Guest Blog written by: Molly Watkins

Forgiveness is one of the hardest things for people to do. It’s easier to hate someone who wronged you than to forgive them and move past it. In Matthew 18 Jesus tells a parable dealing with forgiveness. A master forgives one of his servants from a very large debt, but that same servant turns around and has a fellow servant thrown in jail for not paying back a small debt. The master hears about this and is outraged. He had forgiven this man’s debt and he can not forgive another man’s? He throws his servant in jail to be tortured for what he did.

Isn’t that how we like to act. We can beg all day to get the forgiveness, but when it comes time to dish it out we turn up our noses. What if God was like that? What if when we begged for forgiveness, He just turned his nose up because he didn’t feel like being nice that day or our debt was too great to him. He doesn’t do that, though, God wants us ALL to have a chance for redemption. He wants each and every one of us to be able to experience his love and be with him in Heaven one day. He doesn’t pick and choose based on our sin because no sin is too great for him.

Why can’t we be more like that? Everyone deserves a chance to be forgiven no matter what debt they owe. God wants us to be like him, and that means throwing pride aside and being the bigger man. Forgiveness may be hard, but it is much more rewarding to everyone in the end.

Guest Blog written by: Brad Kempson

One of the first things we read today are the Beatitudes. A beatitude is supreme blessedness. Jesus tells us how we should be, and if we follow those things, we will be blessed. 

Another big thing we read at the is about the salt and the light. This passage takes me back to winter retreat. That lesson was amazing. We need to be something that helps people. We can’t loose our faith. Jesus needs us to be able to draw people closer to him. We are also a light. We need to give people light and not hide it. 

Another thing we read is not to flaunt what we do. We have all heard this before. We shouldn’t let everyone know what we are doing, or announce what we do. It doesn’t matter if people think highly of us after we have done something. It should only matter to God. 

We also hear about the two houses. One on the rock and one on the sand. This story is special to me. When I was 9, I was going on my first trip with the disciples at church. Mrs. Nancy Gatewood was leading a lesson. That day, I accepted Jesus. 

We read about Jesus calming the storm. While everyone was panicking, Jesus was asleep. He was calm and knew everything was going to be ok. Everyone woke him up and asked him to do something. So Jesus called out to the storm and it calmed. Jesus also calms the storms in our lives. We don’t have to worry.

Jesus healed many people. He drew out demons, healed leprosy, raised dead, and healed paralyzed. Once as he was drawing a demon out, the Pharisees said, “It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons.” The Pharisees were saying that Jesus was Satan. They didn’t want to believe that Jesus was healing these people by God.

One thing Jesus says is that the people hear but don’t understand, and that they might see something, but they don’t see it fully. We do this. Sometimes, we don’t fully understand what we hear, or we don’t see fully things that are shown to us. We need to get closer to God to be able to understand the things we see and her.

We read two well known passages. Jesus feeds the five thousand, and Jesus walks on water. We all know that the food was given to all the people and there was more left. This tells us that God can take the smallest thing in us and make it huge. Jesus walking on the water tells us that if we have faith in Jesus we can do great things. 

Guest Blog written by: Jessica Brown

immediately.
instantaneously.
without delay.
at once.

i am not sure i have ever responded immediately.
i tend to mull things over.
consider my options.
weigh the pros and cons.

perhaps i’m a tad bit analytical.

i wish i could say it didn’t take me so long to make a decision.

He said to them, “Follow me, and I will turn you into fishers of people.”
matthew 4:19

a seemingly uncommon stranger approaches you.
where you are busy about your family business.
and challenges you to make a life-changing .
how would you respond?

if you are like me, you probably consider the opportunity.
perhaps you ask the advice of those around you.
maybe you text a couple of your closest friends.
or poll facebook or twitter or instagram for opinions.

they left their nets immediately and followed him.
matthew 4:19

what compelled two simple fishermen to drop everything they knew and follow someone they didn’t know?
without hesitation.
no questions.
no doubts.

their decision was immediate.
they readily walked away from the familiar and stepped into a ministry with the One who came to save.

isn’t the call the same of us today?
come follow me, He says.

for some, the decision is immediate.
and for others, like myself, the decision is weighed and pondered and put on-hold.
because following Christ always requires giving up our old life.
to live in complete surrender to Him.
what we gain by following Jesus’ call far outweighs the life we sacrifice to follow Him.

i just wish it hadn’t taken me so long to respond to His call.