Eddie

JESUS DIDN’T ALLOW PUSHBACKS TO STOP HIM — So should you. Stay on mission.

October 31, 2024 by Eddie Leave a Comment

“Some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, ‘Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.’” We find this incident told in Luke 13:31-35. This passage shows us how committed Jesus was to obey His Father, despite threats on his life, and how the plan and purpose of Jesus in fulfillment of the Scriptures written centuries before His time was so perfectly executed.

At this point in His ministry, Jesus is still preaching and performing miracles in Galilee. The Pharisees want to get rid of him, and so they intimidate Him to leave Galilee saying that Herod Antipas (who was the one who had John the Baptist killed, remember?) was ready to have Him killed too. These Pharisees hope that Jesus will run for His life and depart from Galilee, away from the territory of Herod.

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JESUS SENDS US INTO UNPLEASANT AND HOSTILE ENVIRONMENTS — and there He joins us

October 18, 2024 by Eddie Leave a Comment

There was a time when Jesus sent 72 disciples to go to various towns and villages to bring blessings of peace and to announce that “The Kingdom of God has come near to you.” He also gave them authority to perform miraculous healings. BUT Jesus also warned them that they should expect opposition, because they would be going out like sheep among wolves. You can find this in Luke 10:1-9.

Those of us who have heard and embraced the good news of Jesus Christ are called to continue this mission, for indeed the harvest is plentiful and the workers are few. And we would be well advised to anticipate, as many of you must already have experienced, that there will be all sorts of opposition to the good news, ranging from callous indifference, to skepticism, and even attacks on our person.

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JESUS GRIEVES WHEN PEOPLE PREFER HEALING RATHER THAN RESTORATION OF SOULS. Sayang.

October 4, 2024 by Eddie Leave a Comment

In the words of Jesus, what is the good news that Jesus Himself came to proclaim? This is not a test, but in case you can’t decide which of the many things he said was the good news tagline, here it is. The good news is that “the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Other than giving that message through powerful preaching and teachings and parables, one of the ways that Jesus used to proclaim and validate the good news about the coming of the Kingdom was through miraculous healings. Of course, Jesus healed many miraculously because of His genuine compassion to those who were suffering. But His miracles were actually His way of giving people a foretaste of the ultimate healing and the blessing of complete restoration that would come when He returns in glory as King of Kings. And just as John the Baptist did, Jesus instructed people to repent and be ready for the kingdom of God. This combination of teachings and miraculous healings was His master plan to get people to repent and be ready for the ultimate victory of His Kingdom.

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IF YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND WHAT’S GOING ON — Trust that God Knows

September 27, 2024 by Eddie Leave a Comment

There’s a familiar Q&A exchange between Jesus and His disciples in Luke 9:18-22. Jesus asks them, “Who do the crowds say I am?” And then after they answer, He redirects the question to them and asks them “But what about you? Who do you say I am?” And then Peter declares that Jesus is the Messiah.

Most commentaries will focus either on this declaration of Peter about the identity of Jesus as the Messiah, or on our response to the question “Who do you say I am?” In fact, I myself have spoken about this question in a previous episode of Pathways of Hope, using the version found in Matthew 16.

For today, I want to focus on something else. Today’s gospel ends with a twist. First it starts with the good news about Jesus confirming that He is the Messiah. But in v21 it says: “Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone.“

What’s going on here?

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ARE YOU READY TO EXTEND KINDNESS AT A MOMENT’S NOTICE?

September 9, 2024 by Eddie Leave a Comment

You’ve heard this story before: While Jesus is teaching on a Sabbath in the synagogue, he does something that the Pharisees think is against the rules of the Sabbath. This one is in Luke 6:6-11. As usual, there are Pharisees and teachers of the law overseeing everything that goes on inside the synagogue. And in the middle of his teaching, Jesus is getting ready to heal a man with a crippled hand. But before he does this, he stops and looks at the Pharisees who are waiting for a chance to accuse Him of breaking the rules and regulations according to the Law of Moses.

Jesus, knowing that the Mosaic Law forbids all forms of work on a Sabbath, remembers the several occasions when the Pharisees condemn Him for healing on a Sabbath. So, Jesus flips around and challenges them with a question: “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?” (v6)

Basically, he’s asking them, not about the healing per se, but about whether there is a law against doing good.

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