We need to go back to the miracle stories (Matthew 8) and look at them not as simple stories about Jesus’ ability to make sick people well – people who have viewed the stories in this way have sometimes mistakenly believed that the New Testament teaches all Christians have the right to perfect health – but for what these stories teach us about sin and its cure. When we do this, we find four unmistakable lessons: Continue reading
Category: Heads Up (Page 23 of 36)
Articles written by Pastor Steve for the White Mountain Independent newspaper
The second miracle in Matthew 8 is another story of a healing, but it adds two elements not present in the first story. First, it is about a Roman centurion, which means it is about a Gentile. This indicates that the Gospel Jesus was preaching is for the entire world and not for Jewish people only. This is a recurring emphasis in Matthew, even though Matthew is the most Jewish of the Gospels. It begins with Gentile Magi coming to Jesus, and it ends with the command to “make disciples of all nations.” Here a Gentile approaches Jesus and is not turned away. Continue reading
Why Jesus does not heal. Anyone who takes time to compare the four Gospels, especially the first three, the Synoptic Gospels, will notice two things about their arrangement of material. First, there is a rough chronological order. Each tells about Jesus’ baptism by John somewhere at the beginning; proceeds with accounts of Christ’s public teaching and miracles; continues with His arrest by the Jerusalem authorities, His trial, and crucifixion; and ends with an account of Jesus’ resurrection. Second, in what seems to be a contradiction to the chronology, the ordering of material varies at places. In these sections the accounts seem to be arranged by topics. Continue reading
The last of Jesus’ illustrations in His Sermon on the Mount contrasts two builders, a wise builder and one who is foolish. Continue reading
“I fear for the future of authentic faith in our country. We live in a time when the common man in our country is thoroughly influenced by the current climate in which the cultural and educational elite propagates an anti-Christian message,” so wrote William Wilberforce in 1797. Continue reading
This past Monday, January 21 we remembered Martin Luther King Jr. and his effort for equality for all people regardless of skin color or any other human distinction. I listened as his most famous speech was re-read. It is always moving to hear those words of Dr. King uttered again. Continue reading