Joe Barnett

Rise, let us go! —Matthew 26:46 Crushed with anguish over what he was facing, Jesus stumbled deeper into Gethsemane to pray. “Stay here and keep watch with me,” he implored his three best friends. And three disappointing times he came back to find them sleeping instead of watching. Emotions of sorrow and shame must have […]

What she has done will also be told, in memory of her.                                        —Matthew 26:13 You know the game. Someone says a word. You respond with the first thing that comes to mind when you hear that

Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.                      —Matthew 25:40 In the final judgment Jesus will say to some, I was hungry, thirsty, a stranger, naked, sick, imprisoned—and you fed me, befriended me, clothed me, cared

I was hungry and you gave me something to eat.                                       —Matthew 25:35 Abdullah II became king of Jordan in 1999. He occasionally prowled the country in disguise, popping into government offices and hospitals to see how

To one he gave five talents … to another two … to another one … each according to his ability.                             —Matthew 25:15 Do you look at others—whose successes you see and whose failures you don’t—and compare your accomplishments to theirs? Don’t.

You do not know on what day your Lord will come.                                 —Matthew 24:42 “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father …  So you must be

Many are invited, but few are chosen.                    —Matthew 22:14 God singled out Moses and saddled him with a heavy mission: “I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt” (Exo. 3:10). God singled out Saul and saddled him with a

The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.     —Matthew 20:28 If you need a mission-statement, you can do no better than adapt and adopt Jesus’ words. Put it down this way: I am not in this world to be served; I am in this world to serve. Today

Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin.                  —Matthew 18:7 St. Bernard of Clairvaux resolved that his actions must pass three tests: First, is it lawful? Can I do it and not sin? Second, is it becoming in me as a Christian?

I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.                       —Matthew 16:18 The church is God-built and God-sustained. Therefore it will not fail. Some fret that its preachers and teachers have gone mushy, that they don’t stand for anything. Even