Mike Blogs

The questioning is over; now Jesus responds to the assault. Three years as a missionary to the natives of Galilee and Judea have given...

What did Bonhoeffer see as the consequences of ‘cheap grace’?   “We gave away the word and sacraments wholesale, we baptized, confirmed,...

As I stated last week, chapters 21 and 22 are structured around a revolving cast of authorities who ask various questions that are meant...

Tis the season…for sales and deals, half-offs and BOGOs. We all like to find a bargain or get something we have been wanting for 25% off....

22: 15-17.  Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. So they sent their disciples to him, along with the...

We marvel at the transformation of a butterfly, at least I do. An adult female butterfly carefully lays eggs on a particular plant. For...

22: 1-6.  Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet...

God sent Jesus to pay the penalty for sin and offer us forgiveness…for a purpose. The reason is that sinning destroys our relationship...

Matthew 21 is an important chapter, so I want to review what was said and done there. Jesus has arrived in Jerusalem and has begun his...

Remember when Mr. Miyagi told his karate student Daniel to wax his car. The master gave minimal instructions but insisted on a certain...

21: 23-27.  When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching and said, “By what...

We have established, whether you realize it or not, that there are two deaths involved in God’s plan of salvation and the restoration of...

We must be careful; I must be careful not to split this lesson up from the last lesson. This chapter is a seamless story, yet time...

Today begins a new series of devotionals about who we are as people of God. We who have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior and have...

Jesus declared in Chapter 16 that it was a divine necessity that he go to Jerusalem; the word is ‘must go’ and it is an expression of the...

The Book of Proverbs offers many lessons, though some are not easy to discern. The proverbs are a compilation of folk sayings and wisdom...

As I said before, be suspicious of any breaks that appear in your English text of the Bible. In neither Hebrew nor Greek were there...

This passage draws to a close the Book of Proverbs which is about human wisdom, such as it is, and God’s wisdom. The book began with a...

As is often the case, the break for a new chapter here is not helpful because we lose some of the continuity of Jesus’ thought. It’s like...

We are in the midst of the last chapter of Proverbs. While Proverbs has seemed ‘male-oriented’, this chapter is not. First, it is the...