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From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him, "You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God." (John 6:66-69)Jesus had preached a sermon so demanding and so hard that people were evacuating His audience in droves. Jesus knew even His own disciples were contemplating abandoning ship. Jesus pierced their hearts with an arrow when He queried, "Do you want to leave...

Then the master called the servant in. "You wicked servant, " he said, "1 canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you? " In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. (Matthew 18:32-34)Jesus said there was once a very rich king, and there was a man who owed the rich king the sum of one million dollars. As the law carefully stipulated, it was time for the king to...

Is not God in the heights of heaven? And see how lofty are the highest stars! (Job 22:12) Our great God has shrunk in the minds of modem Christians. He has become a dwarf rather than a giant. We get to thinking that He is too blind to see our stark misery, too deaf to hear our painful entreaties; His arms are too short and too weak to save us. I want to ask you: How big, how tall is your God? Have you squeezed Him into some tiny corner of your soul, or does He rule and reign on...

Do your best to come to me quickly, for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica, Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. (II Timothy 4:9-10) We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6)Take an ordinary coffee cup and simply turn it over. When you do, you accomplish three definite, different tasks: One, you make it empty of its contents. Two, you make it awfully dark inside. Three, you...

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? (Mark 8:35-36)I've heard the story told that when Charlemagne (Charles the Great) died in 814 AD, the world seemed to stand still. Europe as you see it today remains the scattered fragments of his once invincible empire. When this proud monarch died, they carried him into his regal sepulcher and placed him on a priceless throne of ivory, gold and...

The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (II Corinthians 4:4)Today's modern person is suffering from an identity crisis. Housewives are weighing whether to work out of the home and be a breadwinner or stay home and be a mom, or both. Businessmen are torn between the busy demands of the office or company and the needs of their families. Teenagers don't know whether to follow the world or the church, or both. People at work...

So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? (Matthew 24:44-45)Once upon a time, a man shipwrecked on a desolate island. As he staggered ashore, he was met by a group of natives. Expecting to be killed, he was shocked when the natives expressed to him that he was a very lucky man. They had a rule...

If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.(Matthew 18:8-9)I remember a preacher telling this story. He said a famous evangelist was preaching at a large western university....

Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these? " "Yes, Lord," he said, "you knoyv that I love you," Jesus said, "Feed my lambs. "Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me? " He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. " Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep. " (John 21:15-16) The silver morning mist arises from Galilee, as we see Jesus speaking to His disciples after His resurrection. Jesus looks at Peter and three times asks, "Do you love Me more than these?"...

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. Jesus wept.(John 11:33, 35) When our Master saw Mary and Martha weeping over their dead brother Lazarus, He began to bathe His face in briny tears. His heart was broken because their hearts were broken. Some have suggested that the only reason Jesus cried was that He knew if He called Lazarus back to life, He would be calling a man to leave a perfect Heaven for a valley of tears called earth. Maybe. I think...

Be careful not to do your "acts of righteousness" before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.(Matthew 6:1)"I'd go to church and serve the Lord but there are too many hypocrites in the church!" You've never, ever heard that one before? Sure, there are hypocrites in the church and maybe that's exactly where they ought to be. We've said it many times: "The church is not a hotel for saints; it is a hospital for sinners." I know of a church that has a huge sign at its...

For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.(I Corinthians 3:11)And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.(Matthew 16:18)Who is the foundation of the Christian Church? Certainly not man. Not rules or traditions. Not even the Holy Spirit or God the Father. Certainly not Mohammed, Buddha, Joseph Smith or any other earthling. We have sung before: "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest...

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. (I Timothy 6:17)Jesus had more to say about money than He said about Heaven and hell put together. Money is the second most talked about subject in the Bible. Nearly one half of his 37 parables are about stewardship and money. One out of every six verses in the Gospels is about money so, if God wants us to talk...

Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. (Isaiah 55:1-2)Guy de Maupassant's story, "The Necklace," tells the tragic story of a girl named Mathilde. Invited to an exclusive and elegant dance, she borrowed a most costly necklace from a rich friend. The necklace...

Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you? " (Luke 12:13-14)In this scene, our Lord is masterfully teaching, as no one else can, when all of a sudden a raspy voice interrupts, "Lord, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." Our Lord refused to get involved when He said, "Who made me a referee between you and your brother?" Jesus was saying that to get involved over something so useless would be a waste of everyone's...

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:22-23)We sometimes start believing that because everything else in our culture has changed, maybe God has changed. Maybe the Bible has changed. Truth is: nothing important has changed. The wages of sin is exactly the same today as it was in the Garden of Eden. That is death. Sin still...

"This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many, " he said to them. "I tell you the truth, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God." (Mark 14:24-25)Jimmy Davis, the former Governor of Louisiana, used to sing an old country western hit, "Come home. Come home. It's supper time." The gist of the song is recalling the days of his youth, when evening would come and the shadows were lengthening fast and his mother would step out on the...

We love because he first loved us. (IJohn 4:19)This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (IJohn 4:10)One version of an often-told story goes like this: A man named Ed had restored his MG sports car to perfection. He had carefully and, at great expense, restored it to showroom condition. He washed and polished it often and fussed over it like a restless mother hen fusses over her chicks. One day Beth, his wife, had to run an errand and her car wouldn't start...

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)Jesus, in His final hours of passion leading up to His death, suffered every known kind of pain: physical, mental and spiritual. No other could suffer nor has suffered as He did. In the realm of bodily pain there are five types of suffering: 1. Concussion - caused by being violently hit or beaten by a bloodthirsty mob.2. Laceration - when the flesh is cut...

And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.(II Timothy 2:2)Jesus is the Great Mathematician! He invented multiplication. Here is His simple plan for planet earth: "Somebody told you, now you are to tell somebody else, and that somebody else is supposed to tell others." Jesus wants you and me and everybody to be a personal evangelist. There are three reasons I want to get in on His multiplication plan.1. My life belongs to God. We call it "my life," but it isn't...