| Easter Day 3 for Tuesday, 27 March 2018 - gotandem |
| "The Olivet Discourse" When Matthew was writing his gospel, he included 5 sermons. Most of us know about the Sermon on the Mount, and we're familiar with a lot of the parables, but on this day, Jesus preached a sermon called The Olivet Discourse. It's called "Olivet" because, predictably, it was preached on the Mount of Olives. This is the sermon where Jesus takes his time to prepare his followers for what's to come. Several times throughout the Gospels Christ is telling his disciples that he won't be around forever. They just don't seem to get the message. And so this sermon is given as insight to what's to come. It's interesting to see Jesus doing this. His whole ministry was preparing the way for the cross and now he's preparing his people for what will happen beyond it. It's something we as believers have neglected to do for a long time. We like to count the numbers of people who have raised their hands and made a profession of faith but we don't really care to put in the work to make sure they continue to follow after they accept the work of the cross. Jesus wasn't negligent. He had been preparing his disciples for this, even though they didn't realize it. Andspeaking of disciples, let's talk about Judas for a second. It's hard for us to feel like we have common ground with Judas. After all, this is the man who betrayed God to his face, right? He's the one who sold out the Christ. His name has become synonymous with betrayal. And yet, I think that we give ourselves too much credit. We like to look at Judas and say that he's worse than us, but there was a time in each of our lives that we, too, rejected Christ. In fact, there are days that we still reject Christ for our own gain. Whenever we do what we want to and eschew what Christ would have us do, we betray Christ. So today, let's spend some time to think about Judas. And let's take some time to ask for forgiveness in the areas that we have acted like him. Because if we don't, we're setting ourselves up to make the same mistakes.  The Holy Holidays - goTandem |
*** "Satisfied" Don't love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, "I will never fail you. I will never abandon you." (Hebrews 13:5) How does the command to not love money relate to the promise that God will never fail us or abandon us? It seems that God is asking us to be content with Him. What are your thoughts on that? |
I love the way Warren Wiersbe explains this. He asks: "What is bigger, a star or a telescope?" The answer is obvious. To most people, Jesus is like the star; a distant figure of history.
Christians are the telescope. "To live is Christ" means to be a telescope and bring God closer to people who have only considered Him from a distance.
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