A Storm Hits a Wedding Ceremony
I went to this wedding once where the person who took charge of planning the wedding had a beautiful vision for it. It was going to happen outside and it was going to be done in a very particular way so as to make the setting spectacular. The only thing was, everything was geared for outdoors. The venue was an outdoor venue, so the wedding and reception depended on dry calm weather. And whenever the person who was planning this thing was asked what she would do if it rained, she simply said: It won’t rain.
Well guess what?
A storm came through, and it rained.
And the weather outside wasn’t the only storm happening that day. With no indoor venue or arrangements made whatsoever, the wedding planner just shut down. Panic and pandemonium ensued as the bride, the bride’s mother, and many others frantically attempted to put something together.
Then in stepped these two women who were friends of the bride’s mother. In a very gentle and gracious manner they just sort of, took over. They found a gym they could use at a Christian high school. They figured out how to arrange the outdoor tables and chairs to accommodate the guests, even though the gym was much smaller than expected. They found a place for the caterer to set up. They improvised with the decorations designed for the outdoor venue. They were amazing.
It wasn’t long after these two engaged the problem that the storm subsided and a calm came over the bride and the rest of the wedding party.
How Jesus Loved People
When the disciples took Jesus across the sea of Galilee and the storm came, there was panic and pandemonium. The disciples in the boat were freaking out–because of a storm–so Jesus calmed it.
How to Love Like Jesus
Jesus loved the disciples by calming their storm. You and I can’t command the wind and the waves, but there are other storms we can calm.
Just like Jesus, God has put you in a boat with a group of people. They’re the ones in your family, in your workplace, in your circle of friends. And just like the disciples in the boat, they’ll experience storms. And sometimes, like the two ladies at the wedding, you’ll have the power to calm those storms.
When someone you know is freaked out, maybe you’re just the right person to bring them peace. Maybe their storm is a computer that’s down, or a car that won’t start, or the end of a relationship, or the loss of a job.
You just might be uniquely qualified to calm the wind and the waves.
Jesus calmed the storm for the disciples.
When you see an opportunity to calm someone’s storm, calm it.
Jesus did.
You can too.
A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. -Mark 4:37-39
[Image via Green Destiny – Creative Commons]
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Love Like Jesus: Liberal vs. Conservative, and the Kingdom of Heaven
Heaven’s Door
Facebook is heating up again. My democrat friends are writing words celebrating Paula Deen’s fall from grace. My republican friends are writing words lamenting it. My republican friends want our borders secured. My democrat friends, are celebrating the Senate’s passing of the immigration reform bill.
All this back and forth has me thinking about the traditional positions of both my liberal and conservative friends, and how it might affect our door keeping. Door keeping, as in opening or shutting the door of heaven.
A nightmare of mine is that on the day of judgment, my day of judgment, in the moments just after I die, I stand before God. And He says the words, You’re guilty, of shutting the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces.
Father in heaven, let me never hear those words!
Jesus ripped up on the Pharisees and the lawyers of his day for doing just that. Jesus said directly to them, “You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces.” (Matthew 23:13) Read More
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Posted on June 29, 2013 by Kurt Bennett
Bible Commentary, Bible Study, How Jesus Loved People - How You Can Too
Christian democrat, Christian politics, Christian witness, kingdom of heaven, liberal vs. conservative, Love like Jesus, republican vs. democrat
Love Like Jesus: Jim Bakker, Billy Graham, and a Sinking Man
This article is from the new book Love Like Jesus: How Jesus Loved People (and how you can love like Jesus). For more articles included in the book go to Love Like Jesus Book.
I Hated Jim Bakker
I hated Jim Bakker. You know, the guy who was married to Tammy Faye. Jim was a televangelist to millions. Jim was a man who created a four square mile Christian theme park. Jim was also a man who sunk down to incredible lows. Jim Bakker was the man who admitted to having sex with his young secretary, and whose life hit bottom when he was convicted of fraud and sentenced to 45 years in prison. From my perspective, Jim Bakker had a love for money more than a love of Christ. He lacked honesty and integrity. And he had a sex scandal–thrown in for good measure. He was everything Jesus Christ is not. He misrepresented our Lord to millions.
Yeah, Jim Bakker: I hated that guy.
Jim Bakker and Billy Graham Read More
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Posted on June 22, 2013 by Kurt Bennett
Bible Commentary, Bible Study, How Jesus Loved People - How You Can Too
Billy Graham, Christian living, forgive, Forgiveness, grace, Jim Bakker, Love like Jesus, Ruth Graham
Are You Running the Race to Win the Prize?
The Meaning of Perseverance for a Christian
When people read this scripture, they naturally interpret press on as to move ahead with earnest, and they would be correct. But press on also means to progress, and to grow as an individual in Christ Jesus. Yes, we press on, and, in the process, we progress in our walk with the Lord and we grow as Christians.
It’s the five P’s of Philippians: Press (on), Progress, Patience, Persevere, and (the) Prize.
Do you have the patience to persevere? To press on? To progress? To grow? To go after that prize for which God has called you heavenward in Christ Jesus?
Another ‘P’–Procrastination Read More
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Posted on June 15, 2013 by Kurt Bennett
Bible Commentary, Bible Study
Christian, perseverance, Philippians, Philippians 3, Press on toward the goal
Love Like Jesus and a Plague of Flies of Biblical Proportions (Sort Of)
A Plague of Flies of Biblical Proportions (Sort Of)
Ah Friday. Friday is writing day around here, and it’s Friday at last. Friday is the one day of the week everyone is supposed to leave me alone,
to write.
So I rolled out of bed thinking I was headed for the laptop until enough fog cleared from my head, for me to remember, Kathy is out of town. She’s in Portland with a mom, two daughters, and a sister, doing some kind of a women’s thing. A spa thing, I think they said. I’m not sure what that entails but I think I heard the words “many petting” in there somewhere, so my thought is, it involves zoo animals somehow.
Anyway, that means I had to cover for Kathy at one of her jobs. Among her many other activities, she manages the pool and recreational facilities at our townhouse complex. (She’s always doing something productive or helpful.) So off I go to the pool. “No big deal,” I think to myself. “Just a quick chemical check, and I’m off to my office.” But when I arrived, I found a surprise. Read More
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Posted on June 8, 2013 by Kurt Bennett
Bible Study, How Jesus Loved People - How You Can Too
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Love Like Jesus–A Baby’s Skull Removed: Matthew 14:35-36
The edge of his cloak
How Jesus Loved People
People from all around brought their sick to Jesus, and everyone who touched the edge of his cloak was healed.
I did a search on the definition of a cloak, and this was the first thing that came up: An outdoor overgarment, typically sleeveless, that hangs from the shoulders.
That confirmed what I already suspected,
I don’t even own a cloak.
And if I did, anyone who touched it wouldn’t be healed.
In contrast to an average Joe like me, Jesus healed all manner of sickness. He healed lepers (once he healed ten at a time), paralytics, people with withered hands, bleeding women, blind men, dying children, and epileptics. He healed deaf men, women with fevers, and he reattached severed body parts. He even raised people from the dead.
Jesus favored healing people by touching them. Occasionally he healed remotely, by just saying it would happen, it happened. He preferred to heal instantaneously, as opposed to progressively. He liked to heal totally and completely, as opposed to partial healing.
Jesus loved people–by healing them.
How to Love Like Jesus–A Baby’s Skull Removed
My wife Kathy Read More
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Posted on June 1, 2013 by Kurt Bennett
Bible Commentary, Bible Study, How Jesus Loved People - How You Can Too
healing, healing ministry, help sick, how to help sick, Jesus heal, Love like Jesus
Love Like Jesus–A Church Feeds Four Thousand: Matthew 15:32
My church is located pretty much in the middle of nowhere. If you want to see just how remote it is, you can look at it on a Google map here. It’s in a very beautiful part of God’s creation, and a very beautiful thing happens there every Sunday. See, even though this church is in the middle of nowhere, thousands go there to worship. And in the summer, after service, my church feeds people. I mean like, sometimes, a thousand people. (So times 4, that makes 4,000–a month, hence the subtitle) And they do it for free! Can you believe it? And no, that’s not why thousands go there. Attendance was like that before the free lunch. But still, they feed four thousand a month–for free.
How Jesus Loved People Read More
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Posted on May 25, 2013 by Kurt Bennett
Bible Commentary, Bible Study, How Jesus Loved People - How You Can Too
Applegate Christian Fellowship, Christianity, feed the hungry, feeding of the 5000, Jesus, Love like Jesus, soup kitchen
Love Like Jesus–A Storm and a Wedding: Mark 4:37-39
I went to this wedding once where the person who took charge of planning the wedding had a beautiful vision for it. It was going to happen outside and it was going to be done in a very particular way so as to make the setting spectacular. The only thing was, everything was geared for outdoors. The venue was an outdoor venue, so the wedding and reception depended on dry calm weather. And whenever the person who was planning this thing was asked what she would do if it rained, she simply said: It won’t rain.
Well guess what?
A storm came through, and it rained.
And the weather outside wasn’t the only storm happening that day. With no indoor venue or arrangements made whatsoever, the wedding planner just shut down. Panic and pandemonium ensued as the bride, the bride’s mother, and many others frantically attempted to put something together.
Then in stepped these two women who were friends of the bride’s mother. In a very gentle and gracious manner they just sort of, took over. They found a gym they could use at a Christian high school. They figured out how to arrange the outdoor tables and chairs to accommodate the guests, even though the gym was much smaller than expected. They found a place for the caterer to set up. They improvised with the decorations designed for the outdoor venue. They were amazing.
It wasn’t long after these two engaged the problem that the storm subsided and a calm came over the bride and the rest of the wedding party.
How Jesus Loved People
When the disciples took Jesus across the sea of Galilee and the storm came, there was panic and pandemonium. The disciples in the boat were freaking out–because of a storm–so Jesus calmed it.
How to Love Like Jesus
Jesus loved the disciples by calming their storm. You and I can’t command the wind and the waves, but there are other storms we can calm.
Just like Jesus, God has put you in a boat with a group of people. They’re the ones in your family, in your workplace, in your circle of friends. And just like the disciples in the boat, they’ll experience storms. And sometimes, like the two ladies at the wedding, you’ll have the power to calm those storms.
When someone you know is freaked out, maybe you’re just the right person to bring them peace. Maybe their storm is a computer that’s down, or a car that won’t start, or the end of a relationship, or the loss of a job.
You just might be uniquely qualified to calm the wind and the waves.
Jesus calmed the storm for the disciples.
When you see an opportunity to calm someone’s storm, calm it.
Jesus did.
You can too.
[Image via Green Destiny – Creative Commons]
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Posted on May 18, 2013 by Kurt Bennett
Bible Commentary, Bible Study, How Jesus Loved People - How You Can Too
Calm the storm, how Jesus loved people, how to love like Jesus, Jesus calms the storm, Love like Jesus, storm and a wedding
Who is Jesus? Video
Great video by Cold Water Media, via Anastasia Bennett and Evan Way of Door of Hope.
Who Is Jesus? – TRUE U3 from ColdWater Media on Vimeo.
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Posted on May 13, 2013 by Kurt Bennett
Bible Commentary, Bible Study
Jesus, Jesus Christ, u3, who is Jesus
Love Like Jesus–Even When It’s Less Than Ideal: John 19:26-27
Mothers Day Meal
When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. -John 19:26-27
How Jesus Loved People
They just scourged him. They just pressed the thorny crown into his head. They just made him carry his own cross, as far as he was able, up the hill called the place of the Skull. And he was just crucified, they just nailed him to the cross, I mean, he’s actually hanging there, on the cross, between two criminals. And in the midst of all that, Jesus had the presence of mind to arrange for his mother to be taken care of after his death. (John 19:1-27)
How to Love Like Jesus
I’m guessing your circumstances are better than Jesus’.
Go and honor your mother.
[Image via Andy Ciordia – Creative Commons]
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Posted on May 11, 2013 by Kurt Bennett
Bible Commentary, Bible Study, How Jesus Loved People - How You Can Too
Christian, Honor your mother, Love like Jesus, Mothers Day
Jesus in the Old Testament (Part 5): Isaiah 53
Christ’s wounded hand, Unterlinden Museum, Colmar, France by John Kroll – Creative Commons
“But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.”
Isaiah 53:5-6
(You can read Isaiah 53 in its entirety at the bottom of this post)
Isaiah 53 Written After Jesus’ Death and Resurrection?
Isaiah chapter 53 is so descriptive of Jesus Christ it seems out of place. There’s just no way this should be here. It should come after the New Testament, after Jesus’ death and resurrection, not before. Read More
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Posted on May 3, 2013 by Kurt Bennett
Bible Commentary, Bible Study, Genesis, I Wish Someone Had Told Me This When I Was Young, Jesus in the Old Testament
Christianity, Isaiah 53, Jesus in the Old Testament, Messianic prophecy, proof of Christianity, prophecy
Jesus in the Old Testament (Part 4): Daniel’s Prophecy
The prophet Daniel from Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling.
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Posted on April 27, 2013 by Kurt Bennett
Bible Commentary, Bible Study, I Wish Someone Had Told Me This When I Was Young, Jesus in the Old Testament
Daniel prophecy, Jesus in Old Testament, Jesus prophecy, prophecy of weeks
A Matter of Life and Death: The Kingdom of Heaven is Near
Young man: “I just found out my favorite college professor has cancer.”
Old man: “I am so sorry to hear that. You know, I just spoke with my best friend from high school and learned he lost his brother, his mother, his sister-in-law, and his father–all in one year.
Life is so much more fragile than we realize. Life is so much shorter than we recognize. The kingdom of heaven is near.
Turn your heart toward God our Father.
While you still can.”
[Image via mayakamina – Creative Commons]
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Posted on April 25, 2013 by Kurt Bennett
Bible Commentary, Bible Study, I Wish Someone Had Told Me This When I Was Young
Christianity, Heaven, how do I go to heaven, jesus christ matthew, kingdom of heaven, life is short, Matthew 4:17, the kingdom of heaven is near
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