Let's Go Back to the Bible

Posts by Josh Blackmer (Page 36)

Are You Listening?

Jesus often concluded a lesson by crying out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” (Matt. 11:15; 13:9, 43).  Also, in the letters to the churches of Asia, Jesus concludes each with a similar saying, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22).  This should…

So, There Was This Guy…

He was a Jew, an Alexandrian by birth. He was eloquent and mighty in the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord and was teaching it accurately, but he didn’t have a firm grasp on the concept of baptism. His name was Apollos, and when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained the way…

Fig Tree Fail

To fail is to not succeed, obviously.  Fail videos and memes have been popular with our youth. They highlight the failures of others for comedic purposes. Jesus wasn’t laughing at the fig tree fail though. Not long before Jesus went to the cross, He destroyed a fig tree while traveling from Bethany to Jerusalem. This encounter might appear random, but there are…

Out of the Ashes

There are many reasons and ways to mourn. A sign of deep mourning and repentances in ancient times was to put on sackcloth and ashes. Isaiah tells us that God can bring us out of our mourning and affliction. “The LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim…

Righteous Warfare

A list of names and deeds begins in 2 Samuel 23:8 with these words, “These are the names of the mighty men whom David had…” As I read this list and the exploits of these men, I longed to be named among them. The romanticized ideas of a time long gone, when men defended their faith with sword and shield, with spear…

Second Mile Saints

“Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two” (Matt. 5:41). The Persians did this before the Romans. It was the practice of compelling someone into service. It was common place for Roman soldiers to ask the Jewish people to carry their gear, which is estimated to have weighed 60 lbs., to the next marker. Jesus uses the disdain that…