PSA for July

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to let everybody know that there will be no Bible Study posts from July 1st until August 16th. During this time, I'm going to be doing some praying and thinking about the future of the Bible Study.

One idea that I had was, because this Bible Study has been based around the school year, trying to do a 'read through the Bible in a school year' thing, starting in September and ending in June at some point. I would have to design a program (thus I have a month and a half) to figure this out, and I would post the chapters and then the post would focus on a major theme from that day's chapters.

If you have any ideas about this, or some other idea that you think would be good (or even if you think that our current system of Random Chapter Day, Encouragement Day... would be good), email me at rocktalk951@gmail.com .

May God bless and protect you this summer,
Joyce

The Way, The Truth, And The Life

John 14:6 ESV
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Jesus said this in response to Thomas (Doubting Thomas, as he would later be known as). Thomas asked the question, "If we don't know where You're going (Jesus was talking about heaven, but they weren't catching on right away. Thomas still thought that he had to find a path to follow Jesus to a physical place on Earth), how can we follow You?"

So how can we follow Jesus if we can't see where He's headed? How are we supposed to figure all this out?

We don't have to find a way, we have one. We don't need to find a truth, we have one. And we don't need to find a life, because we have one. Jesus is all of these things for those who believe in Him.

Jesus says to Thomas, 'you can't follow me here on your own. Nobody gets to God if he doesn't go through Me, first. Nobody can really come to Him to pray or whatever, if they don't know Me.'

So if you want to get to the Father, you have to go through Jesus. How do you do that? With this prayer:

"Father, I know that I am a sinner, worthy of being cast from Your presence. But I also know that Jesus came down and died for me, and then He rose again for me. God, I know that my sins were wrong, and I pray that You will forgive me for them and come into my life, not because I deserve it, but because Jesus died for me. Thank You for this gift of salvation, God. In Jesus' Name, Amen."

In His Service,
Joyce

Response Question: Why is it important that we don't take this verse out of context?

Jesus Defends Us

Matthew 12:1-6
At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!”

But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple.

"Father, thank You for this story about Your Son. The Pharisees tried to make an attack on His disciples, but Jesus defended them, just as He defends us and will defend us. Your Son is greater than the temple, and the technicalities and rules that we break so often. May we remember this when we need His defense. In Jesus' Name, Amen."

The Pharisees were having issues. They were just picking at everything that Jesus did and said, and they wanted Him dead. Jesus, however, had a knowledge of God's word.

When the Pharisees would attack Him, He came back on them with His defense. Anybody can defend themselves. It takes guts to defend someone else. That's what Jesus did.

He used God's word to defend the disciples. And then He made the comment that He is greater than the temple. In other words, He is greater than the technicalities and rules, and the place that we break them. He is greater than all of that!

In His Service,
Joyce

Response Question:  How does Jesus defend us now?

Everywhere I Go

Everywhere I Go, by Lincoln Brewster
http://www.jesusfreakhideout.com/lyrics/new/track.asp?track_id=11132
I will praise with all I am
With every fiber of my soul
Every breath I'll ever take
Is because You've made it so
I will give You all I am
Every minute every hour

Won't You fill me with Your love
With Your strength and with Your power
O God above Your love has opened up my eyes
Now all I see is You all I see is You
O God above Your love has opened up my eyes
Now all I see is You all I see is You
With every breath I breathe I know it's true that

Everywhere I go Your love surrounds me
Everywhere I turn Your grace reminds me
Nothin' in the world can separate us now
Every step I take You're there to guide me
Every day I wake Your mercy finds me
Nothin' in the world could ever take this love away
You will never let me go
Lord Your love has won my heart
And I want the world to know
Just how wonderful You are
So I am running after You
Every day that I have breath
Jesus You're the only way
There's no way I'm turnin' back

I won't look back
I won't worry
'Cause my best days are before me

In His Service,
Joyce
 
Response Question: Bible verses or a story for this song?

What Would You Have Done?

Matthew 23:29-30
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’


The Pharisees were saying something that Christians will say today, sometimes: if I was around back then, I would have been better than my fathers. I wouldn't have killed the prophets. I wouldn't have done the same thing as Pontius Pilate or Judas Iscariot.

Yeah, we probably would have. We can't judge someone for making a decision during a situation we've never been in. I probably wouldn't have been a disciple. Who knows where I would have been. Here's the thing: that little voice inside our heads that tells us that somethings against God, that's the called the Holy Spirit. He's not there if Jesus hasn't died/risen again yet, or if a person isn't saved.

I'm not saying that non-Christians don't have morals, don't get me wrong. I'm just saying that Jesus warns us against making judgments on our behavior if we haven't been in a situation before.

In His Service,
Joyce
 
Response Question: What would you have done if you were living in Jesus' day?

Let 'Em Have It!

Jeremiah 2:19 NKJV
Your own wickedness will correct you,
And your backslidings will rebuke you.
Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing
That you have forsaken the LORD your God,
And the fear of Me is not in you,”
Says the Lord GOD of hosts.

Happy Random Chapter Day!
 
So in this situation, the Israelites were turning away from God and to their worthless idols (verse 13, broken cisterns, forsaking the fountain of living waters). God was warning them through Jeremiah what would happen.
 
God is constantly protecting us. Every moment particles don't fly into your eyes and blind you, that's God. He's constantly watching over us.
 
So in this situation, He let their own wickedness correct them. He wasn't going to bring sickness on them. But He would let the god that they chose to serve take care of them, for now. He warned them that their idols and gods wouldn't help them, but they didn't listen to Him.
 
It's that little thing called free will, popping up again. God will let us have what we want. He just has one thing to say to us: It's not good that you have forsaken Me. He doesn't force us to come back, He uses His words. He lets us make our own decisions. Why? Because if He forces it, our love and worship will mean nothing.
 
In His Service,
Joyce
 
Response Question: Does God use this method of letting us have what we deserve for our wickedness still true today?

Mocking Our King

John 19:1-3
So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him. And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe. Then they said, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they struck Him with their hands.

Jesus was betrayed by one of His friends for a bag of money. Then He was sent to court, and the governor found him innocent, but the people wanted Him to be crucified, so Pilate sent Him to be crucified.

What is 'Crucifiction'? In a typical crucifixion, they strip the person naked, beat him with a leather whip, and then he had to carry his 70 lb crossbar through the city, until he got to Calvary, where they put him up on the stake (making the cross we now associate with Christianity). They nail his feet and ankles to the cross, and then they wait.

People offer the criminals a wine mixture, to help ease the suffering, and sometimes the Roman Soldiers, in a moment of mercy, go around to break the criminal's legs, to make the death come faster.

This was how Jesus died. His death was a typical crucifixion. They stripped Him, they split His clothes up among themselves, they taunted Him, and gave Him a purple robe and a crown made of thorns, as if they were dressing Him up as a King should dress (the title on His cross said 'Jesus of Nazareth, The King of the Jews'). They whipped Him. Then they led Him to Calvary, where they pierced His hands and ankles, and nailed Him to the cross.

The people offered Him the wine mixture, and He refused it. By the time the soldiers came to break His legs, He was already dead, so they pierced His side with a spear.

He refused the mixture because He was suffering, not for what He had done, but what we have done. He did all of that, knowingly, because of us. He could have, at any time, decided that this wasn't what He wanted to do, and just jumped down.

Why didn't He? He knew that it was God's will that this happened. And He loved us. He loved us so much that He did all that for us. I've heard that in a crucifixion, the person will actually die most often from suffocation. This was not a calm, peaceful death. This was torture, that He endured for us!

They mocked Him, and He ignored them. Why? Because He knew that this was how we would be saved. He knew that He would have to pay the price of our sins. It would take human blood for our sins to be covered, and He offered Himself up as the pay for anyone who believed in Him.

Do you believe in Him? Do you believe that He did all of this, and died, for you, so that your sins would be forgiven?

How does one tell Jesus that you believe in Him? With this prayer:

"God, I know that I am a sinner, worthy of being cast from Your presence. But I also know that Jesus came down, lived a sinless life, died a horrible death, and then rose again, for me, so that my sins might be forgiven. I pray that You will forgive me for my sins and come into my life. In Jesus' Name, Amen."

You know, at the end of that story, Jesus did die. He was put in a tomb. And three days later, his friend Mary Magdalene came to go to His tomb, but He wasn't there. He had come alive again. Why? Because God is good. Jesus was sinless, and didn't deserve to die.

In His Service,
Joyce

Response Question: Why did Jesus rise again? (Our topic for next Friday)!

Encouragement from the Holy Spirit

John 14:26
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

"Father, thank You for this reminder of encouragement. God, You have sent to us the Holy Spirit, who lives inside us. He reminds us Your words when we need them. May we learn to listen to Him. In Jesus' Name, Amen."

Jesus calls the Holy Spirit 'another Helper' in verse 16. He is part of the trinity, along with God the Father and Jesus the Son.

Have you ever worried about when you need them, you won't remember the Bible verse you need? I'm horrible at remembering the chapter and verse numbers for the verses, and exact wordings. Sometimes I worry that when I'm in a situation where I'm telling someone about God, and they ask a question, and I won't know the words to give them.

But I don't have to worry, because the Holy Spirit is within me. He will remind me, and you, of Jesus' words when we need them. Jesus didn't say all these things, God didn't write this book, to abandon us and have us never remember the words when we need them.

Our encouragement tonight: You know how God will never leave you, nor forsake you? Well, He goes so far as to remind you of things that you've forgotten when you need to remember them.

In His Service,
Joyce

Response Question: So, do we have to do anything to contribute to the Holy Spirit reminding us of Jesus' words?

Othniel Goes To War

So the Obscure Biblical Character is... Othniel, son of Kenaz, (Caleb's younger brother).

Judges 3:10, King James Version (http://www.bible.com/)
And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war: and the LORD delivered Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed against Chushanrishathaim.


Notice the progression of Othniel's life here: the Spirit of God came upon him, he judged(ruled over) Israel, he went to war, and God delivered Chushanrishathaim (say that three times fast!) into his hand. Before anything else happened, he started a relationship with God, and then he started his reign.

Then here's the part I wanted to focus on today: he went to war, and God delivered Chushie into his hand. God didn't just strike the Mesopotamians down where they stood while the Israelites hid in the city. They had to go to war. They had to do something, and then God brought them the results. But God's not going to do all the work for us.

So the next Obscure Biblical Character (ending June 30th) is:
-had "great faith"
-asked Jesus to heal his servant, but
-didn't think he was worthy to have Jesus in his house

In His Service,
Joyce
 
Response Question: Why does it say 'judged'? What does this mean?

A Cup And Dish

Matthew 23:25-26
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.

So, even though the Pharisees were pretty sure Jesus was going to take their jobs or whatever, Jesus was not making a crack about how they were going to end up dishwashers. He was speaking metaphorically.

In this metaphor, He's talking about the Pharisees. On the outside, they look great, in their fancy clean clothes and long public prayers and good deeds for God. But on the inside, they're just what Jesus said: full of extortion and self-indulgence.

So Jesus used a metaphor about dish washing to tell the Pharisees that they were ugly on the inside. What does this mean for us?

We're no different than these Pharisees. We make look like good little Christians on the outside, but only we and God know what's on the inside of our souls. Before we can truly fix what others see, we need to fix our insides. Otherwise, the filth from the inside will contaminate the outsides, and it will all be for nothing.

In His Service,
Joyce

Response Question: Why did the Pharisees and scribes dislike Jesus? Was it because He was threatening their jobs, like I said?

Specific Needs

Psalm 120:1-2
In my distress I cried to the LORD,
And He heard me.
Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips
And from a deceitful tongue.

So whoever wrote this psalm had distress, and he cried out to God. God heard him, meaning that He took care of him.
 
The psalmist is very specific. He doesn't say, "God, help me!" he says "Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips and from a deceitful tongue." He tells God what he needs.
 
When we need God's help with something, we can't just say, "God, help me!". We have to say, "God, I need guidance in this issue" or "Comfort my heart, because I'm upset about _______".
 
In His Service,
Joyce
 
Response Question: Do you think that God would have answered the psalmist had he been less specific?

Faithful and Just to Confessors of Sin

1 John 1:8-9 (www.biblegateway.com) NLT
If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

We can't say that we don't have any sin. If we do, we're just fooling ourselves and we're not being honest. It's a lie. We're putting on a little show for ourselves and convincing ourselves that the way we live is perfectly fine because it isn't hurting anybody, but it is hurting somebody. It's hurting God. We hurt God when we sin. Thus, the bad news.

Here's the Good News: if we admit to God that we're sinners, He'll forgive us and not only that, but He'll also cleanse us of our sins! Why would He just forgive us, after we hurt Him time after time, year after year? Because God is faithful to us. He loves us.

So where's the catch? This God just loves us, so He's going to forgive us for all the grief we've given Him without an apology or even an acknowledgement that we did it, clean us from it, and let us through the gates of heaven? Almost.

God wants us to admit that we're sinners. He wants us to acknowledge that we sinned against Him. How do you do that? This prayer:

"Lord, I confess that I am a sinner, worthy of being cast forever from Your Presence. But I also know that Jesus died for me, that I can be forgiven for all my sins. I acknowledge that Jesus died and rose again on the third day, because He was sinless. I, however, God, am not. I ask You, Lord, to forgive me for my sin, wash me clean of it, and come into my life. In Jesus' Name, Amen."

In the beginning of chapter 2, John talks about how Jesus is our Advocate in Heaven with the Father. He will speak up for us when we come through those gates to answer for whatever we did in this life. But if you said this prayer today, or yesterday, or in the past, He will speak for you, and tell the Father that you are one of His. If you didn't say that prayer, then Jesus won't do that for you.

Why would a loving God do this? Better question: Why would a loving God reward everyone with Heaven, if some people never even acknowledged His existence?

In His Service,
Joyce

Response Question: Thoughts on verse ten?

Humble or Haughty, We'll Be Rewarded

Matthew 23:12 NKJV
And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

Amplified
Whoever exalts himself [with haughtiness and empty pride] shall be humbled (brought low), and whoever humbles himself [whoever has a modest opinion of himself and behaves accordingly] shall be raised to honor.

"Father, thank You for this reminder that You reward or punish us for what we do in this life. If we are humble, You will raise us to honor. But if we are haughty and full of empty pride, You will bring us low. The last will be first and the first will be last, as Your Son said. May we remember this when we are tempted to be haughty and prideful. In Jesus' Name, Amen."

So the term 'exalt' here doesn't mean the same thing as when we exalt God, or call Him 'O Exalted One' or anything like that. In reference to God, it means that we're praising Him, putting Him 'on a pedestool'. When doing it to ourselves, it's a bad thing: we're being haughty and prideful when we have no right to be.

If we exalt ourselves, we will be brought low. But if we're humble, we will be raised to honor. There's also two definitions of 'humble' in this verse, one good and one bad. If we exalt ourselves (bad) we'll be brought low (bad). But if we're humble and behave with a modest opinion of ourselves, (good) we'll be raised to honor (good). See how that works? We'll be rewarded with more of the same kind of thing we gave to ourselves, either good or bad.

Where's the encouragement in this? If we do good in this life, and have a modest opinion of ourselves and such, we'll be brought to honor.

In His Service,
Joyce

Response Question: What does 'humble' (in the 'good' definition of the AMP version) look like? How do you identify it?

Breathe

Breathe, by Newsboys

Tuesday the third,
I'll call this entry "Mistake"
Cheap imitation
My life feels like a fake

Psalm 51:10 NLT  Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me

A people person
Some days people annoy me
I'm growing edgy
Wednesday's title: "Avoid Me"

**

Chorus
Breathe on me
Breathe oh Breath of God
Breathe on me
`til my heart is new

Ezekiel 36:26 NLT  And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart

Breathe on me
Breathe oh Breath of Life
Breathe on me
`til I love like You do

1 John 4:8 NLT  But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

Thursday, the fifth
I title "Drivers Beware"
Tempered-a-mental
and I don't really care

**

I gave `til I bled
You laughed when I fainted
Don't want to live this life
bitter and tainted

1 John 1:9 NLT  But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

- Chorus -

Most of the verses came from www.biblegateway.com , which is a great resource. (It's the first site that pops up when you type a specific verse into Google).
In His Service,
Joyce
 
Response Question: Ideas for asterisked verses?

Jesus Is Humble

Matthew 21:23-27
Now when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, "By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?"
But Jesus answered and said to them, "I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things: The baptism of John- where was it from? From heaven or from men?"
And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say to us, 'Why then did you not believe him?' But if we say, 'From men,' we fear the multitude, for all count John as a prophet." So they answered Jesus and said, "We do not know."
And He said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

The chief priests and the elders of the people want Jesus to stop being Jesus: He's messing with their plans. They like how things are going: they have power, money, and people listen to them. But they weren't doing God's Word. Jesus could care less if they had lots of power over others, He just wanted to preach God's Word.

But Jesus is very humble. When the priests and elders asked Him what authority He was under, He had every right to jump up on a table and yell to them, "God gave Me this right because I'm His Son and He loves Me, and He gave Me this authority to save all you people!" But He doesn't say or do that. What He does it turn the tables on them.

These people were considering the political ramifications of either choice, so they took the middle ground: I don't know. You can't go wrong with 'I don't know', right? Unless, of course, you're lying to Jesus. Then you can go wrong.

This doesn't mean not to talk about God, and it doesn't mean not to praise Him. What it does mean is not to be prideful. We need to be humble when talking about God to others, like Jesus was.

In His Service,
Joyce

Response Question: Was there a reason Jesus picked this question to ask?

Consider Your Ways!

Haggai 1:6-7
"You have sown much, but bring in little;
You eat, but do not have enough;
You drink, but you are not filled with drink;
You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm;
And he who earns wages,
Earns wages to put into a bag of holes."
Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Consider your ways!

These people were thinking that when they were ready, they would build God a temple. When they brought in enough harvest, when they were full of food and drink, when they were clothed, and when they were rich enough. But for whatever reason, they never had enough to go and build God's temple. They just weren't ever pleased with what they had. They planted enough, they had enough food and drink, they had clothes, and they had jobs. But they weren't thankful for what they had.

So God wants His temple. He knows that all these people are taking care of themselves, and not worshipping Him like they should be. In verses 8 through 11, it talks about how God was trying to get the people to realize that good things weren't happening because they weren't doing their job.

So what can we take from this passage on this beautiful Monday? That we shouldn't be so preoccupied with getting more of everything that we don't follow through and worship God. Once we have enough, and as we're getting there, we should be worshipping God, because He's the One who gets us there.

In His Service,
Joyce

Response Question: Read verses 8 through 11. What do you think about this God that the passage shows, and does it fit in with the God that we know and worship and adore?

How To See His Love

Ephesians 3:17-19 NKJV
that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height- to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Jesus can only come into our hearts if we have faith that He can. If we are rooted and grounded in love, we can experience the love of Christ that is beyond knowledge, and we can be filled with the fullness of God.

Some people say that they don't believe God exists. They can't understand this unconditional love. The only way to experience God's love is by having faith. If you don't have this faith, that's why you can't see His love. As soon as you really, truly believe that this is possible, you'll feel His love.

So how do you get this faith? Faith is a gift from God. How do you get the love of Christ? With this prayer:

"Lord, I know that I am a sinner, worthy of being cast from Your prescience, but I also know, and believe with all my heart, that Jesus died and rose again on the third day, so that I can have everlasting life with You. I pray, Lord, that You will show me His love in every way and come into my life, and forgive me for my sins, God, not because I deserve, because I don't, but because Jesus died on the cross for me. I ask this in Jesus' Name, Amen."

In His Service,
Joyce

Response Question: What does 'dwelling in our hearts' mean?

Enlightened Eyes

Psalm 13:3-4
Consider and hear me, O LORD my God;
Enlighten my eyes,
Lest I sleep the sleep of death;
Lest my enemy say,
"I have prevailed against him";
Lest those who trouble me rejoice when I am moved.

"Father, thank You for this reminder that we're not the only ones who feel as though they need You to fight of their enemies. David asked You to help him, in case he died and his enemies said that they beat him, or rejoiced when he leaves. Father, help us to see You when we face our own enemies. In Jesus' Name, Amen."

David is a pretty easy guy to relate to, I think. Here, he has an enemy that he thinks he needs God's help to deal with. He doesn't want God to strike them down with lightening or anything. He just wants God to give him understanding, so that he doesn't die and his enemies rejoice.

When we are facing our own enemies, we need to do what David did. Ask God for wisdom and enlightenment, so that our enemies don't rejoice when they've defeated us.

But also, we should be encouraged: we're not the first to be against such enemies. David did it first. And he succeeded. If God is our strength, we can too.

In His Service,
Joyce

Response Question: Define 'Enlightenment' in the way it's used here.

Cyrus

The Obscure Biblical Character is... Cyrus!

Ezra 1:2-4
Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the LORD God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. Who is among you of all His people? May his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel (He is God), which is in Jerusalem.
And whoever is left in any place where he dwells, let the men of his place help him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, besides the freewill offerings for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.

So Cyrus (kind of like Nehemiah) was burned by the Lord to build something. Cyrus told all the Jews to pitch in and help, and they could build the temple together. Then Cyrus (in verses 7-8) gave the Jews some gold, silver, and other things that were in the temple of Nebuchadnezzar's gods (that Nebu had taken from the Jews).

God used Cyrus build Him a temple. First, Cyrus acknowledged that God had given him the kingdoms that he ruled, and then he encouraged God's people to work together to build this temple.

So the Obscure Biblical Character is:
-a judge of Israel
-God delivered into his hand a king of Mesopotamia
-made peace for 40 years

In His Service,
Joyce

Response Question: Was Cyrus a king for or against God?

All Things Are Possible

Matthew 19:26
But Jesus looked at them and said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

Jesus wasn't talking about what we consider to be miracles. He's not talking here about stopping rivers from flowing, or anything like that.

Jesus just finished up this conversation about wealth and the kingdom of heaven (The camel through the eye of a needle, which is kind of like our 'needle in a haystack'). Then the disciples got really confused, and wondered who would ever be saved.

Now, the disciples did something we do all the time to God. They subconsciously doubted Him. 'Obviously, that's not going to work' kind of thinking. These people saw Jesus feed thousands of people with only a few loaves of bread, walk on water, calm a storm, heal countless people... But this, this was above what they thought this Jesus could do.

But this is where our Jesus quote comes in. "With men this (salvation for a rich man, due to pride and not wanting to give away his money and such) is impossible, but with God, all things are possible". Anyone can be saved, anyone can come to Christ, because everything and anything is possible with God.

In His Service,
Joyce

Response Question: Is salvation a miracle in itself (a person coming to Christ)?