Joe Barnett

If anyone would come after me, he must . . . follow me.       —Mark 8:34c Are you going to church on Sundays? Singing the songs? Praying the prayers? Giving the gifts? Is that what Jesus meant when he said if you would be his disciple you must follow him? There’s more to […]

If anyone would come after me, he must . . . take up his cross.        —Mark 8:34b Are you dealing with a cantankerous spouse? An out-of-control teenager? A co-worker you can’t stand? An out-of-warranty bucket of bolts that refuses to start on cold mornings? “That’s my cross to bear,” you sigh. Is

If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself.    —Mark 8:34a Have you cut back on the Oreos? Trimmed the hours vegetating in front of TV? Is that what Jesus meant when he said if you would be his disciple you must deny yourself? No. He meant you must surrender ownership of yourself

I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!      —Mark 9:24 Dwight Moody asserted there are three kinds of faith: struggling faith, clinging faith, and resting faith. Struggling faith is when we’re in deep water, struggling to keep from drowning. Clinging faith is when we’re clinging to the side of the boat. Resting faith

Neither height nor depth, nor anything else . . . will be able to separate us from the love of God.                          —Romans 8:39 George Matheson was fifteen when he was told he was going blind. By the time he finished university studies, he

Happy Mother’s Day this Sunday Do not forsake your mother’s teaching.                     —Proverbs 6:20 Your mother was there: when you gulped your first breath, when you shrieked your first cry, when you gurgled your first giggle, when you lisped your first word, when you took your

Some women were watching from a distance.                           —Mark 15:40 A cadre of devoted women was present when Jesus died: “Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. In Galilee these women had followed

Do not worry about tomorrow.            —Matthew 6:34 “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” (Mt 6:27). Of course not. What does worry accomplish? Nothing. Well, that’s not quite right. There are a few things that worry can do for you: It can sap

Jesus reached out his hand.      —Matthew 14:31 Hearing that Peter’s mother-in-law was ill, Jesus went to her, “took her hand and helped her up” (Mk 1:31). Hearing that Jairus’s twelve-year-old daughter had died, Jesus went to their home, “took her by the hand” and told her to get up (Mk 5:41). Hearing that

Don’t you remember?      —Mark 8:18 Thirteen hungry men and one loaf of bread! That’s all they had—and they thought Jesus was on their case. He was. Not because they had short rations, but because they had short memories. They had recently witnessed his two miraculous feedings of multitudes. “Don’t you remember?” he asked.