Category: Bible Study

“The mother of Zebedee’s sons came up to Him accompanied by her sons, to do Him homage and ask of Him a favor.” –Matthew 20:20 The mother of James and John was an expert in “religious selfishness.” Many of us are also experts in this type of selfishness. When we pray, God answers with the question: “What is it you want?” (Mt 20:21) God, Who reads our hearts, knows that we sometimes pray not to get His will but our will, not to please Him as much as to please ourselves. Even when we pray for someone else, we’re still...

“Mark well, then, the parable of the sower. The seed along the path is the man who hears the message about God’s reign without understanding it. The evil one approaches him to steal away what was sown in his mind.” –Matthew 13:18-19 The fact that you’re reading this book means you are probably not the footpath. You have received the seed of God’s Word. If you have read this book and especially the daily Scripture readings regularly for an extended time, you are probably not the rocky ground (see Mt 13:20). You are in the minority of people in our...

“I am coming to you in a dense cloud, so that when the people hear Me speaking with you, they may always have faith in you also.” –Exodus 19:9 God manifested Himself in a mighty way to the Israelites at Mount Sinai (Ex 19:16ff), speaking to them both directly and through Moses, and giving them the Ten Commandments. Yet within a short time, they abandoned Him to worship a golden calf (Ex 32:1ff). Jesus spoke to the Israelite people of the kingdom of God in parables (Mt 13:10), discourses (Mt 5:1ff), and in signs and wonders. Though Jesus gave them...