HE HAS NO EQUAL

Read Matthew 17.1-13

“This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!” (Matthew 17:5)

HE HAS NO EQUAL

I received an email from my son, Wes, saying that he got to hang out with the President. I was impressed! I wrote him back asking for more details. Then he let the cat out the bag. It was only the president of an organization not the President of the United States. Very funny. That’s kind of what Peter should have noticed on the Mount of Transfiguration. He was so amazed at the company of Moses, Elijah, and Jesus, that he wanted to make all three a shelter right there on top of the mountain. Peter mistakenly lumped all three of these heroes of the faith together. But the Father squared him away in one small but significant statement: "This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!” Suddenly, there is only One Hero and it is Jesus, the Son of God. He has no equal among men! He deserves our undivided attention!

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HERO TO ZERO IN NOTHIN’ FLAT

Read Matthew 16.21-23

But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.” (Matthew 16:23)

HERO TO ZERO IN NOTHIN’ FLAT

In my younger days, I was known as the life of the party and could be pretty funny. But inevitably, I would get on a roll and then resort to something off color or make a lame comment and ruin the whole atmosphere. That’s kind of what Peter did. He was doing pretty good, having identified Jesus correctly and Jesus praised and affirmed him. (Matthew 16.17-19) Then, just as he was feeling like he was in the groove, he rebuked Jesus. Big mistake! Now mister smarty-pants was put on the same level as the Devil. Whoa! Here’s a good proverb that reminds us to be careful when we get “on a roll.” “When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, But he who restrains his lips is wise.” (Proverbs 10:19)

Have you ever experienced this? How can you guard your lips?

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IDENTITY CRISIS

Read Matthew 16.13-20

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15)

IDENTITY CRISIS

Our family was spending the hot summer’s day at the pool and I decided to get the boys a popsicle. Being 25 cents short, I went to my wife and put my arm around shoulders and said, “Give me a quarter.” Only one problem, she wasn’t my wife! Oops! This was, what you might call, an identity crisis. Fortunately, the woman had a good sense of humor. It’s one thing to misidentify your wife but its quite another to misidentify Jesus. Peter got it right when he said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And is it any wonder that in Peter’s second letter, a letter of reminders, he would remind us of this one thing: “…grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 3:18) Identity Crisis or Christ’s Identity? We choose.

Who is Jesus to you, really? Are you helping others to identify the real Jesus?

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MASTERING THE OBVIOUS

Read Matthew 16.1-12

“Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times?” (Matthew 16:3)

MASTERING THE OBVIOUS

I had looked all over the house for my reading glasses and just couldn’t find them. I had just used them and they couldn’t have just disappeared. Finally I asked Deb if she had seen them. She said, “Yeah, they’re on your head.” I think we’ve all experienced this kind of embarrassment. Have you ever missed things that were spiritually obvious? The Pharisees missed the signs of the times and consequently missed the Messiah. The disciples missed the fact that Jesus could produce bread out of thin air and couldn’t connect the dots on a key lesson He was trying to teach. The only way I know how to keep from making the same blunders is to pray that God will open our eyes and ears and to hang out with people doing the same.

Who are the wise people you hang out with? Are you praying for wisdom?

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THE PRINCE OF PATIENCE

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Read Matthew 15.32-39

“And Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said, “I feel compassion for the people…” (Matthew 15:32)

THE PRINCE OF PATIENCE

Ever struggle in the patience department? I know I do. But let’s watch Jesus as He feeds the 4000. The first thing you should recognize is that He has fed the multitudes before. He fed 5000 earlier (Matthew 14.15-21) and He actually challenges them on their motives for wanting to be with Him (John 6.1-14, 26-27). He tells them they are just following Him because He filled their bellies. Now after you and I have discovered folks are using us, what do we do? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me, right? Not Jesus. He actually feeds them again. Father, give us the patience of Your Son so that we can love the way He did.

Who in your life do you need to be patient with and “feed” again?

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WHERE’S THE LOYALTY?

Read Matthew 15.29-31

“So the crowd marveled as they saw the mute speaking, the crippled restored, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.” (Matthew 15:31)

WHERE’S THE LOYALTY?

How many people did Jesus heal? Was it hundreds or maybe thousands? And what about the friends and family members who experienced a loved one being healed? Now, maybe we’re up to three thousand or more. And then there are the thousands who heard of His good deeds. Wouldn’t all those people have constituted a small army who could have risen to His defense? Surely they were in His camp - they glorified God! And yet, when He stood before His accusers, there wasn’t even one who stood to defend Him in earnest. Perhaps it's better to live with a lifetime of infirmities and still glorify Him, rather than an occasional flash-in-the-pan kind of praise that only happens when we treat Him like a cosmic vending machine. Lord, help us to glorify You even when You don’t heal us.

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DOTTED LINES

Read Matthew 15.21-28

“But He answered and said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matthew 15.18)

DOTTED LINES

The disciplemaker with no boundaries won’t last very long. He or she will be pulled in so many directions that they will eventually lose all sense of direction. But I’ve learned to draw my boundaries with dotted lines like Jesus did. His boundary was “the lost sheep of Israel.” But when the Syrophoenician woman, a Gentile, approached Him, He stepped out of the box. Why? Because of her great faith. Some would see this as a reason not to have boundaries at all, but that would be missing the point. Jesus said no to plenty of people. He had to, in order to stay within His Father’s will and sustain His health for future ministry. But He was not so rigid that He couldn’t take advantage of exceptional opportunities. Boundaries are good; just draw them with dotted lines.

What are your boundaries? What would compel you to step across them?

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AIM FOR THE HEART

Read Matthew 15.15-20

“But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart…” (Matthew 15.18)

AIM FOR THE HEART

The young disciplemaker was on the verge of making a big mistake. He had pulled together a handful of guys for Bible study in the dorm of a local college. They weren’t followers of Jesus yet but things were headed in that direction. As he and I discussed the growth of the men, he was fixated on one thing: the guys were smoking cigarettes. I was surprised his aim was so low. I asked, “Why are you going after these minor issues when if you aim for the heart, you’ll see real spiritual transformation?” I told him, “Major on getting them in the Word, pray for them, love them, and let God deal with the cigarettes.” Two weeks later, several of the guys quit smoking. This is key to making disciples of Jesus: if you capture the heart, you capture the man. But if you just focus on the externals, it’s like dressing someone up in a tuxedo for an appointment in Hell.

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TRADITIONS: HANDLE WITH CARE

Read Matthew 15.1-14

“And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?” (Matthew 15.3)

TRADITIONS: HANDLE WITH CARE

I was discipling a young man in our ministry who was saturating his life in the Word of God but wasn’t having his quiet time the same way we were. He was memorizing Scripture but it wasn’t the same set of verses that we usually have guys memorize. It seemed his approach to his relationship with Jesus was completely different than most of the folks in our ministry. This irritated a couple of our leaders and they voiced their complaints. My question to them was, “Is he growing in his relationship with Jesus and is he helping others do the same?” The answer was yes, but… This is where we need to be very careful that we don’t become like the Pharisees. We have our methods (traditions) and most of the time they are very helpful. But they're just methods. The objective is to help people follow Jesus. Let’s not get confused between the commands of God and the traditions of men.

Now what if you have chosen different methods and your methods aren’t helping you grow closer to Christ?

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LET ME TRY

Read Matthew 14.22-36

And He said, “Come!” (Matthew 14.29)

LET ME TRY

My two sons inherited the “Let me try!” attitude from their father. Whether it was jumping from the bed into my arms, being first to stand in front of the baseball pitching machine, or driving like crazy men on four wheelers, they were always willing to try risky things. Now they’re doing things like Ranger school and learning Chinese. When Peter said, “Let me try!” Jesus encouraged his risk of getting out of the boat and walking on water. While the other disciples were thinking “How is Jesus doing that?” Peter was thinking, “How can I do that? ” I think that thrills our Master. He wants us to imitate Him (Luke 6.40). He encourages us to exercise our faith and take risks, just as He did. Living by faith means getting out of the boat.

What risks are you taking to become like Jesus?

This was my 800th post in my blog! Thanks for your support!

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“PEOPLED”

Read Matthew 14.13-21

When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick. (Matthew 14.14)

“PEOPLED”

The lady at the customer service counter was snapping at the man in front of me. I was thinking to myself, “this isn't going to be pretty.” She was obviously, what I call, “peopled.” It’s when people in the people business spend so much time with people problems they can no longer treat people like people. How do I know this? Because I’m in the people business and I’ve been there. That brings me to Jesus. He was in the people business and probably no one in the history of mankind had the potential of being more “peopled” than He. And yet that wasn’t the case. Jesus was mourning the death of His cousin and trying to get away to grieve. And what meets Him on the other side, the place of solitude? 5000 people! And what’s His reaction? Irritation? No, it’s compassion. So what was the greater miracle: feeding 5000 or His attitude toward them?

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WHO REALLY LOST THEIR HEAD?

Read Matthew 14.1-12

Although he was grieved, the king commanded it to be given because of his oaths, and because of his dinner guests. He sent and had John beheaded in the prison. (Matthew 14.9-10)

WHO REALLY LOST THEIR HEAD?

“I just want to know that I can trust you,” said one thief to another. Some standards of morality just don’t make any sense, do they? When we look at Herod’s life, we enter the state of moral confusion. Herod is willing to commit adultery with his brother’s wife, live in debauchery, and murder John the Baptist. But when it comes to breaking an oath, oh no, he wouldn’t do that. His moral compass was spinning out of control. He had lost his head well before John lost his. His problem was not the absence of a personal moral code. His problem was that his moral code was personal. In order to maintain any real objectivity in our moral standards, they must come from Jesus. He is our consistency. Otherwise, we will be left to the whims of our opinions to guide our sense of rightness.

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SOMETIMES SEEING IS NOT BELIEVING

Read Matthew 13.53-58

And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief. (Matthew 13.58)

SOMETIMES SEEING IS NOT BELIEVING

He was leaning precariously over the edge of the rock but not quite past the point of no return. He was frozen with fear on the 60-foot cliff and he could go no further. I reminded him that the rope held him securely and he had seen others rappel down the rock wall several times. In the end, his faith failed. Simply seeing did not lead to believing. Just like the people of Nazareth. Jesus’ hometown folk had seen and heard the wonders of their prized son. And yet they could not get beyond the arrogance of familiarity or the pride seniority. Jesus’ powers were limited by unbelief.

Are you limiting the power of Jesus by the trumping power of disbelief?

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AMPLE WARNING

Read Matthew 13.47-52

“…and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 13.50)

Ample Warning

I told them three times, “Be careful with that blasting cap, you could blow your hand off.” Now what’s my motivation? Am I trying to be a “Debbie Downer”? Am I overly critical or legalistic? No, I care about these people and I’m teaching them how to handle explosives. Repetition is a technique in instruction and Jesus uses it several times (especially when it comes to people feeling comfortable with their standing in the Kingdom). If Jesus emphasized this over and over again, we can come to two conclusions. First, this must be a very important message. And second, some will still choose not to listen. Remember, Jesus sets the standards. He is the standard.

I’ve heard it said, “There are three ways to learn: repetition, blunt force trauma, and repetitive blunt force trauma. I choose number one!

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