TODAY IN THE WORD

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Luke 12:13-34
A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. - Luke 12:15
TODAY IN THE WORD
Jesus’ warning against greed is a lesson that every generation needs to learn. In a recent survey, people were asked what they would be willing to do for certain amounts of money. Sixty-five percent of the people surveyed said they would live on a deserted island for a year for $1 million, while 30 percent were willing to spend six months in jail for a crime they didn’t commit for a $1 million payoff. Twenty-four percent of the respondents said that for $3,000, they would reveal a friend’s deep secret that they had promised to keep.

Here’s another question that could have been on the survey: how much money would it take for you to risk alienating your family? The man who came to Jesus one day with a complaint against his brother needed to consider this question. There was a dispute about the family’s inheritance, but Jesus wisely refused to be dragged into the middle of this domestic squabble. Instead, the Lord used the man’s request to teach a vital lesson about greed and life’s true riches.

Jesus’ story about the rich but foolish farmer is a good example. He painted the picture of the farmer’s greedy heart, and then drove home His point. People who love their stuff rather than loving God are making a spiritually fatal decision–because they will face God someday as their Judge. Greed is disastrous because it turns the temporary things of this life into a false god that demands worship, yet it gives back only sorrow and loss for all the devotion.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
The greatest protection against greed is God’s plan of giving as outlined in His Word.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Luke 19:1-10
The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost. - Luke 19:10
TODAY IN THE WORD
Last year a team of experts finished restoring a priceless thirteenth-century fresco that had fallen from the ceiling of St. Francis Basilica in Assisi, Italy. This magnificent work by the great painter Giotto was destroyed by an earthquake in 1997, falling several stories from the ceiling to the floor. But the restoration team spent five years painstakingly reassembling the fresco from fifty thousand fragments.

It takes a lot of love and patience to complete a work like this. It also takes a lot of love and patience to restore human lives that have been shattered by sin, and Jesus is the only one who can complete this restoration project. In the case of Zac-chaeus of Jericho, the tax collector and famous climber of trees, Jesus didn’t need five years. He restored Zacchaeus in a single day during a visit to this famous city where Joshua had brought down the walls centuries earlier.

You may be wondering in what way Zacchaeus’s life was shattered and needed to be put back together. He certainly did not appear to be in need, at least to the people around him. His business of collecting taxes for Rome was booming, and as a chief tax collector, Zacchaeus had other collectors reporting to him (v. 2). The problem was that if you didn’t watch him closely, your taxes could go up without warning. In other words, this wealthy man was dishonest, which he admitted by his statement in verse 8. His heart was shattered by sin and greed, and Jesus could see its true condition. It seems that Zacchaeus was eager to see Jesus because of the Savior’s fame, but God was also preparing Zacchaeus’s heart. His delight at being Jesus’ host for dinner suggests that he was ready to hear the Lord’s words of life.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
We have a tremendous advantage over Zacchaeus because we have a clear “view” of Jesus in the pages of His Word.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Mark 2:1-12
Jesus went through all the towns and villages . . . preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. - Matthew 9:35
TODAY IN THE WORD
Chuck Swindoll recently told about an unofficial experiment he had conducted some years earlier at an airport. Spotting a wheelchair that the airline used to transport passengers, Swindoll decided to sit in it and see how people would react to someone they thought was disabled. The terminal was empty at the time, so Swindoll unfolded the chair and sat down. Over the next half hour, as people began to arrive for the flight, Swindoll tried to make eye contact with as many as possible. But he found that most people who met his eyes looked away quickly. One older woman actually patted him on the head and mumbled a hurried word of sympathy. Swindoll said his experience gave him a deeper insight into the challenges faced by the disabled people in his church. And the uneasiness of those around him made him appreciate in a new way the wonderful manner in which Jesus treated the sick and disabled people He met.

Jesus was perfectly at ease with people in any and all settings--even when He was suddenly put in a potentially tense situation, as when the paralyzed man was lowered to Him through a roof. One reason Jesus was never uncomfortable in the presence of sickness is that He loved people and was touched by their needs. During the course of His ministry, the Lord encountered people suffering from almost every kind of illness and disability imaginable, and no one left His presence unchanged.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
You may know someone who is suffering from an illness or struggling to cope with a disability.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Mark 5:1-20
Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you. - Mark 5:19
TODAY IN THE WORD
According to the Talmud, the authoritative book of Jewish tradition, there were four characteristics of insanity: walking around at night, spending the night on a grave (which was an unclean place for a Jew), tearing one’s clothes, and destroying what one was given. The demon-possessed man who rushed up to Jesus on the shore of the Sea of Galilee displayed all of these traits. If we had to rank them from our perspective, he may have been the most needy person Jesus met during His ministry on earth.

We can only imagine what Jesus’ disciples must have thought as they saw this man rushing toward them as they got out of the boat. Luke adds that he had not worn clothes for a long time (Luke 8:27), and his appearance must have been frightening. It’s also important to note that when this man fell on his knees in front of Jesus, it wasn’t out of humility and submission. It was the demons within him confronting and challenging Jesus (Mark 5:7). The demons called Jesus’ name not out of respect, but in attempt to control Him and the situation.

How amazing Jesus’ reaction was in the middle of this high-voltage atmosphere. The Savior certainly loved this man, or He would not have bothered to reach out to someone who was beyond any human help. Apart from Jesus’ intervention, the demons’ power was great enough to keep this man in bondage as well as to destroy a herd of pigs. But when Jesus healed him and set him free, he was “free indeed” (John 8:36) and wanted to follow Jesus out of love and devotion. However, his ministry was to be among those who knew him best.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
This man in Mark 5 certainly had a dramatic testimony of the grace of Jesus to share with his family and friends.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Luke 5:12-16
Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows. - Isaiah 53:4
TODAY IN THE WORD
Officials have announced an amazing, ten-year plan to contain the radioactive material from Reactor 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant near Kiev, Ukraine–the site of a disastrous accident in 1986. Seven industrialized nations are cooperating in a plan to construct a 20,000-ton steel shell, standing as tall as a 35-story building, and slide it in place over the reactor along greased steel plates. The shell is designed to keep water out and dust in for one hundred years, or however long it takes the Ukrainian government to make permanent arrangements to deal with the lethal material still inside the reactor’s ruins. But the radiation makes the $768 million plan extremely difficult.

Mankind’s efforts to fix what is wrong can be impressive, but they are never perfect. Sometimes the best idea anyone can come up with is to try to contain the damage. That’s what the people of Jesus’ day did to leprosy sufferers, isolating them from society lest they infect others. But this isolation came at a tremendous price to the victims themselves and their families. Leprosy victims were the outcasts of society who had to cry out, “Unclean!” whenever they came near other people.

Most likely, the leprosy of biblical days was not the same disease we know by that name today. People still feared it, though, and were terrified of touching or being touched by a leper. But Jesus loved these lonely, forsaken people, and wasn’t afraid of them. The man who approached Jesus in today’s story not only received the healing he pleaded for, but much more. The Bible says that “Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man” (v. 13) in a wonderful demonstration of love and concern. Jesus verbally addressed the man, but also–perhaps even more compassionately–gave him the gift of physical touch. Jesus didn’t simply heal people as part of His “to-do list,” He truly cared for them.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
The cleansing that Christ provides includes the washing of our hearts, which become contaminated with sin day by day.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Luke 7:11-17
God has come to help his people. - Luke 7:16
TODAY IN THE WORD
One of the easiest promises to make to someone who is hurting, and one of the hardest to keep, is to say, “Don’t cry. It’ll be all right.” It’s natural to want to comfort a person who is in physical or emotional pain, even at those times when we know there is very little we can do to make things right. Too often, our well-meaning words are just that–words.

But it’s a different story completely when Jesus says, “Don’t cry.” His words to a grieving widow who had just lost her only son are part of one of the most tender stories in the Gospels, a touching picture of the Lord’s human compassion as well as His supernatural power. This was not just ministry to the sick, but to the dead–and Jesus is the only person who can make things right in a situation like that.

The raising of the widow’s son from the dead is one of only three such recorded miracles that Jesus performed, the others being Lazarus (John 11:44) and the daughter of Jairus (Mark 5:41). This miracle took place in the little town of Nain, a few miles southeast of Nazareth. Jesus met the funeral procession coming outside of the town to bury the dead man. There could not have been much time for grieving, since Jewish custom was to bury the deceased within twenty-four hours.

When Jesus saw this woman, “His heart went out to her” (Luke 7:13). He understood her love for her son and her grief over his death, and He also knew the increased hardships she would now face as a woman alone in that culture. So Jesus interrupted the funeral procession, raised the dead man to life and presented him to his mother.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
No one in the town of Nain expected anything unusual to happen until Jesus interrupted their somber plans. But the result was new life.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Mark 10:46-52
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. - Matthew 7:7
TODAY IN THE WORD
Writing in the July, 1991 issue of Today in the Word, Moody president Dr. Joseph Stowell said, “I have a feeling D. L. Moody must have liked the Gospel of Mark. It’s a book of action, with almost everything happening right after something else happened. Mark’s favorite term to describe the ministry of Jesus was a little word that can be variously translated 'immediately,’ 'at once,’ or 'as soon as.’ That sounds like Mr. Moody, whose favorite phrase when pursuing a project for Christ’s kingdom was 'push it.’ ”

Mr. Moody would have liked Bartimaeus, too. This man may have been a blind roadside beggar who occupied one of the lowest rungs on Israel’s social ladder. But Bartimaeus knew what he needed from Jesus and he wouldn’t be silenced until he got it. His persistence is remarkable considering that everyone around him did their best to shut him up and keep him from interrupting Jesus. This story is also interesting because by this time Jesus was on a determined course to Jerusalem to face His impending death on the cross (Mark 10:32–34). But even with His own rejection and unspeakable suffering weighing on His mind, Jesus took the time to love and heal a poor blind man.

Bartimaeus was not only persistent in calling for Jesus’ help, but in one very important way he saw things more clearly than many people in Israel who had not lost their eyesight. His shout, “Jesus, Son of David” (v. 47), was an acknowledgment of the Savior as Israel’s Messiah, a statement of faith that relatively few Israelites were willing to make. Jesus made no attempt to silence the beggar or deny that He deserved this messianic title. Obviously, God had opened Bartimaeus’s spiritual eyes, and he had genuine faith.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Have you been praying persistently and consistently to God for a particular burden or request?

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Matthew 8:5-13
Without faith it is impossible to please God. - Hebrews 11:6
TODAY IN THE WORD
D. L. Moody became so well known that people would approach him with plans to capitalize on his fame–usually to their own benefit far more than Mr. Moody’s. The great evangelist wasn’t interested in the schemes, and one day Mr. Moody dealt with one such visitor by lying down on a couch and falling sound asleep as the man explained his grand idea to make Moody and himself rich. The visitor at least had enough courtesy not to awaken his sleeping host.

Well-known people often find that others try to use them for personal benefit. At various points in Jesus’ ministry, He could have ridden a huge wave of popularity and become a political force if only He had been willing to be a “bread” King who gave the crowds what they wanted (see John 6:14–15). But Jesus wasn’t interested in winning popularity, or granting the wishes of people who pretended to be interested in His work.

The human tendency to use other people for our own gain is one reason that the centurion in today’s story stands out from the crowd. He had Jesus’ full attention as the Savior came back to Capernaum, the city that Jesus had made His ministry headquarters. But this Roman officer, part of a hated occupying army stationed in Israel, wasn’t interested in using Jesus’ power for his personal gain. He simply cared about finding help and healing for his sick servant.

This man revealed a sincere humility in expressing his unworthiness to make this request, and an amazing grasp of who Jesus was by asking Him simply to heal his servant with a word. Luke’s version of this story gives us an important clue into this soldier’s character. The Jews who knew him were impressed with this Roman soldier, and they told Jesus that he was worthy of this miracle, “because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue” (Luke 7:5).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Today is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week leading to the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection on Easter morning.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Mark 7:31-37
He has done everything well. - Mark 7:37
TODAY IN THE WORD
Bible commentator John Grassmick made these intriguing observations about today’s passage: “In healing this man, Jesus used sign language and symbolic acts (which Mark did not explain) that uniquely suited the man’s needs and caused him to exercise faith. Jesus took him aside privately (cf. 6:32) in order to communicate one-on-one with him apart from the crowd. By touching his ears and tongue, spitting on the ground and looking up to heaven Jesus conveyed what He was going to do.”

Clearly, Jesus took a deep personal interest in this man who was brought to Him in a region on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee known as the Decapolis, meaning “ten cities.” The man’s severe speaking problem was not surprising, since deafness usually results in defective speech. He was blessed to have friends who took him to Jesus and pled for his healing. They were in the right place with the right person, for we have seen again and again that Jesus loves people who are hurting, and He responds to expressions of faith.

At Jesus’ command the ears of the deaf-mute man were opened, and he instantly began to speak normally. Even though this was not the first miracle of Jesus’ ministry, the crowd was “overwhelmed with amazement” (v. 37). The word used in this passage to express the crowd’s amazement is a very strong term that conveys awe beyond anything that could be measured. In fact, this is the only place that this emphatic word is used in the New Testament.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
In this week leading up to Easter, we see that Jesus took the time to minister to the individuals in His path.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: John 9:1-25, 35-38
One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see! - John 9:25
TODAY IN THE WORD
Those who work with blind people in poor countries report that up to 80 percent of all the world’s blindness is preventable! Millions of children and adults suffer from diseases such as trachoma, an infection that can lead to blindness, and “river blindness,” caused by the bite of a fly that lives in areas where there is fast-moving water. Cataracts and vitamin A deficiency in children are two other leading causes of preventable blindness. Medications have been developed that can halt trachoma and river blindness and save the victims’ eyesight. Millions of people have had their eyesight restored by cataract surgery, and vitamin A supplements can help prevent blindness in children with poor diets. The challenge is to get these sight-saving medicines and treatment to those who need them the most.

There is nothing more tragic than a person going blind needlessly when a cure is readily available. That’s doubly true in the spiritual realm, because people who never find a cure for their spiritual blindness face eternal separation from God. For the past week, we have been reminded how much Jesus loves people who are sick or disabled in some way. His love also includes those who suffer from the disabling effects of sin and need spiritual healing.

The blind man of John 9 certainly needed the love and healing that Jesus came to bring. In this story the healing extends much longer than recounting the miracle itself. But this fits with John’s purpose in his Gospel. He chose seven signs that Jesus performed in order to teach vital spiritual lessons. In this case, we learn the devastating effects of spiritual blindness.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
The formerly blind man in today’s story learned that his allegiance to Jesus was more important than loyalty to any earthly power.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Matthew 26:57-67
In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven. - Matthew 26:64
TODAY IN THE WORD
From the time MBI graduates John and Betty Stam were executed in China by communist troops in 1934, more than twenty Moody alumni have given their lives in service to Jesus Christ. These martyrs include Lt. George Fox, a chaplain who gave his life jacket to a young sailor after their ship had been torpedoed by a German submarine during World War II. Chaplain Fox and three other chaplains on board, who also gave up their life jackets, were posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Most recently, last year Bonnie Witherall–a missionary nurse serving in Lebanon–was shot and killed out of anger at Christian presence in her community.

These courageous men and women were willing to serve Christ in the face of danger, and even to death, out of gratitude for what Jesus did for them on the cross. We are going to study several of the most crucial events in the week before the Savior’s crucifixion. The first of Jesus’ several trials held throughout the night after He was arrested in Gethsemane took place at the home of Israel’s high priest.

Under Jewish law, two witnesses had to be ready to give testimony against the accused, and their testimonies had to agree. The trumped-up charges against Jesus were immediately obvious when even this basic requirement of justice could not be met. Finally, two men said that they remembered Jesus saying He would destroy and rebuild the temple in three days (v. 61).

Even that wasn’t really accurate. Jesus had said to the Jews who demanded a miraculous sign from Him, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days” (John 2:19). But He was speaking of His death and resurrection.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
We must understand these final days of Jesus on earth, culminating in His death and resurrection, if we want to grasp the extent and meaning of His love for us. Our studies for the next six days take on special importance.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Matthew 27:11-26
I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is on the side of truth listens to me. - John 18:37
TODAY IN THE WORD
When fire erupted in Yellowstone National Park in 1988, officials decided to monitor and contain the blaze instead of putting it out. The National Park Service had adopted a “let it burn” policy toward such fires in 1972, based on the recognition that periodic fires are a necessary form of forest management to get rid of old deadwood. But the 1988 Yellowstone fire was fed by two unpredictable factors–an excess of deadwood left over from previous fires and unusually strong winds–that fanned the flames into an inferno. Before snow finally put the last fire out, 36 percent of Yellowstone Park had burned.

The Roman ruler in Jerusalem found that he had a similar situation on his hands when the Jewish leaders brought Jesus Christ to him for trial. Pontius Pilate had been through this kind of thing before. Even at the time of Jesus’ arrest, Pilate’s prison was filled with various criminals he had tried and condemned, including a rebel and murderer named Barabbas and two thieves whose crucifixion was imminent.

But there was something very different about Jesus. When Pilate tried to release this man he knew was innocent (v. 18), an angry mob fanned the situation into an inferno of hate that threatened to erupt into a full-scale riot. That was the last thing Pilate needed on his imperial “résumé.” His position back in Rome was already shaky because of actions he had taken that incited the Jews against him (see Luke 13:1). Pilate wanted nothing more than to be rid of this explosive mess. But it wasn’t going to be that easy.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Have you confessed Jesus as your Savior? We pray you have, because Jesus loves you and died for you.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Luke 23:32-43
Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. - Romans 10:13
TODAY IN THE WORD
Just before his death in 1791, the great British preacher and founder of Methodism, John Wesley, is said to have opened his eyes and declared in a strong, clear voice, “The best of it is, God is with us.” On December 22, 1899, the last day of D. L. Moody’s life, he said to his son Will, “If this is death it is sweet. God is calling me and I must go.”

The Bible tells us, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints” (Psalm 116:15). Death is a time of release and victory for a Christian, but one of the thieves who was crucified with Jesus had no such assurance as he hung beside the Savior. Initially, both thieves shouted insults at Jesus (Matt. 27:44), just like the crowd that was taunting Him to come down from the cross and prove His claims.

One thief repeated the taunt, adding sarcastically that he wished Jesus would save him at the same time (Luke 23:39). But the repentant thief rebuked the other. We don’t know what it was about Jesus’ words or behavior on the cross that caused this thief to conclude that He was in fact the Savior. He had heard Jesus ask God to forgive His executioners (v. 34), a prayer that almost certainly had never been heard at a crucifixion before! The man also witnessed Jesus’ care for His mother and His agonizing prayer to the Father not to forsake Him (cf. John 19:26; Matt. 27:46).

It’s interesting that the dying thief came to the same conclusion about Jesus that Pontius Pilate had reached: “This man has done nothing wrong” (v. 41). But unlike Pilate, this condemned criminal bowed his heart before Jesus. He prayed the simplest prayer he knew, maybe the first he had ever spoken. “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (v. 42).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
We call this day Good Friday because it is certainly good for us. As someone has said, it was love that held Jesus to the cross, not the nails.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Mark 10:17-31
Many who are first will be last, and the last first. - Mark 10:31
TODAY IN THE WORD
The story is told that in 1813, King Frederick William III of Prussia became seriously short of money after a series of wars. Not wanting to give in to the enemy or disappoint his people, he decided to ask the women of Prussia to give their gold and silver jewelry to be melted down for their country. For each piece of jewelry he received, the king gave an iron cross with the inscription, “I gave gold for iron, 1813.” The response was overwhelming, and the iron crosses became a prized possession among the women of Prussia who could show proof that they had sacrificed for their king.

Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34). Then He asked this pointed question: “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?” (v. 36). Trading the gold of this world for the cross of Christ has eternal benefits, yet many people still struggle with what seems like a losing deal. And some, like the man in today’s lesson, walk away from Jesus clutching their gold.

This event did not happen during the Easter season, but today we’re going to talk about the cross and people Jesus loves in a different setting. The man in today’s lesson represents so many of the people Jesus came to seek and to save. He was young (Matt. 19:20) and rich, but those aren’t the factors that make him such a potent symbol. He struggled with the choice all of us have to make–whether to follow Jesus with the cross and the lasting rewards He promises, or to hold on to our temporary toys and pleasures.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Selling everything we have is not a prerequisite for salvation or discipleship. Jesus required it of the rich young man because He knew that his money was keeping him from receiving eternal life.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: John 20:10-18
Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! - Luke 24:5–6
TODAY IN THE WORD
Moody chancellor Dr. George Sweeting tells about two paintings at the Forest Lawn Cemetery in California: “Hundreds of people each year stand before two huge paintings. One pictures the crucifixion of Christ. The other depicts His resurrection. In the second painting the artist has pictured an empty tomb with an angel near the entrance. But the striking feature of that huge canvas is a vast throng of people, back in the misty background, stretching into the distance and out of sight, suggesting the multitude who will be raised from the dead because Jesus first died and rose for them.”

This scene captures the real joy and hope of Easter. On the night before His crucifixion, Jesus promised His disciples, “Because I live, you also will live” (John 14:19). We will one day be resurrected to spend eternity with Him “because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Jesus’ resurrection validates all of His promises and claims and guarantees that all who love Him will also live forever.

One of the people Jesus loved was Mary Magdalene; He had done a miraculous work in her life, and she was the first person to see Him after His resurrection (Mark 16:9). Peter and John had examined the empty tomb and left, but Mary lingered behind and stood crying outside Jesus’ tomb. She had come to mourn, and now even the body of the person she loved and worshiped so fervently was gone. The appearance of two angels sitting where Jesus’ body had been was not enough to keep Mary from grieving.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Jesus is alive from the dead and sitting at His Father’s right hand in heaven. He will also return for us, and it could be today!