The Sadducees Ask a Trick Question

Dr. Ray Pritchard

“At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?” (Luke 20:33)
Talk about a run of bad luck.
A woman marries a man who dies leaving her with no children to carry on the family name. So along comes the younger brother who marries her and then dies leaving her with no children. Then another brother and another one and another, until she has married all seven brothers who all managed to die leaving her childless.
And the natural question is, “Whose wife will she be in the resurrection?”
 It’s hard not to laugh out loud when you read that story, which is exactly the point the Sadducees wished to make. They concocted a ridiculous example to show the absurdity (to them) of the whole idea of a resurrection of the dead. But Jesus turns the tables on them by saying, in effect, “Fellows, you’ve got it all wrong. You think the next age will be nothing but a continuation of this age. But it’s not. The rules that govern this age don’t govern the next age.”
Jesus then goes to the deeper point that God is not the God of the dead but of the living (Luke 20:38). He adds a wonderful phrase, “For to him all are alive.” Here we have the truth underlying the Christian belief in the resurrection of the dead. God will raise the dead because he cannot fail to keep his promise. He who calls himself “the God of the living” will not leave his people in the grave. Our hope for the future rests not in science, not in speculation, not in some proof text, but in the character of God himself!
If he is our God and we are his people, death is not the end of the story. A better day, a brighter day, a glorious day of resurrection awaits all the people of God. In the meantime, between now and then, we go to be with the Lord. This is what Paul meant when he said, “To die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). Not even death can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
When death comes to us, we can know this much for certain. The Lord who has been with us throughout our earthly journey will not abandon us when we need him most.
If you want to know the truth about life after death, there are only two ways to be sure:
1) See for yourself. All of us will do that eventually. 2) Take the testimony of someone who knows.
This is where the words of Jesus take on life-changing power. He’s been there, he entered the realm of death, he experienced it fully, he was as dead as anyone has ever been. On the third day he came back from the dead, never to die again. We have the authoritative word of the Son of God who emerged from the grave with the keys of death and Hades in his hand. Because of Jesus, we are not left to wonder what happens when we die. Death cannot change our relationship with God because he is not the God of the dead but of the living.
Those who know Jesus have entered into a relationship that even death cannot sever. Our hope for the future is as secure as the promises of God. For the Christian, death is not the end but the beginning of life forever with the Lord.
Lord Jesus, you have defeated death once and for all. We look forward to that wonderful day when the dead in Christ will rise immortal and incorruptible. Even so, Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.

Jesus Praises a Poor Widow

Dr. Ray Pritchard

Front and back of the lepton (or "mite"). 
The widow gave two of these tiny coins. 

“This poor widow has put in more than all those giving to the temple treasury” (Mark 12:43).
First things first. It’s “mites” plural, not the widow’s mite, as some people say. The term itself comes from the King James Version, which used “mites” to translate the Greek word lepta, a term that referred to a tiny coin worth almost nothing at all. If she had dropped in one coin, it would be a lepton, but she put in two coins, thus the plural term lepta.
Does that matter?
Yes and no. It doesn’t matter in the sense that this poor widow had almost nothing to start with, so it’s the difference between putting one penny versus two pennies in the offering plate. Either way, you can’t meet your budget with one penny or with two.
It’s also true that we often favor the rich over the poor. That was a problem in the early church when the ushers would give the man with a gold ring the best seat in the house while making the homeless fellow stand in the back (see James 2:1-10). Big gifts impress us because we can do so much more with $5 million than with $5.
And, really, what good is 2 pennies?
But Jesus sees it differently. By the way, don’t miss the fact that Jesus sat down across from the temple treasury and watched as the people came with their offerings. Jesus pays attention to who gives and when and where and why. Those things matter to him.
Think about this. Jesus not only knows how much we give; he also notices how much we keep for ourselves. He’s not that impressed when a man worth $100 million makes a $5 million gift. In Jesus’ eyes, he didn’t give as much as the widow who gave two tiny coins.
He gave out of his surplus.
She gave out of her poverty.
Here comes this poor widow. She is about 60, maybe 5’4”, body worn from long years of labor, dressed in a simple hand sewn smock. As she approaches the treasury, she clutches two pennies in her hand. It is the smallest copper coin in Judea, worth almost nothing. It’s all the money she has. She throws the coins in the mouth of the receptacle. They make a tiny clink when they hit the bottom. Quickly she turns to go away. No one speaks to her. She’s just another widow. In a moment, she is gone. No one notices her.
No one except Jesus.
In his eyes, her gift was bigger than all the rich people who brought their coins to the temple that day. No doubt his words shocked the disciples. No one but Jesus could have made that judgment. A great mind-reader . . . and a great heart-reader . . . was in the temple that day. He saw the gifts, and he judged the givers.
Let us learn from this that Jesus turns the values of the world upside down. We look at the outside; God judges the heart. We look at the amount on the check; Jesus looks at what it cost us to make the gift.
In his eyes, a rich man who gives a million dollars matters very little. But a widow who gives away her last two pennies earns his praise. In her act, Jesus saw a moving display of the true spirit of sacrifice. There is a lesson here for all of us. Strange as it may seem, our money is best used when we give it away.
Lord, forgive me for hoarding what you have given me. Help me to be generous with my time, my talent, and my treasure. Amen.

The Judas in All of Us

Dr. Ray Pritchard

From the movie Judas (2004)

“’What are you willing to give me if I hand Him over to you?’ So they weighed out 30 pieces of silver for him” (Matthew 26:15).
With this entry, our series on “Faces Around the Cross” takes a turn in a new direction. From here on out, our focus will be solely on events surrounding the death of Christ.
It is now Wednesday of Passion Week. The whole city of Jerusalem is in turmoil over this man called Jesus. Who is he? Where did he come from? How does he work his miracles? And the greatest question—Is he really the promised Messiah, as some say?
Meanwhile, the religious leaders bide their time, looking for an opportunity to arrest him. Filled with hatred and envy, they have already decided that Jesus must die. Getting rid of Jesus would keep the peace and also rid them of a man they cannot control and they cannot defeat. But how will they do it?
Enter Judas, the most mysterious of all the disciples of Jesus.
As far as we can tell, Judas saw all the miracles Jesus performed. He was in the boat when Jesus calmed the storm. He saw Jesus turn water into wine. He helped pick up the leftovers after Jesus fed the 5000 with five loaves and two fish. He must have been standing there when Lazarus came out of the tomb. Not only that, he heard Jesus give the Sermon on the Mount. He listened to his parables. Judas was there when Peter said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
He heard it all.
He saw it all.
He walked with Christ every day.
He was one of Jesus’ handpicked men.
He knew the Son of God personally.
Make that list as long as you like. Add one other fact. No one ever suspected him. Peter never said to John, “Hey, that guy Judas seems a little shifty to me.” Bartholomew evidently never wondered about his motives. James never suspected he was pilfering from the money bag. As late as the Last Supper, when Jesus openly predicted that someone would betray him, no one pointed at Judas and said, “He’s a traitor.”
We’ll have more to say about Judas in the days to come. But for the moment, let’s focus on the fact that no one suspected him. What happened to him could happen to me. What he did, I could do. If I think otherwise, then I have missed the point of this story. Judas is a lot like us and we're a lot like him. In fact, the more religious we are, the more like Judas we are. After all, you can't get much more religious than being an apostle. He was as "in" as any person could ever be.
And yet he betrayed the Lord.
Is Judas alive today? No, but his spirit still lives. It lives in all those who play the religious game. It lives in those who come to church for what they can get out of it. It lives in all those who are pretending a commitment to Jesus Christ that isn't real in their hearts. It lives in all those who just go through the Christian motions. It lives in those who come to church, give their money, follow the rules, and yet don't love the Lord Jesus.
There’s a little Judas in all of us. If we think anything different, then we’re more like Judas than we know.
Spirit of God, search my heart and reveal any false way within me. May my Christian profession be matched by genuine love for Jesus. Amen.

Peter's Feet

Dr. Ray Pritchard

“You will never wash my feet—ever!” Peter said (John 13:8).
Feet stink when they are dirty.
That’s a human fact, not a cultural observation. After a long, hard day, your feet have absorbed a pounding. If you wear sandals, they have been exposed to dirt everywhere. If your feet are in socks, they are likely to be sweaty. And then you have all the usual foot problems--ingrown nails, corns, calluses, cracked heels, and for some people, fungus of various kinds.
In those days you normally washed your own feet after the host offered you a basin of water. You knelt down, removed your sandals, washed your feet, and then dried them with a towel. If a man had servants, they might be delegated to do the job for you. This was the mark of high achievement in society: that servants washed the feet of your guests. But under no circumstances would the host wash the feet of his guests. The master would never stoop so low as to wash the feet of those beneath him.
Slaves washed feet.
Masters never did.
That’s why Peter is shocked when Jesus stoops down and begins to wash the feet of his disciples. Everything was upside down! They should be washing his feet; he shouldn’t be washing theirs.
Jesus came to a world of dirty feet.
Our journey through life is much dirtier than we think. You never know what you might step in that will leave you defiled and unclean. We don’t like to think about that, but it is true. No matter how hard we may try to stay clean, we are all dirtier than we think, and we end each day dirtier than when we started.
That’s why Jesus told Peter that although he was clean already, he still needed to have his feet washed. “A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet” (v. 10). Two different words are used here-one meaning a complete bath and the other meaning to wash something. Coming to Christ is like taking a bath. We are made clean as our sin is washed away. But we still need daily cleansing.
When we come to Christ, the guilt of our sin is removed forever. Because we live in a dirty world, we need cleansing every day.
Regeneration cannot be repeated.
Cleansing must be repeated.
Think about the course of your life over the last 24 hours:
You have said things you ought not to have said.
You have responded unkindly or too quickly.
You have done things you ought not to have done.
You have left undone acts of mercy.
You have not been perfect, nor have I.
That’s why we need what Jesus offers. We need to be cleansed again every day. We need salvation that takes away the guilt of sin and provides for daily cleansing. Jesus fits us for heaven, he removes the guilt of sin, and he daily cleanses us from every sin when we call on him (1 John 1:9). Through his bloody death on the cross Christ provides all that we need, now and forever.
We are great sinners who need a great Savior. We have one in Jesus Christ, who stooped so low that he was not ashamed to wash our dirty feet.
Lord Jesus, thank you for your blood that washes my sin away. I ask you to wash my dirty feet so that I might walk closely with you today. Amen.

Selling Out the Son of God

Dr. Ray Pritchard

“Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him” (Mark 3:19).
When the gospel writers give us their accounts of Jesus’ final days, two men take center stage: Peter and Judas. In every New Testament list of the twelve apostles, Peter is always first, Judas always last. They are forever joined together by the fact that they both failed grievously and in very public ways.
But only one man was restored.
The other man went to hell.
Let’s focus for a moment on Judas. Consider his experience leading up to his betrayal:
He was personally chosen to be an apostle by Jesus Christ. He forsook all to follow the Lord. He spent 3 1/2 years traveling the length and breadth of Israel with Christ. He saw all the miracles of Christ in person. He heard Christ give his famous discourses. He watched as Christ healed the sick, raised the dead, and cast out demons. He was sent out to preach the gospel along with the other apostles. He was one of the leaders of the apostolic band. No one ever suspected him of treason.
In terms of experience, whatever you can say about James, Peter and John, you can say also about Judas. Everywhere they went, he also went. He was right there, always by the side of Jesus. He heard it all, saw it all, experienced it all. However you explain his defection, you cannot say he was less experienced than the other apostles.
It is now A.D. 65. Thirty years and more have passed since the crucifixion of Jesus. Matthew sits down to write his gospel. When he comes to list the names of the apostles, he begins "Peter, James, John" and then the others. Judas is last, always. But never just "Judas" but "Judas who betrayed him." When Mark writes his gospel it is the same: "Judas who betrayed him." When Luke writes his gospel, it is the same: "Judas who betrayed him." Then 30 years after that, John—by now in his 80s or 90s—writes his gospel. He called him "Judas who was later to betray him."
They never got over what happened. The passage of time did not dim the enormity of his crime. It was as heinous to them in their old age as it had been when they were young.
When you get right down to it, Judas should have been a better man or a worse man. If he had been better, he would not have done such an evil thing. If he had been worse, he would not have felt such remorse. As it was, he was bad enough to do the deed and good enough to be unable to bear the guilt of it.
What would it take for you to sell out the Son of God?
Would you betray him for money?
Would you betray him for a better job?
Would you betray him to keep the job you have?
Would you betray him to save your own skin?
Would you betray him because he didn't live up to your expectations?
Would you betray him because you thought he let you down?
Would you betray him if you thought you could win the favor of important people?
These are searching questions that may be easier to ask than to answer. I ask you not to take them lightly. The one main lesson from Judas' life is lost unless we at least ask ourselves the questions.
My Lord, I pray for a faith so real and so deep that it cannot be bought or sold for any price. Amen.

Bickering at the Last Summer

Dr. Ray Pritchard

“Then a dispute also arose among them about who should be considered the greatest” (Luke 22:24).
This may be the strangest episode of all.
It’s not that the disciples were bickering. That happens all the time. Get a group of people together—any group of men or women—and soon they will start jockeying for position. We live in a dog-eat-dog world. You’ve got to look out for number one, climb to the top of the heap, and don’t look back because someone might be gaining on you.
Somewhere I picked up a cartoon that shows a man driving in his car on the expressway. The caption reads, “At 20, I couldn’t wait to get on the road. At 30, I learned how to go from 0 to 60 in eight seconds. At 40 I found that I’d been holding the map upside down and at 50, I discovered I had the wrong map altogether.”
That’s the story of an entire generation. My generation. The Baby Boomers. We were told, “Get up early, work hard, climb to the top, step on people if you have to, look out for number one, do it now.” Then when we got going about 150 miles an hour, we found out, to our utter dismay, the map was upside down. What we were looking for was in exactly the opposite direction.
So here are the disciples, gathered with the Lord in the Upper Room. In just a few hours, Jesus will be denied, betrayed, tried, beaten, scourged, humiliated, and then crucified. What do the disciples do? They start arguing about who among them is the greatest. But that’s not the worst of it.
This argument about “Who’s the greatest?” breaks out after Jesus shares the bread and the cup with his men. That’s almost unbelievable.
Or maybe not.
Holy moments don't last forever. Soon enough the flesh rears its ugly head. We do the same thing when we leave a worship service deeply moved by a sense of God’s presence and then get into an argument in the car on the way home. As James 3:9-10 reminds us, with the same tongue we bless God and we curse others. How quickly we turn from holiness to bitterness, from gentleness to contention. We pray and recite our memory verses, then we wound those we love most with unkind words.
Rather than indict the apostles, I simply observe how human they are. After sharing in the sacred emblems of the body and blood of Jesus, they begin to bicker about who is the greatest among them.
J. C. Ryle has an apt word about this sad state of affairs:

At this very season, the last quiet time they could spend with their Master before His death, this little flock begins a dispute, as to who should be the greatest! Such is the heart of man, ever weak, ever deceitful, ever ready, even at its best times, to turn aside to what is evil.   

He goes on to note that thousands who consider themselves humble cannot bear to see another promoted ahead of them. We should instead remember what John the Baptist said about his influence compared to Jesus’ influence: “He must increase, and I must decrease” (John 3:30).
If we truly want to be like Jesus, then we will take his words to heart: “I am among you as one who serves” (Luke 22:27). Rather than rebuke them for their selfish ambition, he calls them to a higher standard.
When I read this story, I remember the words of that old spiritual:
“It’s me, it’s me, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer
Not my brother, not my sister, but it’s me, O Lord,
Standing in the need of prayer.”
Lord Jesus, when I am tempted to claim a higher place, remind me that you weren’t ashamed to become a servant and wash my dirty feet. Amen.

The Other Judas

Dr. Ray Pritchard

“Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, ‘Lord, how is it You’re going to reveal Yourself to us and not to the world?’” (John 14:22)
Talk about a tough break.
Judah was the name of one of the sons of Jacob in the Old Testament. He became the founder of the tribe of Judah, from which the Messiah (Christ) would be born. In Jewish circles, Judah was a very good name. That’s why lots of parents in the first century named their sons Judah.
But there’s a catch. The name Judah is pronounced Judas in Greek.
Did you know there were two apostles named Judas? We know about Judas Iscariot who betrayed the Lord. But there was another Judas in the apostolic band. In Acts 1:13 he is called Judas the son of James. But when John wrote his gospel, he simply called him “Judas (not Iscariot).”
That’s what I mean by a tough break.
You followed Jesus for 3 ½ years, you walked the dusty roads of Galilee and Judea, you saw the miracles and heard the teaching. You were there the religious leaders accused Jesus of being in league with the devil. When so many others left, you stayed with the Lord because you believed in him. You were in the crowd during that midnight melee on the Mount of Olives when the bad Judas betrayed the Lord. You didn’t betray Jesus with a kiss. It was the other guy.
Now you’re stuck with a good name dragged into the mud by the treacherous act of the only Judas most of us know about. But that’s not fair because the “other Judas” was a righteous man who never betrayed Jesus. History suggests that in later years he took the gospel into the region of Mesopotamia.  
John 14:22 gives us the only recorded words of the other Judas: “Lord, how is it you’re going to reveal Yourself to us and not to the world?” When Christ was on the earth, the only way to know him was in person. But when he left, he sent the Holy Spirit to indwell each believer.
We are not orphans.
Jesus did not leave us alone.
Here is a wonderful promise. You can know the Lord, and he can be at home in your heart every single day. The heart has a living room, a dining room, a bedroom, a kitchen, a computer room, a TV room, many closets, and an attic. Too many believers keep Christ in the entryway, as if to say, “Jesus, I’ve got you in the door. Now stay there and don’t bother the rest of my life.” But the Lord wants to enter every room. He wants to enter your kitchen, your bedroom, your library, your TV room, your computer room, and he wants access to every closet and even to the “attic” of your heart. As long as you keep the doors locked, he can never be “at home” in your heart. And you will never be happy as a Christian.
The question is not, “How much of the Lord do I have?” but rather, “How much of me does the Lord have?” Until Christ is at home in your heart, he will always seem like a stranger to you even though he lives in you.
He’s not just watching me; he’s with me.
He’s not just with me; he’s in me.
He’s not just a visitor; he’s at home in my heart.
This is a wonderful truth, and we have the “other Judas” to thank for asking the question in the first place.
O Christ, come in and make yourself at home in my heart today. Amen.

Are Christians Biased?

J. Warner Wallace

Christians are often accused of being “biased” simply because we believe in the supernatural. This accusation has power in our current pluralistic culture. Biased people are seen as prejudicial and unfair, arrogant and overly confident of their position. Nobody wants to be identified as someone who is biased or opinionated. But make no mistake about it, all of us have a point of view; all of us hold opinions and ideas that color the way we see the world. Anyone who tells you that he (or she) is completely objective and devoid of presuppositions has another more important problem: that person is either astonishingly naive or a liar.
The question is not whether or not we have ideas, opinions, or preexisting points of view; the question is whether or not we will allow these perspectives to prevent us from examining the evidence objectively. It’s possible to have a prior opinion yet leave this presupposition at the door in order to examine the evidence fairly. We ask jurors to do this all the time. In the state of California, jurors are repeatedly instructed to “keep an open mind throughout the trial” and not to “let bias, sympathy, prejudice, or public opinion influence your decision.” The courts assume that people have biases, hold sympathies and prejudices, and are aware of public opinion. In spite of this, jurors are required to “keep an open mind.” Jurors have to enter the courtroom with empty hands; they must leave all their baggage in the hall. Everyone begins with a collection of biases. We must (to the best of our ability) resist the temptation to allow our biases to eliminate certain forms of evidence (and therefore certain conclusions) before we even begin the investigation.
As a skeptic, I was slow to accept even the slightest possibility that miracles were possible. My commitment to naturalism prevented me from considering such nonsense. But after learning about the dangers of presuppositions at crime scenes, I decided that I needed to be fair with my naturalistic inclinations. I couldn’t begin with my conclusion, and if the evidence pointed to the reasonable existence of God, this certainly opened up the possibility of the miraculous. If God did exist, He was the creator of everything we see in the universe. He, therefore, created matter from nonmatter, life from nonlife; He created all time and space. God’s creation of the universe would certainly be nothing short of… miraculous. If there was a God who could account for the beginning of the universe, lesser miracles (say, walking on water or healing the blind) might not even be all that impressive. If I was going to learn the truth about the existence of a miraculous God, I needed to at least lay down my presuppositions about the miraculous. My experience at crime scenes has helped me to do just that. This doesn’t mean that I now rush to “supernatural” explanations every time I fail to find an easy or quick “natural” explanation. It simply means that I am open to following the evidence wherever it leads, even if it points to the existence of a miraculous designer. The evidence does point to the existence of such a miraculous Being. We just have to be fair and unbiased to recognize the strength of the case.
I didn’t become a Christian because I had a prior bias in favor of Christianity. In fact, I had a bias against Christianity. As I said in my scene in GOD’S NOT DEAD 2, “I’m not a Christian today because I was raised that way or because it satisfies some need or accomplishes some goal. I’m simply a Christian because it’s evidentially true.” This article is an excerpt from my book, Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels. For more information, please refer to Chapter 1: “Don’t Be A Know It All.”

Investigating Easter: Did The Disciples Lie About the Resurrection?

J. Warner Wallace

Did Jesus really rise from the grave on Easter Sunday? Is the Resurrection of Jesus a fabrication created by the disciples in an effort to start a world religion or accomplish some other nefarious goal? Some skeptics claim the disciples stole the body of Jesus from the grave and later fabricated the stories of Jesus’s resurrection appearances. While this explanation may account for the empty tomb and the resurrection observations (as lies), it fails to account for the transformed lives of the apostles.
In my years working robberies, I had the opportunity to investigate (and break) a number of conspiracy efforts, and I learned about the nature of successful conspiracies. I’ve written about this extensively at ColdCaseChristianity.com. Based on my experience, I am hesitant to embrace any theory that requires the conspiratorial effort of a large number of people, over a significant period of time, when there is personally little or nothing to gain by their effort. This skeptical apostolic conspiracy theory requires us to believe that the apostles were transformed and emboldened not by the miraculous appearance of the resurrected Jesus but by elaborate lies created without any benefit to those who were perpetuating the hoax. In addition to this concern from the perspective of a detective, there are other concerns that have to be considered when evaluating the claim that the disciples lied about the resurrection:

1. The Jewish authorities took many precautions to make sure the tomb was guarded and sealed, knowing that the removal of the body would allow the disciples to claim that Jesus had risen (Matt. 27:62–66).

2. The people local to the event would have known it was a lie (remember that Paul told the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 15:3–8 that there were still five hundred people who could testify to having seen Jesus alive after His resurrection).

3. The disciples lacked the motive to create such a lie.

4. The disciples’ transformation following the alleged resurrection is inconsistent with the claim that the appearances were only a lie. How could their own lies transform them into courageous evangelists?

There are many good evidential reasons to reject the notion that the disciples lied about the Resurrection of Jesus. The best explanation for the empty tomb, the observations of the disciples, and the transformed lives of the apostles is simply the fact that Jesus rose from the dead, just as the Biblical account records. We’ll be examining all the alternative explanations for the Resurrection over the next few weeks. These articles are excerpted from my book, Cold-Case Christianity. For more information, refer to Chapter 2: Learn How to Infer. You can also purchase a brief Easter “tract” outlining this entire investigative series (perfect for giving to those seeking the truth about Easter) entitled, ALIVE.
J. Warner Wallace is a Cold-Case Detective, a Christian Case Maker, and the author of Cold-Case Christianity and God’s Crime Scene. He appears in God’s Not Dead 2 as an expert witness.

When Did Satan Enter Judas?

Dr. Ray Pritchard

“Jesus replied, ‘Did I not choose you twelve—and one of you has the devil in his heart?’” (John 6:70 Phillips).
Jesus always knew the truth about Judas.
We know that because Jesus told his disciples in John 6 that one of them was “a devil” or “the devil” or as J. B. Phillips renders it, has “the devil in his heart.” Two things are noteworthy about that revelation. First, it takes place six months before the cross, and second, when he says it, the other apostles have no idea he’s talking about Judas.
We don’t know everything we would like to know about Judas and his motives. We don’t know if he signed up with bad intentions. Or did he become disillusioned along the way? Did he expect Jesus to overthrow Rome and liberate the Jews? We don’t have to assume that Judas signed up with the intention of betraying Jesus. We only know that he never truly believed in Jesus the way the others did, and yet he managed to hide his true feelings for all those long weeks and months and years the apostles spent together.
On two separate occasions we read that Satan “entered” Judas. Luke 22:3 says that Satan entered Judas just before he approached the chief priests to offer to betray Jesus. John 13:27 says that Satan entered Judas just after he took the bread at the Last Supper and just before he left to lead the chief priests to find Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.
What can we conclude from this? First, his heart was never right. He never truly believed. Whatever his original motives for following Jesus, his heart grew hard and dark and cold. Second, his unbelief made him a prime target for Satan. Unbelief opens the door to all manner of sin. First we question, then we doubt, then we choose not to believe, and then we find ourselves falling into deep sin. I heard Chuck Swindoll quote these words:
“Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.”
On the day Judas signed up, he would have bristled at the suggestion that one day he would betray Jesus with a kiss. But that’s where he ended up, which makes his story all the more tragic.
It didn’t have to end that way. It never does.
Satan could not “enter” him unless Judas had left the door wide open. His anger, his greed, and his disillusionment all conspired to make him an easy target for the devil. It’s not like Satan is omnipotent. He’s not. He’s more like a burglar prowling through a neighborhood, trying one door after another until he finds one that the owner forgot to lock. Why break in the back door when you can stroll in through the front door?
I started by asking the question, When did Satan enter Judas? Certainly the devil entered him twice near the end to provoke him to betray the Lord. But in a deeper sense, Satan had his man all along.
Judas was the easiest target he ever had.
We should all take a solemn lesson from Judas. Don’t leave the door open for Satan to enter your heart. Please don’t say it could never happen to you. We all say that just before we fall.
Search me and try me, O Lord. Set my heart aflame with true love for you. I pray for your Spirit to burn away the smallest traces of unbelief. Amen.

When a Good Man Falls

Dr. Ray Pritchard

“Even if they all fall away, I will not!” (Mark 14:29).
Peter meant every word.
He really believed it.
That’s where we have to begin.
It’s easy to make him look bad because we know how this story ends, but give Peter his due. He really meant what he said.
He was boasting . . .
He was overly-optimistic about himself . . .
He was too dismissive of the other disciples . . .
He had no sense of the danger he was in . . .
That’s all very true.
But that’s not where we start. Say what you want about Peter (and there’s a lot to be said), but he was no coward. When trouble came, Peter’s first instinct was to run toward the battle and not away from it. Yes, his big mouth got him in trouble, but he’s also the only guy with the courage to get out of the boat. That’s why we don’t talk about “Bartholomew walking on water.” Only Peter was willing to risk it all.
How, then, should we understand his boastful words?
If you had asked Peter six hours earlier to name his strong points, no doubt he would have listed boldness and courage right at the top. He would have said, “Sometimes I put my foot in my mouth, but at least I’m not afraid to speak up. Jesus knows I’ll always be there when he needs me.”
But when Satan attacked, it came so suddenly, so swiftly, so unexpectedly that the “bold apostle turned to butter.” By himself Peter is helpless. In the moment of crisis, Peter failed at the very point where he pledged to be eternally faithful.
Should this surprise us? After all, why should Satan attack only at the point of your self-perceived weakness? If you know you have a weakness, that’s the very area you will guard most carefully. If you know you have a problem with anger or with laziness or with lust or with gluttony, will you not be on your guard lest you fall?
But it is not so with your strengths. You tend to take those areas for granted. You say, “That’s not a problem for me. I have other problems, but that area is not really a temptation at all.”
Watch out! Put up the red flag! There is danger ahead. When a person takes any area of life for granted, that’s the one area Satan is most likely to attack.
It happened to Peter. It will happen to you and to me sooner or later.
Never again would Peter brag on himself like he did that night. Never again would he presume to be better than his brothers. Never again would he be so cocky and self-confident. All that was gone forever, part of the price Peter paid for his failure in the moment of crisis.
It is a good thing the Lord allows this to happen to us. By falling flat on our faces we are forced to admit that without the Lord we can do nothing but fail. The quicker we learn that (and we never learn it completely), the better off we will be. Failure never seems to be a good thing when it happens, but if failure strips away our cocky self-confidence, then failure is ultimately a gift from God.
For Peter, the worst and the best is yet to come. For today, let’s remind ourselves not to boast. You’re not as strong as you think you are, and neither am I. Peter was a good man who thought too highly of himself, and under pressure he denied the Lord.
Don’t let that happen to you.
Lord Jesus, when I tempted to boast, remind me again of how weak I am. Without you I can do nothing. Amen.  
You can reach the author at ray@keepbelieving.com. Click here to sign up for the free email sermon.

Let God Have You

by Max Lucado How long has it been since you let God have you? I mean really have you? How long since you gave him a portion of undiluted, uninterrupted time listening for his voice? Apparently, Jesus did. He made a deliberate effort to spend time with God. Spend much time reading about the listening life of Jesus and a distinct pattern emerges. He spent regular time with God, praying and listening. Mark 1:35 says, “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” Luke tells us, “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” Let me ask the obvious. If Jesus, the Son of God, the sinless Savior of humankind, thought it worthwhile to clear his calendar to pray, wouldn’t we be wise to do the same?

Was He Really a Doubting Thomas?

Greg Laurie

Thomas, one of Jesus' disciples, had the nickname Doubting Thomas, but I think that is a bit unfair. I have always thought of Thomas as more of a skeptic than a doubter. After all, Thomas did not ask for a special revelation from Jesus. He simply asked for the same proof the other disciples had (see John 20:25). Thomas was the kind of guy who wanted to know for himself. He was his own man. He would not let others do his thinking for him.

What did Jesus do with such a man? He made a special resurrection appearance for him. He condescended to Thomas and his desire to know for himself. What amazes me about this is that Jesus came to Thomas on his level. He didn't rebuke him. He didn't humiliate him. He could see that deep down in Thomas's heart, he really wanted to know God. Jesus came to him and said, "Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing" (John 20:27).

I like Thomas, because by nature I, too, am a skeptical person. I have never been one to believe something just because someone says it is true.

You might be someone who is a bit skeptical, a bit unsure of your faith. You may have a lot of questions. Deep down inside, you want to know God. You want to know for yourself. The risen Lord has something for you. He can turn your skepticism into belief.

Just come to Him with your questions. Come to Him with your doubts. You, too, will be able to say, "My Lord and my God!"

Taken from "New Knowledge for the Skeptic" by Harvest Ministries (used by permission).

A Servant, not a Superstar - 03/01/16

by Chuck Swindoll

Matthew 11:28-30

"I like that, Dad." I remember those words. It's like they were said to me yesterday.

Actually, they take me all the way back to the late 1970s. In '71, Cynthia and I moved our family (four children, ages 1 through 10) from a sleepy, casual bedroom community outside Dallas, Texas, to rapidly growing Orange County in Southern California. Almost before we knew it, we had entered the fast-lane life of the West Coast, doing our best to keep up. As time passed, we found ourselves doing double-time driving freeways, leading an expanding church with a multi-person staff, hauling busy kids to and from school, mixed with holidays and birthday celebrations, sleepovers, and endless ball games. My publishing world had suddenly exploded, which resulted in too many trips around the country and not enough down time to rest my spirit and calm my nerves and be with those I loved the most.

Mother's Day was fast approaching, so my older son and I dropped into the local Hallmark store to find a nice card for Cynthia. As I thumbed through numerous Mother's Day cards, he wandered back to the section where the posters were displayed. Before long he asked me to join him. He was standing before a large poster portraying a serene scene. A well-worn fishing boat was out on a lake. It was early dawn, with the sun peeking over the horizon. Its warm rays reached across a deep blue-gray sky wrapped in lacy white clouds. Two thin lines were in the water—one hanging from a pole held by a father, sitting in the back by a little outboard motor, and the other held by his son, sitting at the other end. Their corks made gentle ripples on the water's glassy surface. You could feel the closeness. You could hear the easygoing conversation as father and son savored the morning together.

Two simple words appeared at the bottom of the poster. They stung as I read them:

TAKE TIME.

"I like that, Dad," said Curt. I reached an arm around the broadening shoulders of my growing-up teenaged son, looked at him, and then looked again at the poster. "I do, too, son . . . I do, too." He didn't want to buy it. I realized he simply wanted me to see it. To think about it. I did. In fact, it was a needed wake-up call to this too-busy dad, whose son had hurriedly come into the store looking for something to buy for his mother, but who left slowly, far more concerned about his dad.

How easy it is for you and me to get caught up in a "hurry-worry sindrome," doing too much, driving too fast, eating too quickly, juggling too many things. It all seems ultra-important at the moment—but later we realize much was done at the expense of cultivating deeper and more meaningful relationships with those we love the most. Being held hostage by the tyranny of the urgent is not how we were meant to live.

Knowing how prone we are to this, Jesus offered a very sincere and gracious invitation. You may have read it before . . . but this time, linger over it. Turn the words over in your mind; let them seep in.

"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." (Matthew 11:28–30)

I suggest you accept Jesus's invitation—today. Come to Him. Tell Him how weary and over-burdened you are. Pull that heavy backpack loaded with all your stuff off your shoulders and drop it at His feet. Do it now. Then enter into His rest. Relax for a change—take an extra several minutes to enjoy His presence . . . embrace His peace. Before you turn in tonight, curl up alongside those who mean the most to you and tell them how much you love them, how valuable they are to you.

TAKE TIME.

Copyright © 2006 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.

A Servant, not a Superstar

by Charles R. Swindoll

Matthew 11:28–29

A familiar essay anonymously written many years ago says this about Jesus Christ:

Nineteen long centuries have come and gone and today he is the centerpiece of the human race and the leader of the column of progress. I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever were built; all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that one solitary life.

Impressive words regarding the most phenomenal Person who ever cast a shadow across earth's landscape. Without question, He is unique. He is awesome in the truest sense of the term.

But what was He like personally down inside His skin? Is there any place in Scripture, for example, where He described Himself? The answer is yes. Does that description fit the common idea of human greatness? The answer is no.

I remember my surprise some years back when I received a slick, multicolored brochure in my morning mail announcing a series of lectures to be delivered in Los Angeles by a man who was a well-known Christian "superstar" of the day. He was a popular speaker who traveled all over the country, and his name is still familiar to most folks in the family of God. But I confess, I lifted my eyebrows in astonishment when I read the words used to describe him in that advertisement:

A phenomenal individual . . .

In great demand around the world . . .

Today's most sought-after speaker!

That's a far cry from the way Jesus Christ described Himself:

"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." (Matthew 11:28–29)

Unlike most influential, celebrity types, Jesus's description of Himself doesn't sound like the popular hype we've grown accustomed to hearing. Jesus was a servant, not a superstar.

Adapted from Improving Your Serve: The Art of Unselfish Living, Copyright © 1981 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc.