THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES ARE NOT VERY SPECIFIC. Luke 17:26-36.

The Pulitzer-winning novel GONE WITH THE WIND opens with the Tarleton twins courting Scarlett O’Hara. It is April of 1861, and the 19-year-old brothers have been expelled from the University of Georgia.

“It don’t matter much. We’d have had to come home before the term was out anyway.”

“Why?”

“The war! The war’s going to start any day….”

“You know there isn’t going to be any war,” said Scarlett, bored. “It’s all just talk … There won’t be any war, and I’m tired of hearing about it.”

“Not going to be any war!” cried the twins indignantly, as though they had been defrauded. “Why honey, of course there’s going to be a war. The Yankees may be scared of us, but after the way General Beauregard shelled them out of Fort Sumter day before yesterday, they’ll have to fight or stand branded as cowards before the whole world….”

Not only would there be a Civil War, but historians agree the war had already begun—with the attack on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861.

Sometimes you can anticipate a war. There may be saber-rattling and talking heads on TV and hysteria in the press. One crowd is trying to organize a militia. Another is buying up canned goods and building underground bunkers. Some wars are as predictable as bad weather.

But other wars are not predictable at all, stealing in like a thief in the night.

Jesus employs both metaphors when teaching on His return—His coming will be as unexpected as a thief in the night, but His people will see generalized signs that allow them to prepare their hearts—if not their estates.

“If the owner of the house had known when the thief was coming, he would have kept watch…” Matthew 24:43. But “the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night” 1 Thessalonians 5:2.

The unexpected arrival of God’s judgment is not unprecedented, but ‘precedented.’ It follows a pattern we have seen before:

“As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man: people went on eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage until the day Noah boarded the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.  It will be the same as it was in the days of Lot: people went on eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building. But on the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be like that the day the Son of Man is revealed … two will be in one bed. One will be taken, the other will be left. Two will be grinding grain. One will be taken, the other left” Luke 17:26-36.

The “Great and Terrible Day of the Lord” will come by surprise—while everyone is going on with life, engaged in jobs, weddings, buying, and selling, and suddenly they will stand before the Throne. But Jesus says there will be some signs.

“Learn the lesson from the fig tree: when its twigs grow tender and leaves come out, you know summer is near” Matthew 24:32.

Knowing a season is near is a pretty vague statement of timing. Imagine if I wrote a letter home from a trip overseas saying I would come home when the pecan trees leaf out. Given the eight pecan trees at our house—each on its own schedule—I could arrive anytime between February and April.

The second coming of Christ is the same way. He emphasizes that His arrival will catch people by surprise, like a thief in the night. But there are some generalized signs to watch. Two of the most important are probably the fact that Israel gained statehood in 1948 and that the gospel is reaching more and more of the world’s unreached people groups. His return is closer than ever, yet the specific timing remains as unpredictable as a thief in the night.

What are we to do? Pray and look forward to His return with joyful anticipation:

“Look up and be watchful, for your redemption draweth nigh” Luke 21:28.

“There is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord will award me on that day, and not only to me, but to all who have loved His appearing” 2 Timothy 4:8-9.

Pray:  God, may our hearts love You and Your kingdom so deeply that we long for you to come and take us home. Maranatha! Even so, COME LORD JESUS! Revelation 22:20.

Read Luke 17.

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CAMELS. Mark 10:17-25.

“As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before Him, and asked, ‘Good teacher, what must I do to be saved?’” Mark 10:17.

Jesus eventually told him to sell all he had and give to the poor—“and the man went away sad, because he had many possessions”v.22. And Jesus said, “It is harder for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven”v.25.

Have you threaded a needle? Getting a thread through a needle requires me to lick the thread and put on glasses—it is a delicate operation. You’ll never fit a mouse through a needle, not to mention a camel. But since the 9th century, some have argued the word “needle” refers to a “man-gate” in the city wall for men to walk through after the larger gates had been locked for the night. A camel could squeeze through such a gate, but only if he was unloaded and coaxed to crawl under the gate—getting through was hard, but not impossible.

An interpretation from the 4th century is that “camel” is a misspelling. If one letter is changed, it becomes the Greek word for an anchor rope. That makes sense: “It is easier to thread an anchor rope through a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven.”

The point is, your STUFF can get in the way. Things we love on earth can keep us from things we would really love in heaven. I admire the rich man: he RAN to Jesus and KNELT down. He knew Whom to ask. And he ASKED THE RIGHT QUESTION—“How can I have eternal life?”

Are we as passionate? Do we run and kneel? Are we asking good questions? This man was probably among those later converted on Pentecost—he was deeply moved by Jesus and I suspect he responded.

May we Run, Kneel, and Seek Answers. Then OBEY.

Dear God, if we ever love our STUFF more than you, take away the stuff.

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DO YOU WANT HARDWARE OR TOOLS? Mark 10:42-45.

Remember baseball tournaments? Coaches would rally the team by inspiring them with talk of hardware: Come on, boys, let’s go get some hardware!

We love to win trophies. We love certificates, plaques, ribbons, medals, scholarships, ranks, promotions, and more.

Even the disciples wanted hardware.

“But Jesus called the disciples over and said, ‘You know that those who are rulers of the Gentiles dominate them and lord it over them. But it must not be like that among you. Whoever wishes to become GREAT among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be FIRST among you must be slave to all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life—a ransom for many” Mark 10:42-45.

Who gets the hardware at a childrens’ baseball tournament? The players—the children. And who gets the tools—the rakes, hoses, brooms, chalk, tarps, radar guns, and cameras? The adults.

Are you looking for hardware or for tools? Do you try to achieve, or to sacrifice? What about in your job? With friends? With relatives? With family? At home?

Think about it: often the best baseball players on the field at youth tournaments are the ones who serving the children—the coaches and guys like the Five Tool crew. The greatest are in the role of the servant. (*Minister = “servant” in Latin, from “minus.” Deacon = “servant” in Greek.)

And when you serve, you are following Jesus, who tied a towel around His waist and washed the feet of his disciples—hours before His crucifixion. Under that stress, He was SERVING.

When you serve, you are Christlike. Thus, when you serve, He will bless you. It’s a simple formula: IF YOU WANT TO BE GREAT, BE A SERVANT.

Serve, and you will achieve. Pick up servant TOOLS (toilet brush, dishwashing soap, mop, etc.) and God will bless you with HARDWARE also.

Read Mark 10.

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Biblical Manhood is Kingdom Childhood. Mark 10:14.

I admire two ministers and a layman.[1] First, Johnny Derouen. Our youth minister loved his family, and was determined to obey Jesus in all things. He also had a gift for loving people, listening to people, and showing compassion.

He was full of joy and when you were around him, you knew following Christ was exciting.

Second, Miller C. Miller was a worship leader who talked about Jesus with a contagious enthusiasm that was stunning. His musicianship was great, but when he spoke, you could not get enough.

He and I once had a lengthy conversation and I walked away convinced I had just seen Jesus.

Not literally, of course, but Miller’s heart was close to the Lord and there was no armor, no defenses—his heart was right there on the surface in every conversation, and when you felt affection from Miller it just felt like it was coming straight from the heart of God; Miller was only a conduit.

Finally, my father. In some ways, he is nothing like the two above. He was born in 1935 and was reared on a John Wayne kind of manhood. Daddy shed one tear in the 55 years I knew him—at his own father’s funeral. He was not a hugger. He was not a warm, fuzzy person, though he became more affectionate and encouraging as he aged. Instead, he was the strong, silent type. But he was kind, patient, and cheerful in all circumstances. No matter how old he was, he never lost his sense of wonder–he was delighted by nature, animals, puzzles, and all the mysteries of science. His affection for such things was absolutely childlike. He never lost his sense of PLAY. (How many kids ever climbed a tree with their grandpa?)

And He never doubted the Lord. He ALWAYS trusted.

He always had hope and saw himself not as a superhero who had to solve everything, but as a child of God with a heavenly Father who would provide. He was also the most honest person I ever met.

The ministry of Jesus attracted children. But the disciples thought the children were getting in the way of serious ministry and tried to get rid of them. Jesus told them to leave the children alone.

“Let them come to Me. Don’t stop them. For the kingdom of God belongs to such as these” Mark 10:14.

Jesus went on to explain that we should be like children:

“Unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven … Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” Matthew 18:3-4.

Jesus says to humble yourself like a child. But how? I think it requires a prayer—many prayers—of surrender. The three I admire were among those who do it best. They were humble. They saw themselves not as superheroes but as children of God. They were submitted to the will of their Father.

He filled them with compassion, joy, and a childlike enthusiasm even in old age. They were not walking around like knights in suits of armor, but took off the defenses—the armor and walls the rest of us hide behind—knowing their heavenly Father was their defender. They simply endured and forgave. Though burdened with tough careers and a load of earthly stress, these men were buoyed through life by the joy of Jesus. They rested in the Father’s arms and found peace there. They knew His heart toward them was good and kind and forgiving and that helped them live lives of honesty and integrity, of never giving up, never surrendering to discouragement, but walking with Jesus every day.

These three very different men had one physical trait in common: All three had the eyes of a child.

No matter how old, sick, or burdened, they never lost the twinkle in their eyes, the spark of youthful joy and enthusiasm. Even when my father had Alzheimer’s you could still see joy and even laughter in his eyes. He never lost the heart of a child; in fact, I saw it more and more the older he became.

Perhaps the best understanding of “Biblical manhood” is that Jesus encourages us to become trusting, humble, cheerful, forgiving, and honest.

In other words, truly Biblical manhood requires the overwhelming humility that can cause even the most talented, successful, and powerful among us to see himself as a tiny, trusting child, obedient to the will of a loving Father.

Biblical manhood is resting like a child cradled in the arms of his heavenly Father.

King David–giant-killer, battlefield general, and conquering king–said it best:

“Surely I have composed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child rests in the arms of his mother. Deep down inside me, I am as content as a young child” Psalm 131:2.

Read Mark 10.

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[1] There are others I admire, but have not known as well, either because I was so young during their ministry or because we never met. I am speaking here of men I have talked to many times.

WORDS MATTER. Matthew 19:4.

I wrote a book of study tips. One tip encourages visual learners to make the content from their classes visual if possible. But visual media have their limits:

“IF YOU DON’T KNOW ANY OTHER WAY TO STUDY, THEN CONVERT YOUR NOTES TO DRAWINGS AND DIAGRAMS. If you’re a ‘visual person’ (everyone says they’re a visual person, right?), then prove it by making the stuff visual. Just be sure you can put it back into an essay form at test time. There are many ways to convert things to pictures, charts, graphs, maps, and more. However, though I am a visual person and though I love drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, maps, graphs, and charts, I don’t recall ever using any of those visual options to prepare for tests. Words are better, faster, easier. (There is a reason we use language to convey complex ideas.) … Creating something visual is better than not studying at all…. But I am one visual person who will tell you that for most academic subjects, words are the better medium.”[1]

There are many ways to express ideas. You might sing, dance, paint, sculpt, mow patterns in the lawn, or rent a plane and do some skywriting. Some people express themselves with clothing or tattoos or personalized license plates or tongue rings.

But WORDS ARE THE BETTER MEDIUM. WORDS ARE BETTER, FASTER, EASIER. THERE IS A REASON WE USE LANGUAGE TO CONVEY COMPLEX IDEAS.

The Bible contains sixty-six books by forty authors. There is material in the Bible that might have been more easily conveyed with spreadsheets, family trees, paintings, architectural drawings, and more. But God chose words. And that was the best choice. Language is the strongest, most versatile medium. Words are everything. Yet every day our culture wanders further from an idea-filled forest of words into the less-propositional, less-rational plain of images, videos, and cheap laughs. We are feeding our minds less by feeding our eyes and giggles more.

Every work of art communicates ideas. But think of this: an artist may spend a year working on a painting. But the five-minute act of choosing a title can completely change the idea that painting conveys. Consider the famous 1893 painting THE SCREAM by Edvard Munch. Look at the painting above (one of several versions in both paint and pastel) and imagine how different the reaction would be if the title of the piece was “THE SNEEZE”?

A single word has the power to change everything. Words are powerful.

Do you pay attention to words? Do you read song lyrics? Do you catch what people say on TV shows? Do you read personalized license plates or words in tattoos? Have you ever received a letter or card and read it more than once? Words are not chosen without a reason—someone is trying to say something. Pay attention to words.

God, the Creator of all the arts, chose words to explain and clarify the deepest truths:

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” Genesis 1:1.

“All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life” John 3:16.

“In the beginning the Creator made them male and female” Matthew 19:4.

I am in no hurry to raise controversial topics. But it is interesting that when the Pharisees asked Jesus to comment on the legality of divorce, He began His answer by reminding listeners that God made people male and female. Would there have been any doubt in first-century Israel? No. Perhaps Jesus restates this truth from Genesis 1:27 for the benefit of future generations: “He created them male and female.”

Words matter. God chose words as the medium to contain His truth.

The King James translation contains 788,137 words—and those words contain all the truth God captured for us to master. Can you imagine the volume of wisdom contained in a single Bible? Yet you will not benefit from God’s truth until you master His word. Study His word. Words matter.

Read Matthew 19.

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[1] https://www.amazon.com/How-Make-As-Journey-Professor-ebook/dp/B0CFGPZQN2

CHOOSE THE HUMBLE PLACE. Luke 14:8-11.

One weekend, our church choir recorded a new album for Word Music. Microphones were pointed at the first row. The minute you walked in, you knew: the best singers were already on the first row. That was the all-star team. I’d like to say I did not think about it, that I was not ambitious. But I did think about it. I wanted to be on the first row. I thought I was good enough to be on the first row. But it was stupid and petty and it was making my head spin. So I talked to my father and the other men around me, walked with them to the top row, and cut up and had fun. They were good-hearted men who loved the Lord and sang because they were servants. They could not read music. But they were down-to-earth and I enjoyed worshipping with them. Then it got quiet. The director was at the mic.

“Steven. What are you doing up there? We need you down here on the front row.” He gestured. “Come on, bring your stuff. Y’all slide over and make a spot for him. Steven, stand right there in the middle.”

That was a great feeling. A Bible passage rang in my ears:

“When you go to a party, don’t sit at the best place, because a more distinguished person than you may arrive and the host may come to you and say, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then in humiliation, you will proceed to take the lowest place. Instead, when you are invited to a party, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when the one who invited you comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ You will then be honored in the presence of all the other guests. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted” Luke 14:8-11.

God, train us with humble actions—sitting with the “regular folks,” working in a cubicle, driving an old car—but more than that, GIVE US HUMBLE THOUGHTS. Help us love as equals, setting aside status.

Read Luke 14.

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DILUTED. Luke 14:34-35.

Merchants are famous for diluting things. They put water into wine to make the wine last longer (thus the phrase “watered down”). They mix grain into sausage so it appears to contain more meat than it does. To increase volume, drug dealers mix (or “cut”) cocaine with powdered laundry detergent, laxatives, and meat tenderizer (among other things), and cut marijuana with detergent and glass—anything to increase profits. And historically, even salt—once an expensive luxury—was diluted with sand. But if each seller or middle-man added a little sand, a batch of salt might eventually be diluted so often it “loses its saltiness” and becomes worthless. Then what is it good for?

“Now, salt is good, but if salt should lose its taste, how will it be made salty again? It is not fit for the soil or for the manure pile; they throw it out. Anyone who has ears to hear should listen!” Luke 14:34-35.

Jesus says we are the salt of the earth. He put us here to enhance preservation—that is, to help the world stay fresh and good and godly. We are here to slow the decay and destruction we see all around us, by blessing one person at a time, every day. And He put us here to flavor the world, or rather, to draw out the natural flavors already present in His amazing creation. Because salt, when used correctly, makes each food taste more like itself, not more salty. Salt draws out the unique flavor already present in foods. We can do the same: find and enhance the amazing “flavors” around us, both in people and in God’s creation.

But Christians can be so diluted with worldliness, with flavorless sand, we fail to do either. We can lose both our flavoring powers and our preserving powers.

Stay in the WORD, not in the WORLD.

Don’t be diluted. Fill up on scripture. Be a cup that is overflowing with God’s truth and God’s flavors.

God, show us where we are diluted, and fill us up with YOU. Use us.

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Do You Need God’s Blessings? Luke 14:11.

If you need to be blessed by God, humble yourself. He blesses the humble—but not the proud.

“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and the one who humbles himself will be exalted” Luke 14:11.

Consider the prodigal son—he failed, but he did not fail at repentance. And the father killed the fatted calf for him, Luke 15:11-32.

Later Jesus tells the story of two men praying. The Pharisee says, “Thank you, God, that I am not like so-and-so.” The tax collector, on the other hand, falls to his knees, pounds his chest, and cries, “Oh, God! Be merciful to me! I am such a sinner!” And Jesus asks, “Which one went home blessed?” Luke 18:9-14.

Of course, God blessed the one who was humble. First Peter says “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble” 1 Peter 5:5 (and James 4:6).

Don’t you want God’s grace? Don’t you know how badly you need it?

Beg God for His grace. Beg Him to make you more humble. Use body language. Get on your knees, pound your chest. Humble yourself and ask God to make your heart truly humble. Sometimes you feel proud, pleased, and self-satisfied. And those are great times. But ask God to make you humble, to help you pray like the tax collector. Pray for humility and ask for God’s blessings. Ask Him to fill you with a humble heart toward Him and toward His people.

Read Luke 14.

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*The drawing above is Rembrandt’s sketch of the Return of the Prodigal.

How Much Did the People of Jesus’s Time Know About Crucifixion? Luke 14:27.

Could there be a symbol more ironic than the cross? The instrument of the most terrifying, arguably worst-possible death, has become the world’s most beloved symbol of eternal life. The cross is so candy-coated, so bathed in sugar and sweetness, it is impossible to grasp the bitter horror it once created. Consider the words of one of ancient Rome’s greats, Cicero:

Cicero described crucifixion as “a most cruel and disgusting punishment,” arguing “the very mention of the cross should be far removed not only from a Roman citizen’s body, but from his mind, his eyes, his ears … It is a crime to bind a Roman citizen, to scourge him a wickedness, to put him to death is almost parricide. What shall I say of crucifying him? So guilty an action cannot by any possibility be adequately expressed by any name bad enough for it.”

Cicero–one of history’s greatest orators–can find no words to convey the evils of crucifixion. Yet we hang crosses around our necks, on our walls, and above our baby’s cribs. We must re-capture some sense of the horror.


Crucifixion was invented and perfected by Persians, Carthaginians, even Greeks. The cruelty of the ancient world knew no bounds–and it only got worse:

The Roman Empire did for crucifixions what the assembly line did for manufacturing: suddenly crosses were everywhere.

But how familiar were the people of Israel with death by crucifixion? Quite familiar, as it turns out.

Some 70 years before the birth of Christ, a gladiator named Spartacus led a rebellion against Rome employing escaped slaves as soldiers. Spartacus and his men were defeated and captured. Then, in order to set a public example, the 6,000 who had escaped slavery were crucified along the Appian Way, one of history’s first superhighways. The men were crucified at 60-yard intervals, so that the 6,000 crosses on which men were bleeding and dying (and left to rot) would stretch 100 miles from Rome to Capua. A second group of slaves were believed to have been crucified along the Via Latina, another road leading from Rome to Capua.

Can you imagine 6,000 crucifixions happening simultaneously?

Everyone would hear about it. Rome used the horrible method of capital punishment to strike terror into the hearts of political rivals, rebels, traitors, and pirates of every sort. Where today’s dictators destroy their enemies with gas chambers, firing squads, even forced starvation, Romans preferred stripping troublemakers naked and nailing them to stakes. Then they were left hanging in the sun until they died of dehydration and exposure, a process that could take days. Meanwhile, the public was paraded in front of them, sometimes for amusement, but often as a warning.

When 6,000 slaves were crucified along the Appian Way, slave owners brought their slaves out for a field trip: this is what can happen to you if you try to escape.

Death by the cross may have been history’s most brutal form of capital punishment, designed to maintain the status quo and suppress dissent. It was an atrocity committed by a government with no regard for human life much less human rights (a novel concept at the time). The cross was meant to strike terror in the hearts of would-be rebels, and was considered so deeply humiliating it was illegal to crucify a Roman citizen.

Crucifixion was not unfamiliar to the people of Israel. When Jesus spoke of it, His audience knew exactly what He was talking about.

Only four years before the birth of Christ, the Roman General Varus crucified 2,000 Jews.

The year 70 AD saw thousands of crucifixions in Jerusalem. When Titus laid siege to Jerusalem in 70 AD, Roman troops crucified as many as 500 Jews a day—FOR SEVERAL MONTHS.  (If they crucified only 100 a day for three months, that would mean the Romans crucified a minimum of 9,000 Jews.)

Everyone in Israel would have heard about crucifixions. They saw the brutality of Rome. They had seen the ruthless ways of her godless, merciless soldiers. These men would not hesitate to pound nails into you and hang you up to die. It was amusing to them, an entertaining mockery of another unlucky loser. You could not hope for mercy from the Romans. If the cross was your sentence it meant the slowest, most painful, terrifying, humiliating death possible. Anyone who had seen it would be horrified by it.

Against this background of terrifying, humiliating, de-humanizing crucifixions, what does Jesus say to His followers—not only to those listening, but to you and me?

“If you don’t pick up your own cross and come after Me, you cannot be My disciple” Luke 14:27.

What? Pick up a cross?

After His death and resurrection, everyone knew Jesus had carried His own cross. And years before His death (knowing what was coming), He said if we don’t take up a cross of our own, we cannot be His disciple.

What does that mean? Following Constantine’s elimination of crucifixions as a form of capital punishment, few alive today have even seen a cross, much less picked one up. Jesus is not speaking of a literal cross.

Consider the context. Jesus says “if you do not hate your father, mother, wife, and children, brothers and sisters—yes, and even your own LIFE, you cannot be My disciple” Luke 14:26.  In other words, you should love nothing as much as you love Jesus. Your love for your family, your spouse, even your children should not compete with your love for Jesus. In fact, you should love Jesus more than you love your own life. (Are you ready to die for Him?)

But isn’t all of this just poetry? Surely He can’t be serious?

On the contrary, how much more serious could He be? What is more serious than the worst possible death mankind could ever devise? This is not mere poetry. This is serious. You must love Jesus more than everything, every ONE, and even more than yourself or your own life. Do you love Him more than your hopes and dreams? More than your most cherished goals? Jesus commands you to love Him more than everything on your resume and everything on your bucket list. Nail both documents to the cross and let them go. And love Him more than all your loved ones.

“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, and even his own life—he cannot be My disciple.”

Dear Lord, we give you all our loves, our goals, our most cherished people and our most cherished wishes. We give them all to you. Help us love you more than everything else. Thank you for enduring the incredible cross for us. Help us love you the same way.

Read Luke 14.

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A MAN OF PRAYER IS A MAN OF COURAGE. Luke 13:31-33.

No one faced worse than Jesus. Yet He faced it with courage. He drew amazing strength from amazing prayer. His prayer time was not mere “quality” time, but also a significant QUANTITY of time. He got up before dawn. He stayed up all night. He went away to places of solitude.

Consider Gethsemane: Jesus began that time filled with grief and terror. But by the end, He was so bold that when the torch-bearing crowd came to arrest Him, His words made them fall to the ground in fear! John 18:6.

Jesus was equally bold in the face of other threats, such as that posed by King Herod. Jesus’s childhood had been radically changed by death threats from Herod the Great, forcing the family to move to Egypt. Jesus, surely a sensitive and compassionate child, knew that King Herod had murdered innocent children in his rush to kill Jesus, a child “born to be king of the Jews.” Now Herod’s son, King Herod Antipas, is on the throne in Galilee, and suddenly decides Jesus is a threat!

“They came and told Jesus, ‘Go, get out of Galilee! Herod wants to kill you!’

“But Jesus said to them, ‘Go and tell that fox, ‘Look, I’m driving out demons and performing healings today and tomorrow and on the third day I will complete my work.’ I will travel each day and make my way to Jerusalem. After all, it is not possible for a prophet to die outside of Jerusalem!’” Luke 13:31-33.

Jesus laughs at Herod, saying, “Go tell that fox I have more work to do in Galilee—and he can’t touch me here. After all, everyone knows Israel never murders God’s men until they arrive in the bloodthirsty city of Jerusalem.”

Jesus defies Herod, knowing nothing will happen to Him in Galilee. God has a plan, and it will be fulfilled in Jerusalem, a city Jesus loves, but a city with a terrible history of rejecting God and God’s messengers.

His courage is amazing. Do you need courage? It comes through PRAYER.

Read Luke 13.

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