The edge of his cloak
People brought all their sick to him and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed. -Matthew 14:35-36
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
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Love Like Jesus–Make Friends With Money
How Jesus Loved People
So what were the Pharisees sneering at? Jesus had just made the statement, “You cannot serve both God and money.” (Luke 16:13)
And the Pharisees loved money.
So they sneered.
You know what, I’ve noticed many of us Christians have a tendency to tap dance around the topic of greed. Maybe that’s partly because of it’s subtlety. We all need money to live, right? But how do you know when you’ve stepped over the line? “When someone commits adultery,” says Timothy Keller, “they don’t say, ‘Oh, hey, wait a second, you’re not my wife!'” But when we get greedy, sometimes, it’s hard to recognize it. But honestly, that’s probably not the main reason we tap dance around the issue. We’ll get to that later. Read More
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Posted on August 10, 2013 by Kurt Bennett
Bible Commentary, Bible Study, How Jesus Loved People - How You Can Too
Christian living, Jesus money, Love like Jesus, Luke 16, make friends with money
Love Like Jesus and Failed Romance
A Failed Romance
We all knew that guy. He’s the guy from high school who had the huge crush on a girl. During lunch he followed her around the cafeteria–like a puppy following someone with raw meat stuck to their shoe. In the evening, if she didn’t return his call within twenty minutes he started to panic. During the day, he checked his post on Facebook every five minutes to see if she gave it a like.
He smelled of desperation. Which of course had the opposite effect he desired.
Jesus, never did that.
How Jesus Loved People Read More
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Posted on August 3, 2013 by Kurt Bennett
Bible Commentary, Bible Study, How Jesus Loved People - How You Can Too, Marriage
Christian living, free will, God and free will, let go, Love like Jesus
The Holy Spirit: How to Know if You Have Him
Pentacost by Jean II Restout (Photo Credit Wikipedia)
One of our most popular posts. From the Archives:
At church the other night our pastor directed anyone interested in receiving prayer for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to go to the prayer room after the service.
I was amazed. Read More
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Posted on July 27, 2013 by Kurt Bennett
Bible Commentary, Bible Study, I Wish Someone Had Told Me This When I Was Young
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Love Like Jesus: No Family or Rich Friends Allowed
Kids in the Park
Family’s Softball Game Has Higher Attendance Than Cubs Game
There’s an old joke about a couple who couldn’t have kids. They sought the help of their pastor who said he would fast and pray the last day of every month until they conceived. Shortly thereafter the husband of the couple took a job in another town, so the couple and the pastor lost touch.
One year of fasting in this fashion passed. Finally, the pastor ran into the woman who couldn’t have kids. He asked if anything happened and she shared they had a set of triplets, and not only that but she was twelve weeks pregnant, and not only that but her doctor said she might be pregnant with twins. The pastor was overjoyed. He asked where her husband was so he could find him and congratulate him. She said, Read More
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Posted on July 20, 2013 by Kurt Bennett
Bible Commentary, Bible Study, How Jesus Loved People - How You Can Too
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Love Like Jesus: Grace for a Trespass
Augustin Tünger: Facetiae Latinae et Germanicae, Konstanz 1486, Württembergische Landesbibliothek Stuttgart, Cod. HB V 24a. – Illustration from the life of St. Peter: Saint Peter paying a fee by extracting coins from the mouth of a fish. Image via wiki commons.
The temple tax collectors approached Peter and asked him directly, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the Temple tax?”
Peter was on the spot. He didn’t really know if Jesus intended to pay the Temple tax or not. But instead of confessing he didn’t know, he decided to wing it. Sure he does, Peter said.
That was quite an assumption. And that must have been quite a long walk home, wondering the whole way back what Jesus really thought about the Temple tax.
Upon his return, as Peter walks in the door I can see in my mind Jesus chuckling to himself. What do you think Simon? Jesus asks. Who do the kings of the earth collect taxes from–from their own kids, or from others? Read More
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Posted on July 13, 2013 by Kurt Bennett
Bible Commentary, Bible Study, How Jesus Loved People - How You Can Too, Marriage
Christian living, grace, Jesus, Matthew 17, temple tax
Love Like Jesus: Jesus Did Not Love Everybody the Same
How Jesus Loved People
Jesus loved everybody, but he didn’t love everybody the same. Do you realize that? He loved (and loves) every person on the planet. He loves every one of us so much, he laid down his life, for each of us. But when he was here, walking the earth, he loved different people differently. He fed 5,000, and then 4,000, for a total of 9,000, but he didn’t feed everybody. The people he fed were those who followed him and listened to him. He didn’t heal everybody. The people he healed were the ones who believed in him and cried out to him. He didn’t train everybody. He trained seventy-two of his closest followers as his ambassadors. (Luke 10) And then there’s the twelve. There were twelve who were especially close to him. He let them in, close, so they could see up close how he lived. He gave the twelve private insights into parables left unexplained to others. (Mark 4:10) And then there’s the three: Peter, James, and John. Jesus let these three in even closer. He loved Peter, James, and John by bringing them with him for the transfiguration, and when he raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead, and when he sweat great drops of blood in the garden of Gethsemane just before they took him away to be tried and sentenced to crucifixion in their kangaroo court system. Only the three were allowed to accompany Jesus during these occasions. (Matthew 17:1-11, Mark 5:35-43, Mark 14:32-52) Read More
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Posted on July 6, 2013 by Kurt Bennett
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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
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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.
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Posted on May 25, 2013 by Kurt Bennett
Bible Commentary, Bible Study, How Jesus Loved People - How You Can Too
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