Jesus used a powerful object lesson with a fig tree to illustrate to His disciples the deplorable state of religious and political Israel. No fruit - only leaves!

Those of us who claim to know the Lord must learn to love the Lord, and then to love our neighbor as a result of that love. Not such an easy task in this day of "me first" living, but the secret to healthy and whole spiritual living.

How is your faith when it comes to following Jesus into the storms of life? Those storms are always a part of God's will to make us more like His Son.

He is not setting us up for failure, but for growth and more faith. Let His "great calm" come into your storm!

The blind man Bartimaeus received far more than restoration of his sight in his encounter with Jesus. He received salvation by faith! He actually saw more than the religious crowd of the day who were blinded by tradition.

How we view the circumstances around us is always based on our perspective, our viewpoint. In this passage we examine the contrasts in perspective of the disciples, and of the unbeliever compared to the eternal viewpoint of Jesus, the Word.

In our "Me Generation" we are constantly taught to value ourselves, look out for ourselves, and to elevate self in all arenas of life. But how different the teaching of Jesus to His followers was to that modern-day mentality. He said, "But many that are first shall be last; and the last first." He's looking for servant-followers.

In his farewell address to Israel, Joshua reminds the people of their need for complete commitment to God and His Word. You cannot have divided loyalty to two gods. In his classic leadership style he proclaims, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!"

Some of our Lord's harshest words were for the scribes and Pharisees, the religious leaders of Israel. Although they boasted great obedience to the laws and commandments, Jesus exposed their hard and evil heart of unbelief on many occasions.

Two fires are burning in this passage from Mark 9. Which will you experience? Let's heed the words of Jesus, of whom John said in the Revelation,

"His eyes were as a flame of fire . . . ." (Rev. 19:12).