When things happen that don’t make sense to us; our natural response is to ask WHY? No doubt people in Jesus’ day must have asked similar questions, even the disciples. Our text presents several situations that may not at first make sense to us. We may ask why Jesus sent the disciples across Galilee? Why […]
A retreat is pulling back away from the busyness of life long enough to restore our energy. Someone once said, “If you don’t come apart to rest; you will come apart.” That is true both in our physical lives as well as in our spiritual lives. Jesus’ disciples had just completed their long team evangelism […]
A wise person once said, “The best thing you can learn about history is to LEARN from history so you do not repeat it.” Today we are going to learn about four sinful choices that King Herod made which led to a sin that haunted him the rest of his life. (Read text) Transition Herod […]
Someone has wisely said that Jesus’ last command ought to be our first concern. What was that last command? We find it in (Mark 16:15) “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” In our text today, Jesus sent out his 12 disciples on team […]
Wouldn’t it be disappointing if when you get to heaven you discovered a large room full of unopened packages that have your name on it? When you ask what they are, you are told they are things God had for you but because of your lack of faith, God could not give them to you. […]
What is faith? When I was a child, I learned a song that said: “Faith is just believing what God said He will do.” Though simple, that is a fairly good definition of faith. Hebrews 11:1 says “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” This verse tells […]
Each year in my home state of Michigan, USA at the county fair (similar to the Royal Show), they have an event called a tractor pull. In this event, the power of a tractor pulls against the power of gravity. Each tractor pulls a heavy sled. After each pull, more weight is added to the […]
This is an exciting story but it was a terrifying event for Jesus’ disciples as they battled that life-threatening storm. We are likely to face severe, terrifying storms in life as well. Transition As we work our way through this passage I want to point out ten reminders about the storms in life that can […]
The River Jordan supplies two large lakes. One, the Sea of Galilee, is full of fish and plant life. The other, the Dead Sea, has nothing living in it at all. It is stagnant and lifeless. Both lakes have the same source but only the Sea of Galilee has an outlet. In other words, it […]
In Jesus’ day, the life of a farmer was not easy. After the rains he used a wooden plow pulled by oxen to break up the ground. He broke up the clods with a hoe or mattock. Animal manure was his fertilizer. He scattered seeds by hand over the plowed ground. He then raked the […]