Category: Bible Study

“Jesus then said in reply, ‘Woman, you have great faith!’ ” –Matthew 15:28 The Canaanite woman cried out to Jesus: ” ‘Lord, Son of David, have pity on me! My daughter is terribly troubled by a demon.’ He gave her no word of response” (Mt 15:22-23). She kept shouting. Jesus replied, “My mission is only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Mt 15:24). She pleaded, “Help me, Lord!” (Mt 15:25) Jesus answered: “It is not right to take the food of sons and daughters and throw it to the dogs” (Mt 15:26). She insisted (Mt 15:27). Her...

“Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses.” –Numbers 12:1 Moses prayed for Miriam after she accused him, and she was healed (Nm 12:13ff). Jesus prayed for and suffered for His accusers. Those who repented and received Him were given eternal life. He “bore wrongs patiently” and achieved the greatest work of mercy ever, dying for His enemies (see Rm 5:8-10). Some years ago, when the news broke of sexual scandals of some Catholic priests, a certain man was publicly berating all priests, even on occasion during Holy Mass. This angered me to the point that I had to bring it to...

“Give them something to eat yourselves.” –Matthew 14:16 Jesus has placed His disciples in a fantastic position. On one side is the human race, which continually grows hungry and has a daily need for food. On the other side is the Lord, Who has a continual desire to feed, nourish, and even satisfy hungry humanity (see Ps 81:11, 17; Mt 14:20). God has placed us, as His disciples, between Him and the rest of mankind, charging us with feeding His people (Mt 14:16; Jn 21:15ff). We are God’s middlemen, His ambassadors (2 Cor 5:20), charged with bringing the two parties...

“You must no longer live as the pagans do.” —Ephesians 4:17 Paul started the Ephesian church by leading twelve men to Christ and to new life in the Holy Spirit (Acts 19:5-7). A few years later, Paul observed that the Ephesians had lost their early love for Christ (cf Rv 2:4). Paul likely could tell this because the lifestyle of the Ephesian Christians had become merely modified paganism. Paul maintained that when the Ephesians “learned Christ” (Eph 4:20), they should have learned a new lifestyle by laying aside their former way of life (Eph 4:22) and acquiring “a fresh, spiritual...

“Then on Herod’s birthday Herodias’ daughter performed a dance before the court which delighted Herod so much that he swore…” –Matthew 14:6-7 If you had asked Herod whether his birthday party was for God or for Satan, he would likely have answered that it wasn’t fanatically religious or demonically possessed. He would maintain that the party was not that pious and not that evil, just “good clean fun,” morally neutral. Most people think much of what they do is morally neutral because they mistakenly think they can be neutral. However, there is no such thing as neutrality. The devil is...