Author: Brian Burdett

“And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.)” – Genesis 14:18

This very ancient encounter, over 4000 years ago, between Abram and the mysterious Melchizedek is a powerful, early pointer toward Jesus. The name Melchizedek means “King of Righteousness”. He was the king of Salem (what would become Jerusalem), a name meaning “peace”. So Melchizedek, who was a priest of the one true, living God before anyone else ever recorded was also a king. He wasn’t just any king, he was the king of peace and king of righteousness. Does that sound familiar???

Psalm 110, written by King David some 3000 years ago says another priest-king like Melchizedek would come. The book of Hebrews explains that when Jesus, the eternal Son of God, stepped into our world as fully God and fully human, walking among us, demonstrating He had the power of God, teaching the truth of God, living a perfect life without sin, dying as a sacrifice on our behalf to pay the penalty for our sins, and rising from the dead on the third day, that He was, is, and forever will be that high priest and king like Melchizedek.

Jesus is the King of absolute righteousness. He is the King of perfect peace. He is our high priest who made atonement for our sins with His own body and blood. What Genesis pointed toward and Psalms predicted, Jesus fulfilled. This is a powerful reminder that the Bible is all one great story, the glorious story of God’s creation and redemption through His Son Jesus. This is why it’s so valuable for followers of Jesus to be reading, studying, meditating on, and delighting in the Bible every day.

Today, as we remember and honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, we are reminded that in the face of great evil and injustice, the most powerful force for change for God’s people is the deliberate, determined, public practice of peace and righteousness. #FollowJesus

“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” – Matthew 10:28

Jesus is very direct with His followers in this verse. Don’t fear people. Fear God. Jesus clearly explains that to follow Him will result in some controversy and pressure in your life. For some it will be terrible while for others it will be minor. Nonetheless, we should all expect to encounter some. There may be pressure to keep quiet about your faith within your family, your classroom, your workplace, or your social circle. Jesus makes it abundantly clear in Matthew 10 that following Him could cost you friends, family, opportunity, freedom, or life.

All of which means you will have times in your life when you can either keep quiet about Jesus (and gain some earthly benefit) or speak up about Him. For most of us, our natural inclination will be to go for the temporary, visible, earthly benefit and just keep quiet. However, Jesus warns us not to make that decision! Don’t be motivated by fear of those who can impact your earthly life relationally, socially, educationally, professionally, or physically. Though your fear is real and the risk may be very present, don’t give in!

Develop such a high view of God that your love, respect, and awe for Him will never permit you to compromise your Great Commission disciple-making mission in life. Recognize that His rewards are eternal and trading the eternal benefits of following Jesus for the temporary benefits of a fallen world is a terrible deal. Grow in your knowledge of God. Grow in your awareness of God. Grow in your respect for God. Grow in your awe of God. Grow in your submission to God. Grow in your relationship with God. Grow in your holy fear of God and discover how much your fear of other people shrivels up! #FollowJesus

“When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” – Matthew 10:19-20

Do you worry about what to say about your faith in stressful moments? Many do and it’s certainly natural. Does that anxiety tend to keep you from putting yourself out there for Jesus? Do you hold back from sharing Christ because you worry you won’t say the right thing, will forget a key point, or will completely mess up so that nobody will ever believe in Jesus? Are you afraid to be bold for Jesus because you don’t think you’ll know what to say if someone opposes against you? Don’t be.

If Jesus is your Lord and Savior, then the Holy Spirit lives within you. Trust this truth. Trust the Holy Spirit. Trust that if you’re speaking up for Jesus that the Holy Spirit will give you the right words for that moment if you’ll let Him. He really will! This isn’t an excuse to be unprepared or to not practice how to share or defend your faith. It’s simply an invitation and instruction to relax and stop fretting about messing up.

Sharing Christ and defending your faith in the face of opposition are fundamentally spiritual acts. To do them effectively is about the spirit and not your natural abilities. You don’t have to be a slick defense attorney for Jesus because He doesn’t need one! He’ll give you honest and true words to speak if you’ll let Him. Be prepared, but don’t be anxious. Don’t be surprised when the Spirit gives you something very different than what you could have ever come up with, planned for, or practiced! He’s like that and it’s wonderful.

Trust the Spirit! That can be hard for many of us. Though we believe the spiritual truths of Scripture we still struggle to live spiritually. Nonetheless, if you can bring yourself to begin doing so, He’ll quickly reveal Himself and build your confidence in letting go and letting the Spirit of God speak through you. #FollowJesus

“Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, ‘Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.’ And instantly the woman was made well.” – Matthew 9:22

“Your faith has made you well.” This story is one of three in a row that each emphasize the faith of those who were healed. After suffering for years and being an unclean outcast in the eyes of the Law and her people, this woman believes in Jesus, has the courage to approach Him, touches Him in violation of every social norm, and is instantly healed by Him. In the conversation that follows, Jesus emphasizes not His divine healing power but her faith.

He’s making a critical point that the benefits of His power are received by those who believe. While these three stories are about physical healing, they point us to the deeper truth of how Jesus heals us spiritually. It’s by the same means – faith. All of us have sin and uncleanness in our past. All of us are naturally separated from our holy Creator by our sin. We all have guilt and shame and there’s only one way to be made well spiritually – by faith in Jesus.

When you believe that Jesus is the eternal Son of God, come to earth to live a sinless life, die a sacrificial death on a cross to pay the penalty for your sins, and rise from death on the third day, then by God’s grace, your faith makes you well. Through faith, by God’s grace, your sins are forgiven, your guilt is erased, your relationship with God is restored, you are adopted by Him, your nature is made new, and you regain the ability to pursue and enjoy God’s good design for your lives. In a spiritual sense, you are made eternally well and it’s only by faith.

If you believe in Jesus, take heart – your faith has made you well. If you don’t yet believe, what’s holding you back? Believe and instantly be made well! #FollowJesus

“While he was saying these things to them, behold, a ruler came in and knelt before him, saying, ‘My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.’” – Matthew 9:18

There’s so much that could be said about this verse and the two intertwined stories that follow as Jesus brings the man’s dead daughter back to life and a woman who’d bled continuously for years was instantly healed simply by touching the fringe of His robe…

There’s the extraordinary faith of this father. Jesus was new on the scene and there was no reason to believe He could bring someone dead back to life. Yet he believed, he acted on his belief by going to Jesus, and he was absolutely correct. The same is true of the woman.

There’s the incredible power of Jesus who brought this dead child back to life. There’s His mercy in being willing to go and see the girl. There’s His calm as He dismisses though who made fun of Him for trying. There’s His compassion toward the suffering woman.

However, there’s a deeper connection between this story and the story of the bleeding woman that isn’t obvious to the modern reader. Under the Mosaic Law, touching either of them should have made Jesus unclean. There were various ways to become unclean, but two of the biggest were to touch something dead and to touch someone who is bleeding. Jesus did both, but rather than become unclean, He restored both individuals to wholeness, health, and cleanness.

There’s a profound significance to this, because in the Old Testament, cleanness didn’t spread, uncleanness did. Uncleanness spread like a virus infecting everyone who came in contact with it. There’s only one being Who can reverse this flow and spread cleanness. God. The subtle but critical point of these two stories is not just the power of Jesus, but the fact that He does what God does – He spreads cleanness without being infected by uncleanness. Jesus is truly God come in the flesh. He walked among us to teach us, understand us, and rescue us from sin. He is worthy of worship and rightly should be the Lord of your life. #FollowJesus