What is love? Jesus not only defines it as part of His nature, but He also demonstrates it by laying down His life. He says there is no greater love than that and then went to the cross. As the Father loves the Son and as the Son loves us, so we are to love others in the same way Jesus loves us. Jesus loved the unlovable and despised. We are called to love others in the same way. Who do we need to show love to?
Our missionaries, the DeVernas were with us and Daniel brought the message reminding us how important it is to pray. Prayer is the breath of our spiritual life connecting us to God who desires us to communicate with Him. How often do we pray? What do we pray for? Do we urgently and fervently pray for our missionaries? Let’s be serious about prayer.
It’s been said that sometimes you can miss the trees for the forest. I think we can say that about people as well. Amidst the throng of people we can miss individuals. In our passage, Jesus looks at the crowd and sees their individual needs. They came to be healed from physical diseases and illnesses and He did heal them. But Jesus also saw beyond that to their spiritual needs. His compassion moved Him to do something about their needs. He took care of their immediate needs, but then later on when He went to the cross He took care of their spiritual and eternal need. That was why He came: to seek and save the lost. Jesus shows us how to see the crowds, how to feel for the crowds and then act on what He saw and felt. It’s a great lesson for us. Let’s learn to be compassionate as Jesus was.
Are you a worrier? If I was a betting man, I’d wage that most of us are worriers regarding at least one thing. Our passage today gives us three reasons why we don’t need to worry. We don’t need to worry because of our Father, because of our faith and because of our future. No matter what we are facing, we have a God who cares for us. If we leave it in His capable hands, there is no need to worry.
Today’s message is about the heart of the matter – who will you serve? Where will you store up your treasures? Is your heart fixed on God or is it on greed? Jim Elliott once said “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” Where is your treasure being stored? It a place where anything can happen to it or in a place that is 100% guaranteed? Where your treasure is, that’s where your heart will be also.
On this Palm Sunday, we think back to the time Jesus rode into Jerusalem in what is described as His triumphal entry. As He rode along with crowds going before Him and following, what did the people really think about who Jesus was when they called Him the Son of David and declared that He had come from the Lord. In this message we will consider from verse 9 that His is a worthy name, His is a welcoming name, and His is a wonderful name. The crowd may have known who Jesus was in their head, but they had no understanding of Him in their heart. He was not the Savior they were looking for, but He was the Savior they needed. Who is Jesus to you?
Are there things in your life that you want to hold on to, to keep control of for yourself? It really comes down to an issue of trust. Deep down we don’t want to surrender those to God, because we aren’t sure we can trust Him or they are things we don’t want to relinquish to Him. In the message by Pastor Jim, the challenge is to surrender all to the Lord.
In a culture that loves its food, fasting for spiritual matters isn’t often talked about. But Jesus gives us reason to fast and is supported throughout Scripture that it has a place as an important spiritual discipline for the Christian. In our passage, Jesus once again challenges our motive behind why we fast. Is it a self-centered reason to be seen by men? Or is it a spiritual reason to draw closer to God? He knows and He rewards accordingly.
Why do we pray? Jesus cuts to the heart of the matter and asks us to consider our motive for why we pray. If it’s to be seen by men and appear pious, then we have our reward. To ensure we have the proper motive in prayer, Jesus gives us a model for what prayer should look like. If we want to truly get a clear picture of our motive, see what you pray for when no one else is around.
In our passage today, we are asked to consider the motivation behind why we do what we do, whether it’s giving to someone with a monetary need, helping someone in the neighborhood or providing to meet some other tangible need, Jesus asks us to check our motive. Why are we doing what we’re doing? He says if it’s to be seen by others, then our reward from the applause of men is all we will get. But if our motivation is to bring glory to God, He will reward us. Who would you rather get your approval from? What’s your motivation? Are you doing it out of pride or humility? Your motivation will determine your reward.