Jim’s Blog

The Sermon on The Mount (Matthew 5:1-7:29) The “Mount of Beatitudes” provides one of the most beautiful vistas in all of Israel. Beginning at the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, it slopes upward to a height about four hundred feet above the water. It is called a “mountain” but in fact is one […]

The DNA of Jesus’ Ministry (Matthew 4:23-25) The Galilee provided a doorway to the greater Roman province of Syria. Its territory essentially comprised northern Palestine, bounded by the Jordan river on the east, the Mediterranean ocean on the west, and the mountains of Lebanon on the north. From Mount Hermon, 10,000 feet above sea level […]

  No doubt our world is under adversity on an unprecedented scale. We’re all feeling it. Covid-19 has created stresses we never thought possible, not only in terms of threats to health, but also in terms of fragmenting, if not fracturing, our entitlements. Our freedom to move and interact is fraught with risk. We’re under […]

The First Disciples – Matthew 4:18-22 Like his cousin John , Jesus too had need of followers, or “disciples”. These were not “hangers-on” but leaders-in-the-making. Jesus knew that unlikely as they were they would nonetheless change the world. But, they certainly didn’t appear to be world changers. Indeed, the first four were two pairs of […]

Jesus’ Ministry Begins – Matthew 4:12-25 John the Baptist’s imprisonment precipitated Jesus’ “withdrawal” from Nazareth to Capernaum in the Galilee. The regional’s was known as “The Galilee of the Gentiles”, looks down upon by the citizens of Judea, but critical to international trade as it was on the trade route between Egypt and Damascus (called […]

Perhaps some of you have logged on to biblediscoverytv.com lately and joined a prayer time hosted by Rod Hembree. I’ve been cohosting twice a week.   The point is to pray for those suffering the direct or indirect impact of the Covid 19 pandemic.   As always, prayer meetings, whether in a church, a home, […]

Jesus Tested in the Wilderness – Matthew 4:1-11 Immediately after the Father had singled Jesus out as his “son”, Jesus was “led by the Spirit” into the wilderness for forty days of testing. This is often referred to as the “temptation” but the Greek suggests “testing”. Whereas “temptation” bears the nuance of being tempted to […]

  As we continue to reevaluate our lives, our values under deep assessment, it’s tempting to yield to “end of the world” thoughts. Not only is the world shut down but so is life as we’ve known it. Many of us feel lost without the former parameters of social, physical, emotional, and spiritual markers that […]

Jesus’ Baptism Matthew 3:13-17 The big question here is “Why?”. Why would the sinless Son of God intentionally submit to John’s baptism of repentance? Some commentators suggest it betrayed a dawning awareness on Jesus’ part that he was special. Others say he did so because he was anticipating a “word from Heaven”. Still others suggest […]