New Testament Archives - Page 10 of 29

At What Hour Will Jesus Return?

Scripture: Luke 12: 39-40, 43

But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” (39-40) It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. (43)

Scripture Commentary:

We know Jesus is coming. We just don’t know at what hour or day. So the question is are we ready for Jesus’s return? Are we serving Jesus or ourselves?

We shouldn’t just focus on bettering our lifestyle. How can we use what we have to help others?

What are you doing with this life that God has given you?

Jesus said He is returning. This is a true statement. God does not lie. He did not say this to trap us, but to give us time to correct ourselves.

God has blessed us with material rewards. What are we doing with it? Do you boast about what you have or are you using what you have to do God’s work?

Store your treasure in heavenly places.

What we have on earth will pass away but what we store in the heavenly kingdom will last for eternity.

We have the Book on how to live, how to give, and how to love. It’s The Bible. So we cannot say we weren’t told how to be Christ-like here on earth.

Read the Entire Chapter:

Luke Chapter 12

Read Other Commentary from the Book of Luke:

When He Saw Their Faith, He Answered Their Prayer

Lord, Remember Me When You Come Into Your Kingdom

“If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.”

Scripture: Mark 5: 24-34

So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ” But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

Scripture Commentary: “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.”

The women in Mark Chapter 5 had a seemingly incurable condition which caused her to bleed constantly. This condition had kept her from most social contact. She desperately wanted Jesus to heal her. But she knew that her bleeding would cause Jesus to be unclean under Jewish law if she touched him. Still, the woman reached out by faith and was healed.

God is always ready to help you.

Sometimes we feel that our problems will keep us from God. But He is always ready to help. We should never allow our fear to keep us from approaching Him.

Jesus wasn’t angry with the woman for touching him. He knew she had touched him but he stopped and asked who did it in order to teach her something about faith.

Genuine faith causes action.

Although the woman was healed when she touched him, Jesus said her faith caused the cure. Genuine faith causes action. Faith that isn’t put into action is not faith at all.

Jesus’s words in the midst of crisis speak to us as well. “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” In Jesus’s mind, there was both hope and promise. The next time you feel helpless and afraid, look at your problem from Jesus’s point of view. He is the source of all hope and promise. We should never let our fears keep us from approaching him.

What are you looking for God to do?

Have you been suffering with something in your life? Whatever it is, give it to Jesus. He is the healer. If you trust him and have faith, he will bring you through.

If you are reading this message, then God has given you another day and time to come to him. Jesus accepts us the way we are. Have faith that He loves you. Jesus died for your sins, and he rose from the grave.

Thank you, Jesus, for your love!

Read the Entire Chapter:

Mark Chapter 5

Read Other Commentary from the Book of Mark:

Watch! Be Alert For Jesus’ Return

Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord

Works that Bear Fruit

Scripture: John 5: 36-40

But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. ³⁷And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, ³⁸and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. ³⁹You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me,⁴⁰yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

Scripture Commentary:

The religious leaders knew what the Bible said but failed to apply the Word to their lives. They knew the teachings – they knew the ‘works’ that would bear fruit – but they failed to see the Messiah to whom the Scriptures pointed. They knew the rules but missed the Savior.

Entrenched in their own religious system, they, like some of us, refused to let the Son of God change their lives. The religious leaders enjoyed great prestige in Israel but their stamp of approval meant nothing to Jesus. He was concerned about God’s approval.

Be concerned when you get approval for doing the wrong thing.

If ever the highest officials in the world approve our actions and God does not, we should be concerned. We know what God requires from us, and our love for the Father requires our obedience to Him.

Whose praise do you seek?

Are you open to God’s teaching? Don’t neglect His gracious offer. Eternal life begins when you accept Jesus Christ as Savior.

Read the Entire Chapter:

John Chapter 5

Read Other Commentary from the Book of John

God So Loved You That He Gave His Son

Lord, I Want to Follow You Now

Jesus Is the Way to Eternal Life

Scripture: John 6: 26-27

Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw^[f] the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled.²⁷Don’t work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal of approval on him.”

Scripture Commentary:

Eat and fill yourself with food and be hungry again. Fill yourself with the food that lasts for eternal life that the Son of Man gives you and never hunger or thirst again.

Jesus criticized the people who followed Him only for physical and temporal benefits, not for satisfying their spiritual hunger. The Word of God has a filling effect on the spirit that food can’t satisfy.

What do you hunger for?

Is it for worldly goods or is it for eternal life with Our Savior Jesus Christ? True believers follow Jesus simply because they know He has the truth. His way is the way to salvation.

Jesus is the bread of life but bread must be eaten to sustain life. You must invite Christ into your life. He must be part of your daily walk to sustain spiritual life with Him.

God can do the miraculous.

God, through the Holy Spirit, urges you to accept, but it’s up to you to believe in Christ. God can do the miraculous. Trust Him to provide the way.

Don’t miss your opportunity to believe in the Savior, Jesus Christ!

Read the Entire Chapter:

John Chapter 6

Read Other Commentary From the Book of John

Christ is the True Vine

God Didn’t Send Jesus to Condemn the World

God Says “Come to Me” If You’re Weary

Scripture: Matthew 11: 28-30

“Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Scripture Commentary: God invites us when He says, “Come to me.”

“Come to me.” God is inviting us to come to Him. Accept His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, as your Lord and Savior. God will free you of the earthly burdens that you carry.

When we put ourselves in Jesus’s care, the problems we thought we had are not as important anymore. The peace we have is so relative that it gives us the answers we need.

What type of person are you?

Jesus mentioned two types of people in prayer: the “wise” who are arrogant in their knowledge, and the “little children” who humbly open themselves to receive the truth of God’s word.

Are you wise in your own eyes or do you seek the truth in childlike faith, realizing that only God holds all the answers? Christ’s death and resurrection gave us direct access to the Father. How fortunate we are that Jesus clearly revealed God to us!

Read the Entire Chapter:

Matthew Chapter 11

Read Other Commentary from the Book of Matthew:

Will You Be Prepared When Christ Returns?

Take My Yoke Upon You

Wash Your Hands Before You Eat

Scripture: Mark 7 (Part One)

Mark 7: 1-2

Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, ²they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed.

Commentary: The religious leaders sent people to Jerusalem to spy on Jesus. They didn’t like what they saw and questioned Jesus’s disciples about washing hands. Jesus scolded them for keeping the law and the traditions in order to look holy instead of honoring God.

The prophet Isaiah accused the religious leaders of his day of doing the same thing. (See Isaiah 29:13.) Jesus used Isaiah’s words to accuse these men.

Mark 7: 3-4

(For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, ⁴and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.)

Commentary: Mark explained these Jewish rituals because he was writing to a non-Jewish audience. Before eating, a devout Jew performed a short ceremony by washing in a specific way. The Pharisees thought this ceremony cleansed them from anything unclean. Jesus said they weren’t making themselves acceptable before God just by performing this act.

Mark 7: 5-7

And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” ⁶And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

“‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
⁷in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

Commentary: Jesus called the Pharisees hypocrites because they worshipped God for the wrong reasons. Their worship was for profit, to appear holy, and to increase their status.

Part Two of the Commentary on Mark Chapter 7 will cover verses 8-19.

Read more commentary from the Book of Mark

Pay Attention to What You Hear

Are You Spiritually Paralyzed?

Dear Lord, What Shall I Do?

God Sent Us the Bread of Life

Scripture: John 6: 35-37

Jesus replied to them, “I am the Bread of Life. The one who comes to Me will never be hungry, and the one who believes in Me [as Savior] will never be thirsty [for that one will be sustained spiritually]. But as I told you, you have seen Me and still you do not believe. All that My Father gives Me will come to Me; and the one who comes to Me I will most certainly not cast out [I will never, never reject anyone who follows Me].

Scripture Commentary: Jesus is the bread that supports spiritual life.

Jesus told the people as He tells us today: He is the Bread of Life (the living life). Those who accept Him will have eternal life. Jesus was not talking about the life that we have now. He is talking about a new life that we, as Jesus’s followers, will have with Him.

Jesus satisfies a spiritial hunger and thirst.

People eat bread to satisfy physical hunger and sustain physical life. When we accept Jesus as the ‘Bread of Life,’ we are satisfying a spiritual hunger and a spiritual life.

Satisfying God does not come from our works but from accepting Jesus Christ as Our Lord and Savior. Jesus said that He would not lose one person whom the Father had given Him. Thus, anyone who makes a sincere commitment to believe in Jesus Christ as Savior is secure in God’s promise of eternal life with Him.

Death has no hold on those who follow Jesus.

Those who put their faith in Christ will be resurrected from physical death to eternal life with God. As God’s child, death has no hold on us. God has sent the Holy Spirit to us to show the way to Him. Open your heart; let God in.

Read the Entire Chapter:

John Chapter 6

Read Other Commentary From the Book of John:

Jesus Offers You Living Water to Slack Your Thirst

Jesus, the Light of the World

Do You Recognize God’s Voic

Jesus Heals the Blind

Scripture: John 9: 1-4

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. ²And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” ³Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. ⁴We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.

Scripture Commentary: Jesus opens the eyes of the blind.

When you woke up this morning, did you see the light of Our Lord or just the sunlight? Jesus will open your blind eyes if you let Him in.

Seeing with your eyes is only one part of sight. To see God is to know Him and believe in Him. Jesus not only gave the blind man his sight in John Chapter 9 but He also gave the man faith so that he could testify to the world about the miracle that Christ had done.

See clearly the miracle that is your life.

What miracle has God done for you, and have you shared it with anyone? When we follow God we not only gain physical sight but we also gain spiritual sight.

We go through life and things happen. When God works His miracle, many say that they were lucky. This doesn’t give God the glory.

What happens to you isn’t luck at all.

Think about it. Things happen for a reason. We need to open our blind eyes and see and feel the love God has for us.

As with the blind man in the story, your life has been miraculously changed. Don’t be afraid to tell others. You don’t need to know all the answers in order to share Jesus Christ with your friends or enemies.

Read the Entire Chapter:

John Chapter 9

Read Additional Commentary From the Book of John:

Christ Is the True Vine

Confidently Trust the Lord Your Savior

You are Saved Through Faith

Scripture: Ephesians 2: 8-10

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.,

Scripture Commentary: We are saved through faith.

We have Jesus’ gift of salvation through faith.

How do you handle this? Do you ask how much do I owe you? Or, do you say, “Thank you”? Because our salvation is a gift, do you feel obligated to try to work your way to God?

Be grateful, joyful; Praise God!

This gift of salvation, and even our faith, should be responded to with gratitude, praise and joy. We became Christians through God’s unmerited grace. It wasn’t the result of efforts, abilities, intellect, or an act of service on our part. However, out of gratitude for this gift, we will seek to help and serve others with kindness, love and gentleness. We aren’t merely working to please ourselves.

No action or work we do helps us obtain salvation.

God’s intention is that our salvation will result in acts of service. We are not saved merely for our own benefit. We are saved to serve Christ and build up God’s church.

Go out and encourage others who are struggling. Show them that the love of Jesus Christ lives within you.

Read the Entire Chapter:

Ephesians Chapter 2

Come to Jesus’ Banquet Table

Part Three: Jesus Prepared Your Place At the Table (Jesus Is Our Great Shepherd)

There are seventy-two psalms and almost half speak about enemies. Enemies are those who oppose not only us, but also God’s ways. David is at the table asking God to keep his enemies from overcoming him because they oppose what God stands for.

David isn’t questioning his faith. He knows that God will triumph. But David did not want his enemies’ success to be an obstacle to the faith of others. When we see a person or a group that we consider to be doing well, keep in mind that it’s only temporary, as we all are temporary. We are here for a moment, but what we do while we are here in the name of Our Lord will carry on.

Psalm 25: 2

O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me.

Jesus, the Good Shepherd, the Great Shepherd, the Perfect Shepherd, promises to guide and protect us through life to bring us into His Father’s house.

John 14: 2

In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

God tells us He is our shepherd. Jesus tells us He is going to prepare a place for us, and He will come back for us. We can look forward to eternal life with Him.

Psalm 23: 6

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Jesus has a place for you in His Father’s house, and the banquet table is prepared. Your seat is waiting for you. Jesus paid the ultimate price for your seat when He went to the cross, died and rose from the grave. Jesus gave you the way to eternal life.