Luke 11:28  Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.

Jesus was not about to be distracted in His ministry even if the distraction was someone who said something nice about His mother. After hearing Him speak, a woman in the crowd said, "Blessed is the mother who gave You birth and nursed You." Jesus responded with our text. In essence He said, "There are a lot of nice things in life, but when it comes down to it, nothing is nicer than the hearing, and then doing, of what God wants.

That's the sequence. First comes hearing. Then, hopefully, the doing. Doing never precedes hearing. Godly hearing gathers the data on which godly doing is based. Hearing God is essential to the Christian life.

That means that the hearing that takes place in the Bible study, in worship, and in Christian conversation is important - fundamental. It is the point of beginning, but it's not the end of it. The end of each listening session is on the other side of doing.
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Luke 11:13  If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!

Well? What do you think? Do most parents know how to care for their children? They must, for about the most common reluctant commendations of even evil people is,  "He/she was a caring father/mother." The police have captured some wanted men in the past by keeping watch of their children, confident that the criminal father would contact his child.

Jesus makes His point: If it's true that bad folks can do good things for their sons and daughters, just imagine the great good that the author of good, the heavenly Father, will do for His! No evil comes from Him. No harm hides within His active care. Even the worst things that befall us, Paul testifies, are worked by our loving Lord into something very good (see Romans 8:28).

Do you want proof that that is true? Look at Calvary, on a Friday that only children of the Father could call good. What a great thing He did there for us!
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Mark 16:15  Go into all the world.

Although it is important to be a pastor, in its place, it is just important to be a layperson anyplace. For anyplace, as opposed to church, is where important decisions that affect our world are being made. In the layperson's world big things are happening: nuclear power has been discovered, lend-lease, computer chips, and Hula Hoops have been invented. Clergy ponder, dream, hope, pray, and have magnificent visions. Every last one of those is essential. But it is not in church where history's crucial acts are performed or the world's battles are joined. Even the invasion of Satan's kingdom by the army of Christ occurs in the lay world, not in the world of the clergy. Clergy train the troops, map the strategy, and equip the army. But the job is done by laypeople.

Among Christians it's almost a truism to remark that the need of the day is to get people into church. There is a need, too, to get Christian people out of the church. It is part of God's strategy that His people go into the world, invade it, and take possession of it in His name.

In the final analysis it's not a matter of getting Christians out of the church, exactly. It's a matter of getting the church out of its sanctuary, out of its preoccupation with its own machinery and interests, and into the battlefield. Interestingly the Bible does not say, "Whether you worship or pray or whatever chrchly thing you do, do it all for the glory of God." It says, "Whether you eat or drink or whatever (day to day, homely thing) you do, do it all for the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31).
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Luke 1:37 For nothing is impossible with God.

What an awesome God we serve! God formed the world by a word. God parted the Red Sea. God provided manna for the Israelites. God brought down the walls of Jericho. Jesus turned water into wine. Jesus healed the blind, the lame, and the sick. Jesus walked on the water.

The Holy Spirit empowered Peter and the disciples to speak up for God. The Holy Spirit brings comfort to those in pain. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin.

God is involved in all areas of our lives. Knowing this gives us the courage to come boldly to the throne of grace and to make our requests known. No matter how dark the night or how impossible the situation seems, we can have hope. Nothing is impossible with God!

Therefore, if God chooses to intervene in our lives, nothing will stop that intervention. So when you are faced with a difficult choice, pray for guidance. When you are hurt, pray for comfort. When you need wisdom, pray for it. When all odds are against you, pray.
 

We have limitations. God does not. Pray believingly.

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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Mark 11:24  Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

A preschooler was traveling with her family on Interstate 10 over the Atchafalaya basin from Baton Rouge to Houston. It was dark. The darkness was caused both by the time of day and even more by the fog. Because of the fog, one could only see a few feet in front. By the quietness in the car, it was apparent that all were afraid. This fear was heightened when the family met a car going the wrong way on the interstate. At that point, the preschooler inquired if it was all right to ask Jesus to take away the fog.

Trying to make sure that the proper theological answer was provided, the parents carefully explained that God could say yes, but He might say no, or He might say wait a while.

With the conclusion of the answer, the child prayed aloud that Jesus take the fog away. Within five minutes, the fog was completely gone. One could see the stars and, more important, the road very clearly.

Did God take the fog away as requested in the prayer? I don't know. I know that His Word says that He has the power to respond with a resounding yes. The God who created the heavens and earth, who raised the dead to life, and who forgives sins has the power to make and take away fog.

Have you prayed today?
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Mark 8:36  What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?

Many people are fooled into believing that things buy happiness. Parents promote such thinking by saturating their children with lots of things. It starts in the "nursery of plenty" and goes all the way into college where they're given full tuition and money on the side to buy the term papers they don't have time to write.

P.T. Barnum spent his life proving the statement he coined: "There's a sucker born every minute." Unfortunately, people who truly believe that money will buy happiness are suckers. They have been duped into believing something that isn't true. If it were true, why do so many people who have so much money seem so unhappy? Why do some end their own lives? Why do others jump from one self-help guru to another? The answer is simple: Because happiness is never found in things.

Happiness is found only in relationship - relationship with God and with one another. Such relationships are made possible only through Jesus Christ. Though we had separated ourselves from God because of sin, He reconnected us. He brought us back into relationship through the perfect life He lived for us, through the death He died for us, through the resurrection, which proclaimed victory over sin and death. In being connected back to God through faith in Jesus Christ, we are brought into relationship not only with God but also with one another.
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,
 

Mark 7:34-35  He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, "Ephphatha!" (which means, "Be opened!"). At this, the man's ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.

Mark's astonishing account tells of our ever-caring Lord Jesus healing a man who was deaf and slow of speech. He did so away from the crowd, personally, privately, completely. He touched the man, fixed His eyes on heaven and said, "Be opened!" Note the word immediately. He could have done so here, too. The man's tongue was loosened, and he began to speak plainly.

"Ephphatha!" What a fitting watchword for Christians. God's care and concern are so totally focused on us. Touched by the personal healing of Christ in our souls, freed from eternal death, blessed according to our most detailed, intimate and specific needs, how can our response be anything other than praise, adoration, thanksgiving, and telling forth what great things God has done for us?

Look at the people's response. They were overwhelmed and, glorifying God, they explained, "He has done everything well." May the people's response also be our as our Lord opens us to worship, work, and witness in word and deed, so that others, seeing Christ through our lives, might also exclaim, "He has done everything well!"
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,