The big theme in Matthew 8 is “Faith”. There is a leper who comes to Jesus pleading to be clean and to be healed. A centurion comes and begs for his servant, many come to Jesus looking for healing. Finally, two demon possessed men are set free. However, in and among these stories of faith… Continue reading Fear and Faith in Matthew 8
Tag: Matthew
What is peace? (Ephesians 2:1-14 and Matthew 8:23-27)
A few years back I was thinking about the nature of church life. I came up with a brilliant phrase to describe it “Messy Church.” “Brilliant,” I thought, “I’ve even got a potential best-selling book title there!” There was just one problem -someone had already coined the phrase to describe midweek children’s and families outreach. … Continue reading What is peace? (Ephesians 2:1-14 and Matthew 8:23-27)
The narrow gate
13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy[a] that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few[1] We have been thinking about what it means to be part… Continue reading The narrow gate
The Golden Rule
“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” I must admit, I am not that great a fan of the way that Matthew 7:12 has become known as “The Golden Rule.” It sounds like one of those mechanistic laws for life. Almost as… Continue reading The Golden Rule
Was Billy Graham right? Is it just my job to love?
This is one of those quotes that sounds brilliant at first but after a little bit of reflection leaves one feeling uneasy. I guess that when Billy Graham said it, he had Matthew 7:1-6 in mind. In that sense the quote should warn us against the harsh judgementalism that we too often see -especially on… Continue reading Was Billy Graham right? Is it just my job to love?
What kind of gift?
When we were younger, my sister wanted a Wendy house for her birthday. My dad kept insisting that she was getting a tin of baked beans, much to her annoyance and his amusement. Well, the day of her birthday came and she went downstairs. To her joy, there was the Wendy House ready assembled …… Continue reading What kind of gift?
Stones and Serpents
I don’t want to make too big a deal out of this but I was fascinated when looking at Jesus teaching on prayer to spot one of those little but intriguing connections. In Matthew 4, Jesus goes into the Wilderness where he fasts for 40 days and nights and experiences testing from Satan. Satan basically… Continue reading Stones and Serpents
How many times do you need to ask?
I remember a speaker at a conference I attended claiming that he had identified the secret to successful prayer. It was a matter of persistence in prayer and fasting. We give up too easily, he claimed. He was even prepared to put a number on this. Just as Jesus prayed and fasted for 40 days,… Continue reading How many times do you need to ask?
How do we allow others to help us remove our logs and specks?
In a previous post I began to build on Steve Kneale’s post on the challenges of “logs and specks” in the eye of the church. Steve said that the challenge is that we often cannot see our own logs to remove them. Here are some further thoughts. First of all, whilst I may not be… Continue reading How do we allow others to help us remove our logs and specks?
Gethsemane and The Father – Son relationship
I would now like to revisit Matthew 26 and Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. You will recall from earlier posts that the events here are central to our discussion about how the Son relates to the Father. Orthodox Christology asserts that because Jesus is one person with two natures and that he is… Continue reading Gethsemane and The Father – Son relationship
Faithroots 