Be Still and Know

Matthew 1.19 NLT "Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly." At the centre of the account of Jesus’ birth is a man about whom we know v...

Matthew 1.16-17 NLT "Mary gave birth to Jesus, who is called the Messiah. All those listed above include fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the Babylonian exile, and fourteen from the Babylonian exile to the M...

Matthew 1.1 & 16 NLT "This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham ... Joseph was the husband of Mary. Mary gave birth to Jesus, who is called the Messiah." If you were writing a book...

Psalm 81.10-11 NLT ”For it was I, the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it with good things. But no, my people wouldn’t listen. Israel did not want me around.” We probably all know the fe...

Psalm 80.19 NLT "Turn us again to yourself, O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies. Make your face shine down upon us. Only then will we be saved." We all know that look, when someone looks at us with their full attention and warmth. The look tells...

Psalm 78.2-4 NLT "I will teach you hidden lessons from our past — stories we have heard and known, stories our ancestors handed down to us. We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deed...

Matthew 14.29-30 NLT So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted. It was about three o’clock in t...

Matthew 14.23 NLT "After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone." Finally, at the end of an exhausting day, which had seen 5000 people miraculously fed, Jesus had time to be...

Matthew 14.17 NLT “But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish!” the disciples answered. Jesus had just ordered his disciples to feed the vast crowd. They were understandably overwhelmed by the challenge. How on earth were they goi...

Matthew 14.15-16 NLT That evening the disciples came to Jesus and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.” But Jesus said, “That isn’t nece...

Matthew 14.13-14 NLT 'As soon as Jesus heard the news, he left in a boat to a remote area to be alone. But the crowds heard where he was headed and followed on foot from many towns. Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he...

Matthew 13.54-55 NLT Jesus returned to Nazareth, his hometown. When he taught there in the synagogue, everyone was amazed and said, “Where does he get this wisdom and the power to do miracles?” Then they scoffed, “He’s just the carpenter’s so...

Matthew 13.52 NLT Then Jesus added, “Every teacher of religious law who becomes a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a homeowner who brings from his storeroom new gems of truth as well as old.” When I was nine or ten years old, one of ...

Matthew 13.45-46 NLT Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for choice pearls. When he discovered a pearl of great value, he sold everything he owned and bought it! In the ancient world pearls were prized as highly as ...

Matthew 13.31-32 NLT Here is another illustration Jesus used: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed planted in a field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of garden plants; it grows into a tree, and birds come...