 Devotional – Wednesday, June 29, 2022“But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7:14, NLT)
Jesus warns his listeners that the path that leads to eternal life in heaven will often be a lonely one. While many people believe in heaven and even wish to find themselves there one day, fewer are those who actually find the gate that will lead them onto the only path that will take them there. And of those who find the gate, there are many who will turn away in an attempt to find an alternate route. Why is that? Because entering through the gate requires the surrender of all of our ‘rights’ and coming under the authority of Jesus. It requires a level of humility that does not come naturally to us as human beings and an acknowledgement that we need God.
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 Devotional – Wednesday, June 22, 2022“If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you.” (Matthew 7:11-12a, NLT)
 Devotional – Wednesday, June 8, 2022“You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.” (Matthew 6:24b, NLT)
Vacations…leisure…the latest fashion…toys…tools…electronics…‘stuff’ of all shapes and sizes . And it’s all available to anyone who has enough money to pay for them or has good enough credit to borrow the money in order to obtain the objects of one’s desire. Not having money on the other hand is an unenviable position for anyone to find themselves in. Having no money means living without things, sometimes even those things that are necessary to sustain life, let alone provide for ‘quality’ of life. No wonder money can have such a strong pull on us as the human race. It is an unavoidable part of our every day, no matter what our currency. HOPE CHAPEL - Sunday, June 5, 2022Youtube link... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWWMa99nQkw
Teaching Series - “Doing Life with Jesus" Weekly Topic - “What Masters You?” Texts – Matthew 6:19-34 Let’s dive right in and read the portion of Jesus’ teaching we are going to use to examine ourselves against, today. Are we doing life with Jesus…or will we find many of our efforts misplaced? Matthew 6:19-34, NLT “19 “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. 21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.  Devotional – Wednesday, June 1, 2022“How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.” (James 2:18b, NLT)
Have you ever noticed how some verses appear to contradict one another? In Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, he instructs people to ‘let your good deeds shine out for all to see’ (Matthew 5:16), but then turns around and instructs his audience ‘don’t do your good deeds publicly’ (Matthew 6:1). Isn’t he contradicting himself? Not when we view each of these statements in their context. Upon closer inspection we can see that Jesus isn’t actually addressing the topic of good deeds as his main subject, but rather our motivation for doing them.  Devotional – Wednesday, May 25, 2022“Better to have little, with godliness, than to be rich and dishonest.” (Proverbs 16:8, NLT) Solomon’s proverb about the benefits of godliness over dishonesty, I suspect, are lost on many…especially in light of the having ‘little’ versus being ‘rich.’ In our day and age, it might be difficult to find a group of people who place this high value on honesty or other forms of godliness if it means potentially going without material goods. However, even without the prospect of potential riches, I find that the godly trait of honesty is in short supply.  Devotional – Wednesday, April 27, 2022“God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven.” (Matthew 5:11-12a, NLT)
One of the rules for public speaking is that you should try to get your audience’s attention with an attention getter—a joke, funny story or interesting fact. Well, when Jesus began his now famous ‘Sermon on the Mount,’ he began with a doozy of an attention getter…or rather a list of ideas that just didn’t sound right to his audience. Can’t you just hear the buzz that Jesus’ beatitudes would have created?  Weekly Devotional – Wednesday, April 20, 2022“Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.” (John 15:4, NLT)
Jesus used the metaphor of a vine, branches and fruit to describe the life of a Christ-follower—connected to Jesus and growing his fruit. It is a wonderful metaphor for those who understand how very crucial it is for the branches of a plant to remain connected to the vine. It is through the vine that the branches receive everything they need to stay healthy and grow fruit; however, if a branch is broken off it will die.  Weekly Devotional – Wednesday, April 13, 2022“Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him—but some of them doubted!” (Matthew 28:16-17, NLT)
Matthew records a curious fact about Jesus’ closest disciples, those known as the apostles. Jesus is about to return to heaven after having resurrected from the dead and having appeared to various individuals over the course of forty days. What is curious? Some of them doubted! How is that possible? After everything they have seen and learned and done, not everyone was 100% convinced.  Devotional – Wednesday, April 6, 2022“Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey—riding on a donkey’s colt.” (Zechariah 9:9, NLT)
How do you recognize a king? His crown? His secret service entourage? His royal insignia? In Jesus’ case, none of the above. People recognized that Jesus was king by what he was riding—a donkey’s foal. Wait…what? A donkey? Shouldn’t he have at least been on a warhorse—big, bold and covered in armour? Nope! |
