Author: Jim Cantelon

November 11, 2020

Matthew 5 Divorce vv.31 & 32 – Part 5 Malachi starts the argument by declaring that Israel has one God and a unique covenant. Israel will be his people and he will be their God. But they have become disloyal to their national family (V. 10), their spiritual family (vv. 11,12), and their marriage partners (vv. 13-16). These grim realities are all evidenced by their idolatry, mixed marriages, adultery, and divorce. In God’s view, as Malachi presents it, there is a continuity and spiritual unity implicit in covenant with God and covenant in marriage. Idolatry and adultery destroy...

Read Luke 11

Key Verse: Luke 11:9 “And I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” Have you ever thought of prayer as a process? Usually we think of it only in terms of verbalizing: articulating a need. But if you look carefully at Jesus’ teaching on prayer in this chapter, you begin to see prayer as far more than just talking to God. As Jesus presents it, prayer is using your mouth, your head, and your hands. You ask. You seek. You knock. Let’s look at it. We usually don’t ask for something we already have,...

Read Luke 10

Key Verse: Luke 10:20 “…do not rejoice…that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” In the last chapter, we read of Jesus sending out the twelve disciples “to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick” (9:2). In this chapter, He sends out seventy more. It’s in this context that Jesus says the famous words, “the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field” (v.2) So the seventy rookies went out, and...

Read Luke 9

Key Verse: Luke 9:58 “…Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Read the last part of this chapter, and you get the distinct impression that Jesus didn’t have the foggiest idea, when it came to public relations. Before you get defensive (as if Jesus needs defenders!), think about it for a moment. Suppose you had the greatest message the world has ever heard, but it wasn’t going all that well with the ratings. People were ignoring you at best, and persecuting you at worst. You’ve just had a bad day...

Read Luke 8

Key Verse: Luke 8:15 “But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.” Hear. Retain. Produce. That’s what “noble and good hearts” do. The object of hearing and retaining is the Word of God (v.11). And “fruit” is the result. What kind of fruit? Well, Jesus doesn’t say. What He does say is that the fruit produced represents “a hundred times more than was sown” (v. 8). We’re talking a 10,000 percent increase here! Pretty intimidating....

Read Luke 7

Key Verse: Luke 7:9 “…I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!” Most everyone likes to know what others think of them. And if it were possible, to know what God thinks of them. What most of us know, however, is what we think of ourselves. Generally, when it comes to self-assessment, we’re not too impressed with what we see. The centurion in this chapter certainly wasn’t stuck on himself. In fact, he didn’t even consider himself worthy to come to Jesus to request healing for his servant. Instead, he clearly sent some of the Jewish...

November 4, 2020

Matthew 5 Divorce vv.31 & 32 – Part 4 Then he warns them that divorce for “any reason” is not on the table. In fact only “sexual immorality” is reason for divorce. Apart from the exception, a man is not free to remarry. And the same principle applies to a woman. Jesus says in Mk. 10:12, if she takes the initiative and divorces her husband “for any reason” (implied) she too commits adultery if she remarries. The critical issue here is both the protection of the woman (in a man’s world) and the family. Anything that fractures the family is seen...

Read Luke 6

Key Verse: Luke 6:47 “Whoever comes to Me…hears My sayings and does them…” Verbal Christianity can be quite enjoyable. You talk about love, discuss theology, give to the poor at Christmas, get lots of “amens!” when speaking about faith to the converted–in fact, it beats most other service clubs all hollow. Mainly because a “Christian” club brings an abundance of self-satisfying righteousness as part of the territory. Your club dues are paid in right talking. Right walking, rather than talking, is, of course, what Christianity is about. Especially...

Read Luke 5

Key Verse: Luke 5:38 “…new wine must be put into new wineskins…” Let’s follow Jesus’ thinking here. New wine needs new wineskins–that makes sense. Old wineskins have already been stretched by the fermentation process. Stretch them any more and they’ll burst. So the old wineskins are useless now; they’ve served their purpose. But does that mean the old wine is useless? By no means. In Jesus’ own words, “the old is better”. Let’s pursue this a bit. You’ve heard the term, “the old boys network”. I remember...

Read Luke 4

Key Verse: Luke 4:24 “…no prophet is accepted in his own country”. You’ve heard the old adage, “familiarity breeds contempt”. And if not contempt, familiarity breeds at least neglect. This was the case with Jesus. Interestingly, it was also the case with the nation of Israel. And, if we’re honest, it’s the case with you and me too. In Luke’s account, the temptation in the wilderness is followed by Jesus’ return to Nazareth, His home town. There He attends the synagogue on the Sabbath, and when it’s His turn to read, He find Isaiah...