John Fischer The Catch

John the Baptist, who was in prison, heard about all the things the Messiah was doing. So he sent his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?”

Jesus told them, “Go back to John and tell him what you have heard and seen—the blind see, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.”  Matthew 11:2-5

There’s a difference between Jesus and many evangelicals today.

Evangelicals have always been primarily concerned about personal salvation and personal spiritual growth — stress on the personal. You accept Jesus, not just as your savior but as your personal savior. Where other people come into the picture, it’s all about witnessing to them to the end that they, too, might accept Jesus as their personal savior. Once that’s accomplished, you’re pretty much done, except maybe to get them into a local church.

Continue reading →

After they arrived at Capernaum and settled in a house, Jesus asked his disciples, “What were you discussing out on the road?” But they didn’t answer, because they had been arguing about which of them was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve disciples over to him, and said, “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.” Mark 9:33-35

Here’s one of those red letter things that is simple in concept but hard to do. Jesus interrupted the disciples’ argument about which of them was the greatest by  telling them, if they want to be great, then take the last place in line and be the servant of all.

Continue reading →

God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. Hebrews 1:1-3

Any questions?

This is a statement of finality, is it not? Jesus has had the last word. Jesus Himself has stated that all the law and the prophets can be summed up into one thing: love. Love God … and love your neighbor. That’s it. Do this and you will be fulfilling the whole law and the prophets. Jesus didn’t just summarize; He replaced.

Continue reading →

Over the next few weeks we are going to embark on a study of some of the words of Jesus. We’re calling it Red Letter Review: Insights from the words of Jesus.

Most of you have probably seen a Red Letter Bible — that is, a Bible which prints the actual words of Jesus in red ink so they don’t have to be always set off with quotation marks, and so you can readily find when Jesus is speaking.

Continue reading →