When Yoda attempts to train the prideful, impatient Luke Skywalker, Luke’s misconceptions about Yoda lead him to miss amazing things. Yoda warns him that you can’t judge things by their size. Jesus has similar instructions for his disciples. Can you heed the lesson of Jesus and let the small things become the things that teach us the most? Can you change your view of yourself and the things you feel you are owed? It’s the mark of maturity, humility, and a disciple.
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Peter’s confession marked him as a new man, but that was just a moment in time. What happens after that confession? How does it change us? For Peter, he still had a lot to learn. The road we walk when following Jesus is rarely comfortable and frequently far from what we’d expect. How do we trust Jesus’s plan when it’s so different from ours? Jesus lays out for the disciples, and for us, that every day is an excercise in faith.
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Who do you say I am? It’s the question we all have to answer. Just who is Jesus and what does it matter? Peter’s confession is a dramatic moment in Matthew’s gospel- a turning point. But the confession doesn’t just acknowledge who Jesus is- it marks Peter too. The confession forever changed Simon and marked him with a new name and a new responsibility.
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Have you ever trusted your GPS only to end up completely lost? Few things will get you lost faster than a GPS that is always recalculating. Yet so often, we chart our life’s course on a map that is always recalculating. Jesus knows how important it is that we choose our guides and our maps carefully. So who is your guide? How do you orient your moral compass? Jesus shows us why the only answer that we can trust is found in him and him alone.
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Religious rule followers can look like they’ve really got their act together. The problem is that it can often be just that… an act. Full obedience is about a lot more than following the rules and the two pictures in Matthew 15 highlight the difference. One the chosen nation of Israel, the other no more than a “dog,” but it’s the humility and desperation of the outsider that Jesus points us to as an example.
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Perhaps Jesus’s most well-known miracle is his ability to walk on water. When you study the story, the “WHAT” (walking on water) is amazing, but the WHY is where we can truly be comforted. God is always working in our lives, even when we don’t understand it or even know it.
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The feeding of the 5000 is one of Jesus’s most famous miracles. What makes it so memorable and what kind of lessons should we learn from it? How will your react when you have nothing to offer and Jesus looks to you and says “You feed them”? What we see is that when we have nothing to offer, God is ready to go to work.
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Jesus of Nazareth- That’s what they called him. Yet the people of Nazareth couldn’t believe that the Jesus they knew was anything more than just the kid from down the street. They assumed he was ordinary- and missed out on God in their midst. Have we made the same mistake today? Have missed on the extraordinary and reduced it to the everyday and ordinary? How do we make sure we haven’t made the same mistake as the people of Nazareth?
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As Jesus gives us pictures of the Kingdom of Heaven, the idea of a treasure is enticing. What does that mean for you though? Taking hold of this kingdom takes everything we have. It will even change who you are. What kind of treasure can do that?
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Expectations can cause us to miss beautiful things when things don’t look quite like what we had pictured. Jesus alters our expectations when it comes to his kingdom. How will you respond when Jesus’s Kingdom isn’t quite what you dreamed it would be. How will you respond when a life following Jesus isn’t quite what the postcard had promised? Jesus tells us that even though things might look a little different, they are still very much in his plan.
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Sometimes our lives can leave us asking some hard questions. Sometimes it can be difficult to see God in the midst of pain, suffering, and the mess of life. The disciples knew that feeling well on the Saturday before the first Easter. But Easter Sunday changed everything for them. Doubt was erased when they came face-t0-face with a resurrected Jesus. That is the same foundation for our faith today.
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Palm Sunday is often the Sunday we’re reminded that Easter is just a week away, but it’s more than that. Palm Sunday reminds us that Jesus was a man on a mission, determined to be obedient to his Father’s plan and purpose. As we follow Jesus step by step towards Good Friday we are invited to know more fully and rest more assuredly in the love displayed on the cross.
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Some times it’s the stuff of every day life that can make the best illustrations. Jesus did this a lot- especially in his parables. In Matthew 13, Jesus looks to the farmer for some pictures of what it looks like to be part of his kingdom. Where are you in this picture? How do you make sure you’re where you need to be?
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Ever feel like taking a day off? We all do. The Christian life doesn’t really allow for that though- because our enemy doesn’t take one off either. Neither passivity, nor neutrality are options in response to Jesus. In two seemingly unrelated texts, Jesus lays out the truths for us that our allegiance to him is moment-by-moment and nothing (not even family) can surpass it.
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“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” That may be the biggest lie children have ever been taught. The sentiment is nice, but we all know that words have power. Sometimes we can miss out on just how powerful they are. What do your words say about you?
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