Mom Stories of the Bible
In celebration of Mother's Day, Pastor Thomas is joined by three...
God is faithful to keep His promises. As He orchestrates His plan and purposes throughout history, God proves His love for us as He hears our prayers and perfectly provides for us. As God reveals His answer to Zechariah’s prayer for a child, He reminds us all of His goodness.
The Gospel of Luke is the most detailed and comprehensive telling of the life and ministry of Jesus. It presents Jesus, the hero of the gospel, in every aspect: teacher, servant, healer, miracle worker, savior and king. A study of Luke’s gospel is to encounter the fullness of who Jesus is, leaving the reader with no choice but to make a decision: is Jesus your Lord?
The end of Jonah’s story reminds us of the danger of judging others as ‘unworthy’ of God’s grace. The truth is that we’re all sinners in need of God’s grace. The grace and mercy we receive through Jesus Christ should motivate us to want to share that good news with everyone around us, no matter our perception of them from the outside. Every person on earth is someone God desires to reach with His gospel. Will you go and tell who God is calling you to?
When we think about sharing our faith with others, it can be easy to assume some people aren’t ready to hear it. Maybe they don’t have an interest in spiritual things, or they’re even hostile to the idea of God. But in reality, we can never know what work God is doing in someone’s heart. The story of Jonah in Nineveh proves that the people who appear to be far from God might actually be ripe to hear the gospel. Jesus’ call to us to ‘go and make disciples’ isn’t limited to just the people WE think are ready to hear it. Our job is simply to be faithful to tell others - everyone - and let God do the work inside their hearts that only He can do.
In our lowest moments, where do we turn? As Christians, we’ll all experience times in life where God has our full attention. Jonah’s prayer from inside the belly of a fish is a picture of what humble submission to God’s plan looks like. In his time of distress, Jonah turned his heart to recognize that only God has the power to deliver us.
The story of Jonah is a picture of God’s mercy as He reveals His plan to reach people who are far from Him. His call to Jonah to bring His message to Ninevah is the same call Jesus gives every single Christian: go and make disciples of all nations. The times when we follow Jonah’s footsteps and run from God’s call, God’s mercy and grace is revealed as He pursues us, using often-miraculous means to transform our hearts to be more like His.
Simply put, Christians are people who follow Jesus Christ. Through his life and teaching, Jesus gave us both a model to follow and incredible words to live by. So how do we make sure that we’re following Jesus well in our day-to-day life? How do we follow Jesus in the midst of our work, family, hobbies, joys and struggles? As we look ahead to a new year, now is the perfect time to commit to following Jesus in every aspect of our lives.
Jesus is a king like no other. He is God Himself, yet humbled himself to be born as a baby. His purpose was to seek and save the lost through sacrificing Himself for our sin and brokenness. And because of His victory over death, we have a hope that can’t be shaken when we recognize Jesus as Lord.
Jesus was born into a world where people with power and influence weren’t interested in a new king. But God’s provision and protection of His Son to fulfill prophecy demonstrates to us that nothing will stop the plan of God from moving forward. When our own priorities and desires start to take the place of God in our lives, God still pursues us through the gift of His Son. He calls each of us to turn from sin and follow Him alone as we patiently await the day when He will come again as Lord of all to make all things new.
Tracing the family tree of Jesus reveals the incredible plan of God playing out across thousands of years. Along the way, we see the reality of humanity on full display including faithfulness, rebellion, obedience and dysfunction. Through it all, we see how God is fully in control, providing a perfect Savior in the most unexpected way: through submission and humility.
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