Luke chapter 8 verse 2 and 3 is where we read of Mary Magdalene and how she helped Jesus' ministry out of her own means. The text clearly states that seven demons were driven from Mary.

Too often people think Mary Magdalene is the woman caught in adultery that is described in John 8 verses 1-11. This simply is not true.

2 Corinthians 6:14 - Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? (NIV)

This can be tough but necessary. Association brings assimilation. This reminds me of Numbers 22:20-22. God tells Balaam to go with the people who came for Him. But then God gets angry because he goes with them. The difference is in the meaning of the word - with. God wants Balaam merely to accompany the men. Instead, Balaam associates closely with the men; he shares their thoughts and beliefs. Here Paul tells us it is ok to be in the company of unbelievers, especially if we are witnessing to them. But he states strongly that we are not to associate or mingle with them and their world. Doing so only leads us away from God. Our close fellowship should only be with God-centered christians.

1 Corinthians 14:34 - Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says. (NKJV)

This verse confuses me. In many places, Paul commends women for the fine job they worked in his ministry and in furthering the gospel of the Lord. Why then does he say women should be silent while in church? I have heard many women speak a good sermon or sing great praises. Perhaps the answer is in the fact that he says women SHOULD be silent (Let them) rather than MUST be silent. Anyone can be in submission to the Lord whether they speak or not.

The phrase ...for they are not permitted to speak... comes from that fact that in any assembly of men, women were not allowed to speak. In our present day women should be allowed, even encouraged, to speak. After all, wasn't it a woman (Mary Magdalene) who first announced the resurrection of Jesus?

1 Corinthians 5:3 - For my part, even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already passed judgment in the name of our Lord Jesus on the one who has been doing this. (NIV)

Paul seems to contradict what he says in 1 Corinthians 4:4-5 - that we shouldn't judge others - but rather he is claifying what he said. In chapter four he says we should't judge others' faithfulness, and he is talking about people of the world - stewards and authority figures. He goes on through the rest of this chapter to explain that he is judging the behavior of a so-called Christian brother.

We must judge behaviors of people we associate with in order to discern whether we should be hanging around with them in the first place. If they are not good for us spiritually, we can try to lead them toward Christ (water them), or simply plant a seed and let them go.

On the other hand, if they are Christian brethren, we need to admonish them and encourage them to draw closer to the Lord.

Dear Lord in heaven, help me discern who among me is making my faith stronger and who is taking me away from you. Please tell me how to deal with them. I ask you for a open ear and an open mind so that I may follow your leading. Amen. Thank You Jesus.

Romans 1:25 - They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. (NIV)

The NASB version says "...and served the creature rather than the Creator..." I was led to think on how people worship other people (i.e. celebrities) and pay no mind to God, the Creator. We even have a TV show called American Idol. Now is the time for idol worship to stop in this country and even the world. We, the God loving people of Christ, must do something to help lead the way to God. Do something, anything. Start a conversation. Give a gospel. Leave a gospel. Pray over your meal - out lound - in a fast food joint. Say "Praise God" to someone while you hold the door for them. Plant seeds everywhere you go so that people are reminded of God. Pray that the verbal and non-verbal messages we send do not return void but instead that they are planted and take root where they are sown. Remember - There is joy in the presence of the angels of heaven over ONE sinner that repents (Luke 15:10). Now get out there and do your christian duty.

Romans 4:21 - being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. (NIV)

Being fully persuaded means that our belief in God and His promises is so strong that it controls our behavior. Abraham's faith was so strong that, I believe, he made preparations for a new born baby even before Sarah became pregnant. My faith is strong enough that I too prepare for the promise of a better life now and eternal life in heaven later by acting according to what God tells me through His word and with His still, small voice as He speaks to me. I pray to you Lord that my faith grows stronger and my actions make me ever more pleasing in Your sight. Thank you Lord for loving me.

Romans 1:25 reads: They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. (NIV)

The NASB version says "...and served the creature rather than the Creator..." I was led to think on how people worship other people (i.e. celebrities) and pay no mind to God, the Creator. We even have a TV show called American Idol.

Now is the time for idol worship to stop in this country and even the world. We, the God loving people of Christ, must do something to help lead the way to God.

Do something, anything. Start a conversation. Give a gospel or tract away to someone. Leave a tract somewhere. Pray over your meal - out lound - in a fast food joint. Say "Praise God" to someone while you hold the door for them.

Plant seeds everywhere you go so that people are reminded of God. Pray that the verbal and non-verbal messages we send do not return void but instead that they are planted and take root where they are sown. Remember - There is joy in the presence of the angels of heaven over ONE sinner that repents (Luke 15:10).

Now get out there and do your Christian duty.

Acts 19:13 - Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” (NIV)

This is about faith. If these Jews really believed, they would have said "In the name of Jesus" and would have left out "whom Paul preaches." But they did not have complete faith in God and Jesus. The question is, Do WE really believe in the power of the name Jesus? Or do we just think He is some god who other people can conjure up at will? I suggest reading Romans 12:2, Ephesians 4:23-24, and Galations 2:20. Here Paul writes quite plainly:

Romans 12:2 - Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind...

Ephesians 4:23-24 - to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Galations 2:20 - I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

We are NEW creatures who live because Jesus now lives in us. When we live only by the power of Christ, then we can live with true and complete faith that God can and WILL work miracles through us and onto the lives of others. Praise God. And Praise Jesus for making our lives new and complete.

Read Acts chapter 14.

This whole chapter is full of so many good things that Paul and Barnabas did. And they did it even though they faced confrontation from city leaders and SOME of the people.

But because SOME people accepted their message and came to have faith in Jesus, the two apostles (verse 14:14) endured whatever hardship that came their way in order to teach the way of Christ.

My prayer is that I, we, continue to speak of God and of Godly things and live our lives in a Godly way even when faced with hardship. Let your living faith be an example to everyone we come across. Praise God always!

We read in Joel 2:32 and Romans 10:9-13 that if we believe in God and call on His name we will be saved. This is only partly true. For Jesus Himself makes clear that we must do other things too in order to receive eternal life.

Look at Matthew 7:21. Jesus says - Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter (NASB). Note that we must do the will of God to enter into heaven.

Additionally, In Matthew 19:16-26, Jesus says that we must keep the commandments in order to enter into eternal life.

Furthermore, in Mark 16:16, Jesus says - He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved (NASB). According to Jesus, baptism is a requirement.

Again in Luke 14:26-27 Jesus requires we must love Him more than everything else if we want to be called a disciple.

Clearly we must do more than believe that God exists if we want to receive the free gift of eternal salvation. James, a brother of Jesus and the writer of the book of James, tells it like it is - faith without works is dead (v 2:26)

So therefore, believe in God and Jesus, love them with all your being, do God's will on your life, get baptized, keep the commandments, and read your bible daily. In short, Live for Jesus! Your life here will be better and your eternal life will be assured.

Acts 6:8 - Now Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people.

Jesus said that His disciples will receive great power when the Holy Spirit is come upon them (Acts 1:8). Stephen surely must have received this power to be able to perform the great wonders and signs like he did. The question is, Do we receive this power too?

The answer is yes, we can. Some people believe only if they see signs and wonders. See John 4:48. People are limited by their mind and their expectations. If you expect to be caught in traffic just because it is Friday afternoon, then you will get stuck in traffic.

We must free our minds from the worldly constraints and have faith IN God and have the faith OF God within in us. We must believe. See Mark 11:24, Luke 18:27, Phillipians 4:13.

Remember though, ALL our thoughts and intentions must be of God and for God's will in our lives. Only then will the windows of Heaven be open for us.

I say that if we truly open our hearts, the power we receive can overcome the limitations of our mind. Stop limiting yourself. Do what Jesus will have you do!

Acts 5:3 - But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? (NASB)

Peter says Annanias lied to the Holy Spirit. I've always wondered what is meant by grieving or blaspheming the Holy Spirit - Matt 12:31, Mark 3:29, Luke 12:10 - and how it is the unpardonable sin. This verse makes clear to me that when we lie to the Holy Spirit, we are condemned. Look at what happened here. Annanias dropped dead on the spot. And so did his wife when she lied too.

Lord, help me not to lie. I know lies are from Satan, the devil. Instead let me be true to you. Help to give willingly all that I can to further spread Your word to the world.

Acts 4:31 - And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.

When was the last time you prayed so fervently that the ground actually shook? When you speak of God do you do it boldly? Or do we speak with some hesitation as though we have doubt over how the person to whom we speak will respond to us? We must remove all doubt from our minds. Stop caring what others will say or think. We must speak in God's name boldly. And it starts with our prayer life. Next time you pray, pray with purpose. Pray with such passion that the ground shakes!

The Holy Spirit is a gift from God. You can read about the Holy Spirit in John chapters 14 and 16. Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit and describes what the Holy Spirit will do for us.

One of the things He will do is " bring remembrance" to the apostles of all the things Jesus said and did while He was here on earth. This is how we know that the stories told in the gospels are accurate. The Holy Spirit told the writers what happened e.g. when Jesus was alone in the desert and when He prayed alone in Gesemane.

But what will He do in our lives? The answer is: Anything good, as long as we let Him. We must realize that as Christians we are dead to our flesh. we are only alive in Christ, that is Christ lives within us (Galations 2:20). In other words, Christ lives in us through the Holy Spirit.

When we open our hearts to God the Holy Spirit flows into us and through us and guides our every thought and action. When we think about doing something against God's will, we feel guilty or we feel that something is wrong. The phrase - convicted by the Holy Spirit - is used to describe this feeling.

So check yourself. Before you do anything, check your thoughts and your mind and your heart. If you don't feel right, you might be wrong.

Give yourself over to the leading of the Holy Spirit in all that you think or do. You will be drawn ever closer to God (James 4:7-8) and your life here on earth will benefit too. God bless you all.

Coming to church on Sunday does not make up for the wrongs that have committed during the week. Service to the Lord should be a result of our love for God, not an effort to appease God for our sin. If we live with the love of God in our heart, we will seek to give Him glory always. We will thank Him continually and we will constantly ask Him to guide our steps

When the Holy Spirit convicts us, tells us that we acted or thought in a manner unpleasing to God, then we must take that sin to God and ask for forgiveness. We must be sincere when we do this, for God knows our hearts. If we are truly sorry and want to try again, God will forgive us quickly and surely.

Live each minute of every day for the glory of God !!

John 8:51 - "If anyone keeps my word, he will never see death" (Jesus)

I think this means that the children of God will die, but they will never see it coming. We will pass from this life quickly and without suffering the mental anguish many people experience when they know they are dying. Those of us truly blessed by God with the Holy Spirit will die peacefully. Dear Lord, I try to do your will. Please bless me with your Holy Spirit that I may live and die with with your deep and true peace.

My friend is travels across the country every year to visit with us. He lives and California and we are in New Jersey. One of the things I like about him is that he knows how to travel light. This year he carried just one bag for his cross country, month long trip. God Bless Him !!

And this is what Jesus told his apostles when when He sent them out to preach - Travel light. You can read what Jesus said in Matthew 10:5-15, Mark 6:7-13, and again in Luke 9:1-6.

Can you imagine travelling this way? Strong faith is required for sure. But what is required even more is discipline. Jesus said, "...for a worker is worthy of his food" (Matthew 10:10). The 12 apostles were not going on vacation; they were going out to work. Jesus gave strict instructions to preach the good news, heal the sick, cast out demons, and even raise the dead!

Doing the work of God isn't always easy. But it doesn't have to be hard either. We must have faith that God will lead us along the right path. We must pray often for strength and courage to follow that path. And we must trust that ALL things work together for good for us when we live according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).

If we do these things, doing the work of God is pure joy !!

The parable of the ten virgins is given in Matthew 25:1-13. You should read that passage before continuing here.

Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to ten young women who take their oil lamps and go out to meet the bridegroom at the wedding. The bridegroom represents Jesus and the wedding is heaven itself.

Five prudent women bring extra oil for their lamps while the other five foolish women do not. When the oil of the foolish women runs out, they go to purchase more. While they are gone they miss the bridegroom and don't get to enter into the wedding.

What is interesting is that, before leaving to get more oil, the foolish women first ask the prudent women for some of their extra oil. The prudent women refuse to share their oil with the others. And what happens is that the ones who refuse to share are brought into heaven.

Well how can this be? Doesn't Jesus teach us to give to those who do not have? The answer is, Yes He does. But this story is a parable and Jesus tells it to make a point. First, we are to be prepared for the Lord's return.

Second, the oil lamps in this story represent the Holy Spirit. See Hebrews 1:9 and John 14:15-17. When the prudent women refuse to share their oil, Jesus is saying that we can not receive salvation from another person. No one but God/Jesus can give this to us. Furthermore, when the prudent women tell the foolish women to go and BUY more oil, Jesus is indicating that salvation is bought at a price. It was bought for us with the body and blood of Christ

The next time you read this parable, remember that the prudent women are not being selfish. Jesus is making the point that only God can give us salvation, and that same salvation was bought by Christ's death and resurrection.

Matthew 24:12 - Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold

In chapters 24 and 25, Jesus is talking about signs of the end of the age.

This part of Jesus' discourse does indeed seem to imply that these times in which we live now are the times of which He spoke. I say that anyone who lived since the time Jesus spoke these words could think He spoke of their age. When we focus on the world and view what the world shows to us, seeing love is difficult and even impossible.

We christians must try to see things through the veil of the Holy Spirit. Only then can we see God's love on all His creation. Check your heart. Ask the Holy Spirit to live through you. Only then can we wade through the wickedness with a heart that is warm.

If we determine in our mind (see Romans 12:1-2) to love God, we can live a life that loves others. We will even be able to turn on the life of love in others that they too can have a heart that warms.

Matthew 19:14 reads: Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

Little children belong in the kingdom of heaven. What does this say about infant baptism? Apparently, un-baptized children who seek God's blessing are welcome in heaven. The message of repent and be baptized was/is preached to older individuals who have chosen to live unGodly ways. Was Jesus saying that the sin we are born with is of no effect until we choose to act in ways unacceptable to God?

This deals with Numbers chapter 22-24. Particularly,

Not very different, the two of them. Especially when one considers the account of the two sisters as given in the story where Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead (John chapter 11).

Most commentators, however, find fault with Martha for her actions in chapter 12 where she busily serves Jesus and other guests at a dinner gathering. Mary, on the other hand, is praised for sitting and worshiping Jesus.

Here though in chapter 11, we find Martha being first to run and meet Jesus. Mary goes to Jesus later and only after someone tells her that Jesus is asking for her. Then, they both say to Jesus the same exact thing: If you had been here, my brother would not have died. (See John 11:21, 32).

Now look at verse 11:40 - Jesus tells Martha - if you believe, you will see the glory of God. One can assume that Mary hears these words also because He says it when everyone is gathered at the entrance to Lazarus' tomb.

Martha and Mary both take Jesus' words to heart. By the time we get to the dinner party in chapter 12, Martha is confident in her belief and knows she has seen, and will see, the glory of God. She happily performs her duties as hostess by preparing and serving the meal in the presence of her Lord and teacher Jesus. She chooses to honor the human form of Jesus.

Meanwhile, Mary is also confident in her knowledge of the power and glory of Jesus. She respectfully anoints His body with expensive oil called nard, or sometimes spikenard. She is honoring the God form of Jesus because her actions foreshadow His burial and ressurection.

This comparison of the two sisters shows that they are not very different from each other at all. They both love Jesus and know He is Lord. They both honor and worship Him equally.

So remember, a valid analysis of Mary and Martha in chapter 12 can only be made when consideration is also given to the events of chapter eleven.