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–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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Jesus in the Old Testament (Part 2): Genesis 22
In our last post we saw Jesus in the story of Joseph. Today we’ll see Jesus in another Old Testament passage: the story of Abraham taking his son Isaac to sacrifice.
Read Genesis 22
Before Genesis 22, Abraham was last seen together with Isaac when he was celebrating Isaac’s weaning. At that time Isaac was somewhere between three and five years old. Genesis 22 begins in verse one with the phrase “After these things . . .” So fast forward to when some say Isaac is now in his thirties. He’s been the apple of his parent’s eye for thirty or so years now and even as his name means laughter, he’s provided laughter and joy to both Abraham and Sarah. Which as we’ll see makes the next phrase in our story, God tested Abraham, just about as gut wrenching as you can imagine. Abraham is about to hear what to him must have seemed like a very strange request from the Lord. Read More
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Posted on April 13, 2013 by Kurt Bennett
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Jesus in the Old Testament (Part 1): Genesis 50:15-21
When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.” -Genesis 50:15
In last Saturday’s post, Looking for the Living Among the Dead, we saw how Jesus talked to the two men on the road to Emmaus who thought He was dead. “…beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” (Luke 24:27-34)
Here in Genesis we see what I believe is just one example of how Jesus is found in the writings of Moses and all the prophets. Perhaps Christ even shared something similar with the two on the road to Emmaus.
Joseph’s Response to the Sins of His Brothers
Jacob, the father of Joseph and his brothers, has just passed away. The funeral is over, and the family is back at home in Egypt, trying to return to their normal routine. It’s at this time, all the wrongs Joseph’s brothers committed against Joseph, come flooding into their minds: they hated him because he was their father’s favorite, they plotted to kill him, they tossed him into a cistern, they sold him into slavery, then they lied to their father and told him Joseph was dead.
And now Jacob is gone. And they think Joseph has just been waiting for the right time to settle the score. They think he’s angry. They think he’s ready for revenge. So they throw themselves down before Joseph, the powerful Prime Minister, and beg for his forgiveness. Read More
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Posted on April 6, 2013 by Kurt Bennett
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Why RISK Is Right
The following is an excerpt by David Platt. To read the full article click on the link: Why RISK Is Right.
In Matthew 13:44 Jesus tells his disciples, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”
I love this picture. Imagine walking in a field and stumbling upon a treasure that is more valuable than anything else you could work for or find in this life. It is more valuable than all you have now or will ever have in the future.
You look around and notice that no one else realizes the treasure is here, so you cover it up quickly and walk away, pretending you haven’t seen anything. You go into town and begin to sell off all your possessions to have enough money to buy that field. The world thinks you’re crazy. Read More
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Posted on April 4, 2013 by Kurt Bennett
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David Platt, Evangelism, Great Commission, Why Risk Is Right
Looking for the Living Among the Dead
A Dead Sparrow
The bird hit the big picture window like a bug hits a windshield. It didn’t fair well. The little sparrow fell to the deck floor some six feet below the point of impact, which was marked with feathers stuck to the surface of the glass. It lay on its side at first, then it slowly rolled over and extended its legs up toward the sky. It was almost cartoonish. The only thing missing were a couple of ‘Xs” over each eye. My kids heard the “THUMP” and ran out onto the deck where the bird lay.
“We need to pray for him dad!” They insisted.
Wow. This is awkward. I had taught my kids about the power of God, and the power of prayer, and the importance of faith. It wasn’t that I didn’t have faith. I had faith alright. I had faith I’d be planting that sparrow in the back yard with all our other dead pets. But what could I do? My kids were expecting a miracle.
So we prayed. Read More
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Posted on March 30, 2013 by Kurt Bennett
Bible Study, Jesus in the Old Testament
Christ, Easter, Faith, help my unbelief, Jesus Christ, Resurrection, risen Christ
Help, I’m Married to a Stranger: Genesis 49:29-31
Married to a Stranger
It’s impossible to know what your spouse will be like tomorrow, or next year, or next decade. Because life will change him, or her. Finishing school changes him. Age changes her. The hirings, and firings, and battles at work change him. Where she lives changes her. A loved one dying changes her. Having kids changes him. You can’t really know who you will be married to, in the future, because they’ll change.
It’s inevitable: at some point in your marriage, you’ll find you’re married to a stranger. It happens to every one of us.
It happened to Jacob right away. Read More
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Posted on March 23, 2013 by Kurt Bennett
Bible Commentary, Genesis, I Wish Someone Had Told Me This When I Was Young, Marriage
Christian marriage, Genesis 4:9, Jacob and Leah, Jacob buried with Leah, Leah, Marriage counseling, Timothy Keller
Is Satan a Person? (I wish someone had told me this when I was young)
Young man: “Satan isn’t really like a person, right? I mean there’s evil in the world, and there’s such a thing as evil–as a force. But Satan, if he did exist, would be just one person. He would be limited. He couldn’t be everywhere at once or anything. So what could he really accomplish in the world?” Read More
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Posted on March 21, 2013 by Kurt Bennett
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