Luke 7:24-35: Jesus Vindicates John the Baptist
Have you ever been slandered and gossiped about and totally misunderstood? John the Baptist was a faithful servant of God but who had been slandered, in v33 he was even accused of having had a demon. We have been looking at a section where John the Baptist has sent some of his disciples to ask whether Jesus is the Messiah, we see Jesus give a yes answer substantiated by evidence that the promises of God are coming to pass. After John’s disciples leave we are left with Christ talking about John the Baptist before the crowds. Jesus defends John’...
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Jonah 1:7-16: Jonah and the Sailors
‘Drawing straight lines with crooked sticks’, this is a one liner that I could write over this portion as we see God using an unwilling Jonah to do much more than he ever intended. Bringing good out of evil is another way we could summarise this portion. Jonah is running from God and being disobedient in not calling Nineveh to repentance. Jonah has brought ruin and judgement upon himself and the ships full of unbelieving sailors. Jonah has ruined his witness, but God! Despite Jonah God will use this attempt to damn gentiles to save gentiles. God will use...
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Envy: Proverbs 23:17-24:2
INTRODUCTION: Today I would like to speak to you about what has been called one of our ‘respectable sins’, envy. Envy, jealousy, coveting, illegitimate wanting, sinful desiring, etc.; this is a sin you and I are assaulted by every single day. You and I have the hearts of adulterers and adulteresses, ‘prone to wander.’ We need to be most aware of this sin and how it works in our hearts. We see coveting as idolatry as Paul tells us in Col. 3:5, but your government sees covetousness, your consumer desires, as the heart and soul of our economy and...
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