Hill Thread

Luke 18:18-30
18A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
19″Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good-except God alone. 20You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’”
21″All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said.
22When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
23When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth. 24Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! 25Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
26Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?”
27Jesus replied, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.”
28Peter said to him, “We have left all we had to follow you!”
29″I tell you the truth,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God 30will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life.”

Related Text:
Exodus 20:12-16
Deuteronomy 5:16-20
Matthew 19:16-30
Mark 10:17-31
1 Corinthians 13:3

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Just a Thought

Wealth and happiness don’t always go together. Advertising tries to convince us that it does, but they are definitely not synonymous. Wealthy people who don’t have a relationship with Jesus and who don’t know God are spiritually bankrupt. Guard yourself against becoming more in love with money and financial success than you are with God and His plans for your life.

Matthew 19:3-12
3Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”
4″Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female’, 5and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? 6So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”
7″Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”
8Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. 9I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery.”
10The disciples said to him, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.”
11Jesus replied, “Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. 12For some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were made that way by men; and others have renounced marriage because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”

Related Text:
Deuteronomy 24:1-4
Mark 10:2-12
1 Corinthians 7:10-13

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Big Time Stuff

Divorce can be devastating. Most likely, you have a friend or at least know a person who has gone through, or is currently going through the pain of a divorce. For the kids, it isn’t easy to live with the pain, loss, guilt, and frustration that goes along with having your family separated. It can be very confusing.

Divorce wasn’t God’s intention when He gave us marriage. His intention was for the husband to love his wife sacrificially and for the wife to love her husband submissively. It is a perfect union of love and respect.

But we know that not every marriage doesn’t last. Even though God doesn’t like divorce, He understands the deep pain associated with it. If you have been affected by divorce, ask God to comfort you. Your pain won’t quickly disappear, but be assured that you aren’t alone, and you don’t have to go through it by yourself. Whether you’re the one who has gone through a divorce, or whether your parents are divorced, or whether someone in your family has gone through a divorce, pray for them. Put your pain and your frustration and even your anger aside for a moment, and pray for those involved. As God for strength and the opportunity t help those who are experiencing this painful situation.

Luke 13:10-17
10On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, 11and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. 12When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” 13Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.
14Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue ruler said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”
15The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? 16Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”
17When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.

Related Text:
Exodus 20:8-11
Matthew 12:1-14
Mark 2:23-3:6
Luke 6:1-11
Luke 14:1-6
John 5:1-8

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In Other Words

The leader accusing Jesus of healing on the Sabbath cared more about the Law being broken than he did about the woman who had a broken life. Jesus scolded this man by calling him a hypocrite for not seeing beyond the Sabbath rules and into the needs of a hurting person. This religious leader would rather have the woman continue in her suffering than break the rules of the Sabbath.

Don’t wait around for what you think is the perfect timing to ask God for help. Talk to God right now. That is what Jesus has given us. He has made it possible for us to go before God and have a relationship with our maker! God wants to hear from you and is waiting to hear your words. He can heal and He can help.

Matthew 16:13-21
13When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
14They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15″But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
16Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 20Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.
21From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

Related Text:
Isaiah 52:14-15
Mark 8:27-33
Luke 8:18-22
John 6:67-71

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So how do you answer the question “Who is Jesus?”
Who do you say that Jesus is? Is He just someone to listen to from time to time? Is He really that big of a deal?

Another great question to ask yourself is, what is Jesus to you, when going through your daily routine?

Time for some good self reflection in today’s study. Spend some time with God today and seek out Jesus.

Matthew 17:14-20
14When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. 15″Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. 16I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.”
17″O unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” 18Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment.
19Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
20He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

John 14:12-13
12I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.

Related Text:
1 Samuel 16:14-23
Mark 9:14-32
Luke 9:37-45
Romans 4:18-21
Hebrews 3:16-19

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Here’s the Deal

Ok, so you probably won’t ever actually have the physical need to move a mountain; but keep on reading anyway. When Jesus used this illustration, He wasn’t talking about the finer point of landscaping . . . He was teaching us a vital truth about faith. Jesus wanted His followers to know that all things are possible with faith. By using the image of the mustard seed, Jesus was emphasizing littleness. He wanted you to know that all it takes is a little faith to see God do incredible things. With faith, you can move whatever mountains of difficulty that are in your way. (Right about now, after reading that statement, is when many people will give a roll of their eyes and say to themselves, “yea, maybe, but not me, not my situation”) AND that’s exactly what Jesus is trying to teach all of us.

Faith is believing without an ounce of doubt that God is God and that He is in control! When we believe God does great things, but doubt that He can help us, THAT’S exactly the doubt that Jesus is trying to knock out of us. He’s encouraging us to replace our doubt and disbelief with faith.

Ask and believe

John 6:5-14
5When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” 6He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.
7Philip answered him, “Eight months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”
8Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, 9″Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
10Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. 11Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.
12When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” 13So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
14After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”

Related Text:
Deuteronomy 8:2-3
Matthew 14:13-21
Mark 6:32-44
Luke 9:10-17

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Just a Thought
Faith left in the hands of God can go a long way.

1 John 5:13-21 13I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 14This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. 16If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that he should pray about that. 17All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death. 18We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him. 19We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. 20We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. 21Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.

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God has not given us His Word without the ability to understand it. He isn’t leaving us all alone to fend for ourselves. He is here with us, and He wants to help us understand everything that He has given us. Take this scripture today and ask God to redirect your focus onto Him. And if your focus is already on God, then ask Him to concentrate it. Make is strong and unwaivering. I have written this so that you may have faith in the One who sent His Son to die for you and so that you lives will be strengthened in Christ.

1 John 5:1-12
1Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
6This is the one who came by water and blood-Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7For there are three that testify: 8the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. 9We accept man’s testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. 10Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. 11And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

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Wow, if we love God, we will obey His commandments. You can’t a get more straight forward “litmus test” than that. And check out verse 4: “for everyone born of God overcomes the world”. Can you feel God just pouring His strength into your life through His Word? Dive into scripture today and ask God to shock your system with His truth!

Luke 5:17-26
17One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick. 18Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. 19When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.
20When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”
21The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
22Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? 23Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 24But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins….” He said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 25Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. 26Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”

Related Text:
Psalm 25:1-11
Micah 7:18
Matthew 9:1-8
Mark 2:1-12

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In Other Words

The teachers of the Jewish Law believed that only God could forgive sin and they didn’t accept Jesus’ claim that He was God’s son. Because of their limited view of Jesus, the Jewish leaders saw Jesus’ words and actions as something that had to be stopped.

Although the teachers didn’t believe, they witnessed Jesus heal a man they knew to be paralyzed. It’s likely this experience left them confused and frustrated and it probably fueled their hatred for Jesus even more.

These leaders wouldn’t admit they were wrong, and their pride lead to a lack of forgiveness

Praise God that Jesus paid the price for our sins and that He offers forgiveness to all who believe and follow Jesus. But let’s not just thank God and go on about our lives. Is pride keeping us from admitting an area of sin to God? We cannot hide anything from Him, but sometimes we feel like if we don’t confront our sin as we spend time with God, that it will just work itself out and go away. But it doesn’t work like that. We have to bring our sin before God, admit where we are struggling, and ask for his strength to put that sin to death.

Don’t let your pride get in the way of your relationship with God.

Luke 5:1-11
1One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, 2he saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
4When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”
5Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”
6When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
8When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” 9For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.
Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.” 11So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

Related Text:
Psalm 51:1-13
Matthew 4:18-22
Mark 1:16-20
John 1:35-51

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Take a Shot

Just think about it. What if Jesus showed up at your job or at your school and asked you to leave and follow Him. Your answer would be “yes” right? Sure. But wait, the disciples didn’t know Jesus was Jesus the first day they met Him.

So lets back up. What if some random guy you had never met before showed up at your job or at your school and asked you to leave your current life behind to follow him? Not as easy of a decision now is it? You’ve got an education to finish, or you’ve got bills to pay and a family to supply for. And what’s this guy promising anyway?

You can make the argument that the first disciples decision to follow Jesus was more difficult than ours. We have the Holy Bible that assures us who Jesus is and what He has done for us. He is God’s son and He died for our sins as the atoning sacrifice so that we may have salvation.

So, if Jesus came to you today and asked you to drop everything and leave everyone and follow Him, what would e your response? Honestly, what if God strolls up to you and asks you to change your life to pursue a new career that brings glory to Him? What about changing your major? What about moving your family to a different town or even out of the country to serve God?

Are you too comfortable in your current situation to say “No” to God’s plans for your life?