Jim’s Blog

  I read an interesting article recently about the decline of Saudi Arabia and the rise of Israel as a geopolitical partner of the UAE and Bahrain. This is no surprise to me as someone who lived in Jerusalem for seven years.   The plight of the Palestinians, although the “poster boy” of the Arab […]

Key Verse: Matthew 16:16 “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” In chapter 16, Jesus asks His disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” And the answers were predictable. “Some say John the Baptist, others said, Elijah, some said Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you, […]

Key Verse: Matthew 15:28 “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” This is a strange story, to say the least. It’s a story of a Canaanite woman whose daughter was demon-possessed, who came to Jesus crying out for mercy that her daughter might be healed. Apparently she was […]

Key Verse: Matthew 14:27 “Be of good cheer! It is I, do not be afraid.” Matthew takes a moment to tell us about Herod and his beheading of John the Baptist, then he gets into the remarkable miracle of the feeding of the five thousand. Jesus, who was involved in a very people-intensive ministry, seemed […]

Key Verse: Matthew 13:11 “It has been given to you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven…” In this chapter Jesus tells one of His better-known parables, that of the sower. Most parables have only one point and they generally make it well. The major point of this one parable comes in the […]

Key Verse: Matthew 12:8 “For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath” This is the first of what are known as the Sabbath controversies in the gospels. On this occasion, Jesus’ disciples were picking some heads of grain and eating them as they walked through some grain fields on the Sabbath day. […]

Matthew 5 The New Law vv. 17-20 (Part 2) Jesus proclaimed the “springtime” of God’s dealings with Israel after a four hundred year drought of hearing from the Lord. His “green leaf” message had full regard fro the ancient stock and vine of the Law and the Prophets. Indeed, as he put it, “Do not […]

Key Verse: Matthew 11:28 “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” In this chapter, we have two contrasting sides of Jesus’ ministry portrayed. First of all, He very bluntly and directly condemns Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum, cities that were not repenting of their sin, not […]

Key Verse: Matthew 10:34 “I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” In this chapter, Jesus sends out His twelve disciples. It’s the first time He has invested them with a ministry responsibility and it’s not difficult to see that He recognizes their greenness, their newness at this huge task of world evangelization. […]