In today's devotional, we conclude reading the part of Jesus' ministry that takes place in Galilee. Jesus concludes by reminding his listeners about the cost of following him. "As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

Luke 9:57‭-‬62 NIV. Making a commitment is easy, keeping it is something else. You would agree with me that some of the requests by those who claimed they wanted to follow seemed tenable, but let's look again. For the first man, Jesus seemed to be saying; following me means you can't personally control what you want. Everyone else has a place to sleep but the Son of man goes where the Spirit leads him and tomorrow, we could easily be staying in the desert. The second man said; Lord, first let me go bury my father. A good excuse, however, what was he even doing there, he should be in mourning. It seems Jesus is saying, if you choose to sign up despite the fact you lost someone, good, but you can't then turn around and site them as excuse of why you can't be available for deployment. The last person says; I will follow you, Lord; BUT....anytime you add a BUT to your commitment, you guarantee you won't keep it.

Why should we forgive others? What determines who will be the greatest in the kingdom of God? These questions and more are some of the things we learn in today's devotional. We learn that a Christian forgives others not because they deserve it but because God comands it and because He forgave us first. Peter had asked Jesus; "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus' response would have dumbfounded Peter and the other disciples because his answer practically meant; without limit, just as God's forgiveness for us is without limit. "Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

Matthew 18:22 NIV. The lesson here is; ultimately, we don't forgive people because they qualify for our forgiveness, we do so because God commands it. "In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

Matthew 18:34‭-‬35 NIV. If God forgave us our huge debts of sin, we ought to forgive others their debts too.

In today's devotional, Jesus heals a boy who had been suffering seizures since he was a child by casting out a demon. "So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?” “From childhood,” he answered. “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” “ ‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.

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Mark 9:20‭-‬27 NIV. Once again, we see that illness in people can be caused by demonic influence. However, my emphasis in this story is the father's comment to Jesus; "But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us." Jesus was definitely shocked, almost offended because his response was; "if you can?" I can almost hear Jesus say what do you mean; if you can? Why bring the boy at if you didn't believe he could be healed, even after all the miracle they must have heard about? While the story does not tell us why the father was that full of unbelief, the lesson here is clear; it is impossible to receive anything from God without faith.

In today's devotional Jesus teaches us about the resolve his disciples must have in choosing to walk with him over choosing the world. Matthew 16:24-27, Mark 8:34-38, and Luke 9:23-26. "Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

Luke 9:23‭-‬26 NIV. Do you want to be a Christian, do you want to be a follower of Jesus? The criteria is simple; deny yourself. Deny your will. Deny your wants. Deny your ambitions and desires. Taking up ones cross daily means to die every single day. In Jesus' day, if you see anyone carrying their cross along the road, they had been sentenced to die on that same cross on their backs. The intention is to publicly ridicule the criminal and then execute them in public view. That is Jesus' invitation; come and die with me. Do you still want to be a Christian?

In today's devotional, Jesus asked a question every Christian not only answers before they become born again, but a revelation we carry in our hearts everyday; who is Jesus? In Matthew 16:13-20, Mark 8:27-30 and Luke 9:18-21, Jesus asked his disciples who have people been saying he is. You might think Jesus is simply the one we celebrate during Christmas or that he is simply a prophet like the people were saying. However, Peter answered this question and said; "Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Matthew 16:16 NIV. To Christians, Jesus isn't simply just one of the prophets, he is the Son of God. Outside this revelation, you don't really know who Jesus is. The lesson in the story however is the personal bent to which Jesus says who he is was revealed to Peter; "Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.

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Matthew 16:17 NIV. Each one of needs to catch this revelation individually, you need a revelation of Jesus as the Son of God.

In today's devotional, we read about the faith of a Phonecian woman from Syria. Her story is truly captivating because despite all the obstacles she had to face to see Jesus, she kept right at it; she did not qualify to receive from God because of her race, Jesus was clearly ignoring her, the disciples were fed up with her and were trying to chase her away, and twice, Jesus said some things that were strong enough to dissuade her but she wouldn't; "A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.” Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said. He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.

Matthew 15:22‭-‬28 NIV. Most people would leave the minute they feel they are not welcome, but not this woman. Even when it seem Jesus called her names, she didn't care. Jesus called her faith great. The lesson here is; don't let anything or anyone dissuade you from your faith in God.

In today's devotional, we asked ourselves the one question every believer in Jesus must ask themselves; why are you following Jesus? As expected, our answers will vary. Some of us follow him simply because that is all we know, from our early childhood, our parents made us follow, so we are here. Some follow because they heard about Jesus and have come to see if he is really what others say he is. Others follow him because they want something from him; someone wants to be healed, maybe you are barren and want a child, or yours is you want to get married or simply that you want to be cured of a disease. Why are you following Jesus? In John 6:22-25, we see these people following because of the bread he gave them. Please don't make the mistake of thinking I am saying it is wrong to follow Jesus and desire these things, that is not what I am saying. If we follow Jesus, it is a giving, that we will find these things. My contemplation is simply that they are they cannot be and should not be the motivation and premise for following him. Yes, Jesus came so that we might have life in abundance, and following guarantees we will partake of that abundance, our first and only premise must be coming into a relationship with the Father through him. Jesus said; "Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.” Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

John 6:26‭-‬29 NIV. They were looking for him so they could guarantee a constant supply of heavenly bread, Jesus said that was wrong. We follow Jesus so as to come into a relationship with the Father. "Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

John 6:35 NIV.

In today's devotional we read the events after Jesus fed the 5,000 men. Mark and John captured the event similarly, Mark 6:45-52, John 6:15-21; Jesus stayed back to dismiss the crowd while the disciples left by boat. When Jesus was done, he goes up the mountain to pray and just after dawn walks to the disciples on the water. They were terrified when they saw him. He calms them and gets into the boat. Immediately the wind died down allowing them to get to their destination. Telling the same story, Matthew 14:22-33; Matthew adds that when they saw him and were terrified, Peter asked Jesus to tell him to come to him walking on the water. He also adds that when they got to the boat, the disciples worshipped Jesus. Every other thing in the story is the same in all 3 gospels. So, what do we do with these kind of difference? We accept it and believe that Mark and John for some reason chose to omit it. Secondly, the main part of the story is not Peter walking on water but Jesus walking on water and the storm dying down as soon as he got into the boat. That is comforting. Could the disciples have worshipped Jesus? Of course, Matthew said so, and not only this time, there were other instances where others and even the disciples worshipped him. Lastly, Jesus' words to them when he saw the fear in their eyes are comforting (Matthew 14:27, Mark 6:50, John 6:20); "But he said to them, “It is I; don’t be afraid.”

John 6:20 NIV. I say to someone this morning; take courage, don't be afraid.

In today's devotional, we study an event that all 4 gospel writers captured, and there are few events all 4 of them captured together; the feeding of the five thousand. We find this story in; Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:30-44, Luke 9:10-17 and (even though we didn't read it today) John 6:1-14. As usual, the number of verses tells us Mark is more elaborate telling this story. From all 4 gospel writers we are able to gather the following information; the disciples returned from preaching and were tired, Jesus tells them they should retire to a solitary place to rest, they were heading to Bethsaida by boat when the crowds started following them on foot. On arrival Jesus preached and healed the sick until it was late. The disciples asked Jesus to tell the people to head to town to look for food. Jesus tells them to give them something to eat. Philip complains that a years wage will not be enough to feed them. Jesus asked what they had, they found a boy who had 5 loaves and 2 fish. Jesus then asked them to sit in 50s and 100s. He prayed over the food and the bread and fish multiplied. There were at least 5,000 men there. Amazing details we are able to draw from this story and there are many lessons here, however, my key lesson is on why were 5,000 men followed Jesus on foot to a solitary place? Why were the people so desperate to go this far just to be with him? If I could infer the question; why are you following Jesus today? An important question because in time, it will become apparent why the majority in that crowd followed Jesus. They went through all that problem because of what they could get from him; for some, it was the bread, others just wanted to have the latest gist of the miracles happening in town (remember this all took place in Galilee), why are you following Jesus?

The Lord wants us to preach the gospel, it is part of the reason why he saved us. Our message in preaching is simply to tell others about what Jesus did for the sinner. It is not a gospel of condemnation, but a gospel to welcome. Jesus said; "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

Matthew 9:36‭-‬38 NIV. The fields were ripe back then, they are wasting away today. We are the workers they prayed for. So preach the gospel today, tell others; the kingdom of God is here.