' For what is written about me has its fulfillment.” And they said, “Look, Lord, here are two swords.” And he said to them, “It is enough.” (Luke 22:35-38) In these final hours before the cross, Jesus prepared His disciples for a change. Once, He sent them out with nothing—and miraculously, they lacked nothing. God's provision was supernatural, constant, and clear. But now, He tells them to take their belongings, even to buy a sword. What changed? Nothing changed about God's care and provision, but the method would shift. Jesus was about to be numbered with the transgressors, fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy. The cross was near, and the world would treat the disciples the way it had treated Him. Persecution would inevitably come. The season of miraculous provision had not ended, but God was now about to provide through practical means – through obedient preparation, through wisdom, and sometimes through hardship. Jesus was not contradicting His earlier instructions; He was purposefully inviting them to trust again – this time in a different way. God’s provision is not a formula or some kind of magic. Sometimes He multiplies loaves and fishes; other times, He tells us to bring a bag and a sword. Either way, the call is the same: obedience. When God calls you into something uncertain, don't let fear or anxiety rule your steps. Don't hesitate because you don't understand how it will all work, just do what He says. If He says “go,” then go. If He says “stay,” then stay. Trust that God always sees the whole picture, even when we don't. Jesus modeled this perfectly, knowing full well the pain ahead, and He still obeyed the Father's will of willingly being counted among sinners to save us. Jesus didn't trust in comfort or clarity, He trusted in the Father – even unto death. This is a call to follow in the footsteps of our Savior. Whether God leads you by miraculous supply or by practical preparation, let go of the worry that tries to grip your heart. Say “yes” to His will. Lay down the need to understand every detail, and walk forward with open hands. Where God is guiding you, He will provide for every need, in every season, and in every calling. Take time to thank God for His provision and ask for forgiveness when you have tried to control outcomes or let fear guide you instead, and then ask the Father to teach you to trust Him like Jesus did, being obedient to do whatever He calls you to, and walking in the confidence that trusting in His provision brings. And may we all learn to walk in our calling as Jesus did, saying, “Father, not my will, but yours, be done.”

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” Peter said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.” Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me.” (Luke 22:31-34) These words from Jesus to Peter are filled with both warning and hope. Satan's desire to “sift” us like wheat isn't some vague threat—it's a violent shaking, meant to break us down, separate, and destroy us. But right in the middle of that terrifying reality is the profoundly comforting words of Jesus: I have prayed for you. Jesus knew Peter would fall, and He also knew Peter would rise again. He didn't pray that Peter would be spared from the test—He prayed that Peter's faith would not fail. That's the difference between a total collapse in condemnation versus a redemptive stumble in conviction. Peter, in all his boldness and pride, responded with confidence, Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death. But Jesus knew that while Peter had an emotional response, his flesh was too strong to allow him to follow through with standing firm in persecution for Jesus' sake. Before the rooster would crow, Peter would deny even knowing Jesus, and not only once, but three times. We often believe we're stronger than we are, and pride tells us we'll stand firm, but Jesus sees the real condition of our hearts. Pride sets us up for a fall, but humility invites God's grace to uphold us. And yet—Jesus didn't disqualify Peter. Instead, He said, When you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. What a gracious invitation to redemption, restoration, and refinement. Faltering doesn't end our story; it becomes the foundation for future service IF we allow God to work in us. A Key Moment There's a key moment we often overlook: in John 18:15-17, Peter is at the gate, and John—the other disciple—tries to help him. He speaks to the servant girl to let Peter in closer, to be near to Jesus - but Peter stays back. That servant girl then asks him, You also are not one of this man’s disciples, are you? And the first denial is born. Peter had a chance to lean in and take help in getting closer to Jesus, but he let his fear guide him, and instead of drawing near, he distanced himself—and that's when the denials began. God often sends people into our lives to walk with us, sharpen us, and hold us up—but our pride to do it all ourselves and our fear of being seen, tends to push them away. We were never meant to do this alone. Faith flourishes in fellowship. Iron sharpens iron, but only when it's willing to make contact. Peter was vulnerable when he was alone on the outskirts, and the same is true for us. The beauty of the Church is that those who were once completely broken become the ones who God uses to help others heal. The cycle continues, grace flows, and Jesus still prays for us—for our faith to hold, for our hearts to turn, and for our hands to help others do the same. So, when we stumble—and we will—let us not be ashamed to return, receive God's grace and forgiveness, and then fulfill the calling Jesus gave: when you have turned again, strengthen the brethren.

A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. And he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves. (Luke 22:24-27) It's a striking contrast: just moments after Jesus reveals that He's about to suffer and die, the disciples break into a debate about who among them is the greatest. Pride has a way of showing up even in holy moments and it blinds us to the deeper call of Christ—to lay ourselves down in service, not elevate ourselves in status, title, or position. Jesus didn't rebuke them harshly. Instead, He called out how what they were doing was like the very people they had frustrations with and redirected their thinking. He pointed out that in the kingdoms of this world, greatness is measured by power, prestige, and position. But in HIS kingdom, greatness is defined by humility and service. He didn't just teach it—He lived it. If we want to be like Jesus, we must check our pride at the door. Pride has no place in kingdom leadership. The model Jesus gives us is upside-down to the world: the last will be first, the servant will be the greatest, and those who humble themselves will be exalted by God—not by people. Jesus didn’t just wash feet as a symbolic act—He washed the feet of men who would betray, deny, and abandon Him. That is the level of service He modeled. It wasn't glamorous, it wasn't praised by others, but it was holy. And He calls us to do the same. If we aspire to lead and be good, godly leaders, we must first learn to serve humbly. Not just when it's convenient or applauded, but especially when it's messy and unseen. Leadership in the kingdom isn't about managing people from a platform—it's about getting down in the trenches, setting the tone, and being an example through action, not title. A leader who asks others to scrub the floors but won't pick up a mop themselves is not a kingdom leader—they're a hired manager playing a role. The call to lead is a call to die to self. If we're unwilling to do the lowest task, we're not ready to carry the weight of leadership. Jesus didn't consider anything beneath Him, and neither should we. So, let's ask ourselves honestly: Am I leading like Jesus? Am I willing to do the “bottom of the barrel” tasks without complaint or superiority? Do I expect others to do what I say, even when I'm not doing it myself? Do I find joy in serving others, even when no one sees or no one is serving me? The greatest in the kingdom aren't the ones being served—they're the ones doing the serving. So often, we either step onto a pedestal in pride or others put us there in elevating our leadership position when it shouldn't be. Regardless of how we got there, let's be purposeful to step off the pedestal, pick up the towel, and follow the example of our King by washing the feet of others, regardless of who they are.

And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. (Luke 22:14-20) When the hour that directly led to His crucifixion had come, Jesus had the Passover meal with His disciples and said, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. In those genuine and tender words, we glimpse the deep longing of our Savior's heart—not just to share the Passover meal, but to share Himself. That moment was not only leading to the final moments of Jesus' life, it was unveiling of a new covenant that would forever change the way we relate to God. The Passover meal celebrated Israel's deliverance from slavery in Egypt. But Jesus, the true Passover Lamb of God, knew that He was about to accomplish a far greater deliverance—freedom from the bondage of sin. As Jesus took the bread and the cup, He established a new covenant. The bread, representing His body given for us, and the cup, His blood poured out. These were tangible signs for us to have as we remember His love and the salvation He secured through His sacrifice on the cross. Jesus' words in verse 16 are striking: I will not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. This points us forward to a feast yet to come—the marriage supper of the Lamb described in Revelation 19:9. One day, we will sit at a table in the kingdom with Jesus Himself as our bridegroom, no longer remembering His sacrifice in shadow or looking forward to the day of our redemption, but in celebrating its fullness in glory with Him. Until that day in heaven, He calls us to remember. Not out of ritual, but out of relationship. Jesus said, Do this in remembrance of Me. Communion is more than bread and juice—it is an invitation to come to the foot of the cross with our hearts fully surrendered with thanksgiving, and to behold the One who gave everything so that we might have life. Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 11:28 to examine ourselves before we partake. It's easy to let communion become routine, something we merely do rather than something we experience in Christ. But Jesus did not go through the motions on His way to Calvary. He suffered, He bled, and He died with deliberate love. So we, too, are to come to the table with deliberate reverence, gratitude, and self-reflection. We must be fully present and aware of the cost of our salvation and the grace that now covers us. As many of us get ready for Seder dinners, communion on Good Friday services, and Easter Sunday, let us not partake of this gift lightly. Jesus earnestly desired to eat that final Passover because He earnestly desires communion with us. May our hearts mirror His longing, and may every moment we partake be a fresh encounter with His mercy and a deeper commitment to walk in the freedom He purchased for us.

Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.” They said to him, “Where will you have us prepare it?” He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters and tell the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?' And he will show you a large upper room furnished; prepare it there.” And they went and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover. (Luke 22:7-13) In this section of Scripture, Jesus sent Peter and John with clear instructions but without a detailed roadmap. They didn't have every step of the plan laid out, but they did have a command—go, and you will see. If you recall, this is similar to the situation from Palm Sunday when Jesus sent two disciples to fetch a donkey. He didn't just send them, He equipped them with the words they needed to say when they would be questioned. Both situations required obedience before fully understanding. God often calls us to step out in faith, trusting Him even when we can't see the whole picture. Peter and John could have doubted or hesitated, but instead, they obeyed. They went out and found it like Jesus had said. Sometimes we can be tempted to wait around for the perfect plan to be revealed before we decide to move forward, hoping God will reveal every detail. But true faith requires us to act on what He has already told us. Like the disciples, we are called to go out and find it as He told us. God equips us for what we'll encounter, but first, we must walk by faith in obedience. The disciples didn't know it yet, but this Passover meal was not going to be like any other. This was going to the be the last meal Jesus ate with them before He would be arrested and crucified. This was going to be the Passover where Jesus gave the fruit of the vine and the bread new meaning as a symbol of His body and blood being broken and poured out for them in the new covenant. And not only for them in that moment, but also for us to do in remembrance of Him long after He rose and ascended. Peter and John had an important command to obey, but in order to carry it out, they had to walk by faith and trust that what Jesus had told them was enough. Walking by faith means stepping out, even when we don't see the end result, simply because God told us to. It's about trusting the One who knows all things and believing that His provision will be enough for us along the way. Today, let's resolve to choose to listen, obey, and walk by faith.

Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called the Passover. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to put him to death, for they feared the people. Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve. He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them. And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. So he consented and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of a crowd. (Luke 22:1-6) This section of Scripture reveals a sobering reality—proximity to Jesus does not equal devotion to Him. The chief priests and scribes, men who claimed to serve God, were blinded by their pride and hunger for control. Their fear of man outweighed their fear of God. They sought to eliminate Jesus, but only in a way that would not harm their political standing. Their hearts, though dressed in religious robes, were far from the righteousness of God. Selfish Betrayal Then we see Judas. He was one of the twelve—a man who walked with Jesus, listened to His teachings, and witnessed His miracles firsthand. He handled the money bag, but his love for money outweighed his love for Christ (John 12:6). His selfish heart remained unchanged despite years in Jesus' presence. And in the end, his idolatry led to his downfall. Judas didn't follow Jesus for Jesus—he followed Him for what he thought he could gain. Judas' betrayal reminds us that an unchecked heart can lead to devastating consequences. He wasn't suddenly overtaken; he had been choosing greed over devotion for a long time. When the opportunity came, he asked the chief priests, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?” (Matthew 26:14-15). He saw Jesus not as the Lord to be worshiped, but as a commodity to be traded. His self-seeking nature made him susceptible to the influence of Satan, who ultimately used him to fulfill his evil plans. And yet, even in this betrayal, God's sovereignty was at work. What Judas intended for evil, God used for the redemption of mankind. Jesus' journey to the cross was set in motion, ultimately fulfilling the divine and foreknown plan of salvation. Heart Check Moment: Where Do You Stand with Jesus? This passage forces us to look inward and ask ourselves questions. Take a moment to ask yourself these really hard questions and get real with yourself and God, knowing He already knows your heart and wants to reveal and change any areas not yet right with Him. He loves you so much! Are you truly following Jesus solely out of love for Him, or are you at all seeking personal gain—status, recognition, or comfort? Are there idols in your heart that compete with your devotion to Christ, just as Judas' love for money did? Sometimes we make our families, our ministry service, and even ourselves into idols. Do you fear God more than man, or do you, like the chief priests, make decisions based on how they will affect your earthly reputation? When you hear Jesus' words, do you obey with a heart of humility, or do you ever twist them in your mind to fit your own ambitions? Sometimes this can look like applying His word to how we think others need it in their life, instead of applying it to our own life. Admonition: Guard Your Heart Scripture warns us to be watchful over our hearts, because “the heart is deceitful above all things” (Jeremiah 17:9). None of us are immune to sin's deception. Even those who are near to Jesus—who serve, who listen to sermons, who participate in church—can have hearts that remain unchanged if they do not truly surrender to Him. The call is clear: Come humbly before God, asking Him to search your heart (Psalm 139:23-24). Seek God's face, not just His hands—pursue His presence and being transformed in it, not just what He can give you. Repent of any idols you have before they lead you further from Him. Fear God above man—live in reverence and obedience, regardless of what it costs you. We will give our lives one way or another – either now in humble obedience and adoration to God for His work of salvation in our life, or in torment paying the penalty for our own sin. Life in Christ, both here and in eternity, is far better than any amount of money, status, recognition, or comfort we could ever gain here. I encourage you today, choose the better portion of Jesus and guard your heart against anything that could disrupt you from it.

“But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” (Luke 21:34-36) Jesus warned His followers to be watchful, to stay awake, and to guard their hearts so that they would be prepared when He comes back. The greatest danger is not just outright sin but being weighed down—burdened by the distractions and anxieties of this life to the point where we stop watching, stop longing for His appearing, and stop being spiritually ready for it. Jesus said these 3 things make us unprepared for His return: Dissipation – This refers to reckless indulgence, wasted living, and the pursuit of fleeting pleasures. It dulls our spiritual sensitivity and shifts our focus from eternity to temporary gratification. Drunkenness – This can be more than just alcohol, and can be anything that clouds our judgment and numbs our awareness of spiritual realities. These are addictions, habits, and coping mechanisms that keep us from being sober-minded. Cares of This Life – This is perhaps the most subtle and dangerous trap. Worry, busyness, financial struggles, family concerns, or anything that consumes our mind – these can steal our focus from Christ. These things may or may not be sinful, but they weigh the heart down, making us distracted and/or complacent to the things of God. Jesus warns that if we are not careful, His return will come suddenly like a trap—not because it is meant to be one, but because many will be too preoccupied with this life to see the signs and be ready. We can't look at life only through the lens of a window and get preoccupied with everything else and not give any attention to our own state. We have to be mindful to look in the proverbial mirror at ourselves, examining our hearts and weigh our reflection with the Word of God, otherwise our hearts will be weighed down with other things. Stay Awake and Pray In saying to stay awake, Jesus continues the command for us to be watchful. Watching means living in readiness, with hearts eager for His return. Those who watch will not be caught unaware, but those who are preoccupied with the world will be unprepared and ensnared. We cannot do what Jesus told us to do in our own strength. That is why He told us to pray for strength – the strength to endure, to overcome distractions, and to remain faithful and stand before the Son of Man. The apostle Paul echoed this prayer for strength in Colossians 1:11-14: “May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” This is our source of joy and gratitude – we have been qualified to share in the inheritance of the saints, we have been delivered from darkness, and we have redemption and forgiveness through Christ! The joy of the Lord is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10), and when we hold on to that joy, we will not be weary or distracted—we will be awake, watching, and ready. Endure with Joy, Strengthened by God Waiting is not easy. Being watchful and spiritually minded in the waiting is even harder because the world is filled with trials, temptations, and distractions. That's why we pray that God gives us His strength to endure with patience and joy. On our own, we don't have the strength, we need Him. So let us take Jesus' words to heart: Do not be weighed down by the cares of this life – instead, Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:6-7) Do not be distracted by temporary pleasures – instead, Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith (1 Peter 5:8-9a) Do not be caught off guard by His return – instead, after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. (1 Peter 5:10) Watch yourself and pray so that you may have strength! If we keep our hearts fixed on Jesus, His return will not be a trap – it'll be a triumph. We will not shrink back in fear, but we will stand with joy before the Son of Man, knowing that our redemption has finally come. Let's heed the admonition here and watch ourselves.

“And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:25-28) It's no secret that we're living in the end times and that the world is in chaos. Nations are restless, the earth groans with disasters, and fear and anxiety grips the hearts of many. People look around and see only uncertainty, but Jesus calls His followers to look up. Not fear, but Faith Jesus told His disciples there would be signs and that those signs would cause many to faint with fear. But for those who belong to Him, these are not signs of despair – they are reminders of His promise. All the things we're seeing in the world is signaling that the return of Christ is closer than before. Fear is our natural flesh nature response to uncertainty, but Jesus calls us to a supernatural response of faith and courage. He tells us to straighten up and lift our heads, not because things will get easier, but because we know His return is sure. Our redemption is not something we're grasping for—it is something that is coming for us. So why wouldn't we be raising our heads in anticipation of Him? An Eternal Perspective If we don't keep our eyes on Jesus, it's extremely easy to be consumed by the troubles of this life. The news bombards us with stories of destruction, political upheaval, and moral decline – good is called evil and evil is called good. But Jesus reminds us that these things are temporary and He urges us not to be weighed down by fear or distracted by what's going on in this life. Instead, He calls us to be eternal minded, focusing not on what is seen but on what is unseen and everlasting. This world will not last forever, and we aren't meant to make this earth our home – we're merely sojourners, a bride awaiting her bridegroom to come take us to the place He's been preparing for us. The pains and struggles we experience now are light and momentary, a vapor, and if we're setting our hope on anything in this world, we will be disappointed. But if our hope is built on Jesus, the rock of our salvation, then we will not be shaken. Love His Appearing The apostle Paul had a clear vision of what awaited those who remained faithful. He wrote in 2 Timorthy 4:8 that there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. Are we longing for His appearing? Or are we getting caught up in the things of this life, forgetting our status as sojourners, called with the mission of discipleship while we await His return? The awareness of His eminent return should stir us with eager anticipation and joy, with a reverent fear and desire to be found faithfully tending to our master's business upon His return. Look Up Jesus' words warning us of what's to come are not a call to panic, they're a call to posture. Jesus told us these things to prepare us. When the world fears, we're called to have faith. When others faint with worry, we're called to stand with confidence. Jesus' return is near, and for those who trust in Him, that is a day to eagerly anticipate. So when fear tempts you to believe that everything is falling apart, remember the truth that it's actually everything falling into place. Prophecies are being fulfilled and our King is coming, so in the midst of uncertainty right now, we can trust God and live each day with eternity in mind. Be encouraged as you see these things taking place. Straighten up. Raise your head. Because your redemption is drawing near.

But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness. Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. (Luke 21:12-16) Jesus had been speaking about the end times and now He was warning His disciples that persecution would come, and we too should expect it. He told them that they would be delivered up, betrayed, and even hated for His name's sake. After all, Jesus was delivered up, betrayed, hated, and killed, and as followers and ambassadors of Him – shouldn't we expect the same kind of treatment for His name's sake? Yet, He gave them an unexpected command for when they were faced with those trials: “Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer." The natural response to pressure, conflict, and betrayal is to rehearse our defense, to ruminate on every possible outcome – all to grasp for control in some way. But Jesus tells us not to. Instead, Jesus gives us a personal promise that He Himself will give us the words to speak. He assures us of grace and wisdom in those moments of trial. And let's be honest with ourselves anyway - in what situations when we've tried to control everything and plan out what to say, have we been an effective witness for Christ? We can't be, because apart from Him we can do nothing. But Jesus said this would be our opportunity to bear witness, not justify ourselves before men. This is a call to trust, not to strategize. Our goal in the midst of persecution and trial is not to be securing a particular outcome – regardless of whether we're being faced with deliverance or suffering, life or death. The goal is to completely trust God in the journey, continue walking in obedience with Christ no matter where the path leads. Some will live, some will die, but nothing is outside God's sovereignty. We can say with full conviction in the Spirit, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21) because we know that “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” (Psalm 116:15). Rather than meditating on what to say in the face of opposition, we are called to meditate on the Word of God and to let the joy of the Lord be our strength (Nehemiah 8:10). When trials come, we don't need to fear or frantically prepare, we only need to keep doing what Jesus has told us to do – abide in Him. The same God who promises to give us words to speak, is the One who promises to walk with us through those moments. Our hearts and minds can be completely settled and at peace in the Lord when we stay focused on Him. When we're tempted to endless rumination, may we cry out to the Lord to teach us to trust in His promises to give us wise words and to keep our spirits safe in Him until the end. As Paul wrote from prison, may our heart and perception be aligned with this too – as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. (Philippians 1:20-21)

And while some were speaking of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, he said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” And they asked him, “Teacher, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?” And he said, “See that you are not led astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!' and, ‘The time is at hand!' Do not go after them. And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified, for these things must first take place, but the end will not be at once.” (Luke 21:5-9) As some were marveling at the grandeur of the temple, Jesus gave them an unexpected heads up in prophesying that the destruction of the temple would come. Could you imagine the shock? They asked the obvious question on their minds as they asked, “Teacher, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?” But Jesus' response didn't focus on exact dates; and instead He focused their attention on how they should live in uncertain times: Don't be deceived and don't be afraid. Jesus warned that many would come claiming to be the Messiah, leading people astray. And history confirms this – false prophets have misled so many people with promises of salvation, political revolutions, and doomsday predictions; and yet Jesus' words remain extremely clear: “Do not go after them”. Our hope is in Christ alone, not in well-spoken and persuasive leaders, cultural movements, or hyped-up trends that claim to have all the answers. Jesus also cautioned against fear when we hear about wars and turmoil going on in the world. Jesus said that these things must happen, but that the end will not be at once. The world's instability and end-times chaos can be frightening, but Jesus doesn't leave us in uncertainty. He has already given us the heads-up, so to speak, so that we will stand firm and trust Him until the end. Jesus is not only the Author of our faith, He's also the Finisher of it (Hebrews 12:2) and He will complete what He began in us and bring us safely home. He is sovereign over history, over every storm, over every war, and has equipped us to not be led astray by deception. The world may shake, but He remains unshaken. We don't need to panic or chase after every sign, we just need to trust our God fully. I'll leave you with this encouragement from the Psalms: I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. (Psalm 16:8-9)

Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” (Luke 21:1-4) As Jesus sat watching the temple treasury, His heart must have been lifted by the sight of a poor widow offering her last two coins. He had just endured relentless questioning from the scribes, chief priests, and Sadducees with deceitful motivation, yet here was an act of pure devotion by a poor widow giving all she had. Her small offering spoke louder than the wealth of the rich. Jesus sees us when we give. He notices the amount, but what He is really looking at is our heart and motive in giving. The widow's two coins, worth only about 1% of a day's wage, could have easily been divided—one for God, one for herself. Yet, she gave it all to God. And God wasn't measuring her gift by its size but instead He measured it by the depth of her trust in God. Jesus declared that she gave more than all the others combined, not because of the amount, but because of the cost to her. True generosity is not about abundance but rather it's about sacrifice. King David understood this when he said, “I will not offer to the Lord that which costs me nothing” (2 Samuel 24:24). God does not seek for us to give out of guilt or obligation. Paul told the church in Corinth that each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7). God wants us to have a heart that delights in trusting Him and therefore gives cheerfully. I have experienced not knowing where the next paycheck will come from, and maybe you have too, but I've never experienced being literally down to my last 2 cents. Yet regardless of what financial situations we've faced in our lives, this widow's offering is a challenge to us. Do we wait to give to God until we have more to give from? Or do we give in faith, trusting that God sees and provides? Jesus' observation and comment about the widow's gift shows us that the heart behind the giving is what determines the value of the gift more than the financial amount. Our giving – whether time, talent, money, or any other resource – never goes unnoticed by God. Our genuine faith is more precious than gold that perishes (1 Peter 1:7). Whatever you surrender and sacrifice to God in faith, no matter how small, is precious in His sight. As we determine what to give God, let's not measure our gift by the value the world may place on it, but instead let's focus on giving from a right heart before our Lord.

But he said to them, “How can they say that the Christ is David’s son? For David himself says in the Book of Psalms, “‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”' David thus calls him Lord, so how is he his son?” And in the hearing of all the people he said to his disciples, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.” (Luke 20:41-47) In this instance, Jesus challenged the religious leaders' understanding of the Messiah. These leaders had prided themselves on their knowledge of Scripture, yet they failed to grasp who Jesus truly was. They assumed they had all the answers and knew the truth, but they failed to see Truth standing in front of them. And when Jesus spoke truth with authority, they hated Him for it and were stirred with so much jealousy, they wanted to kill Him. In the same way, we must be careful not to think we have everything figured out, especially when it comes to God – pride blinds us to truth. Jesus then warned His disciples about the scribes, exposing their desire for honor, status, and recognition by specific examples in their behavior. The scribes used their positions and titles for personal gain, taking advantage of others, like widows, while appearing righteous and likely even self-deceiving of how spiritual they really were. The truth of the matter is that the scribes focus was on being exalted in this life, but Jesus made it clear that those who live life that way would receive a greater condemnation. If our goal is to gain status, admiration, or earthly rewards, then that is all we will receive. But if we live for Christ, surrendering our pride and our selfish ambition, we will gain something far greater – Him. Paul said in Philippians 1:21, “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” The question is, are we seeking temporary glory of our own in being driven by our pride, or are we living for God's glory being driven by humble submission to Him, knowing that one day we'll gain being with Christ for eternity? Let's take a quick moment to do a heart check, just you and the Lord: Do you seek recognition, acknowledgement, or thanks, or do you serve in humility solely for the glory of God? Do you act spiritual for others to see, putting on a persona of Christianity afraid that others might not see you as a mature Christian, or do you truly hunger for God and obey His words to grow deeper and more mature in Him? Let's not settle for fleeting praise and waste time acting like we think we “should” just to gain the perception and opinions of others – instead let's live for Christ alone, knowing that in the end, HE is our greatest reward.

There came to him some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, and they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children. And the second and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. Afterward the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife.” And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him.” Then some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.” For they no longer dared to ask him any question. (Luke 20:27-40) On this particular occasion, the Sadducees came to question Jesus but similarly as the chief priests before with a deceptive motive trying to trap Jesus, not truly to ask Him their question. Luke included in his writing of this interaction that the Sadducees deny that there is a resurrection, which is largely an important note because it proves they were wrongly motivated in their question about the resurrection. Jesus' answer gave the literal and plain answer to their question, that while we marry in this age, we won't be married after we're resurrected, living in eternity. They couldn't fully understand this, not having the understanding yet revealed that in heaven there would be but one marriage, the marriage between the Lamb of God (Jesus) and His Bride, which will make up all who are redeemed and accepted His gift of salvation. And even then, it's not what we typically think of as an earthly marriage – God's thoughts and ways are much higher than our own and this is just one of those things we can't fully understand until we're there. BUT Jesus' answer also gave more than they asked for and He addressed the issue they weren't mentioning – their denial of there being a resurrection at all. The question of whose wife a woman would be in the resurrection who had been married to 7 different men on earth is rather trivial and moot if resurrection isn't real. Jesus ensured to address the reality of the resurrection in His very clear and robust answer. And what it came down to was that even their beloved role model of Moses, showed the truth in the passage of the burning bush where God is addressed as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – pointing out that He is not a God of the dead, but of the living. We may not fully understand what eternity will look like on the other side or all the details about what we'll do, but this thing is for certain – those alive in Christ will be resurrected and live to Him because the mighty God we serve is a God of the living. As we finish out our days on this earth, however long or short that may be, may we keep looking forward with a heavenly mindset. Paul wrote it well when he said, Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13-14) And John wrote of the Revelation of Jesus as he wrote, And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely… He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.” Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! (Revelation 22:17,20) Our Savior is coming quickly, so let's not get hung up on what if scenarios or unbelief, but instead let us press on and keep our eyes on Jesus awaiting the day when we see Him face to face and stand before Him as His perfect, spotless Bride that He has made us to be.

The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people. So they watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor. So they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly, and show no partiality, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or not?” But he perceived their craftiness, and said to them, “Show me a denarius. Whose likeness and inscription does it have?” They said, “Caesar’s.” He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were not able in the presence of the people to catch him in what he said, but marveling at his answer they became silent. (Luke 20:19-26) The scribes and chief priests had all the feels going on here – in perceiving that Jesus had told the parable against them, their pride was wounded and they took some serious offense to it which stirred up anger and hatred enough to want to lay hands on Jesus, but fear kicked in also out of pride because they cared what the people thought of them. In this storm of emotions that they refused to humble themselves and lay it all down before God, they opted for manipulation and deception, pretending to be sincere to try to catch Jesus in something and let the governor do their dirty work for them. Before moving on, it's important to take note of this snowball effect because we are no better than these men and are just as susceptible to the same emotions of pride, being offended, anger, hatred, fear, and ultimately could lead us to make very bad decisions that go against God and lead others astray. The Trap The trap they set for Jesus was an attempt to get Jesus to speak against the government in essence. Yet in the very words they spoke, as they attempted to butter Jesus up, were completely true – Jesus did speak and teach rightly, He showed no partiality, and truly taught the way of God. Had they actually believed what they said, they would have been followers of Him. But that storm of emotions had completely blinded them to the truth. The question meant to trap Jesus was about giving tribute to Caesar. BUT Jesus perceived their craftiness. Jesus very well could have snapped at them for being so manipulative and deceptive and in seeing the evil that was seeping out of them was showing, but He didn't. He stood true to the truth, took the opportunity in that teachable moment to reveal the heart of God that rendering to the government and to God is not mutually exclusive – AND He simply did what was good in speaking the truth in love. The result? They became silent. What To and Not To Do When it comes to the scribes and chief priests, it's relatively clear what not to do, but it's far harder to learn from their mistakes and not make them ourselves. We must learn to keep our emotions and thoughts in check, bringing them captive to the obedience of Christ in the very moment they differ from what God tells us is good to think on, if we truly want to please the Lord and avoid the downfalls that come from a lack of self-control. It is far too easy to slip into rabbit trails of chaos when we refuse to practice self-control over our emotions and instead let our emotions rule our actions. Spending the time to bring everything before the Lord and work out those things with Him before even talking with others is a practice well worth the fruit it yields, and you just might find your heart change on the matter and that there's actually no longer an issue. Imagine if the scribes and chief priests had done that – they would have realized that their emotions had lied to them and they could have embraced the truth as He stood there before them. Silencing Ignorance Jesus' example in this shows us that we can perceive and respond wisely through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. Jesus demonstrated what the apostle Peter would later write, For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. (1 Peter 2:15) If Jesus would have been quick to get offended and angry at the deceptive plot of those men, it would have stirred things up more and undoubtedly sin would have been involved. But Jesus had a habit of getting away and spending time with the Father and He practiced self-control, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and gentleness – He showed them love in His words and actions; He was bearing the fruit of the Spirit. Learning from Jesus We usually don't mind as much learning from Jesus, but it's sometimes just as hard to learn from His perfection as it is learning from the mistakes of people in the bible. If we tried to simply copy all the actions of Jesus and avoid all the actions of those who made mistakes, that would be a miserable life of striving to do it all on our own. Instead, we ought to copy the discipline and habits of Jesus, and the fruit will inevitably come in time with growth and maturity in Him. The fruit only happens through abiding – being in the word, in prayer, and actively growing in the grace and knowledge of Him. Jesus told us to abide in Him and that apart from Him we can do nothing. So why do we try to do anything apart from Him? When we are actually abiding in Jesus, then the good habits and disciplines form. We learn to take everything and anything to God. Here's the encouragement this week: When people belittle you – take it to God. When you feel frustrated – take it to God. When people falsely accuse you – take it to God. When you feel angry – take it to God. When people misjudge you – take it to God. When you feel unseen, unheard, or misunderstood – take it to God. In all that happens in your life – take it to God. And then watch as you bear the fruit of the Spirit in your life and by following the example of Jesus in doing good, that you too might put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.

And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Surely not!” But he looked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written: “‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone'? Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” (Luke 20:15-18) If you remember in the parable from last week, Jesus told the people about a vineyard owner whose tenants had mistreated the servants he had sent to get some of the fruit, and then he sent his son thinking they would perhaps respect him. We pick up here with the context that they threw the son out of the vineyard and killed him, and Jesus making it clear that the vineyard owner would come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others, causing the people who heard the parable to cry out, “Surely not!” The idea that what had been entrusted to the Jews would be given over to Gentiles sounded appalling to the Jewish audience Jesus was speaking to. Yet it was in that very pride that caused this outcry of such an oppositional phrase to the words Jesus had just prophesied through His parable. The Cornerstone Jesus' response was direct. He not only was about to speak directly, but He looked directly at them as He said, What then is this that is written: “‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone'? The son in the parable was a representation of Jesus Himself and He proved it with the reference to a Psalm of king David. Jesus quoted Psalm 118:22, and the context that proves who He is in the verse before it – I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation (Psalm 118:21). God is our salvation and Jesus is God. The Jewish people were given the Law and were the builders who rejected Jesus as the stone, but ultimately Jesus became the cornerstone on which His Church would be built. Jesus is the One who allows us to be built into a solid temple of the Holy Spirit because without the cornerstone being perfect, the whole building would be messed up. The apostle Peter also mentioned this very thing as well, not only about Jesus as the cornerstone, but about our roles as living stones being built up for a purpose when he wrote, As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” (1 Peter 2:4-8) Broken or Crushed The last thing that Jesus said was profound: Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him. The choice that Jesus presented was between two options: be broken or be crushed. Now that doesn't sound like great options on first read, but being broken is actually an amazingly beautiful option that Jesus graciously offers. He is offering the option of being broken unto sweet surrender on Him. Jesus is the perfect foundational stone that was once crushed for our iniquities, so that we wouldn't have to ever be crushed. And we have the opportunity as we follow Him to fall on Him and instead be broken into pieces that God can masterfully work with as if to make a mosaic of our life. The alternative for those who don't choose to fall on Him is that it will fall on them and it will crush them. We are already condemned in our sins and if we're going to stand tall and trust in ourselves and reject Him as the salvation that He is, then we will be crushed unto condemnation of which our sin has earned us. Why Choose Crushing? But why, oh why would anyone choose to reject the very salvation of their soul? Because in one's pride, Jesus is a rock of offense. His call to repentance requires us to humbly admit that we're not good people, we're straight up sinners, and our ego doesn't like that. Yet if one can look truth in the face and admit it and receive Jesus as salvation, that turning from sin and turning to God is repentance and they will be sweetly broken as they fall on Him. Will you choose to be offended by the sometimes-hard truths and commands of God, being crushed by the weight of sin and condemnation, or will you choose to fall on Jesus and let Him form your broken pieces into something beautiful as He works you into His masterpiece?

And [Jesus] began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while. When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. And he sent another servant. But they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out. Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.' But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.' And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Surely not!” (Luke 20:9-16) This parable is literally jam packed with amazing things! It includes referencing past prophecies and Israel's history, thoroughly explains the spiritual state of Israel, and what was then future prophecies about Jesus as Messiah. The setting of the parable is a vineyard and it directly correlates to the nation of Israel. We know this because Isaiah specifically told us when he wrote, For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry! (Isaiah 5:7) And with the people of Israel listening to the Law and Prophets read in the temple regularly, they understood they were the vineyard, which is why the last part of verse 16 mentions their exclamation of “Surely not!” The Past and Patience Jesus makes mention of the prophets who God had sent to Israel in His parable when He includes that the man who planted the vineyard had sent multiple servants to reap fruit from the tenants. The tenants had beaten them and treated them shamefully, sending them away empty-handed. The prophets of old, and there were many of them over the years, had also been treated awfully by the people, ignored, reviled, and killed. And while the parable only has one sentence that speaks of the period between the prophets and Jesus being sent, where Jesus said in the parable, Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? This shows a tremendous amount of patience and long-suffering on the part of God. No earthly king would have sent that many servants and seen that kind of treatment and then decide to send his son. An earthly king or ruler would have long since sent an army to destroy the tenants and take what was theirs without any mercy. And the tenants would have deserved it. But God, our King of kings, is gracious and merciful, patient and long-suffering, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (2 Peter 3:9) The Inheritance In the parable the tenants see the son of the vineyard owner and say, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.' And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. This is mind-blowing because the perspective of the tenants here is to gain the inheritance, yet Jesus as Messiah came to share the inheritance by adopting us as children of God through the redemption of His blood. Notice how the vineyard owner had only desired to get some of the fruit of the vineyard. He had every right to take it all, but he desired to bless and continue providing for the tenants, and yet the greed of the tenants and pride of thinking they could gain the inheritance by means of their own plan would lead to destruction. And while the Jewish people did indeed kill Jesus, hoping to maintain the earthly status they thought they had amassed for themselves, the irony is that God used their evil for the ultimate good of mankind, which was His plan all along. The death of Jesus brought about life and inheritance for those who believe. And they did take Jesus outside of the vineyard, outside the walls of the city, to kill him, and Jerusalem and the temple was destroyed a few short decades later and the gospel message was given to the Gentiles. Given to Others We, as Gentiles, are the others. God was faithful to carry out the plan of salvation and spread that good news, the gospel, all over as He had commissioned His followers to do. But here's the thing… In the parable, it said, Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him. Jesus was sent and the Jewish people did not respect Him, they killed him. Yet to every heart who hears the gospel, the decision remains the same – will Jesus be respected as the Son of God and His commands obeyed or will selfish desire and pride reject Him? As we know the Lord wills, may the respect and obedience of the Son be the chosen way for all who hear. Now, if you're already a Christian, you may be tempted to dismiss this part thinking that you of course respect Jesus because you've accepted Him as Savior, right? But have you shown Him complete respect in letting Him be Lord of your entire life? I encourage you to take the time to sit with God and reflect on areas of your life you may be gripping hard to maintain control of. When you identify these areas, when God reveals them to you – Let go and let God have it all. If you can trust Jesus with your salvation, then surely you can trust Him with every. single. part. of your life, no matter how big or how small.

One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up and said to him, “Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority.” He answered them, “I also will ask you a question. Now tell me, was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?” And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,' he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?' But if we say, ‘From man,' all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.” So they answered that they did not know where it came from. And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.” (Luke 20:1-8) Let's take a quick note of the setting here: Jesus is teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel. The people, who as we see throughout Luke and the other gospels, had been pretty well starved of solid teaching from the Law and Prophets and instead strived to live up to the man-made traditions that the chief priests and scribes and elders had taught them to observe. The words of Jesus as He taught with authority were life giving to a spiritually starved people and in comes the chief priests, scribes, and elders to demand that Jesus tell them by what authority He was doing things. They were so worked up with their own issue with Jesus, especially in light of the fact that He had just driven out those who sold within the temple, that they couldn't see past the nose of their own faces to be aware of the good teaching that was going on inside the temple and the good it was bringing to the hearers. It would appear that pride was the ultimate driving motivation of those chief priests, scribes, and elders in that moment. The Wise Response Jesus, from a young age, had increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man (Luke 2:52), and this was just one of the many ways in which He demonstrated that wisdom in rough situations like these. Jesus could have engaged with the men as they rudely interrupted His teaching in the temple, but He chose to ask them a question, that if they answered correctly would have given them the answer to their demands and led them to the message of the gospel. The problem between the chief priests, scribes, and elders came when they didn't seek to answer the question in truth, but to attempt to work out an answer in a way that would simply get them what they wanted. The sad part is, the very first part of their discussion would have led them to truth had they not hardened their hearts in their pride. If We Say Jesus asked them about the baptism of John, which was that of repentance and the start of receiving the message of the gospel. As they discussed it, there really were only two options to answer – from heaven or from man. But they said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,' he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?' But if we say, ‘From man,' all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.” They had the answer, it was from heaven, and even the people were convinced of the truth that John was a prophet of God, but they were so blinded by their pride which led to the refusal to accept truth, that the question meant to guide to truth ended up being perceived as a riddle of sorts in their minds. Here’s the kicker though, they were forced to humbly admit they didn't know where it came from, yet if they had chosen to humble themselves, they could have received the truth. Nonetheless, the interaction seems to have been a quick conversation that Jesus then segways into a parable, which we'll dig into next week. What Will You Say? But right now, we are faced with some uncomfortable parts when we seek to apply this to our lives and to learn from this interaction the chief priests, scribes, and elders had with Jesus. How do we approach Jesus when how we've perceived something is upsetting to us? I don't think any followers of Jesus are necessarily asking Jesus what authority He has, but we just might ask or think that about one of His followers as they operate in the gifts He's given or the callings He's placed them in. If we're finding this happening, we have to be careful not to approach things in our pride, or we just might end up making demands and untruthful claims, which if it's against one of God's servants is ultimately against God Himself. If we can enter situations with that unfortunate truth in our minds that we are naturally prideful and self-seeking, then we can be watchful to deny ourselves, humble ourselves, and truly listen and seek truth as it comes, instead of twisting what we hear to fit our self-seeking agenda that our pride has created for us. These are hard things that the Lord wants to break down in us and smoothen out those hard, destructive edges that snag everything on them. So ask yourself this: Will you choose to truly humble yourself and listen and obey the truth of God's word in your life? That's definitely not a question to answer too hastily, but one to sit with and let God examine you in. Pride has roots deeper than we often realize, and just because we're not overly arrogant doesn't mean pride doesn't affect us. The chief priests, scribes, and elders didn't seem to think they had a pride problem, but their pride was rather obvious. Be encouraged, God already knows our prideful tendencies and is ready to kindly and graciously point it out and help rid us of it, and He's the only one who can point it out in such a way that brings us gently to our knees, not in shame or judgement, but in a godly sorrow that leads to repentance and humility. Rest assured as you come to God, you're not being judged, you're incredibly loved.

And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,' but you have made it a den of robbers.” And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words. (Luke 19:45-48) In this powerful scene from the Gospels, Jesus enters the temple and takes direct action against the corruption He sees there. The temple was meant to be the place where God’s people could come together in worship, prayer, and communion with the Lord. But what Jesus found was a place of commerce, exploitation, and distraction from the true purpose of the temple. He declares that the temple, God’s house, “shall be a house of prayer,” but instead, the religious leaders and merchants had turned it into a “den of robbers.” They had focused on profit, tradition, and outward appearances, ignoring the heart of God's intention for the temple: a place of reverent communion with God. A Temple of the Holy Spirit We, as followers of Jesus of whom the Spirit indwells, are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). Jesus' words were not only applicable for the physical temple in Jerusalem during that time, but they're also a reminder to us about where the purity and focus of our hearts and worship should be. God calls us to be a place where prayer, worship, and His glory are central. But so often we allow the distractions of the world—the culture, our personal ambitions, entertainment, or even traditions—to distract us from the call. Jesus' cleansing of the temple is not just a historical event, it's a call to personal and corporate repentance. Have we allowed our hearts or churches to be filled with things that distract from the purity of worship? Have we, in our modern culture, turned the Church into something that serves our preferences, comfort, or desires, rather than being a place that humbly seeks God’s will and draws near to Him in prayer? It's important for us to remember that the Church exists for one primary purpose: to bring glory to God, through worship, prayer, fellowship, and the preaching of His Word (Acts 2:42). Every action we take as the body of Christ should aim to glorify Him, not to cater to the expectations or distractions of the culture around us. Remain Steadfast In a world that often misunderstands and misrepresents the Church, we must remain steadfast in keeping the focus on what God intended. The culture may try to redefine the Church, but we must hold firm and live out the truth that it is a place where God's people gather to seek Him in prayer, in the reading of His Word, and in the fellowship of believers. The Church is not a place to gain social status, not a building for personal advancement, and not a platform for self-promotion or the promotion of cultural ideals. The Church is solely God's house, which He has set apart for His glory as a place of prayer, worship, and deep, authentic relationship with Him. Let us be faithful to keep the focus on God's purpose for the Church, not on what culture or consumerism might want to make it. To be faithful in keeping that focus, we have to be willing to do regular heart checks and ask ourselves the hard questions, and even further being willing to be honest with ourselves in the answers, letting God mold and shape what's out of place. Ask yourself these questions: Am I making space for prayer and is it central in my life? Am I seeking God's heart above all else? Am I making room for the Holy Spirit to work in my life and in the life of my community? I encourage you, take time to reflect on your personal worship this week. May we not allow the enemy who seeks to steal, kill, and destroy us turn any part of the God's Church into a den of robbers. But may it always be our goal to seek God's heart in prayer with purity, humility, and devotion, making His house a house of prayer.

And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.” (Luke 19:41-44) From first look, Jesus had just been praised by multitudes of people and yet now we see Jesus weeping over the city. The people had rejoiced at His arrival on that colt, but their expectations and the box they had put the long-awaited Messiah into skewed their perspective and they missed the reality of His coming and the things that make for peace. They wanted peace in defeating the Romans in the physical realm and Jesus came to give them peace with God in the spiritual realm. And in doing so they didn't know on that specific day the things that make for peace. The prophecy of that specific day and the Messiah's arrival had been prophesied long ago (Daniel 9). Daniel's vision in Daniel 9 was written around 538 B.C., long before Jesus ever came, and the date of what we call the Triumphal Entry was precisely prophesied down to the day. God had made it known to the people over half a millennium in advance and had given detailed prophecies about Jesus as Messiah, of which Jesus fulfilled, and they missed it. Jesus then prophesied the consequence of not knowing their time of visitation and His prophecy that the enemies would barricade around Jerusalem and destroy everything, happened only 38 years later in the year 70 A.D. when secular history documented that Titus, a Roman army general who later became emperor, surrounded Jerusalem and cut off their food supply and eventually stormed in and destroyed everything, completely burning the temple to the ground. A Humbling Response Now I don't know about you, but initially the fact that they missed their day of visitation and the horrible consequences they'd receive because of it, kind of makes me shake my head and think, “How on earth could you have missed it? God made it so clear”, but when I look at how Jesus responded, I'm quickly humbled. Jesus knew the upcoming prophesy in light of the people not knowing the day of their visitation, and He gave them the prophecy long ago about their day of visitation, AND He ensured it was recorded and preserved for them; but He didn't shake His fist or head and become indignant at the lack of knowledge; instead, He wept. He loved all people then, He loves all people now, and He wants us to understand the revealed mystery that He is our Prince of Peace who came to bridge the chasm our sin created and allow us to make peace with God through His sacrifice on the cross. And now, thousands of years later, we have a complete canon of Scripture that clearly lays out all the Law and Prophets of old and how Jesus clearly fulfilled all the prophecies about Messiah and has more than proven to be God in the flesh who came and dwelt among us, our Savior. As we just celebrated the birth of Jesus, may we never forget nor take for granted the thing Jesus did to make for our peace with God.

As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” (Luke 19:37-40) As Jesus was preparing to enter Jerusalem, a whole multitude of His disciples begins to rejoice. This was a crowd of people who had seen the mighty works Jesus had done, had been following Him, and were rejoicing and praising God for all those mighty works they witnessed. It’s interesting that the Pharisees who had seen much of the same mighty works as the crowd has seen, did not rejoice but instead admonished Jesus to rebuke His disciples. A Psalm of king David says that God is enthroned on the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3). The Pharisees' admonishment was a blatant disbelief in Jesus as Messiah and in reality, put them in a place of telling God to rebuke the praises of His people. Psalm 19:1 tells us, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” And here we see Jesus' answer in kind when He said, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” Could you imagine stones crying out with praise to God?? The very thought is beyond our imagination, yet the truth of it remains. In our daily lives God is working and doing mighty works in our midst. Do we cry out, rejoicing and praising God for it? Or do we refrain from praising Him for one reason or another? Are there ever times that proverbial rocks are crying out in your silence? I don’t know about you, but I never want to be put to shame by rocks over my silence and lack of praise to God for His goodness. Even if God never did any mighty works, He is still worthy of all praise. God is worthy of my praise and God is worthy of your praise. I encourage you to take a moment and without any regard for what others think, meditate on Who God is and the mighty works He has done, and freely rejoice and praise Him aloud now.

And when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, saying, “Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?' you shall say this: ‘The Lord has need of it.'” So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” And they said, “The Lord has need of it.” And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. (Luke 19:28-35) Jesus was about to make His triumphal entry and even still, He took the opportunity to allow His disciples to be taught and used for His glory and demonstrating the sovereignty of God. Jesus didn’t tell His disciples to go find a colt for Him, He told them where to go, when to go, and even gave them instructions on how to respond to questions that would arise from them obeying Him. And this one verse, verse 32, shows us yet another example of God’s Word never failing to come to pass: So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. (Luke 19:32) Jesus called two of His disciples to do something, guided and equipped them in it, it came to pass just as Jesus said it would, and they were effective in serving Jesus. Imagine being in the shoes of those two disciples. Jesus has just told them where to go find a colt, to untie it, and bring it to Him. That very well may have brought up a fear, anxiety, or an uncomfortable feeling in the disciples at the thought of the colt owner confronting them. They may have even questioned to themselves, “What if I give the answer Jesus tells me and there’s still an issue?” All valid thoughts, but the reality of it is this: if any thoughts had crippled those disciples from walking in the work Jesus had sent them to do, they would have simply been disobedient. We can get sometimes get stuck in our minds playing all the “what if” scenarios and assuming how things may turn out, but in reality we don’t know the future, only God does. If God is calling us to do something, we should choose not to overthink things and simply obey. That's obviously easier said than done, but when we make it a practice and habit to not spend large amounts of time thinking on the same things over and over, basically ruminating on the things we can't control or change, then we can better operate in choosing to set those thoughts down and let them go and simply operate in what we do know and trust: God and His word. We read time and time again in Scripture how God’s Word never fails and about the incredible sovereignty of our great and mighty God, and we undoubtedly experience this in our personal lives too. So why ever fear, doubt, and waste any time thinking about “what if” possibilities when God tells us to do something? God is good, faithful, sovereign, and true, and we can have complete faith and security in Him. If God calls us to do something, it’s up to Him to guide and provide that way and it’s up to us to trust Him and walk in obedience. Be encouraged, my friend - when God tells you to do something, walk confidently in obedience, watch Him work, be amazed by Him, and give Him the glory and praise for it.

When he returned, having received the kingdom, he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by doing business. The first came before him, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made ten minas more.' And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant! Because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.' And the second came, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made five minas.' And he said to him, ‘And you are to be over five cities.' Then another came, saying, ‘Lord, here is your mina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief; for I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.' He said to him, ‘I will condemn you with your own words, you wicked servant! You knew that I was a severe man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow? Why then did you not put my money in the bank, and at my coming I might have collected it with interest?' And he said to those who stood by, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has the ten minas.' And they said to him, ‘Lord, he has ten minas!' ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. (Luke 19:15-26) Leading up to these verses was the start of the parable where the lord left on a trip to take hold of a kingdom and left his servants with money and instructed them to do business while he was gone. For the first two servants, they did well and were put in authority over cities, but the third servant not so much. We all want to be among those who hear, “Well, done, good servant!” so let's learn from where the third servant went wrong. Afraid The third servant laid away the mina his lord gave him because he was afraid of him. Fear of an authority figure isn't the issue though, it was why he was afraid of him…he said it was “because you are a severe man. You take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.” The lord sounds like a harsh man and we can almost have understanding for the third servant here, but before jumping to conclusions, was that actually true of the lord? The reality is that the lord wasn't those things. He makes that clear in his response as he questions what the third servant “knew” and tells him if that were true, then he should have at the very least put the money in the bank to earn some kind of interest. The rhetorical question shows us that the perception of the third servant was false and therefore his fear was unfounded. Wicked Servant The third servant was condemned by his own words and called wicked for it. The servant's view of his lord caused him to act out of emotion and it wasn't rational even if his perception had been correct. Everything in the lord's actions within this parable shows us that he wasn't what the third servant made him out to be. The lord had given the servants money, and around 3 months' worth of wages at that so not a small amount of money. With the average annual income in the United States being around $60,000, then 3 months of income today would be around $15,000. The lord was generous in giving such a large sum to each servant and directing them to engage in business while he was gone, and he was entrusting his riches to them to do as he directed. The first two servants mentioned the gain they earned for the lord with what he had given them. But the third servant didn't even engage in any business. He didn't even do the bare minimum, which would have been to put the money in the bank and earn interest. The third servant let his false view of the lord disable his actions altogether, and his disobedience was wicked. More Will Be Given The first two servants who had obeyed their lord and made gains of varying amounts were rewarded for their obedience. There were listed amounts and variations of how much one servant had gained from the one mina and the rewards were given in proportion to it, but that's not the focus. The focus that Jesus points us to in this parable is this: ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.' It's not about how much, it's about how faithful. The first two servants had been faithful and more was given, but the third servant had no faithfulness and even that initial mina he was given was taken away. God doesn't look at us based on the successes of the investments we make with the gifts He's given us; God looks at the motive of our hearts and the faithfulness to obey Him. Here's the deal – Those servants couldn't have gained ten or five minas if their lord hadn't given them a mina to begin with. In and of ourselves we can't offer God anything; but God gives us gifts and prepares good works for us to walk in for His glory and He tells us to faithfully use them and walk in them. If we do that and we reap a lot, we've been faithful to obey. If we do that and we reap a little, we've been faithful to obey. If we don't do it at all, we've not been faithful to obey at all. See how the amount that's reaped isn't what God is focused on? God is far more concerned with our hearts than what our actions can reap. God doesn't need us to achieve His purposes, but He wants our hearts to be right before Him as He uses us to achieve His purposes. Let's close with a question: Will you purpose in your heart to grow closer to your Lord Jesus, to know Him beyond earthly perceptions, and be faithful to use the gifts He's given you to obey His command of tending to kingdom business while we await His return?

[Jesus] entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:1-10) Zacchaeus was a wee little man, a wee little man was he. He climbed up in a sycamore tree to see what he could see…did you just sing those sentences in your head? If you grew up in the church, you likely grew up singing the Zacchaeus song in Sunday school, and most of the time we focus on Zacchaeus in this section of Scripture, but today we're going to focus on the crowd. Since Zacchaeus was a tax collector, the crowd did not like him. Jews in those days considered other Jews who worked for Rome as tax collectors to be traitors and all around awful human beings. But what's interesting is how they responded to Jesus telling Zacchaeus that He must stay at his house and seeing Zacchaeus come down and receive Jesus joyfully – they all grumbled. Jesus only did what He heard from the Father, so we know that it was the Father's will that Jesus go to Jericho and have a divinely appointed engagement with Zacchaeus. And did no one at all wonder at the fact that Jesus knew Zacchaeus' name as He called him to come down from that tree? Jesus had literally called him by name and invited Himself to Zacchaeus' house and the people grumbled over it because of their view of Zacchaeus as a sinner. Who is a Sinner Jesus very well knew this man was a sinner. As the Son of Man who came to seek and save the lost, it was people like Zacchaeus whom He was seeking. So why didn't the crowd see it this way? The people failed to see two very important things: one, they failed to see how Jesus viewed Zacchaeus – a man who was lost that He was seeking to save; and two, they also failed to see how Jesus viewed them – people who were also lost, therefore sinners, of whom He came to seek and save. If they hadn't failed to see themselves as sinners, they may not have failed to see how Jesus saw Zacchaeus and may have even rejoiced that Jesus had called him and come into his home to bring salvation there. But what about in today's world where Jesus isn't here in person? As ambassadors for Christ, we should have a heart for people the way God does. But if we fail to see ourselves in the proper light, we'll fail to see others the way God sees them. They All Grumbled Even with failing to see how Jesus viewed Zacchaeus and how Jesus viewed them, why would they grumble at what Jesus did? They were all there to see Jesus and it was only Zacchaeus whom Jesus called out to in that moment. It would seem as though the real reason for grumbling wasn't all based on the fact that Zacchaeus was a sinner, but the fact that they weren't called upon to host Jesus that day. Jealousy, or at its foundation – covetousness, can cause a lot of grumbling in a heart who isn't happy with where its at, because it causes a person to look outward for the inward satisfaction. Jealousy or covetousness can poison the well of contentedness with desire or longing for what other people have, even to the point of justifying to ourselves that the other person is somehow a worse sinner than we are. But that isn't what Jesus desires for us. And as Zacchaeus heard theses grumblings of the crowd, he turns to Jesus with his changed heart and explains that he is going to give away goods to the poor and restore whatever he's defrauded with interest. It makes me wonder if the crowd heard this and continued in their grumbling, maybe even doubting Zacchaeus' motives or thinking he was just trying to justify himself as a sinner. And it didn't actually matter what the crowd thought or grumbled about, because Jesus knew the truth. The Responses Jesus responded, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Jesus addressed the grumbling and the very hearts of the crowd in His response. It was up to the individuals in the crowd and how they decided to respond to Him. And we don't know how the people responded to Jesus because Scripture doesn't tell us, but we are all responsible for how WE respond to Jesus. How do you respond when others get opportunities you may want? And how do you respond to Jesus when what you think or feel conflicts with what He says? Jealousy and grumbling are easy, natural even because we're all sinners, but that's not what we're called to do. Can you be happy for people as you see God working in their life and using them for His glory? Will you put aside jealousy and grumbling that come up in you to push past it and look at things from God's perspective? I ask all these questions because, well, I can't know what's in your heart…but you and God do. Only you two can get down to the nitty gritty and root out any jealousy and grumbling that arises in you. But if we cling to our perspective of self-justification, the “but they're a sinner” outlook, then we'll never move on to the real work of our own sin that Jesus wants to address. I'll leave you with these verses from James: Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. (James 4:8-10)

As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. And hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” And he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” And Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God. (Luke 18:35-43) In a quick overview of some interesting aspects to this story, notice this: The blind man acknowledged Jesus as Messiah in calling him “Son of David” The blind man cried out for mercy regardless of others trying to silence him The blind man's persistence of crying out got Jesus' attention The blind man's faith in Jesus' ability to heal his sight was implied as he asked for permission in saying “Lord, let me recover my sight.” The blind man's faith made him well Upon the blind man's healing, he followed Jesus and glorified God The very people who were initially rebuking the blind man and trying to silence him, praised God as a result of his faith in Jesus How We Approach Jesus Do we cry out to Jesus, our Messiah, with a fully abandoned surrender like this blind man had? Do other's opinions and actions affect our approach to Jesus, or do we carry on in persistence knowing who we are calling out to? This goes beyond ailments and healings. What about when we're in public eating at a restaurant, do we quietly, quickly, and almost ashamedly pray for our food or are we unapologetic in taking the time to thank God for the food He's blessed us with, no matter who may be watching or saying something against us? The way the blind man approached Jesus showed his heart posture towards God. In the same way, how we approach God will show our heart posture and help us identify if there are some heart issues we need to address. When the blind man answered Jesus' question of what he wanted Jesus to do for him, it was both with boldness and reverence. He was bold enough to say, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” But it also showed a reverence in implying that he knew Jesus could but was asking His permission. If he would have stated it in another way, such as “Lord, recover my sight” or “Lord, can you heal my eye sight?”, that would have been either lacking in reverence or confidence in Jesus' ability and the man's initial address of calling Jesus the Son of David would have been undermined as well. If we truly believe that Jesus is God, our Messiah who has reconciled us to God, then we will approach Him in faith with a bold and confident reverence of Who He is. And if we're not, we need to check our hearts on what the issue is. Our Faith's Effect The blind man's faith pushed him to continue pursuing Jesus even when all those around him were trying to silence him. How do we respond when others around us try to silence our faith? If the blind man hadn't had the faith to continue despite the actions of others, he wouldn't have had a personal encounter with Jesus and he wouldn't have been healed in that moment. Now, this isn't saying that if we have enough faith, all our ailments will be healed, but we can't deny nor dismiss that in many miracles, faith is mentioned as an aspect of it. And our faith plays a part in more than just healing, it also can impact those around us. When we are willing to walk by faith even if that means being seen as a fool in the eyes of the world in order to live in a way that is pleasing to God, we are following Jesus and glorifying God. And in our walking by faith and following Jesus, our example of faith and the things that God does in and through us, it just may silence those who oppose us and help bring them to a place of praising God in witnessing His work; just as it did in this situation… And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God. Let's take time to be mindful of how we're approaching Jesus and resolve to live out our faith in full surrender of God, regardless of how anyone may react to our pursuit of Him.

And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.” But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said. (Luke 18:31-34) Jesus prophetically spoke of the future He would face in fulfilling His mission as He brought up what the prophets had wrote about Him hundreds of years prior. There are over 300 prophesies about Messiah in Scripture, and 33 prophesies were fulfilled on the day of Jesus' death alone. Of the few prophesies He mentioned to His disciples in these verses, these were prophesied by king David and Isaiah: I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting. (Isaiah 50:6) He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. (Isaiah 53:3-5) Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:12) For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. (Psalm 16:10) But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. (Psalm 49:15) Yet we read that when the disciples heard Jesus, they didn't understand any of it. My initial thought is, “How unfortunate that they didn't understand what Jesus was telling them”, but it's really not unfortunate, because it was divine. It was hidden from them, and they were kept from grasping any of it for a purpose. What Jesus told them wasn't for them in that specific moment, it was meant to be recalled later and recorded for future followers of Jesus, like you and me. Now, I don't know about you, but I am a naturally curious person, and I like to understand the why in things: Why is the sky blue? Why does hair grow at different rates? Why did my [friend/coworker/family member] react to a situation a certain way? Why did God allow bad things to happen to me? Why hasn't God healed my health issues? The list of why questions could go on and on, and while some why questions can be answered or found out, some are hidden from our understanding. But does the why actually matter? Do we have to understand everything? Well, no. Because if we're walking by faith, pressing on toward the upward call of God in Christ Jesus, and simply doing what we're called to as a servant and follower of Jesus, then the why doesn't actually matter. What matters is that God knows all the answers to those questions, and because if we love God and are called according to His purpose, He is working all things for our spiritual good; even to the point of using evil for good. If our sights get stuck on the why, then we miss the best part of the circumstance – that we're not alone, forsaken, nor abandoned because God is with us, continuing to author each one of our stories in which He will one day bring to completion. We may not always understand what God is saying to us at every moment He speaks or what He allows to happen in our life, but if we continue to press into Him, if those things do come into clarity the Holy Spirit will bring to remembrance the things He has said to us, just as Jesus promised when He said, “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (John 14:25-27) I encourage you to set your sights above life's circumstances and firmly fixed on Jesus, not getting hung up if you don't initially understand what God is speaking or what is happening in your life but continuing to follow Him as you trust His plan for your life. Life is definitely hard; but God is good, and so are His plans for you, so let not your heart be troubled!

And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor your father and mother.'” And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” And Peter said, “See, we have left our homes and followed you.” And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.” (Luke 18:18-30) First off, we have to take note of something really awesome…Jesus accepted the title of Good Teacher. We know from what Paul wrote to the Romans that no one is righteous nor does good, and Jesus clearly stated that, No one is good except God alone. Jesus didn't rebuke Him though, just clarified the truth about who He is. While also fully human, Jesus is God. The Commandments Jesus listed 5 of the 10 commandments. But what do we notice about which commandments He listed? The ones He listed are commandments that people tend to feel justified in themselves based on outward observation of them – not murdering, committing adultery, stealing, bearing false witness, and honoring parents. But as we know from Jesus' teaching on the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5, simply lusting after someone in your heart is committing adultery and being angry with someone is likened to murder. This ruler claimed to have kept all those 5 commandments Jesus had listed from his youth which showed that he had already skipped right over the heart check. The Lack A couple short sentences later, Jesus made the heart issue glaringly obvious to the ruler: “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” The young man had come to the conclusion that he had somehow arrived and was like the male version of Mary Poppins – practically perfect in every way – but Jesus wasn't concerned with how the man acted outwardly since youth, He was concerned with this man's heart and what he was lacking. Telling the man to sell everything and give it to the poor wasn't Jesus being an activist or hating on rich people; it was pointing out commandments that the man hadn't been following because he had made his riches and material things his god and they were idols to him. The whole law was summed up in two commandments to love God and love others. To obey Jesus' command would have been a hurdle that once the man was over, he could have moved past worshipping material things and onto truly worshipping God as he went and followed Jesus, leaving everything else behind and counting it all as loss in pursuit of God. Our Heart Check We don't know what ever happened to this man because the last thing we read about him is that he went away sad because he was very rich. All we know was that in that moment of time, he heard from Jesus directly and because his wealth had such a stronghold on him, he grieved over that being the path to inherit eternal life instead of being grieved with the godly sorrow that leads to repentance. Let me ask you this: Does money or riches have a hold in your life? Does the thought of giving up anything in your life make you sad? This is a good heart check moment, and these are really good questions to regularly check in on and take some time to self-reflect on where our hearts are currently. If we're not willing to give up quite literally anything and everything in following God, then we have a heart issue to deal with. I'll leave you with the words of Jesus here because it's encouraging to both one who is doing well on this heart issue as well as to the one who is struggling with it. If you're doing well in this area – be encouraged by the Lord's pleasure and promise. If you're struggling in this area – be encouraged and stirred to a change of heart with the promise the Lord has given to those who are willing to give up everything for His sake: And [Jesus] said to them “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”

Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” (Luke 18:15-17) The first thing we see in this section is that people were bringing their infants to Jesus. This was a tradition of the time, in which people would bring their babies to be blessed by an esteemed Rabbi. Jesus wasn't claiming the title of Rabbi and certainly wasn't following the manner of many Rabbi of that day, yet His authority in teaching and love for the people caused them to highly esteem Him. It is amazing that people were bringing their children to Jesus at such a young age, and what a beautiful example to parents to also bring their children to Jesus starting at a young age. Two Rebukes There are two rebukes here, but only one we should heed. The first rebuke was done by the disciples directed at the parents bringing their children to Jesus. The disciples seemed to get too focused on the overall work of ministry that they were blinded to the specific purpose of it – the people. They ended up rebuking the very people whom Jesus wanted to minister to. How often we might get so busy with aspects in ministry that WE deem the most important that we miss ministering to the people whom JESUS wants to reach; and even possibly miss out on blessings God desires to bestow. The second rebuke was done by Jesus directed at the disciples. Notice though that Jesus didn't start yelling a rebuke at them; He called them to Himself and gently rebuked them and taught them. What a beautiful learning moment there. Right in the midst of the crowd of people bringing their children, Jesus sees the disciples doing the wrong thing and He ushers them over to correct them in the moment. But here's the thing…what if the disciples wouldn't have been listening for Jesus' voice? They would have missed that rebuke and continued doing the wrong thing. We must be listening throughout our day for the voice of God guiding and directing us or we very well might negatively impact the lives of other people and misrepresent the heart of God. Do Not Hinder Them Jesus made it very clear that he wanted the children to come to Him and didn't want anyone hindering them. This rings true of all His children, big and small. We should never be hindering anyone from coming to Jesus in any way. Yes, there may be instances such as church events in which we have made a plan of how things will run, but if those plans ever hinder people from coming to Jesus, they're not only ineffective plans but they're actively going against what Jesus has said here. Not only should we never block anyone from Jesus, but we should also actively be helping provide a way. Like A Child Jesus ended with saying, Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. This is a very important truth here! When we think about children, they are so quick to receive from Jesus and they don't try to bolster themselves as worthy of it (like we saw of the Pharisee in the parable from last week) and kids don't try to act like they don't need God's blessing. Children simply come to Him and receive what He gives, and that is the example Jesus is telling us to follow. I like the way C. Marvin Pate put it when he said, “Not only did Jesus welcome these little human beings as members of the kingdom of God; He also extolled them as model citizens of the same, because of their capacity to trust and love.” As we seek to enable a way for others to come to Jesus, let's also be mindful of our own approach to ensure we're receiving the kingdom of God like a child ourselves.

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.' But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:9-14) Jesus ends the parable with this lesson – everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. However, we can't overlook whom He was telling this to – some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt. What Not to Do In this example of the Pharisee, it's not hard to see the pride he exudes, and most people would say it's off putting. We all know someone who thinks too highly of themselves, and in their pride and self-righteousness they treat others badly. The thing is, we're all susceptible to treating others poorly because of our pride, even if it's less blatant than this example of the Pharisee. As human beings still stuck with a sin nature, we're all prone to selfishness, self-righteousness, and pride. We should approach life with this remembrance so that we don't become blinded by it. It shouldn't take committing super obvious sins to humbly come before God and acknowledge that we're sinners. Even after we have accepted Jesus' gift of salvation, we should regularly be repenting of our sin and seeking the merciful forgiveness of our incredibly loving and kind God; both coming humbly before Him and leaving humbled by His mercy yet exalted by His grace. The heart of the matter is that those who are prideful trust in themselves for righteousness, and it will keep them from coming humbly and honestly before God. This is an issue for non-believers as well as for the followers of Jesus alike. Justification comes through faith in Jesus for salvation, which takes humility to repent and receive forgiveness and salvation. But also, for the follower of Jesus, remember what James said… But [God] gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. (James 4:6-10) The Focus of Prayer There was a vast difference between the Pharisee and the tax collector. The Pharisee focused his prayer on himself and what he considered to be good things, listing off all that he has done or not done as proof of what he believed about himself and thanked God for it. Except, God had nothing to do with the Pharisee's self-righteousness, and as James 4 mentioned, God was opposed to him in his pride. But the tax collector focused his prayer on God, trusting Him to be merciful as he plead for His mercy. How we direct our prayers can itself be a heart check: Do you make your prayers about yourself, or do you focus your prayers on God? Is it more about bolstering yourself or pushing your will onto God, or about being humbled before God and aligning your heart with His will? Do you put others down when you include them in your prayers? These are hard questions, and they might even cause a defensiveness in us, but they are important ones to ask ourselves because they can help us as we seek to humble ourselves before God and be more like Jesus…if we're honest before God and with ourselves. And this truly is an issue of trust, just as the audience Jesus was addressing. Those who trust in themselves aren't just dealing with an issue of pride, but also an issue of trusting God. By trusting in themselves, they're in essence stating they don't fully trust God. The tax collector knew that he didn't deserve what he was asking God for as he acknowledged being a sinner, yet he trusted that God was merciful like He says He is as he prayed for mercy. He entrusted his entire life to a merciful God instead of trying to prove that he was somehow worthy in and of himself, like the Pharisee did. So, what's our takeaway, our application from this? I'll leave you with what the prophet Micah told the people after the indictment of the Lord: “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:6-8)

And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.' For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.'” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Luke 18:1-8) In this parable, it's actually really cool that we're told the purpose up front – to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. Jesus isn't in the business of tearing us down and making us weary. In this life, weariness tends to find its place because sin and the effects of sin tear us down again and again, but the same God who has overcome the world (John 16:33) and said, “Come to me…and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28) is the same God who is giving us this parable to encourage us to always pray and not lose heart. In a nutshell, we read that God is a righteous judge and if an unrighteous judge will grant justice by being bothered, how much more will our righteous judge give justice because of hearing His children's cry day and night? God is not bothered or annoyed by our constant prayers and cries to Him, He is our Father who loves us. Just as a parent who hears their child crying doesn't simply feed them or change their diaper because they're annoying them, but because they love their child and want to tend to them. And yet underlying the encouragement to always pray and not lose heart is the foundation of faith. Will He Find Faith? This section ends with a question – Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth? Jesus on numerous occasions mentioned people's faith such as when He said: “Where is your faith?” (Luke 8:25a) “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:31b) “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you. (Luke 17:6) _“Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.” (Matthew 8:10) And we're told in Hebrews that faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen and that without faith it is impossible to please [God], for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:1,6) It takes faith to continue to ask in prayer even after seemingly getting refused a response. Right before asking if the Son of Man will find faith, Jesus said God would give justice to those who cry to Him day and night speedily. It doesn't always feel speedily on our timeline. Of course, in light of eternity, it's but a split second; but it takes faith to believe God will do what He says and to continue to trust and to continue to cry out to Him continually until we see it come to fruition. Our Faith Our faith, that confidence and assurance that we have in God and His promises, is of great value. That's why we go through trials, because it tests the genuineness of our faith and refines us through it. And Peter told us that our genuine faith is more precious to God than gold - In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 1:6-7) It's no wonder then why Jesus admonishes us to always pray and not lose heart – those are practical ways to keep our faith as we walk through the hardships of life. Jesus is coming back soon and we want Him to find us, as His servants, faithful upon His return. If you've been praying and crying out to the Lord and seemingly nothing is happening – Don't lose heart; keep the faith and persevere in praying always. I'll leave you with these verses from Hebrews: Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. (Hebrews 10:35-39)

I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left.” And they said to him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.” (Luke 17:34-37) Jesus had already spoken of His second coming as Messiah in which He told us not to follow the world when they say, “Look, there!” or “Look, here!” But there's yet another event that will happen before that Day of the Lord and that's what is often referred to as the rapture. The Word Rapture Interestingly enough, the word “rapture” never appears in the Bible, but similarly to how the word “trinity” doesn't appear in the Bible either, the written context is in the Bible. In 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18, it says, “For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.” It's that phrase “caught up” that describes the event of the rapture. The Greek word, harpazo, means to snatch or take away; and in the Latin translation, the verb rapturo is where we, as English speakers, got the word “rapture”. Paul mentioned in the letter to the Thessalonians that what he was telling them was a word from the Lord. Jesus, here in the Luke account, already shared about the event of the rapture briefly, and Paul was simply expounding on it as he was directed to by the Lord. The heart behind it is the same with Jesus as with Paul – so that we wouldn't be ignorant about it, just as Paul had mentioned a couple verses earlier in that chapter, “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers…” (1 Thessalonians 4:13a) One Taken, The Other Left Now, by the meaning of the word for “caught up” is a snatching, it's obvious that the event of the rapture will be a super quick one; but Jesus gave us even more insight and details with His examples. Jesus said that in that night, one would be taken out of the bed and the other left. Yet at the same time, two women will be grinding and one taken and the other left. Women would not be grinding their wheat, olives, etc. in the night, because that is a daytime job. So, it is implied that the example of the women is working during the day and the example of the couple in bed is at night. With these specific examples that Jesus gave us, it gives us specific insight to the fact that the rapture is going to be a worldwide event that takes place quickly. Where, Lord? Now, nothing like the rapture has ever happened before, and the disciples heard what Jesus said and wanted more information about it. That is totally understandable, wanting to understand an event that to our human minds seems impossible. It's such a large-scale event, to happen worldwide, and a super quick one at that – it seems logical that His disciples wanted to have as good a grasp on it as they could. But Jesus didn't tell answer them exactly the way they were probably wanting, He instead used a poetic, almost proverb type response when He said, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.” Jesus wasn't trying to give them a non-answer, but He did often speak in parables and such and this is similar in that regard. Jesus is basically saying that when the time comes when judgement is ripe, that is where judgement will happen, and we'll see the signs. David Guzik, a pastor and Bible commentator, said it well - “We may say this with some confidence: The Bible describes certain political, economic, spiritual, social, and military characteristics regarding what the world will be like before His return. It is fair to say that the conditions exist today, and the stage is set.” We live in the end times. We see the signs. Jesus is coming soon! How To Respond Just in looking at these few verses, there doesn't appear to be a clear way that we're supposed to respond to this…so we need to look back and forward a little for our application. The last verse before this, Jesus prefaced His words here with, “Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.” And as we move next week into Luke 18, the first verse says, “And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.” Jesus bookended these verses on the rapture with a clear message – Love God even over your own life, pray without ceasing, and don't lose heart. This life is hard, and the enemy is using the world in his efforts to distract us from setting our minds on the things above. And yet, we aren't told to do anything on our own. Remember these things… We love because God first loved us. We can pray without ceasing because Christ tore the veil and the Holy Spirit dwells inside of us. We can choose to not lose heart because we know what Jesus has already accomplished. As we wait for that glorious day to arrive, when those of us followers of Jesus who remain alive here will be caught up with our Savior; I'll leave you with this encouragement and comfort from our Redeemer Himself from John 16:33 - “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. (Luke 17:31-33) As we move forward to these verses, remember that the context Jesus was talking about is the end times, and He had told us the days would come when we desire to see Him come back and that false Messiahs would rise up but that we shouldn't go out or follow them. With that in mind, Jesus is admonishing us to not cling to the things of this world, but to cling tightly to Him alone. Goods in the House Jesus is about to mention the rapture (which we'll dig into next week), and He's prefacing it with a heart check. We should not be concerning ourselves with the goods in the house and be focused on them as if we could even bring them with us in the end. Sure, we have houses, we have goods and things that we use to survive and maintain life while we're here on earth, but those things are of no value to us in the end and will ultimately be left behind. Our heart shouldn't be concerned with what will be left behind in our house, but instead remembering and looking forward to where our home truly is in heaven. Lot's Wife It's interesting that Jesus references an event all the way back in Genesis when talking about the end times, and that one little three worded sentence, Remember Lot’s wife, is a strong warning for us. That word for “remember” means to be mindful of, to hold in your memory, to rehearse – and used in this context, it basically means to regularly be mindful of in order to learn a lesson from it. In the account of Sodom and Gomorrah being destroyed, we read about Lot and his family being saved by angels right before it was destroyed. And the angels warned them not to look back or stop when they said “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.” (Genesis 19:17) Now this warning of not looking back or stopping was both a practical and spiritual one for them, because they needed to quickly get out and away so they didn't get physically swept away in the destruction; but to look back and stop would also be a heart issue of longing for those days lived in those cities of sin. And yet, despite the warnings, we read that “Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.” (Genesis 19:26) Lot's wife wanted to preserve and longed for the life she had lived in that sinful city, despite being told not to, that the judgment of it was being preserved into a pillar of salt. Lot's wife stopped and looked back at what she was told to turn away from and it destroyed her. But it wouldn't have just happen all of a sudden, she was likely lingering in her mind and heart, longing to look and turn back, and what she set her mind on is what she did. To Preserve or Lose In light of all this – not loving things more than God and the fact that what Lot's wife set her mind on is what she did – it brings to mind what Paul said in Colossians 3:2-4, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” If we are earthly minded, we are going to be more about the things of this world than the things above it. But if we are setting our minds on the things that are above, then we have Jesus as our focus and we truly have, regardless of what we lose in this world. And we have that as a guarantee because Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6) This all comes down to our identity – are we of the world or in Christ? There is a stark contrast between one who is in love with the world and tries to preserve their identity in it, versus one who is in love with Jesus and is willing to lose their life to maintain their identity in Him and keep it. Christ is everything! Therefore, may we heed the warning and remember Lot's wife; always being willing to lose anything, to gain everything in Christ.

And he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, ‘Look, there!' or ‘Look, here!' Do not go out or follow them. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all— so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. (Luke 17:22-30) In the days of Jesus, the hope of the Messiah's coming was strong. However, last week we saw that the teachers of the day were setting the expectation of Messiah based on misinterpretation of Scripture and their own desires for a political leader to rise up and free them from the rule of Rome. We know that Jesus truly is Messiah and He did come and fulfill hundreds of prophecies concerning the long-awaited Messiah. But the Jewish people largely did not accept Him as Messiah. However, this passage doesn't only concern His first coming as the suffering servant that He is, but also refers to His second coming as well. That is important to note because it doesn't only relate to the Jewish people, but to everyone. Charles Feinberg, a Jewish man born in 1909 and who came to faith in Christ at the age of 21 and began teaching at Biola University in 1948, said that since Jesus' time, there have been 64 different individuals who have claimed to be the Messiah. And considering Charles died in 1995, there are likely way more than that by now. David M. Levy, the former director of International Ministries for The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, noted that, “Modern Judaism (Reform) has reinterpreted the messianic hope. Instead of a “personal Messiah”, [they believe] there will come a messianic age which is brought about through the humanist progression of world leaders negotiating for peace.” Isn't that interesting, especially in light of the days to come that read about in Revelation. Jesus warned his disciples then and warns us now because He knew other false Messiah's would rise up, and He knew the tendency of the people to recreate and interpret Scripture to fit their own idea of how things should go. How gracious of Jesus to give us this warning and help us be mindful to keep our eyes on Him and Him alone! As It Was in the Days of Noah We have an account of the days of Noah and Sodom, which Jesus references here, preserved in the pages of our Bible. If we look back at what the days were like back then, we see this: These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. (Genesis 6:9-12) The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth and said, “My lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise up early and go on your way.” They said, “No; we will spend the night in the town square.” But he pressed them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house. And he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house. And they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them.” Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him, and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. (Genesis 20:1-7) In our current days, is it really any different than those days? In fact, I'd say we're probably worse. The very things that God has spoken against are the very things our culture tends to elevate as good. Paul warned about this in his day as well when he wrote to Timothy saying, “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.” (2 Timothy 3:1-5) Applying the Lesson to Ourselves So where does that leave us as followers of Jesus in this current era? What can we take away from this? The church in Thessalonica had concerns about the end times, the rapture, and second coming of Jesus too because false teachers had been saying that the second coming had already happened. But Paul wrote this to them: But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) Jesus warned us, Paul reiterated, and we encourage one another with the truth that while we don't know the day or hour Jesus is coming, we do know that He's coming for us and He's coming soon. So, don't focus on the world or the world's claims about Jesus' return, that will only lead you astray. Instead focus your attention on the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus, not worrying about when Jesus comes back, but walking in the good works God has prepared for you with the knowledge that Jesus is coming back soon and desires to find that you have been a good and faithful servant.

Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!' or ‘There!' for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” (Luke 17:20-21) Here we see that the Pharisees questioned Jesus about the coming of the kingdom of God. They expected a grand, visible display that matched their misinterpretation of Scripture. They had envisioned a temporal kingdom with political power, not realizing that the true kingdom was spiritual and already among them. And when Jesus said that the kingdom of God is in the midst of you, He wasn't talking about in a some kind of mystical way or New Age way, but was saying it was indeed a spiritual matter, not a physical one. Started Off Wrong Now, the approach that the Pharisees were taking all started with a misinterpretation of Scripture and basing their perspective on that wrong interpretation of Scripture that had been born out of their fleshly desire to see Rome's rule over them be broken. And in the Greek, that word for “observed” when Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed”, is better translated as hostile examination. The Pharisees' demand for a visible sign revealed that they weren't actually searching for truth, but instead once again showing hostility toward Jesus and His message. But remember back when Jesus first started His ministry, He came preaching, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17). The Pharisees heard that message, but it was pride that led them to reject the call to repentance and ultimately, because they had convinced themselves that the kingdom of God was going to be a temporal one, they blinded themselves to see the reality that it was a spiritual kingdom. And worst yet, they failed to see that the kingdom of God was in their midst as Jesus, the King of kings Himself, was standing right in front of them. Matthew Henry, a late 17th Century bible commentator, said this, “It is the folly of many curious enquirers concerning the times to come that they look for that before them which is already among them.” Our Own Walk Similarly, in our own Christian walk, we might miss what God intends to reveal because we're entrenched in our own expectations or interpretations. This isn't speaking of salvation, but in our walk with God. But if we do this, we might miss out on what God is trying to show us, simply because we're so caught up and focused on our own interpretation or desire of how things “should” be. But if we are so busy creating our own vision or goal of what we desire something to be, then how can we expect to see what God has already planned and desires it to be? The apostle Paul said in Philippians 3:14-15, “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.” But here's the kicker – we can't effectively look at two goals at the same time and if we try, neither get accomplished. That's truly a recipe for frustration because you won't be able to be successful in your own desires nor God's, and while being successful in your own desires isn't truly fulfilling apart from being faithful in God, being ineffective in both flesh and spirit will undoubtedly be used by the enemy against you. If we are going to truly look forward and press on toward that upward call of God, then we can't busy ourselves with making goals based on our own fleshly desires, otherwise it only serves to distract and possibly derail us. The lesson as current followers of Jesus that we can learn from the Pharisees interaction with Jesus in these verses is this: We must seek to align ourselves with and focus on God’s vision rather than our own, remembering that the true kingdom of God is not found in our personal ambitions, but in recognizing and following the King of kings who is already present with us.

On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.” (Luke 17:11-19) This scene is quite interesting because it shows us a great miracle that Jesus performed for ten men all at once, but also shows us the way most believing people respond, the way we should actually respond, and the way Jesus views it all. Before we take a closer look at the general response to the healing, let's first take notice of the fact that these ten men were in essence outcasts between two cities, standing at a distance from Jesus as He was passing along. The ailment of leprosy made them outcasts, and yet because of their ailment we see both Samaritans and Jews together. That was not a thing in those days because Jews and Samaritans despised each other. The cool thing is, these men were basically bonded together over their misery but together they all came to Jesus; yet they didn't come to Jesus as Samaritans and Jews, they simply came to Jesus as men in need of healing. The General Response We saw that these ten men came to Jesus for healing saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” And instead of Jesus touching them to heal them like He had done with others, He simply said, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” AND AS THEY WENT they were cleansed. This took obedience on the part of the ten men to do what Jesus said simply because He said to do it and without any indication that they would be healed on the way. They had come to Jesus claiming Him as master, and it was going to take obedience to prove they actually meant what they claimed. Now, generally speaking, a Christian is going to obey what the Lord tells them to do. Of course, that's not always the case, but we have that general understanding that if we are going to claim to be His servants and call Him Master, then we must be obedient to whatever He says. But in practice, that can be much easier said than done. We are called to walk by faith and quite literally, they had to physically walk to the priest by faith with the intention of showing themselves cleansed BEFORE they could see that they were cleansed. Similarly, we are called to put on Christ and to walk in Him even though we still might feel like our old selves. Those men didn't feel cleansed, but Jesus said to do it, so they went to do it – they trusted His words, acknowledging Him in their obedience over their own understanding, and Jesus directed their path to healing. They literally lived out Proverbs 3, Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. (Proverbs 3:5-8) And yet, there's an even better way when we don't just stop at obedience. The Way We Should Respond We read even further that one of them, when he saw he was healed, returned to Jesus, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. When we look at this situation as a whole, we see that all ten of the lepers were willing to obey the religious ceremonial requirements but only one was stirred with a heart of thanksgiving that brought him to worship at the feet of God. And yet that one man's response is the way we too should respond to Jesus. Obedience is a must, but how sweet that offering of thanksgiving and praise is to God. And when we examine even further, we see that Jesus desires us to have that kind of response and the text even tells us what He feels about those who don't respond that way. Jesus' Perspective Let's look again at Jesus' response to this - Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Jesus missed the nine that didn't come and He asks about them. Jesus wants us to come and expects that we will come with thankful hearts, having that attitude of gratitude before Him. And why wouldn't we? Well, that gets deeper into yet another heart check area, doesn't it? If God does anything for us, no matter how big or small, shouldn't we have a grateful heart of praise that we bring to Him? In our heads we know we should return to Him with thanksgiving and praise, and God does so much for us, so why don't we do that every time? I'm going to be really transparent here – for myself, I would say that if I'm not taking the time to sit still before God regularly, then my mind can easily get bogged down with doing things that I don't stop long enough to have an attitude of gratitude. Or other times I may just have a selfish perspective, being so focused on how God's work in my life affected me, that I don't take the time to turn my eyes back to Him and offer thanksgiving for it. But I can't actually answer that question for you personally. Maybe you can relate and maybe you can't, but God can reveal why you don't always return to thank Him – you just need to ask Him and then sit and wait for Him to tell you. Made Well And here's the thing, if we stop at obedience and don't turn back to God in thanksgiving and praise, we effectively miss out on a blessing. God doesn't need our praise, but our hearts do well to praise God because we were made to worship Him. The very last thing that Jesus said to the one man who turned back to Him in praise was, your faith has made you well. On first reading of this, we assume that being made well is only referring to the physical healing of the man, but that word for being made well is to heal and make whole. All those ten men were healed, but it appears that only that one who returned to Jesus was made whole. Jesus was speaking to the heart of the man. That man had been healed outwardly along the way as he exercised his faith in obedience, but it was in that man's returning to Jesus to fall at His feet and worship in thanksgiving and praise, he was made inwardly whole. Our physical healing in this life isn't a guarantee that Jesus ever offered us, BUT making us whole and restoring our soul in Him is something He offers to us on this side of eternity. Being made whole inwardly happens when you come to Him again and again to receive rest, casting your cares on Him and making your requests known to God with thanksgiving; being still and knowing God, and waiting on Him as He renews your strength. Jesus tells us all these promises and how to receive them, so the only question remains – will you come to God and take Him up on His promises, receiving them with thanksgiving and praise the way you were made to?

“Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table'? Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink'? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.'” (Luke 17:7-10) Before we jump into these few verses, we need to look back to the beginning of the chapter to remember who Jesus was talking to here. In Luke 17:1, it says, “And he said to his disciples” so Jesus is talking not to the masses, but his disciples. Today, these are people who are saved and are servants of the Lord. The Hard Work at Hand Jesus is talking to His disciples; these are the people who are serving with Him in the hard stuff day in and day out. These are the people who hare hard at work at the plow, who work through the blood, sweat, and tears for their master; and these are those tending the sheep, having a tender heart and care for them while baking under the hot sun each day. And yet the master doesn't call in the servant each day to stop working and recline at table with him; not because He hates His servants or doesn't want them to rest, but because there's still work to do. Sometimes our hearts can get discouraged, especially if we had been plowing and then something happens where we can't for a season. But there's still work to do, and you are just as valuable whether you're plowing, tending sheep, preparing supper, etc – because it's a matter of your heart that what you're doing is in service to your Master. There's always something we can do to serve God, and there's always some way we can do it. If we take the context of what Jesus had told His disciples in the preceding verses, there is still the work of forgiving people and works of faith to be done. And you may even be physically disabled, but there is always ways for you to serve the Lord. I had a season of being completely physically disabled when I couldn't walk, talk, and the whole right side of my body was paralyzed, but I was still able to pray in my heart even when my mouth couldn't talk. I could still offer a one-armed hug to comfort others. And God was still pleased to allow me to serve in those ways. Charles Spurgeon worded it very well when he said, “If you cannot go out ploughing, you shall go down into the kitchen, and do some cooking; and if you cannot feed the cattle, you shall bring up a dish of food for your Master. This is a change of work for you; but you are to keep on as long as you live.” (Spurgeon) The Reality of Our Place Jesus is talking to his disciples who are already serving, He's not trying to tell them they need to serve, because they already are. Jesus' goal here is teaching His disciples the proper perspective and attitude in serving. Pride so often becomes intertwined in how we think and it becomes a filter in which we view everything, whether we realize it or not. And Jesus doesn't want us to have that filter of pride, He desires humble servants, especially in light of the fact that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. (James 4:6) The thing is, pride will have an affect on not only our perspective but on how effective our work is. Unfortunately, there are many Christians who have an attitude of wanting to be seen as a type of “super Christian” and have a bolstered image before man, not stopping to really understand and acknowledge that the pride of that desire only serves as a broken and marred image before God. The reality of it though, is that we only think we're better than other people and deserve praise when we look to man instead of Jesus. When we look to Jesus, we are faced with the full reality that He is everything and apart from Him, we are nothing. It's in that reality of our place that we gain the correct perspective that God wants us to have. The Attitude of Our Hearts God desires us to have an attitude of gratitude and a proper perspective that His pleasure comes before our own, and that we serve for His sake and not our own. Sure, we may want to serve in certain areas, but do we take the time to ask God where He wants us serving at any given time or are we serving for our own pleasure, our own desires, and our own goals? Having a correct perspective and attitude comes from a place of truly understanding the reality of our place – our Master has done far greater things for us than we could ever do for Him. When we let our heads and our hearts align in understanding what the Father did for us in Jesus, our gratitude will overflow into an immense desire to serve Him and not serving for compliments, praise, or our own desires, but out of joy that we have the privilege of being allowed to serve Him at all. We aren't meant to be looking for compliments, thanks, or praise for our works here and now anyway. There will come a time when the work is done and we are called to enter into the joy of our master when we will hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” (Matthew 25:23) But that time is still yet to come. While we serve here, looking for compliments, thanks, praise, and self-fulfillment will only serve to distract us and bolster our pride – instead let's look only to Jesus, with hearts full of gratitude, and tune our ears into the Spirit to hear what God wants us serving in for this current season of our lives.

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you. (Luke 17:5-6) Have you ever heard someone say something like, “All it takes a mustard seed of faith”? This is where that is coming from, BUT the meaning gets lost in well-meaning statements like that. Mustard Seed Faith When we think of a mustard seed, it's really tiny – approximately 1mm in length. And Jesus said that if we had faith like a grain of mustard seed we could uproot trees with our words and plant it in the sea and it would obey us. Now most people take the view that all it takes is a small amount of faith – even as small as a mustard seed, BUT here's where the issue comes in – we don't even have that tiny amount of faith. Jesus often said, “O you of little faith” because it's true of us as mankind. Jesus wasn't trying to give us a pep talk that we just need to muster up a small seed size of faith; He's explaining that we don't have as much faith as we might think we do. It can be easy to get sucked into thinking we're more than we are. I'm sure when the disciples said, “Increase our faith!” they didn't realize just how much of an increase they really needed. But by Jesus mentioning the amount of faith being likened to a mustard seed and the impact of that faith, it helps to visually put into perspective that we have even less faith than that, while simultaneously encouraging us to have more faith. It Would Obey None of us have had this amount of faith – not enough to fill a grain of mustard seed, but fortunately we have a great example of someone who did. Take a look back in Luke 8 when Jesus calmed the storm: One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they set out, and as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?” (Luke 8:22-25) Jesus had enough faith to command the storm to cease and the winds and waters obeyed. And the very next question Jesus asked His disciples was, “Where is your faith?” Now, let's be super clear here; having faith isn't about being able to control nature – winds, waters, trees, and seas – but if we all had even the tiniest amount of faith like a grain of mustard seed, oh how different our lives would be! How free we would be to serve the Lord without hindrance of doubt and fear if we had faith like that. So why don't we? Increase Our Faith Our hearts desire should be like that of the apostles as they said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” But before we get to a place of wanting our faith increased, we must come to the realization that we are lacking faith. That's a place that drives us to go to God with our lack, ask for help, and receive from His abundance. This takes a humble heart. A heart that acknowledges that our faith is smaller than even a tiny little mustard seed. A heart that's desperate to have faith that could move mountains that would bring God glory through our obedience. Let's take a heart check moment here – do you acknowledge your lack of faith? Take time to sit before the Lord with this acknowledgement and wait on Him. Renew your strength in waiting on Him. And as He increases your faith, rise up with wings like eagles and soar in your walk with Him as He guides you through every step of your life. And may we never stop saying to our Lord, “Increase our faith!”

And he said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,' you must forgive him.” (Luke 17:1-4) These four little verses are packed full! So, let's break it down, shall we? Woe to the One Jesus starts this off by making it perfectly clear that temptations to sin are inevitable. Even in the Garden of Eden before sin was ever committed, temptation preempted the sin. How much more will there be temptations in the fallen and sinful world we live in. BUT Jesus immediately follows it with woe to the one through whom they come! That word “woe” is primarily an exclamation of grief and carries a proclamation of divine penalty. That little three letter word should stop everyone in their tracks and cause an ear to be tuned in to heed the warning. This is not the only time we see this woe pronounced either. There was a string of woes directed at the scribes and Pharisees by Jesus in Matthew 23. And when speaking of Judas Iscariot during His last Passover meal before going to the cross, Jesus said, “The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” (Matthew 26:24) The key to understanding who this woe applies to is in understanding what the temptations to sin are. Temptations to Sin In the Greek, this phrase “temptations to sin” is one word, skandalon, and it means a trap or a stumbling block. In the instance of a trap, it refers to a bent stick that is used to trigger a trap, in the instance of a stumbling block it refers to something that is put in the way in order to cause someone to stumble and fall, such as a rock. The word skandalon is also translated as “causes of sin” when Jesus said, “The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 13:41-42) That brings us right back to what Jesus further said in His woe by whom the stumbling comes through - It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea. Being purposeful in leading others astray and into sin is a serious matter to God. A person who leads others into sin is following the footsteps of satan. And God is saying that a horrible death of a millstone hung around their neck and cast into the ocean to die from asphyxiation as water slowly fills their lungs is better than the judgement they will get from doing so. Pay Attention to Yourself Now as we read this, there are any number of people that may come to your mind who fit the profile of stumbler, yet the very next sentence Jesus says is Pay attention to yourselves! This is a warning to us – both to the fact that temptations to sin will come as well as against being a person who stumbles others. As children of God, we should never desire to nor actually purposefully stumble our siblings in Christ, nor lead other people astray from coming to Christ. And per usual, the way of keeping ourselves from becoming evil doers who seek to stumble people is by abiding in God: “…but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.” (1 John 2:5-6,10) Rebuking Your Brother/Sister This last little section of verses here goes into rebuking other siblings in Christ who sins and forgiving them. Now rebuke is a strong word and it can often take on a meaning of its own if we're not careful. In this context, the word rebuke literally means to charge someone with wrong IN ORDER to restrain them. Restrain them from what? From the sin they're engaged in, and ultimately the consequences of said sin. Rebuking is always supposed to be done with love as the motive and for the purpose of separating the brother/sister from the sin in order that they would repent and be restored. But if we in any way are mixing our flesh into rebuking anyone, that's going to produce the wrong kind of grief. Paul laid it out clearly to the Corinthian church when he said, “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.” (2 Corinthians 7:10) We must be on guard and pay attention to ourselves, lest we rebuke our brother/sister in our flesh and then cause them to stumble. Forgiving Your Brother/Sister Now, on the other side of repentance is forgiveness. This is the natural, godly flow. We should see this in our own lives: we sin, God convicts and rebukes us, we repent, He forgives us – or at least that's the intended flow. We do need to be careful not to conflate these two things though – stumbling blocker and sin againster. The word for sin in “he should cause one of these little ones to sin” is different than the word for sin used in all the references to a brother sinning. The word for sin when referencing a little one being caused to sin is skandalizō and the root word is skandalon. But the word for sin when referencing a brother is hamartanō, which is to miss the mark – what we mostly think of when sin is referenced since we miss the mark of perfection, of which Jesus is the standard. So yes, we are called to forgive all who sin against us, whether they do it on purpose or not, but in this context, Jesus is saying that when our brothers or sisters in Christ miss the mark and sin against us, we are to forgive them. And the seven times phrasing isn't saying you should keep count and only up to seven times should you forgive them. To do that wouldn't be loving since 1 Corinthians 13 tells us that love keeps no record of wrongs. Jesus wasn't trying to narrow our understanding of forgiveness by giving us a number, He was broadening it. Seven is a number of completion, and Jesus is indicating that again and again, we should be forgiving one another. When we think of how many times we sin against Jesus, whether we know it or not, is He not faithful to forgive us again and again? Likewise, if we're going to love one another as Christ loves us, just as Jesus commanded us to, then that includes forgiving one another. As followers of Jesus, let's pay attention to ourselves and not stumble anyone, and be quick to forgive our siblings in Christ again and again, just like Jesus does for us.

“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.' But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.' And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.' But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.' And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.'” (Luke 16:19-31) As this chapter moves along, we shift from direct conversation with the Pharisees to Jesus telling a story about a rich man and a poor man named Lazarus. Now this section of Scripture is interesting because there's some question as to whether it's a real story or a parable that Jesus is telling. Let's go ahead and dive into that real quick before we dig into the meat of it. Real Story or Parable? If we look at this compared to other parables that Jesus told, often times we'd see a precursor given, such as in Luke 14:7 where it says, “Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them…” and in Luke 15:2-3, where it says, “And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable…” Yet in this section of Scripture there is no precursory context given. In the parables that were clearly called out as parables, no names were used; in this section of Scripture, we are given the name of the poor man, Lazarus and Abraham is named. We are also given context that this place where the rich man ends up is a place of anguish, torment, and flames. In Matthew 13:49-50, after Jesus told the Parable of the Net, He adds, “So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” And again, in Mark 9:43-48 in reference to temptations to sin, Jesus said, “And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.'” These other times when Jesus references hell, it's literal. In many examples throughout the gospel, Jesus would tell a parable and then give some kind of statement of truth or that would provide a bit of understanding afterwards. As He is talking to the Pharisees and has given them many parables in short succession, I believe this story of the rich man and Lazarus is a true story and not a parable. Could I be wrong? Of course! But does that change the truth of the context, not at all! With that, I tell you this simply because I am going to approach this from a true story standpoint. What You Live For This story continues in the line of thought that those who choose to embrace the life of the world now, will end up in anguish on the other side of eternity. Now that doesn't mean we can't enjoy life and eat nice food or whatnot, but that's not what this rich man was doing. The word in the Greek for clothed in indicates an investment into the clothing, and the purple and fine linen indicate an extravagance of attire that went far beyond just clothes to cover nakedness. And the phrase “feasted sumptuously” literally means to rejoice in lavishness. In essence, the wording here tells us that the rich man was not simply enjoying the life he had been blessed with, the earthly pleasures were what he lived for. That's a stark contrast to the way Lazarus lived. And it's not about the amount of money they each had. We don't need to be dirt poor and have dogs lick our wounds to end up in heaven. It is implied that Lazarus had a faith in God because when he died, it says he was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side, which is often what has been referred to as Abraham's Bossom – being a place of rest for those who had faith counted as righteousness before Jesus died, descended to get them, and brought to them to heaven, which is referenced in Ephesians 4:8 where it says, Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” Ultimately, the rich man chose to live for the temporal, BUT WE must choose to live for the eternal. Right Now Counts Forever Everyone will realize the error of their ways, either now in which they repent and spend eternal life in heaven, or once they die but it will be too late, and they will spend eternity in hell. I've heard many say that God would have to be a mean God to send people to hell, but that's the thing – He doesn't! Jesus made this very clear in the conversation He had with Nicodemus in John 3. Right after John 3:16, the verse which outlines salvation, He followed it with, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” (John 3:17-19) God doesn't wish anyone to perish, He wants them to come to repentance! The Mystery Revealed God wants everyone to be saved through Jesus so much so that He sent messages through His prophets and the Law and Jesus fulfilled them. The problem has never been with God, but the lack of acceptance by people of the words He gave through the Law and the Prophets. Jesus even told the Pharisees that plainly when He said, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.” (John 5:39-40) So, in this story when the rich man wants Abraham to send Lazarus back to preach repentance to his family, Abraham tells him ‘They have Moses [the Law] and the Prophets; let them hear them.' Notice that the same message that Abraham told him is the same message today – one can be told the truth of the gospel, but they have to hear it for themselves and obey by repenting. If someone does not believe and receive salvation through what God has given, the mystery of Christ revealed, then nothing will ever convince them. Even Jesus being raised from the dead hasn't persuaded people, so if they choose to reject not even the greatest of miracles, then they will unfortunately reap the consequences of their rejection. Our Response As followers of Jesus, how do we respond to a story like this? First of all, it should result in praising and thanking God for saving us from the condemnation we deserve! Second, we got a glimpse into the spiritual world and an event in which a condemned man realized in his torment that he wished he could have even a moment of his anguish quenched and wished he could warn others who weren't dead yet. Now unlike the rich man in hell, we know this truth now and we're still here on this side of eternity – so WE CAN warn others who aren't dead yet. And we should. We have the Law and the Prophets and the whole New Testament that brings the whole mystery of Christ together to understand how they spoke of Jesus. Let's remember this each and every day so that when the opportunities arise to share our faith and the good news of the saving gospel of Jesus Christ, we don't shy away for whatever reason. May we see not only the outside of people but be willing to sacrifice our social comfort for the well-being of their eternal souls; being good ambassadors for Christ as we allow God to make His appeal of reconciliation through us to a lost and dying world.

The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him. And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God. “The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it. But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void. “Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery. (Luke 16:14-18) Since these last verses on divorce and adultery tends to get sectioned off as its own little segment by those who broke down the section titles in the Bible, I've included the previous verses for context. But just like we saw last week where Jesus seemingly took a turn into another topic, He's actually still on the topic of the heart here. He's just using another example to His initial point that they were justifying themselves before men, but that God knows the heart. Before we jump in here to this, I know divorce can be a touchy topic, especially in our culture where the divorce rate is almost half of all marriages. As we look at what Scripture says on this, it isn't to point fingers at you or anyone else, this is simply the section of Scripture we happen to be in and we're looking to grow in the Lord and understand His word. Everyone Who Divorces Jesus makes a clear claim that everyone who divorces and marries another is committing adultery. As we look at this, we have to take this in context to the rest of Scripture, because far too often it's verses like these that get used as weapons and chains of captivity and that is not the heart of God here. God never intends for His word to be weaponized to keep people captive in abusive relationships. We get more insight into what Jesus said on divorce in Matthew 19 where it says, And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.” (Matthew 19:3-9) Paul also spoke to divorce details in 1 Corinthians 7, with the instruction that divorce shouldn't happen, but that if a believer has an unbelieving spouse who will not stay married to them, let it be so and let the unbelieving spouse leave. What we need to remember here is that in the whole context of all these verses is the same thing – these are issues of the heart. Remember in Matthew 5 where Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:27-28) As we look at what Jesus has said about adultery and divorce, we need to remember the true issue of the heart here because that's where the Pharisees were going wrong, was justifying sins of the heart with a perspective of having purity of the body. Divorce Exemptions In the days of Moses and beyond, divorce became an option that was deemed acceptable as long as proper protocols were followed, such as a certificate of divorce. Yet God doesn't want what He joined together to be separated by man. Now in light of the verses in Matthew 5 that talks about anyone who looks at someone with lust commits adultery, there honestly aren't many marriages in which a spouse hasn't committed adultery then because lusting in the heart is such an unseen thing. The ultimate ideal would be repentance and reconciliation, whether committed with only the heart or also with the body. But if sexual sins are committed, these are where the exemptions come into play. It is gracious of God though, to expressly word exemptions such as sexual immorality or an unbelieving spouse leaving. Otherwise, there would be people who stay in abusive relationships with their spouse habitually cheating or watching pornography or in sexual abuse or the like, and that's not the purpose of God saying He doesn't want divorce. In an ideal world, people would get married, have a perfectly blessed marriage, never battle with sexual sins, and be married till death parts them. But we don't live in a perfect world and God, in His knowledge and grace and mercy and love, fully understanding the mental, physical, and emotional limits of our humanness when a spouse commits these sins against us, gives a way out in those extreme circumstances. The Heart of the Matter The main reason the topic of divorce and adultery came up as an example was because the Pharisees had been justifying sins and exalting among men what is an abomination in the sight of God. They took things like marriage, given in the Garden of Eden at the beginning of time, and they perverted it. They allowed divorce for little to no real reason at all and then justified themselves before men, when all along God saw their hearts were hard. When it comes down to it, the whole purpose of bringing up divorce was to point out the wrongful exaltation of sin and justification of it. Whether you're single, married, or divorced, – the underlying lesson remains true and can be applied across the board and is the lesson Jesus is teaching here in these verses; don't exalt and justify among men what is sinful in the sight of God.

The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him. And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God. “The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it. But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void. (Luke 16:14-17) Jesus had just told quite a few parables about the kingdom of God, God's heart and perspective, that we can go astray and how much joy it brings God when we repent, and that we cannot serve God and money – really hitting home that the issues of sin are a heart issue, not a ‘how good you can act outwardly' issue. And even after all that, it says that the Pharisees ridiculed Jesus. Hearts Motivation The text gives us context here as to why the Pharisees ridiculed Jesus and it was because they were lovers of money. They had just been told by Jesus that they cannot serve God and money and since they were lovers of money, it apparently hit close to home and they didn't like it, so they ridiculed Him in response. That word “ridiculed” in the Greek means to scoff, deride, or turn up the nose at. This wouldn't be the last time they do this to Jesus either. The next and only other time this Greek word is used is in Luke 23:25 during Jesus' crucifixion where it says, And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” Unfortunately, the ridicule or scoffing over the truth that one cannot serve God and money would continue to drive the scoffing at the cross as Truth Himself looked back at them as He died to offer them redemption of their souls. Hearts Revealed It's pretty cool to notice here that Jesus didn't react with an outburst of upset when they ridiculed Him, He responded again with truth that got to the heart of the matter – their hearts. Jesus, who we know doesn't look at the outward appearance but looks at the heart, told them a few poignant truths about themselves: They were justifying themselves before men, God knows their hearts, and what was exalted before men is an abomination before God. These were undoubtedly hard things to hear, but Jesus told them for their benefit because He loved them. Yet, the specific things that Jesus pointed out were bound to cause one of two responses – either, pushing away due to a prideful heart or drawing near due to a humble and repentant heart. And these are the responses we get to choose from when faced with things Jesus tells us too - push God away or draw near to Him. The Law Revealed As Jesus mentions the Law and Prophets, it would seem that He moved into a whole new topic but in actuality, He's still on the same topic. All of this is in context to the heart and the fact that in our flesh we seek to justify ourselves before men, but that God knows our hearts. Jesus mentioned the Law and Prophets right before mentioning that the good news of the kingdom of God had been preached. The Pharisees didn't exactly put this together, not realizing that the Law and Prophets all spoke of Him, but this is what Jesus is telling them. And He adds that everyone forces his way into it – this is speaking of the misunderstanding of the Law and Prophets and thinking that outward observance of the Law would save them. As the people read/heard the Law and Prophets, they had a desire for their Messiah to come set them free physically from their captivity under the Romans, not really understanding that He would come to set them free spiritually from their sin under death. When Jesus came and John the Baptist had made straight His paths, they both preached repentance and that the kingdom of God had come. But the people tried to force their misaligned perspectives into the mix and even used that as a reason to justify to themselves and others that Jesus wasn't their long-awaited Messiah, as they continued to try to force their way into it. Yet, Jesus was reaffirming that He would indeed fulfill the Law when He said that it would be easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void. Jesus knew His calling and mission, and nothing was going to deter Him from it. Our Response Remember those two responses that were mentioned when Jesus points out specific heart issues? We read that the Pharisees pushed away, staying prideful and justifying themselves before men, but it doesn't have to be that way for us. We can learn from their mistakes and when God puts these hard truths in front of us to face, we can draw near to Him with a humble and repentant heart, ready for Him to cut that out of our hearts and mold and shape us more into His image. For the Pharisees, there were the things of their day that was exalted among men that was an abomination in the sight of God. But what about in our current day? These are issues like the sanctity of life and marriage – that abortion is murdering a child and that marriage between anyone other than one man and one woman is perversion of the institution of marriage that God designed. These are issues like exalting loving self, money, and attention of others – all of which are selfish endeavors that lead to emptiness and lead us astray from the relationship God desires to have with us. The list of things that are exalted among man and are wrong before God is honestly too long to list here, because we live in very evil days. We live in a sinful world which has had thousands of years to pervert the perfectness that God created everything in. BUT if we are making it a habit to sit still in the presence of God and know Him, then we will make it a habit to be holy as He is holy, and not exalting worldly ideals which are an abomination in His sight. So then, the question becomes – in our hearts, do we WANT to justify ourselves before men and exalt those types of things before men or not? It is often times much easier to live that way because it puts us in the driver's seat of life, which our pride loves, and prevents any conflict with those in the world if we just go with the flow, even if it's an abomination in God's sight. But we all know that's not right because the Holy Spirit convicts the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgement (John 16:8), but we have to stand up for and act on what we know is right and not just know it in our head and keep it to ourself. If God is convicting your heart on something – maybe you've been justifying yourself, keeping quiet on things that aren't right in God's sight or maybe even going along with them, or possibly like the Pharisees you've been serving money. I'm not here judging or condemning you, but I whole-heartedly encourage you to take some time to ask God to search you and reveal anything that's not been pleasing to Him. And if He brings anything to your attention, then resolve to stop, repent, and look up to serve God and do what is pleasing in His sight.

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. (John 15:13-14) In our walk with Jesus, we come to know and understand a profound truth – our freedom in Him is both a gift and in part a battle we continue to fight for. When we first encounter His grace and receive salvation in Him, we are liberated from the bondage of sin and death. It’s a moment of joy and relief as we realize that through Christ’s sacrifice, we are indeed set free. Yet, as we walk by faith, we soon learn that our freedom is not passive – it's free, it just costs the rest of our lives. Just as a nation must defend its freedom against external threats, we too must fight the demonic threats and temptations that come against us. The apostle Paul clearly describes this struggle: “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other” (Galatians 5:17). Our battle is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces that seek to ensnare and destroy us. Jesus has already won the ultimate victory over sin and death through His death and resurrection. His triumph on the cross secured our freedom once and for all. But the battles we face daily remind us that we live in a fallen, sinful world where temptation and trials are a daily thing. In these moments of struggle, we are called to remember the truth that sets us free – Jesus Christ. He is not only our Savior but also our source of strength and victory. Through Him, we find the ability to resist temptation, the wisdom to discern right from wrong, and the grace to forgive others and to seek forgiveness when we all fall short. The freedom we have in Jesus is not just a one-time event but a continuous journey of transformation and renewal. It requires discipline, prayer, and a deepening relationship with God. As we immerse ourselves in His Word and surrender our lives to His will, we experience the freedom found in the truth of His word. Jesus said, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32). Let us hold on tight to this promise, knowing that in Christ, we have the strength to overcome every single obstacle we face AND the assurance of eternal life in Him. As we celebrate our nation's freedom, let us never forget the freedom we have in Jesus. It is a precious gift that empowers us to live boldly, love deeply, and serve faithfully. May we continue to fight the good fight and run our race well, knowing that our ultimate victory is assured through Jesus who loves us and gave up His life for us.

[Jesus] also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.' And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.' So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?' He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.' He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.' Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?' He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.' He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.' The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings. “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” (Luke 16:10-13) The few verses above are the end to the section on the Parable of the Dishonest Manager, or rather the takeaway of the parable. The parable is about a rich man who had a manager that was wasting his possessions, so he called him to confront him and fire him. Being the dishonest manager that he was, and it notedly said he felt he was not strong enough to dig and ashamed to beg, he hatched a plan to short his now previous master of the debts owed to him by others. The Dishonest Manager The only thing the dishonest manager was commended for was his shrewdness. How sad that the only thing commendable about this man were his sharp-witted ways when it was used to prove his character and integrity was severely lacking. Being shrewd, or clever and sharp-witted may be deemed a good thing in the world's eyes, but when it's used for evil it's certainly not a good thing at all in the eyes of God. Take a look what God not only says about a false balance (or in essence, shorting what is due like what this dishonest manager did), but also look at the contrast to those who are upright before the Lord versus the prideful and crooked: A false balance is an abomination to the Lord,     but a just weight is his delight. When pride comes, then comes disgrace,     but with the humble is wisdom. The integrity of the upright guides them,     but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them. Riches do not profit in the day of wrath,     but righteousness delivers from death (Proverbs 11:1-4) Jesus' Conclusion: Now we can come up with our own conclusions and opinions about the dishonest manager, but really the only conclusion that matters is God's in this and He laid it out pretty clearly here for us. There are two aspects to this: You should be a faithful steward with what you've been entrusted with by God. If you can't be honest and faithful in handling a little, you won't be any better with a lot. When it comes down to it, our level of faithfulness is not dependent on how much or little we have to be faithful in. So, the hard truth is, if you've been waiting for God to bring something bigger and better along for you to jump in head first in serving, all while pretty much phoning in the smaller stuff He's already entrusted to you – it's not a problem with how much or little, it's a faithfulness problem. Now that's not to say you can't grow in this area, because you can. But again, having these heart check moments is so vital to our understanding of ourselves and where our hearts are at so that we don't get on auto pilot in the wrong direction. The reason Jesus mentions this goes beyond the physical here and is very much so spiritual when He said, “If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?” The truth is that we as followers of Jesus have works that God prepared for us to walk in, Ephesians 2:10 tells us that clearly, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” But if we're not being faithful to walk in them like we should, how can expect God to entrust more to us? Choose Only One At the very foundation of this all is the source of whom or what we serve. The dishonest manager was working in such a way that would enable him to have money even though he got fired for mismanaging his master's wealth. The driving motive was centered around money because that was the dishonest manager's god. But Jesus drew a solid line in the sand and on one side is God and on the other side is money/wealth/possessions. You cannot serve both God and money; you must choose only one. Jesus didn't even leave it at telling us we can't serve both, He went further to provide the rationale – because we'll either love one and hate the other or be devoted to one and despise the other. Could you imagine hating and despising God? The whole purpose of life would become meaningless in that case. It is clear here, that there is only one choice that doesn't lead to destruction. Mark 8:36-37 says, For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? Well we already read in Proverbs 11 that riches do not profit in the day of wrath, so that answers Mark, that it doesn't profit anyone anything to gain the world and the riches of it and no one can give anything in return for their soul – only the blood of Jesus Christ has the power to redeem our souls and that's not bought with money, it's given freely and received through faith. Serve God, Serve Faithfully All in all, this parable warns us and encourages us. It's a warning to not fall into the trap of serving money and to serve faithfully even in the smallest of things. And it's also an encouragement that if we're serving God and God alone, being faithful in the small, that we very well may be entrusted with more. Does that mean everyone who is faithful in a little is guaranteed to be entrusted with more? No, but as we've seen throughout our study of the Bible, God is most interested in our hearts. It's much better to be counted faithful even if we are only ever entrusted with little, than to be counted among the dishonest and faithless and even what we do have being taken. My encouragement to you today is, no matter how much ministry work and service you've been entrusted with, serve God faithfully in it today, tomorrow, and the rest of the days you have here on earth.

“Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.' But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!' And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.'” (Luke 15:25-32) The parable of the prodigal son continues and now we get to see the older son's perspective. Now the older son's perspective seems understandable from a human only perspective, but that is the point; we shouldn't be looking at things from a human only perspective, we should be looking at things from God's perspective. The Older Son's Anger The older son was in the field as his younger brother came home. This was undoubtedly because he was serving in the field, and as he approached home, he heard music and dancing and obviously there was some kind of celebration going on. Totally understandable to wonder what's happening but he ended up angry at the reason. The older son heard the words of the servant, but did he truly hear the heart of his father in what the servant relayed? By what we read, it seems that he didn't. Instead of hearing the father's heart that his younger brother has been found and everyone was celebrating that he was now home, the older son heard it through a jealous and selfish lens – that his reckless, disobedient brother was getting rewarded after blowing his half of their dad's money. His thoughts were instantly on himself. In that moment of selfishness, he felt it unfair that he never got even so much as a young goat to celebrate with his friends, but his dad just killed the fattened calf for his dumb little brother who had messed up. The older son missed the big picture and the purpose of the celebration altogether. James tells us for good reason to “be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (James 1:19-20). The Father's Entreat In the older son's anger, he refused to even go inside where the celebration was happening, yet his father came and met him where he was at and entreated him. How often do we get angry over something and decide to self-isolate and stew in our anger? It doesn't ever help, yet in our flesh that's a go to. However, our heavenly Father also meets us where we're at, even in our anger, and entreats us to come into his home and see things from His perspective, in which our anger would fade away in as we align ourselves with God. And even when the older son snaps back with his argument of fairness, the father spoke kindly to him, reminding him that he is always with him and shares in what he has always. Then his father spoke words to right that wrong perspective – the right perspective being that the celebration going on in the father's house was indeed fitting because the big picture was that his brother was alive and found. The focus was on celebrating where his brother was at currently, not condemning where he had blown it previously. Notice that even in the older son's anger, he tried to diminished his relationship when talking to his father when he said, “But when that son of yours came…” He didn't say his brother, he put space between him, which would make it easier to stay angry. It's much easier to try to justify our sin when we rationalize things, stay in our very narrowly selfish perspective, and create space and divide between us and other people we're angry at. But is that what God does? No, God does quite the opposite - while we were sinners, Christ came as one of us and dwelt among us and died for us. Instead of creating a divide, He bridged the gap between us that our sin had created. How We Respond The question we need to ask ourselves here is, do we respond like the older brother or like the father? Of course, our initial reaction is going to be to say we respond like the father, but it's worth taking the time to really think about this and be honest with ourselves because this type of thinking goes beyond this application and into other areas of our life. Are we joyful over things that the Father is joyful over? Or do others bring him joy while we scoff and get angry at what we deem unfair to us? Because if we can't be joyful over the smaller things that bring God joy in other people's lives, then the ultimate joy of the much larger thing of a person repenting isn't going to be any easier for us to share in the celebration of. When the older brother should have been joyful over his younger brother's return, he was jealous of the celebration. The older son didn't even stop long enough to realize that his father was already joyful in his obedience and being with him day in and day out. What a shame it would be to miss out on the joy our Father has in us if we're blinded by our anger and jealousy of His joy in one of our siblings in Christ's lives. Our heavenly Father wants to rejoice and celebrate WITH us over the good things in life. Even if that happens to be in the life of someone we have been hurt by, feel wronged by, or feel doesn't deserve God's warm welcome and celebration. Let's take our cues from our Father and rejoice WITH Him and the angels.

And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.' And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”' And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to celebrate. (Luke 15:11-24) This parable of prodigal son, which is fully covered in verses 11-32, but we're going to focus on the first portion of the verses and break this into two weeks. The father in this parable is our Heavenly Father, and we are the children. We tend to fall into one of these two categories – obedient and working according to the will of the Father or prideful and stumbling, having to hit rock bottom where our pride is shattered before returning to the Father. The Prodigal Son We don't see the word “prodigal” in the actual parable, it's how the header of that section is labeled, and it isn't necessarily a word most people use in everyday conversation, but the word means spending money or resources freely and recklessly or wastefully extravagant. Since this son asked for his father to give him his inheritance before he was technically entitled to it (because that would have been upon his father's death), he seemingly already had this sort of prodigal mindset. He wanted his portion of the wealth to go spend it and he did so not many days after receiving his portion of the inheritance. But because he took it and squandered it, he was left with nothing while his brother was still at home. Notice the big difference there – the son at home was daily in the presence of his father, both serving his father and enjoying all that his father had. But the prodigal son took what he had, wasted it away, and was now left with nothing. The world he had lived prodigally in took everything from him and gave him nothing in return, not even pig food when he was starving. Yet, in his lowest point, being a Jewish man sitting among unclean pigs and couldn't even eat pig food, looks up again to remember his father's goodness to his servants and longs to go home and serve. The Father's Response The prodigal son had already practiced his speech of acknowledging his wrongdoing and asking for forgiveness as he had repented and turned from the world back to his father's house. AND YET his father ran and embraced him as he welcomed his son home! He clothed him in the best robe, put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet and had a wonderful meal prepared to celebrate and share a meal together once again. Jesus tied this parable with the last two as He includes “he was lost, and is found”, and the immense joy the father had as he celebrated the return of his lost child. It may look like the father didn't acknowledge his son's confession since he went straight into telling his servants to bring the best robe, a ring, shoes, and killing the fattened calf. But the father was not only acknowledging the confession of his son, he was showing his son that he was not going to dwell on the mistakes the son had made, but instead rejoice in the fact that he was back home. This is much like our heavenly Father – when we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness, clothing us in the righteousness of Christ Jesus. He remembers our sins no more. And that word remember means to take action on something. So, to remember our sins no more means God is not going to take action in accordance to our sins. We have that safety and security in Him. He doesn't drag out our past and go through it with a fine-toothed comb, He clothes us in Christ's righteousness and wants to commune with us. God's mercy and grace are richly deep and it all comes from who He is – God is love. Our Response Can you relate to the prodigal son? Do you have regrets for the sins you've committed? Do you feel like God should only treat you as a servant and not a child of His? This prodigal son is pretty relatable, isn't he? But how wonderful that the parable didn't end with his prepared speech and a walk home! We get to see our Father's heart through the heart of the prodigal son's father. If you've spent time in the world and you've squandered away the good things you've received from your Father and are empty and broken now – it's not too late. There is no better time than now to go back to the Father and confess, knowing He will welcome you back with open arms and celebrate that you're home. And maybe you could relate to the prodigal son but you're already back home – that's amazing! Or maybe you can't relate to that prodigal living because you were raised in the church and started your relationship with Jesus early so you have been serving and enjoying the benefits of your Father's house all this time – that's honestly even better! We all have a testimony and it doesn't have to be one filled with huge regrets to be a powerful one. And regardless, we can all see the Father's response to repentance and rejoice with him, whether we're on the receiving end of the celebration or not. Every single person who repents is worth rejoicing over. When you hear of someone who was dead and lost being found and now alive, join the Father and angels in heaven, and rejoice in celebration!

“Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.' Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Luke 15:8-10) Jesus is on a roll with this as He continues on from the parable of a man who left the ninety-nine sheep to go after the one lost sheep and just rolls right into His next example of this concept – a woman who lost one of her ten silver coins. She searched until she found it and then called her friends and neighbors to rejoice with her. With the ultimate point being made again that there is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents. Everyone is Precious Notice this theme, that only one was lost, yet it was counted as precious and important enough to search for. The shepherd has lost one of the hundred and it was worth his time and effort to find it because it was precious to him. This woman lost one of ten coins and it was worth searching diligently for. Every single person is worth an immense value to God. So much so that He deemed them worthy to die for. This parable not only demonstrates the value people have to God, but the joy He has when they are no longer lost. There is a joy in repentance because repentance is a reconciliation between God and man, the reconciliation God paid the ultimate price of Jesus' blood to redeem. We might be tempted to look at lost people by the dirt they've accumulated on them by sin, but their value never changes in God's eyes. Jesus died for all of us while we were yet sinners – the sin that Jesus took on and became on the cross in order to redeem us wasn't a hinderance to His love and sacrifice. Just because not everyone will accept Jesus as their salvation, doesn't mean their value is any less in God's eyes – He still paid the price for their salvation whether they accept it or not. Lighting the Lamp In the first parable with the shepherd, it gave a clear picture of Jesus as our Good Shepherd, going out to seek the lost sheep. However, in this parable of the woman, it gives a clear picture of the church. The Church is likened to the Bride of Christ, and we are commissioned as members of His Church, to go make disciples. The Holy Spirit is also likened to oil in the Bible, being the oil in our lamps that lights the way for us, as the Word is a lamp unto our feet and a light to our path. Notice in this parable that the woman lights a lamp as the first act in searching for the lost coin. God's word is essential in being the first action of the Church in searching for the lost. We can't be lights of the world if we don't first spend time in God's word, individually and corporately together as a church body. Sweeping the House And after the woman lit a lamp, she swept the house. This, metaphorically, is effective in both our personal lives and in the ministry of reconciliation. We need to sweep the house of our hearts often. There can be dust bunnies hiding in places of our hearts that need to be cleaned out and make finding a lost coin much easier. Practically, if you had dropped a coin and it fell under a dresser, then when you shine a light, the dust is going to make it harder for you to see the coin because the dust may block some of the light from hitting the coin. In the same way, dust in our own spiritual lives can hinder the light as we search for the lost. Joy in Heaven This phrase that Jesus keeps using, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents, has more meaning than our current culture understands on the surface reading of this. According to William Barclay, a Scottish minister in the early 1900's, the religious rulers during that time, of which Jesus was primarily speaking to during this, had a saying, “There will be joy in heaven over one sinner who is obliterated before God.” How vastly different Jesus' words and the perspective of God is here! The Pharisees in essence had made sound bites glorifying destruction of sinners and attaching a false perspective that it was joyous to God. Yet Jesus is telling them that the truth of the matter is – it's the exact opposite. There isn't joy in heaven over the destruction of sinners, that actually hurts the heart of God; the truth is, there is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents. We must be careful as followers of Jesus to not have hearts like the Pharisees over the lost and sinners. We must remember from where we once came – we were lost, we are sinners, and just because we have accepted salvation and are saved by grace through faith in Jesus doesn't make us perfect people who can now judge the lost. Being saved makes us people with a testimony who can be very effective in reaching the lost because we were once there too. We have experienced the change of Jesus in our lives and can help others by bringing that good news of salvation to them and walking alongside them in discipleship. So that what was once lost can be found. And we should join with the angels of God in heaven in rejoicing over even one sinner who repents. That is a glorious thing when the reward Jesus died to pay for grows larger as His kingdom grows with each sinner who repents! Will you take time to be in the word, being the light Jesus told us to be, and sweep your house, and be the hands and feet of Jesus in diligently seeking that which is lost? Diligently seeking the lost does take time, it does take energy, but I can 100% guarantee you that it is well worth your time and energy and is more important than anything else you could do with your time.

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.' Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. (Luke 15:1-7) In our culture, it may be hard to understand this parable because not many of us understand having sheep. Most of us likely think of sheep as the dumb animals that literally need a shepherd to care for them or they'll die. But here we're given context to the owner of the sheep's perspective. If one sheep is lost, they leave the ninety-nine and go after the one lost sheep, rejoicing when it's found. It's very interesting here because Jesus is telling this parable to Pharisees and scribes, none of which would lower themselves to the status of shepherd, which was a rather low society job and a social outcast. Yet He is telling them a parable specifically with the shepherd's perspective. It was going to require the Pharisees and scribes to humble their perspective to understand God's perspective, that of a Good Shepherd. The Lost Sheep We already know God likens us to sheep. We may be smarter than animals, but in light of God, we're dumb like sheep. We get into all sorts of trouble and we NEED our Shepherd to guide us, lead us beside still waters, restore our soul, anoint our heads with oil, and literally step by step take care of us through life. We are completely dependent on Him for eternal life and should be completely dependent on Him for all our needs on this side of eternity too. We all go astray at times, but God is faithful to go after us when we do. Notice that when the sheep is found, it is laid on the shoulders of the shepherd, as the shepherd rejoices. There are times of going astray and it takes its toll on us. God doesn't just find us and poke and prod us with the shepherd staff, He picks us up and carries us home. We are close to Him, hearing His voice once again, and being carried to a place of safety. The Joy of Repentance And look at that heavenly scene Jesus describes – that there is joy in heaven when a sinner repents! Jesus makes a clear point here, but it can be easily looked over. He says there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. Now this requires realizing that there will only be one righteous human being in heaven who never needed to repent, and that person is Jesus Christ. We know that all have sinned and fallen short and all need to repent in order to receive salvation in Jesus and stand righteous before God. So, then what is Jesus saying here? Jesus is emphasizing the point that repentance is highly important and joy inducing, even among the angels in heaven. Repentance is required to enter heaven; therefore it is important and therefore it induces joy because that means that Jesus gets one more person whom He died to redeem. Jesus gets more of the reward He died to pay for and that is a joyous thing! The prideful Pharisees and scribes who thought of themselves as righteous before God in and of themselves were faced with this truth – that even if they were able to be completely righteous by themselves, God's joy and delight is in the sinner's repentance. Jesus spent time telling the Pharisees and scribes again and again that they weren't all that and a bag of chips to help them see and understand their need for salvation in Him, to understand what their Law had been saying all along. Repentance was always part of what God was saying to them through the Law and Prophets, but they refused to acknowledge it. They instead sought to create their own self-righteousness that would never truly be righteous before God at all. And on the other hand, the tax collectors and sinners who had drawn near to hear heard the good news of repentance. They would have already felt like the lost black sheep of Israel, but the good news that God had come to seek and save the lost was stirring hearts to repentance. Where Are You? Where are you at in the fold of God today? Are you part of the herd, eating up the Word of God with your fellow sheep, listening to the voice of the Good Shepherd? Or have you wandered off alone – maybe you haven't even taken the time to look up and realize that you're lost? Take a personal pause today and look up – if you see your Shepherd and you're among the sheepfold being guided by the Shepherd, keep going in that right direction. If you realize you're alone and lost, call out to the Shepherd now and know that He will find you and carry you back home. Your wool might be a bit overgrown over your eyes and you may be a bit parched and thin depending on how long you've been away, but your Good Shepherd will cut away the wool that's been blinding your sight and get you settled back in with your fellow sheep. Eat up the Word of God and let your Good Shepherd restore your soul.

“Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Luke 14:34-35) Jesus warned about the consequences of not continuing in a distinctive lifestyle of following Him, which He likened to salt that lost its flavor. This analogy illustrates a really important concept of maintaining ourselves in Christ in order to be useful in the mission of Christ. Salt Is Distinct Salt is distinct – it adds flavor, it preserves, and it purifies. BUT, if it loses its saltiness, it is ineffective and therefore useless. You know how you can cook up some food and it just tastes bleh, but when you add salt, it's a night and day difference in the flavor? We are called as followers of Jesus to be distinct, to stand out from the world; we are to be the salt that brings that night and day difference to a world that's spiritually devoid of the flavor of Christ. Salt has a unique effect, simultaneously causing a wonderful flavor while creating a desire for water. If we are being salt, we will be a wonderful flavor to a bland world in need of Jesus and they will in turn desire the water of the Word to quench the thirst we've helped create as salt. Salt Must Be Pure If we allow the saltiness of our faith to be corrupted or transformed into something else altogether, we lose our distinctiveness as salt – we lose our distinctiveness as followers of Jesus. All of our actions, our character, our integrity, all that we say and do, should all reflect Jesus. If we start mixing in the world's values like a spice mixture with our salt, then we're no longer distinctive because we'd be something else entirely, having been conformed by the world instead of transformed by the renewing of our minds. That in turn results in losing effectiveness in sharing the message of the gospel. Quick example - If you had a sore throat, we'd all agree that gargling salt water is a great method of helping your throat heal. But what if you replaced that salt with taco seasoning, would you still want to gargle with that? That sounds crazy, right? Taco seasoning has salt mixed with a lot of other seasonings and it would not be effective in treating a sore throat like pure salt water does. In the same way, if you're mixing with the world, it's like offering a throat gargle as taco seasoning and it's useless to the one with a sore throat. But Jesus took this even further because He said that if salt has lost its saltiness, it's of no use and is thrown away. A flavorless salt is completely worthless because it doesn't serve any purpose at all whatsoever. If one loses their essence of Christ-likeness in the way that salt loses its flavor, they're not of any use in advancing the kingdom of God. Maintaining Saltiness If we want to remain useful and spiritually flavorful, we have to preserve the flavor of our faith by growing in our relationship with Jesus. This goes back to the words Jesus spoke from last week's devotional – deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Jesus. This is an abiding relationship full of prayer, His word, and living a sanctified life obedient to Christ. This is living set apart, being distinctive in our faith, and being the genuine salt to a world so desperately in need of the flavor of Jesus. In light of this, let's maintain our saltiness by being in the word, in prayer, and obedient to God so that we will be useful in bringing taste, preservation, and purity to a world in need of Jesus, impacting lives and glorifying God through our distinctive Christ-likeness that makes others thirst for the Living Water!

Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.' Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:25-33) As believers walking in our faith, we are called to love God above all else. This is literally the essence of the first commandment, to put God above everything in our life. But following Jesus is not without its hardships. It demands a radical devotion to Christ that surpasses even our deepest earthly relationships. As disciples of Christ, we are called to bear our cross and follow Him wholeheartedly. The Cost Jesus Himself spoke very clearly about the cost of discipleship. He said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26). These words may initially sound harsh, but it speaks to the depth of our commitment to Him. Being a disciple of Jesus means prioritizing our relationship with Him over every other relationship, even our closest family and friends. It doesn’t mean we don't have love for our family; instead, it redefines it in light of our love for Christ. Jesus must occupy the throne of our hearts, with no rivals for that seat. Choosing to follow Jesus demands a willingness to let go of anything that might hinder our devotion to Him. This could mean letting go of certain goals in life, worldly possessions, or even our own human comforts. It’s about surrendering all that we are and all that we have at the feet of our Savior, Jesus. The Path Following Jesus isn’t an easy path, but it is the best path and only path that leads to eternal life. It may lead us down places we never thought we'd go, and it may take sacrifices that are extremely difficult in being obedient to God. Yet, through it all, there is a deep joy in walking in His footsteps and being refined through what we face, knowing it's producing good things in us. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (Matthew 16:25). And we can know and take comfort that our Good Shepherd is leading us down paths of righteousness for His Name's sake. And even when we are walking through the valley of the shadow of death, we don't have to fear because He is with us! (Psalm 23) Your Identity To be a disciple of Jesus is to identify with Him completely. It’s about taking up our cross daily and following Him, regardless of the cost. There is no identifying with Him in the resurrection without identifying with Him in the cross. When Jesus was on earth, He followed the Father's will perfectly even when it led Him to the cross to pay Himself as the sacrifice for us. To identify with Christ is to wholly embrace His teachings, His example, and His mission as our own. Paul reminded the Romans about this identity when he said, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (Romans 6:3-5) Our identity in Him isn't just here on earth, it's in heaven before our heavenly Father, in which we'll one day live forever with Him if we choose to follow Him now! The Finish Another important note here in Jesus' examples of building a tower and going to war, is that the end result is the most important. There are many people who started their walks with Jesus coming out of some really bad things – drugs, alcohol, violence, sexual immorality, the list could go on and on. But in Christ, His sacrifice covers all of it. How awful it would be to start following Jesus after hearing the good news of the gospel and then fall away and not reach the end with Him! In walking in our identity in Christ and pushing on in Him even when it's hard so that we make it to the finish line well, we should do as Paul did when he said, “I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.” (Philippians 3:13-15) So, let's listen and obey the call of our Lord and Savior – love Him above all else, in carefully counting the cost of discipleship, follow Him wholeheartedly, and find our true identity and our ultimate purpose in nothing but our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.