Devotionals & Poems

Posts in category Teaching

Wheat or tares? (Parables of Jesus p...

Wheat or tares?  (Parables of Jesus part twelve)

With agriculture being an important part of Israeli life Jesus uses it more than once in His teaching about the kingdom of heaven, i.e. kingdom of God. In Matthew 13:24-30, He portrays a farmer that sowed good seed in his “wheat” field; then during the night an enemy came and sowed “tares” (a weed that […]

Faithfulness (Parables of Jesus part...

Faithfulness  (Parables of Jesus part eleven)

In Matthew 25:14-30 is one of Jesus “the kingdom of heaven is like” parables. Here He tells the story of a wealthy householder with several servants; calling them, he put them in charge of his affairs while he himself went to a distant country, possibly to conduct some sort of business. They were not all […]

Growing like a mustard seed (Parable...

Growing like a mustard seed  (Parables of Jesus part seven)

Another parable Jesus used likens the kingdom of heaven to a mustard seed in Matthew 13:31-32. The mustard seed referred to here is apparently not the annual plant we likely think of immediately today, but a much larger specimen, whose seed was very small but grew very large. The combination of these provide an appropriate […]

“Growing seed” (Parables of Jesus pa...

“Growing seed”  (Parables of Jesus part six)

God has so arranged it that the natural and spiritual work parallel to each other. With the people of Israel being very familiar with the process of agriculture and livestock, Jesus often used parables from these to teach the spiritual truths of the kingdom of God. In Mark 4:26-29 He speaks of one scattering or […]

The great banquet (Parables of Jesus...

The great banquet  (Parables of Jesus part five)

Another parable of Jesus is recorded in Luke 14:16-24 where He tells the story of a host that was giving a great banquet; the custom was that the invitations would be sent out in advance and when the feast was ready a notice would be sent out. His friends had received the invitation, apparently accepted […]

The great banquet (Parables of Jesus...

The great banquet  (Parables of Jesus part five)

Another parable of Jesus is recorded in Luke 14:16-24 where He tells the story of a host that was giving a great banquet; the custom was that the invitations would be sent out in advance and when the feast was ready a notice would be sent out. His friends had received the invitation, apparently accepted […]

My neighbor (Parables of Jesus part ...

My neighbor  (Parables of Jesus part four)

Samaritan’s were a mixed race; they also had a corrupted form of religion. They and the Jews usually did not have good relationships with each other, and there was often a spirit of hatred and hostility manifested between them, leading the woman in John 4:9 to say “Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.” But Jesus […]

A friend in the night (Parables of J...

A friend in the night  (Parables of Jesus part three)

In Luke 11:5-8 Jesus uses the story of someone who had an apparently unexpected guest to arrive in the night; not having food in the house to set before the hungry traveler, he went to a friend’s house to ask for three loaves (some food), but this friend was not overanxious about being disturbed at […]

A final opportunity (Parables of Jes...

A final opportunity  (Parables of Jesus part two)

As He often did Jesus uses an agricultural setting to teach about the kingdom of God; in Luke 13:6-9 He tells the story of a man that had a vineyard and planted a fig tree in it, expecting it to produce fruit; however after returning to it season after season and finding no fruit he […]

Getting to know God (Part thirteen)

Getting to know God  (Part thirteen)

In Psalm 86:8 David, recalling before God that while there may be many gods in this world, “there is none like You, O Lord” Adonay, (we say Adoni) which is Lord or my Lord, and is used as a proper name of God only. Strong’s dictionary tells us this is an emphatic form of another […]