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  Read John 11 John 11 NLT - The Raising of Lazarus - A man named - Bible Gateway   John 11:43-44- Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!”   When Jesus urged the people to roll away the stone to the tomb, Martha lifted up her concern about the smell after being in the tomb for four days. In the KJV she says bluntly, "He stinketh," meaning he's really, really dead and done. As Jesus called forth new life in Lazarus, we can easily imagine a mummy-like figure standing before the people, and then Jesus giving those who had just witnessed the miracle a role in the process. Jesus, in essence, said, "You all go stand with Lazarus in his new life, and help him out of the old grave clothes." This is all, of course, a foreshadowing of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from His death on the cross and a less...

    Read John 4 John 4 NLT - Jesus and the Samaritan Woman - Jesus - Bible Gateway   John 4:25-26-  The woman said, “I know the Messiah is coming—the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”  Then Jesus told her, “I am the Messiah!”   Jesus had a barrier breaking, obstacle overcoming encounter by engaging in a public conversation at a well with a Samaritan (Jews often went to great lengths to avoid these folks they considered to be like "black sheep third cousins") woman (Jewish males didn't generally speak so publicly with a woman not his wife) with questionable morals (Jesus told her she had already had 5 husbands and the man she was currently living with wasn't her husband). She probably experienced public shunning and shaming as evidenced by her coming to the well in the heat of the day at a time when no one else was there. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus isn't recorded as speaking so forthrightly...

  Read Proverbs 30 Proverbs 30 NLT - The Sayings of Agur - The sayings of - Bible Gateway   Proverbs 30:33- As the beating of cream yields butter and striking the nose causes bleeding, so stirring up anger causes quarrels.   I suspect Proverbs has so much to say about dealing well with our anger because it was an older man giving advice to younger men. Here Agur says t he better part of wisdom is to know that in most instances stirring up anger does little to bring people together nor does it solve problems; instead, it almost always provides fuel for a raging fire that creates deeper conflict and causes far more damage. Is there another side of the coin here? There often is when it comes to individual proverbs. Can we discover in God's Word any other occasions when righteous anger served the greater purposes of God? Yes, but only when it was under control, righteous in nature, and focused on godly solutions.    A number of causes for loving m...

  Read Proverbs 24 Proverbs 24 NLT - Don’t envy evil people or desire - Bible Gateway   Proverbs 24:3-4- A house is built by wisdom and becomes strong through good sense. Through knowledge its rooms are filled with all sorts of precious riches and valuables.   The writer of this proverb was pointing out to his listeners that there was more to building a house than the actual construction materials and skill. A person could pour lots of time and money into physically building an incredible structure to live in without it being a place of wisdom, good sense, and growing knowledge. Solomon spent 13 years, for instance, building his own personal house (only 7 years on the Temple). He forgot more wisdom than most folks will ever know, but he definitely made some serious mistakes as he grew older. He failed to take seriously his own good advice- he "swelled" into himself, rather than growing in God's grace and love. Power and riches can, with God's he...