Pastor Norman

Jesus said to His disciples, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees” (Matt 16:6; NKJV). The disciples concluded that Jesus wasn’t happy with them for not bringing any bread with them on their journey (Matt 16:7). Jesus reminded them of the miracle of feeding the four thousand as if to say, “hey guys providing bread is no challenge for Me, what I was saying was watch out for the leaven or yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees, their negative legalistic and harmful false doctrine” (Matt 16:1-12). In a cursory reading of our Bible, we too can miss the point. In school I had Bible classes; but the Bible was largely a mystery to me. The greatest mystery (1 Tim 3:16) we need to see is Jesus Christ, His life on earth, sacrifice, resurrection and victory over all the powers of darkness. This is the gospel of Jesus Christ. (See the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). Through His sacrifice and resurrection Jesus won forgiveness for us (Col 1:14), enabling us to be born again spiritually (salvation, John 3:1-7) and enter into fellowship with God (John 14:6). At salvation we asked Jesus to be Lord of our lives (Rom 10:9-10) and He came into our lives as the Holy Spirit (2 Cor 1:22). As we prayerfully study God’s word the Holy Spirit opens up the Bible to us giving us revelation and understanding (John 16:12-15). God’s word comes alive to us, changing us to be more like Jesus (1 Cor 3:18).