Luke 6 concludes with Jesus reinforcing this idea of those whose blessings depend on heaven, and those whose blessings are built on earth. He begins by talking about trees. “Each tree is known by its own fruit,” Jesus says; good trees give good fruit, bad trees give bad fruit. Fig trees grow figs. Thornbushes grow thorns. Grapevines grow grapes. Everything…
Ah, the beatitudes: I’ve heard so many completely different interpretations of these scant handfuls of words. “Blessed are the poor.” Does this mean 1) God saves the materially poor to make up for their poverty on earth; 2) Christians should strive to be poor; or 3) even the poor are blessed? To begin, there’s a clear juxtaposition between the beatitudes…
by John Bunyan, modernized; scripture quotations from HCSB 1. What it is to pray. 2. What it is to pray with the Spirit. 3. What it is to pray with the Spirit and with the understanding. 4. Use and application And now to the next thing: what it is to pray with the Spirit and with the understanding also. Paul…