Author: Brian Burdett

“Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw.” – Matthew 12:22

This particular miracle got a lot of attention. At the time, most religious leader believed and taught that to cast out a demon you needed to learn its name. If a demon-oppressed individual couldn’t speak, an exorcist couldn’t learn the demon’s name, and it would be impossible to cast out the demon. Then Jesus healed a man who couldn’t speak as easily as He cast out any other demon.

It was widely believed that only the Messiah (or Christ in Greek) would be able to cast out a demon from a person who couldn’t speak. When Jesus did exactly that, many began to consider that He might be more than a teacher, prophet, and miracle worker. Of course, their suspicions were correct! Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah, the Christ. He is God come in the flesh. At all times, Jesus has absolute power over the supernatural forces of the world, both good and evil. Though demons hate Jesus, they know Who He is and they must obey Him. We see this over and over again in the Gospels.

Demons don’t fight Jesus because they can’t. He is immeasurably stronger and more powerful than they are. The conflicts between Jesus and demons are recorded to demonstrate Who Jesus is and what He can do. As you reflect on what this means today, you should, first and foremost, remember what this evidence points toward…. Jesus is truly the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed Son of God. Believe in Him, worship Him, and follow Him!

You should also remember Who your Lord is. In an age with increasing fascination with Satan and his demons, remember that your Lord is infinitely more powerful than demons. Don’t let fascination or fear of the demonic cloud your vision of King Jesus or keep you from boldly living, speaking, and acting for Jesus. Spiritual warfare is real but Jesus has and will defeat every enemy. He is with and in you as His follower. Remember too, the lesson of the subsequent verses…. If someone hears about the power of Jesus over demons but is so hardened against Him that they consider Jesus with contempt, accuse Him of performing parlor tricks, or claim He’s relying on demonic power, that’s a spiritual disaster for that person from which they will likely never recover. All that to say, be strong in your faith and #FollowJesus!

“Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent.” – Matthew 11:20

Though Jesus performed countless miracles, He clearly understood their limitations. Miracles can get people’s attention and draw a crowd. However, they don’t generally result in saving faith. Only the proclamation of the Gospel can do that! Jesus denounced the towns where He’d worked hundreds or perhaps thousands of miracles because most there didn’t believe in Him. They didn’t repent of their sins. They didn’t submit to Jesus as Lord. They didn’t recognize the Messiah Who was among them. They loved the miracle show but failed to understand what those miracles represented.

Jesus wasn’t just an exciting miracle worker. His miracles represented the Kingdom of God breaking into this fallen world. His miracles weren’t just a display of God’s power but the demonstration that He was God come in the flesh. Jesus cast out demons, cured illnesses, healed disabilities, made food, walked on water, transformed the elements of matter, commanded the forces of nature, and raised the dead. Nonetheless, most people just thought it was cool and moved on with their life. Miracles drew a crowd but didn’t change very many people spiritually.

Miracles are wonderful as a way of getting people’s attention. However, if the recipient doesn’t hear the Gospel, believe, and repent, their eternal fate remains unchanged. The proclamation of the Gospel is much more important than the working of miracles. How many people were physically healed by Jesus yet remained distant from God and damned for all eternity? Most of them! As much as we might yearn to see miracles personally (and they certainly still happen), we must understand what Jesus understood. Earthly healing is of limited value. The proclamation of the Gospel is far more important because only God’s Word can bring the spiritually dead to life. Speak the words of life with those who need to hear. #FollowJesus

“I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.” – Matthew 8:11

Jesus was clear from the earliest days of His earthly ministry…. His Kingdom is open to people from every nation, language, and ethnic group. God’s Kingdom isn’t defined by genealogy, nationality, or ethnic history. Rather, it’s built on faith in Jesus, the Lord’s Salvation. Our Redeemer. We can’t buy an invitation to the Kingdom or earn one. The invitation is given freely to everyone who will listen. Everyone at every age and stage who turns away from their sins and turns to Jesus as Lord is welcomed into the eternal joy of God’s Kingdom.

This is truly good news! God’s Kingdom doesn’t discriminate based on nationality, ethnicity, race, or social status. It’s a Kingdom of grace with one entrance – faith in Jesus Christ. As we celebrate this, please think about the challenge built into this good news…. How will those far off people ever find out about their invitation? Nobody will come from east or west unless Christians go and tell them the Good News! Today, there are estimated to be nearly 7,400 ethnic groups in the world who really don’t have anyone to tell them about Jesus and invite them into God’s Kingdom. That’s 3.4 BILLION people who don’t have sufficient churches, ministries, Bibles, or missions to make it likely they’ll ever hear that God loves them and Jesus died for them.

Jesus gave us a command to go and make disciples of all nations. That command (Matthew 28:18-20) is called the Great Commission. Every follower of Jesus has a role to play in the Great Commission. That includes you! We all have a responsibility to pray for these groups and to pray for Christians to go to them with hope and the words of life. To learn about missions and financially support the work of missions. To encourage those who go and welcome them when they return. And possibly, to go ourselves. What’s your part in helping the nations to know? What are you called to do? If you don’t yet know, start learning about missions and praying for the nations until you have clarity! #FollowJesus

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.” – Matthew 5:14

The world is a dark place. Marred by sin, wracked by violence, fractured and divided by hatred, power, selfishness, and cruelty. It’s dark and it certainly feels like it’s getting darker in these present days. But Jesus is the light of the world. He is the light that can and will overcome the darkness. If you believe, follow, and love Him, then you have His light in you. That makes YOU the light of the world!

Don’t hide your light. The world doesn’t need more Christians hiding the light of Christ in fear or un-Christlike behavior. Shine the light. Love people like Jesus loves them. Tell people about Jesus. Give sacrificially to help people just as Jesus sacrificed everything to help you. Think, speak, and act like Jesus. Don’t think, speak, or act like everyone else.

Be distinctly different from non-believers. Live the values of God’s Kingdom in public. It may not be welcomed or appreciated because neither was Jesus. Shine the light anyway! Love people simply because they’re made in God’s image. Care for the vulnerable, poor, sick, and oppressed in the name of Jesus. Pray boldly and persistently for the world to be transformed by Jesus.

Stop chasing the things the world tells you to chase. The excessive pursuit of comfort, pleasure, convenience, power, money, and status just cover your light. Don’t hide your light. The world doesn’t need more darkness. It needs more followers of Jesus radiating His light at all times and in all ways. #FollowJesus

“And said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” – John 2:10

In the village of Cana, Jesus quietly worked a miracle that demonstrated that He was God and Lord over the elements of nature. He turned water into wine. Atoms and molecules changed completely because Jesus is, and always has been, the sustainer of the universe. He holds everything together and can rearrange the building blocks of matter as He desires. He did this, without fanfare, so that His first followers would believe, without a shadow of a doubt, that He was Messiah, the Christ, God come in the flesh.

His choice to perform this miracle says a great deal about His mission in stepping into our world. In this moment, Jesus guarded the dignity of a family who’d run out of wine. Rather than let them be embarrassed by this faux pas, He simply resolved their problem. They had no idea who or how they’d been rescued. Jesus loves and guards our dignity without a second thought.

More significantly, this miracle reminds us that with God, the best is yet to come. Jesus came to usher in a new covenant that was infinitely superior to the old. The old covenant was built on laws, rules, and the consequences of failing to keep those rules. It was a covenant of blessings but more often curses for failure. However, God kept the good wine for the end! God pours out the delicious, excellent wine of His grace through Jesus Christ. Jesus came to usher in a new covenant based on God’s gracious, loving, merciful nature. No longer would our fate be determined by our failure. Our future is now defined by God’s grace given freely through faith in Jesus the Christ. This is the best wine which God saved for these later days!

Through faith in Jesus, we are forgiven our sins. Our guilt and shame are washed away. We are reconciled to God, united with Christ, and sealed by the Holy Spirit. This is the perfect wine of grace. Your identity is no longer based on your failures but upon Christ in you. Your value isn’t based on your performance but on the fact that you bear God’s image. Your status is no longer in doubt – you are a beloved child of God through Jesus Christ. This is the good wine, poured out at the cross for you! #FollowJesus