Mocking Words and Mock Trials

Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?” But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge. Matthew 27:13–14a If you started this devotional exactly two weeks before Easter Sunday, you would expect to be reading about the crucifixion

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Two Epic Failures

“This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’” Matthew 26:31 (quoting Zechariah 13:7) How would you like your worst mistake to be known to countless

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Praying in the Grove

“Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” Mark 14:36 Did you know that on the lower slopes of the Mount of Olives still stands an olive grove? Gethsemane (which means “oil

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Kentucky—It’s More Than a Meal

“This is truly life changing!” As a mission team leader, those are the words that you want to hear from travelers as they venture out on a mission trip, many for the first time. And it was no exception when FtH was blessed to take 45 people

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The Lamb before the Final Lamb

For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 1 Corinthians 11:26 It’s worth mentioning two other devotionals where I cover the Last Supper. In Digging Deeper, I discuss the fact that at the Passover meal—which is what

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The Primary Opposition

“My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations,” but you have made it “a den of robbers.” Mark 11:17 (quoting Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11) According to Mark, on the day after Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem via donkey, Jesus entered the courts of

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Psalm Sunday

“Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” Matthew 21:9b (quoting Psalm 118:25–26) The four Gospels all contain virtually the same account of Jesus’ “Triumphal Entry” into Jerusalem. As Jesus and His band

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Prophecies of New

“They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!” Matthew 20:18b–19 As much as prophets in the Old Testament foretold of the Messiah who was

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Prophecies of Old

He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53:5 The Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible—what we refer to as the Old Testament—was written over the span of

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Special Days in Spring

The LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘These are my appointed festivals, the appointed festivals of the LORD, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies.’” Leviticus 23:1–2 New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Presidents’ Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Memorial Day, and

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