Jim’s Blog

Key Verse: Matthew 22:21 “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” Here we have one of the most famous stories about Jesus, when He comments on giving to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’. What is fascinating about the story is […]

Key Verse: Matthew 21:22 “And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” This chapter includes a tough passage. First of all, it seems uncharacteristic of Jesus to be going about cursing trees, especially trees, as Mark tells us, that are out of season. Secondly, even though we’re accustomed to Jesus using hyperbole […]

Key Verse: Matthew 19:30 “But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” A rich young man comes up to Jesus and says, “What must I do to get eternal life?” Jesus’ response is a little strange. He says “Why do you ask Me about what is good? There’s only one who […]

Matthew 5 New vs. Old vv. 21-48  So, not that Jesus had put pharisaic righteousness into perspective, he proceeded to describe the “new wine” proceeding from both Old Testament Law and Oral Law. He starts with murder and anger. Murder and Anger vv. 21-26 (Part 1) You will notice as you read from 5:21 through […]

Key Verse: Matthew 18:3 “Unless you…become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” Even the disciples had egos. This must have been at the root of their question, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Like you and me, they would want to hear Jesus say, “Frankly, […]

  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 […]