road2answers

Luke 4:14-21 The preliminaries were over. Jesus had been baptized and tested.  His reputation as a teacher was growing. He had some disciples following him.   He performed his first miraculous sign at a wedding in Cana of Galilee. John the Baptist recognized him, announcing to everyone that this was the Lamb of God. However, He had not publicly declared himself.  By this time, He had traveled some in the area of Galilee, speaking in the synagogues.  Everybody gave good reports of Him.  Luke 4:15 says, “He taught regularly in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.” [i]   When it was time to announce His ministry, His message and His mission, He starts in his hometown, Nazareth. He recognized, “No prophet is accepted in his own hometown.”  (Luke 4:24)  Nevertheless ,  He started in His own hometown.  We can learn a lesson from where Jesus chose to start.  The lesson is that we should start right where we are.  If you believe God has called you t

John 2:1-11 Jesus was God in human flesh.  This joining of God with flesh is a mystery.  Many do not believe it.  Many have tried to explain it. There are those who recognize that Jesus was a great teacher.  Many do not know what to think.  Jesus lived among us in a body like ours two thousand years ago, and He is still talked about, written about, hated and loved around the world.  Two thousand years ago, when He was among us, the people that he lived among faced a unique challenge.  They saw Jesus physically.  They saw His eyes and, if they were attentive, they could have told us what color His eyes were.  They saw His hair and they could have told us how He wore His hair.  The challenge they faced was to see past the physical and see God.  His glory was hidden.  We have an account of Jesus showing a small part of His glory on what is known as the Mount of Transfiguration.  Matthew 17:2 says, “As the men watched, Jesus' appearance was transformed so tha

Luke 4:1-13 Jesus was and is God. John 1:14 tells us, “So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.” [i] We know the Word that became human was God because John tells us in verse 1 that the “Word” was God. John 1:14 proclaims that the Word became human. A more literal translation of the word John uses in place of human is the word “flesh.” God took on a physical body. Hebrews 2:14-15 tells us why He did this. It says: 14 Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. 15 Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying. ESV [ii] There is another reason listed in Hebrews 4:15. For we do not have a high priest wh

Everyone has an origin, a place where he or she comes from. This can be understood from several different perspectives.  One perspective is family. We each come from a particular family. Each person has a father and a mother. Good or bad, known or unknown, our family affects who we are. Family determines eye, hair and skin color. Another perspective we can understand origin from is community. We all speak English because English is the language of our community. Another perspective we can understand origin from is geography. Growing up in the mountains, on the plains, or on the beach, in the jungle or in the artic all have an effect. Knowing someone involves knowing his or her origin, where he or she comes from. As we begin a new year, I hope you will join me in seeking to know Jesus. Resolve with me to put fresh new life into your relationship with Him. The people of Jesus’s day had a unique opportunity to know Jesus. However, most of that generation m