Tag Archives: words of Jesus

It’s time to get moving! (Matthew 4:19) January 6, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Psalms 1-2

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 4:19
Jesus: Come, follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Jesus doesn’t use a lot of words when a few clearly spoken will do. His command to Simon Peter and Andrew are just one example. “Come, follow Me.” He also tells them the task He will give them when they obey His command. I’ll not just make you fishermen, but I’ll let you catch a more important haul, men.

Jesus’ calling of these first two of His circle of twelve intimate disciples tells us something about how He calls not just them, but us. If we look at Jesus’ words we see how He calls each of us when we listen to His voice.

First, He says, “Come.” You can’t follow Jesus from afar. He wants you within arms reach. Trying to follow Him from a distance just doesn’t work. Remember the story of Elijah whining about his plight and God letting him hear His voice on the mountainside? Elijah didn’t hear God’s voice in the thunderstorm or in the earthquake, but in the still small voice he had to listen carefully to hear.

I learned a technique from my father many years ago that served me well with my children and in counseling and disciplining soldiers during my military career. When I really want someone to listen and hear what I’m saying, my voice gets softer, not louder. Our instincts are geared to put us into a fight or flight mode when we hear loud noises or aggressive actions from an enemy. So when we shout at someone or raise our voice in anger, the person on the receiving end no longer hears us. Their brain is getting into a fight or flight mode preparing to defend themselves. So I lower my voice and get you come close. I get you to almost strain to hear the words. I get you to listen instead of fighting against the words.

God does the same thing, but so much better. God cannot be defeated. He never fails and so has no need of defense. So when He speaks to us, He doesn’t need to scream at us to make us hear Him. That puts us in a fight or flight mode. Why would He want to do that? Instead, He whispers, “Come. Get close so I can talk to you. I have some things to tell you that I really want you to hear.”

See, you can’t be a disciple, a follower, a Christian from long distance. You just can’t hear what God has to say when you’re far away from Him. You need to snuggle up close so He can put His lips up to your ear and whisper His commands, His blessings, His thoughts to you. He wants you at His fingertips ready to talk to you all the time. He can’t do that if you’re not right there in His presence. So first, He says, “Come.”

The second thing Jesus told those crusty fishermen was, “Follow me.” When we come to Jesus, He won’t leave us alone. He won’t leave us where we are. God wants to change us. He doesn’t want to leave us in the state we live in now. He calls us to Him to transforms us, to make us over into the creation He wants us to be. And so He says, “Follow me.”

Jesus will take us into places that challenge us. Places that test us. Places that causes us to rethink how we approach others. Places that make us weep and laugh and stand in awe of Him and fall on our face in worship and lay prostrate before Him for our failures and thank Him for His strength in our successes. He will take us to places that transform us into His likeness and help us to understand love and mercy and grace. He will take us to the mountain tops and to the lowest valleys in our spiritual journey. And as we follow Him we will know sorrow and we will know indescribable joy.

Jesus tells us to follow Him because He knows exactly the path we must take individually to make us more like Him each day. He knows the transformation that must happen and just like a skilled surgeon, He knows each operation that He must perform on us and the order each must take place. And although some of them may be painful and the recovery from some of those operations might seem difficult and arduous, Jesus knows, as the Master Creator He is, exactly how to lead us along this path of life to make us the child of God each of us are meant to be.

Jesus also reminds us in His command to follow Him, that we never walk on that path alone. If we follow, it means we walk along with Him, not by ourselves. It means He is just ahead of us. I sometimes think about the point-man in a squad walking toward an objective on a battlefield when I think of Jesus’ command. Jesus is that point-man. I follow Him, but He is out front making sure the path is clear. Watching out for any booby-traps. Watching for enemy troops waiting in ambush. Jesus is right there with Me, but clearing the path ahead of me on my journey through life.

Finally, Jesus’ command tells us the task He gives Simon and Andrew as they follow. They will fish for men. I think, Jesus has a task for everyone. God gives each of us different gifts to build His church. Paul tells us some have the gift of teaching, some preaching, some hospitality, healing, speaking in different languages, and the list goes on. I think, Paul would say mathematics skills is a gift, or science, or IT skills, or prowess in a sport. All of these talents and skills can be used for God’s glory. The question is, how do we use the talents, skills, experiences, desires, gifts that God has given to us?

Jesus said, “Come, follow me, I have a job for you to do.” Have you followed close enough on the path to hear His task for you? He’s ready to talk, but He also keeps walking along. It’s time to get moving!

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Do it now! (Matthew 4:17) January 5, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Joshua 1-5

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 4:17
Jesus: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

The beginning of verse Matthew 4:17 tells us preaching became a part of Jesus’ work after Herod imprisoned His cousin John for reproaching him for marrying his current wife. The theme of Jesus’ messages were the same as John’s. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” But what did it mean for those who heard the message and for us as we hear His words?

If you look up the word repent in the dictionary, you’ll find two definitions, as you will with many words that come to us through scripture. As I’ve mentioned every day this year, Satan likes to twist and turn God’s word to meet his purposes rather than God’s so it shouldn’t be a surprise that we have twisted the definitions of words to make them mean something other than what the writers intended as they penned the words originally.

So, let’s start with that word repent. The two definitions are: 1. to feel sorry, self-reproachful, or contrite for past conduct; regret or be conscience-stricken about a past action, attitude, etc. (often followed by of):
He repented after his thoughtless act. And: 2. to feel such sorrow for sin or fault as to be disposed to change one’s life for the better; be penitent.

It’s the second definition that God’s message encompasses. Repentance doesn’t stop at feeling sorry or contrite for past conduct. It includes turning around and walking the other way. It means going the opposite direction. It means turning away from evil and walking toward good. It means letting go of selfish ways and grabbing hold of God’s ways. Repentance means so much more than just being sorry, regretting or conscience-stricken about the past. It’s about change.

John’s message, the message from the prophets, Jesus’ message as He walked alongside us, all pointed us to the same thing. Turn from your wicked ways. Stop in your tracks, do an about-face on the path you are taking and walk the other way. Walk toward God, not away from Him. See, there are only two directions you can go in life. You can walk toward God or you can walk away from Him. Repentance means feeling such sorrow over your past actions that you do something about it. You ask forgiveness of those things and then change!

Jesus’ message includes the why of repentance as well. We have always been this way, but it seems like we get a little worse with each passing generation. We all want to know the answer to the question, Why? We don’t want to blindly follow orders. We want to know what’s in it for us before we launch out on some new quest. We want to know why we should step out and make the investment or change our pattern of life before we do that about-face.

Jesus and those preachers before Him give us the answer. “…the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Maybe that doesn’t mean much to you today with all the sci-fi spectaculars that try to reduce the place of God in our minds. Movies try to diminish the role and our concept of God to some creature that planted us here from another galaxy as an experiment or an effort to save their race from extinction or some other movie plot a playwriter dreams up.

But for those Jesus spoke to who grew up around the temple and heard the words of God from His priests and prophets, they understood what it meant for the kingdom of heaven to be at hand. It meant judgment. It meant rewards for the righteous and punishment for the unrighteous. And those labels are determined not by man’s courts, but by God. Those definitions don’t change when we decide to change a definition to better suit what we think is fair or just. The definitions of righteous and unrighteous are determined by the Master of the kingdom of heaven. He alone will judge each person according to his or her deeds.

And the truth is found in Romans 3:23. All of us have sinned and failed in our futile attempts to reach God in His glory. We all fail the test. None of us are good enough to make it into the kingdom of heaven. But because of His love for us, He decided to use His power to put some of our DNA in Him and create Himself in human form and live alongside us for a while. He gave Himself up as a perfect sacrifice for our sins and paid the penalty for our sins so that we can approach Him in His glory.

None of us are good enough. But He is. None of us can do enough. But He did. None of us can offer the perfect sacrifice. But He is the perfect sacrifice. And His message to us is, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” There’s not much time. Do it now. 

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

You can’t get enough of God’s word (Matthew 4:10) January 4, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Genesis 4-7

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 4:10
Jesus: Get away from Me, Satan. I will not serve you. I will instead follow Scripture, which tells us to “worship the Eternal One, your God, and serve only Him.”

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

I believe Jesus faced his temptation in the wilderness as fully man. Yes, He was God, but I think while He lived alongside us, He showed us how to live in our humanness. So He set aside much of the power of His diety when He faced the problems we face from day-to-day. I think His emotions, His desires, His temptations were just as powerful as ours because He was fully human. His advantage with respect to temptation compared to the rest of us lies in the fact that He was not born of Adam’s seed. Born to a virgin mother, Jesus suffered and endured everything we do as humans.

That’s why Jesus’ words during this forty days of temptation are so important to us. This final barrage Satan throws at Jesus and His response give us a final victory cry that causes Satan to flee in defeat. These words from the mouth of our Savior gives us a powerful lesson in how to stand against the temptations that come our way. They are simple words, but if we will listen well, we, too, can stand in victory against the tempter.

Did you get it? Jesus said, “Get away from Me Satan. I will not serve you. I will instead follow the Scripture…” The point of this particular temptation focused on worship, but note that every temptation Satan threw in Jesus’ path, He answered with Scripture. Now, Jesus tires of Satan’s games and first tells him to go away, then tells him why. “I will follow the Scriptures,” Jesus tells him.

Those are important lessons for us as we begin this new year. If we could just remember those two lessons as temptations come, we would stay so far ahead in life, we would be awed by our spiritual progress. Let’s look at the first retort Jesus gives. How many times do we continue to dabble at the edges of wrong-doing before we seek escape? How often do we just get in Satan’s face and just tell him to go away when he comes with his cheap imitations of joy and pleasure?

If you’re like me, I have to admit I try to stand up to his temptations more often than I just tell him to go away. I think I can make it on my own strength and forget I have this all-powerful God that will push away the tempter when I call on his name. Or at least he will show me the exit signs so I can run away. Our problem is we fail to stop and call on him. Satan can’t stand up to Jesus and will leave or we will get the extra strength we need to get our legs in motion and get out of there.

God let’s us face those temptations, but He never abandons us to face them alone. The test comes when we decide what path we take. Will we yield to the temptation and sin or will we lean on God and live the more abundant life He wants us to enjoy. The secret to success over temptation comes in leaning on God. Using Scripture as Jesus did to rebuff him. Deciding every day as the day begins that you will answer every temptation the way Daniel did. He resolved not to defile himself with the kings food before the menu came. That’s how we should face the day. Resolve not to sin before the temptation comes, whatever temptation it might be. Say no to Satan before he shows up, then when he puts something in front of you, the answer has already been given. “No!” You don’t have to think about it. You’ve already answered Satan. Now that you’ve answered, lean on God to help you escape or drive Satan away.

The second important lesson from Jesus’ words, He said, “I will follow the Scriptures…” How many times do we get side-tracked with our denominational traditions or blinded by the “progressive” movements around us? We get hung up on something someone picks out of a single verse or two, take it out of context, and build a religion on it. Remember that God’s word doesn’t contradict itself. The concepts and precepts and principles of God are congruent. So when you take a verse or two out of context to prove a point, you may be doing just what Satan tried to with Jesus.

How do you overcome such twisting and turning of the Scriptures by the false prophets that spread so many lies and build so many religions of convenience? Know the Scriptures. Read them. Make them a part of you. Be like the Bereans of Acts 17:11 and search the Scriptures to see if what teachers and preachers say is true. Don’t even trust me. Look it up. Make sure what I and others say is consistent with God’s word. Look it up for two reasons. First, you’ll know if you are hearing the truth. Second, it gets you into God’s word one more time. You really can’t get enough of His word! Just remember to follow it when you read it.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Let God’s word keep you safe (Matthew 4:7) January 3, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Romans 1-2

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 4:7
Jesus: That is not the only thing Scripture says. It also says, “Do not put the Eternal One, your God, to the test.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Isn’t that just like the Devil to twist scripture to lure us aware from God? It has been said you can use the Bible to prove anything you want to prove. It even says in Psalms 53:1, “there is no God.” Of course those words are taken completely out of context and if you read the whole verse it says, “The foolish are convinced deep down that there is no God. There souls are polluted, and they commit gross injustice. Not one of them does good.”

There’s just a little bit of difference in what the foolish and arrogant might want to tell us and what God’s word really tells us. So, how do we escape the rhetoric and know what God really wants to tell us? How do we face the temptations that the Devil puts in our path when he uses things that sound so convincing and even uses scripture against us like he did with Jesus? After all, Jesus was and is God. How are we supposed to stand up against the Devil’s schemes when those times come?

The answers lay in doing exactly what Jesus did. Jesus knew the counterfeit message Satan tried to pawn off as truth because He knew the scriptures. He didn’t just sit in a pew at the synagogue every once in a while to appease His mother. He didn’t just attend church to feel good or let his neighbors know he was religious. Remember, He told the Pharisees they were religious but they wouldn’t make it to heaven unless they changed.

No, Jesus learned His Father’s words and wants us to do the same. We must spend time, reading and studying God’s word if we are to really know His word. Then we can know when the words we hear from those who would want to deceive us with parts of God’s word are the false prophets the early church leaders warned us against. We will know when someone is trying to tempt us to stray from the straight and narrow path God’s word gives us in this “progressive” world we live in by trying to use part of his word against us.

It’s like the way people quote Jeremiah 29:11. Yes, it says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Eternal, “plans for peace, not evil, to give you a future and hope—never forget that.” But many forget that the verse is in the middle of a letter written to the Jews exiled in Babylon. Jeremiah tells them in the letter, get use to Babylon. Plant gardens, start businesses, build houses, let your kids get married and enjoy your grandkids.

The rest of the letter tells the Jews that think God will rescue them from their exile that He won’t. Get used to their new country. Yes, God knows the plans He has for those Jews in exile, but their return to their homeland won’t come for another 70 years, just like He told them through the prophets. The exiles will have peace, but not in their land, in Babylon. The have a future and hope, but the next three generations will learn a new language, grow up in foreign country, integrate into the culture of the captors.

Then, and only then, will a small number of the Israelite return to their homeland to rebuild the destroyed temple and begin to rebuild their country. But not until 1948, when the United Nations gives them back their land after World War II will they govern themselves again as an independent sovereign nation. Jeremiah 29:11 is a great verse, I like it, but remember it’s context.

Satan tried to use some great verses with Jesus. He liked them growing up. He understood them when He disappeared in the crowds that tried to seize Him and throw Him over cliffs or wanted to stone Him because of the words He spoke or plotted to kill Him before the time His Father set for His sacrifice. Jesus understood the words Satan tried to use to tempt Him. But He was not about to let Satan use them inappropriately to lure Him away from the mission His Father had given Him.

Satan will try to lure us away from our mission, too. He will do whatever he can to get your mind away from the task God gives you to do. He will try to make you think God is not real. Remember Psalms 53? He will twist and turn God’s word and make his lies sound real, and the only way you will know the difference is to stay firmly connected to God.

Can I challenge you this year to not just skim through the Bible this year, but to really pick it up and make it a major part of your life? Can I challenge you to let passages sink into your heart until they become part of you? Don’t let your favorite verses be the only thing on which you meditate this year, but like Jesus, make God’s word a steady diet until you it devours you. Until it becomes a part of you. Until it transforms your mind.

Do what Jesus did when He faced temptation. Let God’s word keep you safe. 

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

No one else can do your job (Matthew 3:15) January 1, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Scriptures

Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Isaiah 1-6

see the whole year’s plan here

Matthew 3:15
Jesus: It will be right, true, and faithful to God’s chosen path for you to cleanse Me with your hands in the Jordan River.

Today’s Devotional

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Have you ever thought about those first words of Jesus recorded in the first gospel? Why wouldn’t He say something about His mission? Why wouldn’t He affirm John’s proclamation that He is God’s Son? Why wouldn’t Jesus use the opportunity to give a message of encouragement, a call to repentance, or some special revelation to the crowd gathered by the Jordan River that day? It was His perfect opportunity to set everyone right from the very start.

Instead, Jesus chose to share with his cousin, John a very special message designed just for him, but one that also speaks volumes to each of us. Listen to those words again as translated in The Voice, “It will be right, true, and faithful to God’s chosen path for you to cleanse Me with your hands in the Jordan River.”

What was the point of Jesus submitting to John’s baptism? From these words, it wasn’t for Jesus, but for John. Paul tells us Jesus was the perfect sacrifice for us because he lived life without falling to the temptations to which we so easily succumb. He was blameless before His Father. Faultless. Spotless. Without blemish. Sinless. He did not need cleansing or repentance to stand before His Father as a righteous individual.

What Jesus told John and us, though, is you have a mission. Your mission from the Father is to proclaim His word and to baptize, ritually cleanse through this outward sign of inward repentance that they will follow the will of God. Jesus went through the ritual of baptism to announce to the rest of the world He would follow the will of God. But He also told John through His actions, “You’re doing the job God gave you to do. Don’t stop. Keep it up. Even though I’ve arrived and part of your mission is to announce My coming, you mission isn’t over. Keep preaching the importance of repentance and the individual, outward proclamation of that repentance through baptism.”

I think Jesus has the same message for each of us. God has a chosen path for me and a chosen path for you. They look different. He has given each of us different skills, talents, experiences, and desires that direct us on the path He laid out for us. He did that because we are interdependent creatures. Some people like to think they are independent. They are not. No one knows enough or is skilled enough to enjoy life alone. Neither does God want us to be completely dependent. God created us to need each other. He created us to live in community and use the different skills He gave each of us so we can enjoy life in community. We corrupted His plan with that first sin in the Garden of Eden, but Jesus came to bring us back into alignment with God’s perfect plan.

Jesus also told John to cleanse Him with his own hands. I think that tells us to stay engaged. Don’t let anyone else do the job God gives me to do. I can only begin to imagine the blessing John received in baptizing God’s Son. I think about how I felt officiating at my children’s weddings and some of my grandchildren’s dedications, but those must pale in comparison to what John felt that day. But that was the mission God gave John.

When we carry out God’s plan for our life, though, we will have those John moments. I’ve had them praying with someone at an altar and watching them experience the forgiveness of their sins for the first time in their life. Sometimes that altar is in a church. Sometimes it’s at a chair in a home or a table in a coffee shop. Sometimes it was by a truck on a battlefield. But every time, the experience is overwhelming.

God gives each of us missions to perform. How appropriate for Jesus’ first recorded words in this first gospel of the New Testament to be directed to each of us, saying, “Get on with the work I’ve given you to do. No one else will do your job for you.”

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.