Experience
During Jesus’ time of ministry, people were constantly asking questions—sometimes to trap Him, sometimes to rationalize their refusal to follow Him, and sometimes because they honestly wanted to follow Him. The rich young man in today’s passage wants to know what he needs to do to gain eternal life. The words eternal life here probably means a satisfying quality of life and not just heaven. It’s a great question—not only for the first century, but also for today.

I love how Jesus responds to the man’s question; He didn’t give him a straight answer, instead, He answered the question in the man’s heart instead of the one he verbalized. Jesus said if he wanted real life, he must obey the commandments. Instead of accepting that, the man asked, “Which ones?”… almost like he only wanted to do the bare minimum. After Jesus listed six commandments, the man said he had kept all those, so what else must he do? Jesus then told him to get rid of the very things that defined him—his material wealth and possessions. Think about it, the Bible itself tells us this man was rich, and Jesus told him that he had to get rid of that label. The man was so upset when Jesus asked him to switch his priorities, he simply walked away.

Think about the people you know. Are they constantly looking everywhere, trying anything, going anyplace, and asking everything just to find meaning in life? The rich young man probably did, too, and the answer for the people around you who are looking for life is the same as Jesus’ answer to the man and to His disciples.

After the rich young man walks away, Jesus turns to His disciples and says it’s impossible for a person with any material attachments to enter the kingdom of God. They must have been a little worried, and so they tried to reason that they had done just that; was there any hope for them?

Jesus’ answer is critical; if you try anything on your own, you’re doomed to fail. But through God, everything is made possible, even eternal life. In fact, God is the only chance you have of eternal life. For the rich young man and for me and you, keeping commandments and doing good things just won’t cut it. What Jesus is asking is for us to totally submit our lives to Him.

Experience
Jesus’ friend Lazarus was very ill. Lazarus’ sisters, Mary and Martha (the same women from two days ago) sent for Jesus. However, He delayed in coming, and when He did arrive, Lazarus had been dead for four days. Martha, Mary, and the others had given up any hope that Jesus could act. Mary wouldn’t even go greet Him when He arrived. Martha accused Him of coming late and not saving her brother. But despite their narrow viewpoints, Jesus wanted to reveal His power over life and death by making an incredible statement: “I am the resurrection and the life.” Despite Lazarus’ death, Jesus declared His power. Can you imagine that? Martha was standing almost at her brother’s graveside, and here was a man who said He had power over death!

Jesus proclaimed His power, but He needed something else. He needed Martha to believe Him. So He asked, and she said yes, even though she still mourned over her brother. She had no idea what Jesus really meant, or what He would do next. Instead, she found comfort in Jesus and called Mary to come join them. After Jesus grieved with these two women, He did something extraordinary.

He told the people that were gathered to remove Lazarus’ tombstone. What?? Martha was shocked too, and she tried to convince Jesus that the tomb would stink and they shouldn’t open it. But Jesus reminded Martha that if she believed, she would see the glory of God in action. So they took away the stone. Jesus then prayed—out loud for all to hear—that the purpose of what He was about to do was so people would believe. In other words, Lazarus’ resurrection was about to have a much greater purpose.

Jesus called to Lazarus… and Lazarus immediately walked out of the grave! If you continue reading after today’s passage, you will find that this miracle brought many to believe in Christ, so many that the Pharisees became scared of Jesus’ power.

It’s so easy to let grief ruin our faith. When the unexpected happens, we don’t often think that God may have a purpose in death. However, nothing in your life is without purpose, not even the hardest things. And the constant hope that we have is that Jesus has power over everything, even death. The purpose of Lazarus’ miracle was to show God’s glory and bring others to believe. How could God be glorified through times of grief in your life?

Experience
Have you ever seen a mustard seed? It’s incredibly small, yet after it’s planted, it can grow to a height of ten feet or more. One of the largest of all garden plants, it provides rest for birds seeking sanctuary.

That’s what happens when we allow the kingdom of God, which is His rule in our lives, to grow in us. God’s rule within us will expand and provide rest and comfort for others.

If you allow God’s kingdom to spread and grow in your life, what can you expect? For starters, you’d fall more in love with God. You’d begin to see things about Him you’ve never seen before, and your worship will become deeper and more sincere. As those things happen, you’ll also find it difficult to keep your reactions from spilling over into others’ lives.

And that’s what Jesus meant when He described the kingdom of God as yeast. A very small amount of yeast is all you need to cause bread dough to grow and expand and make a well-rounded loaf. As the yeast permeates the dough, it has a tremendous influence—a chemical reaction that causes the dough to rise and puff into a loaf ready for baking. It’s incredible just how little yeast is needed to make this happen.

The kingdom of God expands through us into the lives of others, just as yeast expands in bread. It continues to reach and exert a powerful influence on all it comes in contact with. You’re bound to bring peace and calm to those around you, you won’t be quite so demanding of your friends, and you will honor your parents in a more genuine way.

Our job is simply to yield control of our lives to Jesus. His job is to use our lives to reach others. We get to spread it around by our words and our actions.

Experience
Do you find it strange that Jesus rebuked Martha for doing good things? There she was, cooking and cleaning and serving Jesus, and we read that Jesus tells her she’s completely missing the point. Don’t get me wrong, Martha’s hospitality makes her kindness and servant’s heart very obvious, and those gifts can be used to the glory of God. But in those moments, Jesus told her she needed to stop doing those good things. What’s the deal with that?

Our entire lives have but one purpose: to follow God. He calls us to imitate Christ and make Him the goal and purpose of our lives. But oftentimes we find it so easy to claim that we’re living for God just because our day planners are filled with things we do for Him. And even though doing good things for Jesus is, well, a good thing, it must be blanketed by true obedience. Jesus told Martha in Luke 10:42 that “one thing only is essential.” That one thing is knowing the Father. We can busy ourselves doing good things for God and still not fulfill His purpose for our lives. Being obedient to God means making Him the goal of our lives instead of focusing on what we do for Him. I wonder what would happen if I spent more time with God and less time doing things for Him. I wonder how we’d be different if we boasted in God’s true glory instead of boasting about the money we gave to missions or how many times we’ve cleaned the church.

My prayer is for me as much as it is for you, and it’s simply this: to stop! Stop with your busy life, even if it is filled with doing good things in the name of Jesus. I pray that God, not the things we do for Him, would become the goal and purpose of our lives.

It’s true that our faith needs to be acted out. But only one thing is essential: sitting at the feet of Jesus and pursuing His heart. What will you choose to do?

Experience
The man asked a simple question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus gave him two answers: Love God and love people. Those answers sound simple, too, don’t they? The man, an expert in biblical law, recognized the worth of loving God, but he, like many of us, was tripped up by the “loving others” part. So the man asked Jesus, “Well, who is my neighbor? Surely you can’t expect me to love everyone.” But Jesus did expect just that, and He expects that of us, as well.

To be a little clearer, Jesus taught by way of another parable. This parable was about a man who was beaten up and left for dead by highway robbers. All hope seemed lost as other people just passed the man by, until a Samaritan stopped and took care of him. The Samaritan man risked his health, his money, and his time to provide for a man he didn’t know. The Samaritan didn’t owe that man anything, but he chose to love him, anyway.

Who is the most unloved, unlovable person you can think of? Are they not just as valuable to God as you and I are? God doesn’t always use the most talented, pretty, or athletic people. Instead, God tends to use people who will step out in faith and courage to do His will. In the parable, the Samaritan invested in the care of the beaten man, and he sacrificed out of love for his neighbor. So what was Jesus saying to the man, and what is He saying to you and me? “Go and do likewise!”

Experience
Sometimes we think that because the Bible was written thousands of years ago, that it no longer applies to us. But every word in Scripture is useful to us as Christians. And that requires us to pay attention to all of it, even the hard parts. This parable, however difficult to accept, is incredibly necessary in your daily walk with Christ.

Jesus had been teaching the disciples about serving each other and about responding to believers who fall into sin. Peter popped up and asked, “How many times do I have to forgive those who wrong me?” Then he tried to impress Jesus with seven; he thought that was a big number. But Jesus came right back with “Seventy-seven times.” In other words, we’re always supposed to show forgiveness to those who wrong us.

To get His point across, Jesus told a story of an unmerciful servant. He wanted to show His disciples what forgiveness and unforgiveness looked like, and the consequences of both. In the parable, the servant owed the king a huge debt of 10,000 talents—an amount that would take a lifetime to pay back. The king extended forgiveness to the servant and went on his way. After he was granted mercy, the servant was faced with the same situation—someone owed him money. But he was stingy and demanded his debtor be thrown in prison. When the king heard, he also had that unmerciful servant thrown in jail.

So what’s the moral of the story? You’ve also been forgiven a mighty debt—one that you owed God. Your sins have been forgiven by Christ’s death on the cross, and you can never repay that. Realizing you’ve received this great forgiveness, you’re now free to also forgive others of their wrongs against you. The question is not Am I able to forgive or Does God want me to forgive? God gives you no choice but to forgive. Are you willing to commit to forgiving others?

Experience
God has created some amazing things: Niagara Falls, the Rocky Mountains, Old Faithful, the Dead Sea, the Himalayas, the Gobi Desert, Victoria Falls, glaciers, oceans, beaches, sunrises, and sunsets. All of these things reveal the splendor and the creativity of God. Even the simplest creations in nature show us His glory. In the passage you read today, Peter, James, and John got to see Jesus’ glory face to face.

Can you imagine what the disciples saw? The word transfigured means “changed.” Jesus changed right before their eyes, and they were allowed to see a small, physical glimpse of who Jesus really is. In other words, they saw His glory. Then, out of no where, they saw other figures, and overheard Jesus talking to Moses and Elijah. Peter immediately wants to build tents to prolong this amazing moment.

Just after Peter suggested this, however, the disciples were stunned to hear the voice of God. Actually, they were more than stunned, they fell down on their faces in fear! Jesus touched them gently and told them to get up and not be afraid. That’s His desire for you, too. God allows intimate times with Him. Then He’ll say, “It’s time to get up and go into a world that needs Me. Don’t be afraid. I will never abandon you.” The disciples were comforted by Jesus’ glory, and we can be too.

Experience
Many of you may be familiar with this parable. Jesus often taught using stories the people would be familiar with, like farming or fishing. But Jesus always included unique spiritual truths. In this parable, Jesus used imagery of a farmer sowing seeds to describe the conditions of His listeners’ hearts.

In the parable, the “seed” represents the Word of God. The “soil” is how receptive the heart is to receiving and acting on God’s Word. Jesus describes four heart conditions. The first is the soil on the path, which represents a heart beaten down and unreceptive to God’s Truth. The second soil is the rocky soil, which is a heart that initially responds to God’s call, but isn’t developed enough to maintain “roots,” or maturity. The thorny ground is like a heart that wants to have a relationship with Christ, but money, relationships, or other earthly things get in the way of growth. The fourth soil that Jesus talks about is healthy soil, soil that accepts the seeds and bears fruit. That soil is like a heart that is mature and is continually following God’s will.

Which soil best represents the state of your heart?
Do you feel like you can only know Jesus if you’re at a youth retreat or another “mountaintop” experience?
Or are you willing to follow Jesus, but things in your life constantly trip you up?

Watch the video (God Speaks)…and pray that God will soften your heart to accept His Word.

Experience
One of my dearest memories from growing up was watching the summer storms roll in. My family and I would sit in the rocking chairs on the front porch, eating spoonfuls of frozen peanut butter and staring at the lightning and the dark clouds. For some reason, we were never scared of the storms, as long as we could see what was happening.

Storms are just a part of life. It doesn’t matter where you live, eventually a sandstorm, hurricane, blizzard, hailstorm, or a thunderstorm will roll in, often unexpectedly. Our lives may be going along alright when our world suddenly caves in with no warning, the waves threatening to sink us. But just like the disciples in this passage, we are never alone. Jesus wasn’t concerned about the storm’s threat, He just said (not yelled, shouted, or screamed), “Quiet, be still!” At once, the storm was calmed at the power of His words. That’s the power of our God.

But that isn’t the end of the story. Jesus turned to the disciples and asked them why they were afraid and still had no faith. After all they knew about Jesus, they still failed the test. He wanted them to know Him so well that when storms appeared, they’d trust in Him as the storm blew over.

Just like storms are sure to come, they are also guaranteed to move away. The storms in our lives act the same way. We can’t necessarily control them, but we control our responses to them. Jesus asks us to trust in Him and His power, no matter how scary our storms can be.

Experience
We know Jesus cares about our needs, but He wants us to meet the needs of others. When Jesus and His disciples were faced with the difficult task of feeding a crowd of people, Jesus told the disciples something very interesting. He said, “You go feed them.” The disciples were shocked. Can’t you just hear them stammering, “Us? We have only a few fish and a little bread. Who has any money on them? I can’t buy food for these people!” I believe Jesus smiled at this moment because He was about to remind them of who He is.

God often lets us exhaust our attempts to meet our own needs. He reminds us that only He can really fulfill our lives. The disciples were inadequate – and so are we. We need to depend totally on God for all things – not just the things we believe we can’t handle ourselves.

When the disciples couldn’t solve the problem, Jesus stepped in and something amazing happened. All of the people were satisfied. Not some, not most, but all were satisfied. When we attempt to meet our own needs or the needs of others without doing it God’s way, it never seems to satisfy for very long. Yet when we admit we’re inadequate, trust Jesus, and obey God’s directions in His Word, it brings a satisfaction that can last through difficult times.

But there’s still more! Not only was everyone satisfied, but they also had an abundance of food left over – even more food than they started with. That’s God. Trust Him to meet your needs, and He’ll do more than you can imagine.