“The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were greatly distressed.
Matt 17:22-23
Most of the time, God wants to do something painful to you (for you / with you).
And, most of the time, we cry out to God asking something like “God, why don’t you remove this from me. If you’re real God, take this away…”
“If God is real, show me the proof!”
“If Jesus is God, why is there so little evidence?”
“If Christianity is real, why is there suffering?”
An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign
-Matt 16:4
God is not a hypothesis. The Bible isn’t a math problem.
What messes us up? What makes us go the wrong direction?
it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.
-Matt 15:11
There isn’t anything you must first stop in order to become holy.
“I can’t do it, can I? Well, I don’t have the right situation…”
Toward evening the disciples approached him. “We’re out in the country and it’s getting late. Dismiss the people so they can go to the villages and get some supper.”
But Jesus said, “There is no need to dismiss them. You give them supper.”
“All we have are five loaves of bread and two fish,” they said.
Jesus said, “Bring them here.” Then he had the people sit on the grass. He took the five loaves and two fish, lifted his face to heaven in prayer, blessed, broke, and gave the bread to the disciples. The disciples then gave the food to the congregation. They all ate their fill. They gathered twelve baskets of leftovers. About five thousand were fed.
-Matt 14:15-21
We are usually fooled into believing that we don’t have the resources to accomplish the task (whatever that is). Don’t believe it.
The kingdom of God, His reign and rule on the earth, through His people, His church, is meant to grow!
He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”
-Matt 13:31-33
Never resign yourself to the idea that this world is just getting worse, there’s nothing we can do. The people who do bad may get worse, but never fear, the gospel will not fail. We can be salt and light in this world and God will change people’s hearts, we just need to be faithful!
Never give up, never give in, the kingdom WILL grow… Jesus WILL build his church. Count on it!
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