Reflective Bible Study

As Jesus continues His famous Sermon on the Mount that we find in Matthew’s gospel, He comes to one of the most challenging parts of His message. In our passage for this episode, Jesus elevates what we might believe the standard of the law is to be significantly higher.

In essence, Jesus takes God’s law and Moses’ law and reframes these two laws to be a much higher standard than what we might believe, and if someone believes they have fulfilled the law as written, it would be a great stretch to believe they have fulfilled the law as Jesus describes it in this passage.

Let’s read what Jesus describes, and unpack the big truth it teaches. The portion of Jesus’ sermon we will focus on is found in Matthew, chapter 5, and we will read it from the New International Version. Starting in verse 21, Jesus continued preaching, saying:

²¹ “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ ²² But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.

²³ “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, ²⁴ leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.

²⁵ “Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. ²⁶ Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.

²⁷ “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ ²⁸ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. ²⁹ If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. ³⁰ And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

³¹ “It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ ³² But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

³³ “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ ³⁴ But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; ³⁵ or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. ³⁶ And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. ³⁷ All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

In this passage, Jesus takes what we might consider to be the standard of the law, and He elevates it. Where we might think of committing murder or cursing someone as being subject to being judged, Jesus tells us that being angry with someone, or calling someone a fool is actually much closer to the line of breaking the law.

Jesus challenges us that we should be right with others first before we will be right with God. He challenges us in this way when He tells those present to leave their gift at the altar and go reconcile a relationship before offering our gifts to God. In this way, our relationships with one another become a reflection of our relationship with God.

We are also challenged to get along with others and to live uprightly. If we have a disagreement with someone, we should work to make things right, and we should do this before the issue becomes an issue in the court system. When a matter comes before a court, we give up control to a third party, and this third party might find us guilty when we believe we are innocent.

Jesus tells us that the standard for adultery isn’t the act of adultery, but the thoughts and the lust that precedes the action. Jesus doesn’t minimize the sin in the act of adultery; He challenges us with the truth that lustful thoughts are equally bad.

In one of the more challenging parts of Jesus’ message, He challenges us with the idea that it is better to physically cut a part of our body away than to let that part of our body sin and cost us our salvation. While some people don’t think Jesus meant what He says here, I wonder if we truly took this teaching to heart whether we would be so lenient towards sin. Jesus challenges us to purge sin from our lives, because sin in our lives has the power to cause us to lose our salvation!

Also in this passage, Jesus elevates the status of marriage to being a life-long, through-thick-and-thin commitment. Jesus describes in this message that adultery is the only spiritually valid reason for divorce. While I don’t know if Jesus would exclude other abuses for being valid reasons for divorce, I know at least in my own mind, I would consider any form of abuse as grounds for divorce. I also know and recommend that avoiding marriage is better if there is any doubt about a potential spouse in a person’s mind. Another place in the gospels describes Jesus telling His followers that it is better that they don’t marry if they cannot accept Jesus’ teaching on marriage.

The last challenge in this portion of Jesus’ sermon elevates the significance of our word vs. making oaths. In an interesting comparison, Jesus challenges us to keep our word, regardless of how it was said. When we live to the standard we speak, then there is no reason to swear oaths, or to make vows. We should live to the standard of our words and our agreements, and not distinguish between promises that can be broken vs. promises that must be kept.

This entire section of teaching is very challenging because it elevates the law to a much higher standard than simply the letter of the law, and this makes God’s law virtually impossible to keep 100%. However, if you remember in our last episode, where we focused on a statement Jesus makes right before this, you’ll remember that Jesus tells those present that He came to fulfill the law. We break the law Jesus describes in this passage, but He came so that we can have salvation when we turn away from our sin.

Breaking the law condemns us to death, and Jesus offers to take the death we deserve and give us the life He deserved. We shouldn’t continue to sin, but we should resolve to turn away from our sins as a way to say Thank You to Jesus for the gift He purchased for us on the cross!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first and place Him first in your life. Accept Jesus and the gift He offers to us and resolve to thank Jesus for His gift by turning away from sin.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself. While pastors, speakers, authors, or even podcasters can give you things to think about, take what you learn and filter it through what God teaches you through His Word. God is interested in a personal relationship with you and personal prayer and study is how to grow a personal relationship with God.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

During the week that leads up to the cross, the gospel of Matthew shares a powerful, challenging parable that is just as applicable for our lives today as it was for those living in the first century. In this parable, we discover two key details that are worth paying attention to, and both these details are necessary for our salvation. While modern Christian culture focuses a lot of attention on one of these details, we find out that only having one detail in place may actually be worse than having neither detail.

Let’s read this parable and unpack some big themes we can learn from it. Our passage is found in the gospel of Matthew, chapter 22, and we will be reading from the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 1, Matthew tells us that:

¹ Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: ² “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. ³ He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

⁴ “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’

⁵ “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. ⁶ The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. ⁷ The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

⁸ “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. ⁹ So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ ¹⁰ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

It is at this point in the parable where Jesus could have stopped. When thinking about salvation, the great news for each of us is that all we need to do is accept God’s invitation and we are all set. When those who the king originally invited rejected his invitation, the way opened for anyone and everyone, regardless of their past, to be invited. Jesus describes the wedding hall being filled with both good and bad people.

But Jesus didn’t stop the parable here. After the wedding hall was filled with guests, Matthew continues Jesus’ parable in verse 11:

¹¹ “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. ¹² He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.

¹³ “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

¹⁴ “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

What begins as an amazing parable about inclusiveness and being invited ends with someone being thrown out. Jesus’ concluding words are also challenging to think about: “Many are invited, but few are chosen.”

All too often, we’d rather focus entirely on the first portion of the parable: the portion focused on inviting the many, and we don’t like thinking about the disturbing way Jesus ended this message.

However, let’s look at the details of this scene, with what is said and what is not said to discover something amazing about God, who is represented in this parable as the king.

Early on in the parable, when those who were originally invited reject their invitation, the king has a problem. The king has a feast ready, and no guests to eat and celebrate with him. They had already killed and prepared the food and if too much time passes, the food will spoil and the banquet feast would be a failure.

Since everything is ready, those the servants find in the streets and alleys don’t have time to go home and change to get ready for a banquet. If they did, they risk missing out because the food would have spoiled, or there would be no food left, or there wouldn’t be any space left. The invitation the servants share is one focused on simply coming because you have been invited.

However, this sounds great on the surface, but after inviting everyone they could find and when the wedding hall is full, the king arrives and throws someone out who wasn’t wearing wedding clothes. This sounds like a double-standard – except when we look at the unwritten implication that the wedding hall was full of people wearing wedding clothes.

Those who accepted the invitation didn’t have time to get changed into wedding clothes, and since the invitation was given to people of every background, some of those who were invited likely didn’t even own wedding clothes because they were too poor.

The only way this parable makes sense is if between the first and second portions, we conclude that when these last minute guests arrive, they are offered wedding clothes to change into. If everyone was offered wedding clothing in addition to the invitation, then the king has every right to challenge someone who is present but who isn’t wearing the second gift that was freely offered.

The person not wearing wedding clothes, because they chose to reject the king’s second gift, is thrown out of the banquet. This means that two things are important when we focus on what is needed for salvation.

The first is simple: We must accept the invitation that God freely offers to us. This invitation is made possible because Jesus died on the cross for sinful humanity, and because those who were first invited rejected their invitation. Accepting the invitation is as simple as praying a prayer to ask Jesus into your heart.

The second is a little more difficult: We must accept the gift of wedding clothes that God has offered to us. Clothing in this context symbolizes our character and our actions. We must be willing to remove our sinful character, habits, and lifestyle, and replace it with God’s perfect character, habits, and lifestyle. This sounds impossible to do, but it’s only impossible when we forget one tiny detail: God is the one giving this free gift.

Perfecting our lives on our own is impossible, but letting God change our lives and being willing to let Him change us makes the impossible become possible. Accepting God’s gift of clothing means that we choose to focus daily on growing closer to God and that we focus on becoming more like Him. When we focus on God and on Jesus, the Holy Spirit will begin changing our lives and our priorities, and we will be transformed by God into who He wants us to be. When the Holy Spirit transforms us, we will be fully clothed in wedding garments fit for the king’s wedding!

The only people who lose in this parable are those who reject God’s invitation, and those who reject the gift of wedding clothes that the king offered. The challenge for each of us is to accept these gifts in preparation for the wedding feast when Jesus returns to bring His people home.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

Always intentionally seek God first and be willing to accept His invitation and His gifts. God wants His people to be clothed in His character and to model His love to the world around us. God’s love was demonstrated best through Jesus, who pushed back at those who wanted to get between people and God, and who loved sinners enough to die on a cross to take their place. That is the love God modeled for us, and the love He calls us to model for others.

Also, be sure to always pray and study the Bible for yourself, in order to grow personally closer to God. Don’t take my word at face value for anything the Bible teaches. Instead, study it out for yourself because when you study the Bible for yourself, you will grow personally closer to God – and you will have the Holy Spirit as your teacher. The Holy Spirit is a way better teacher than me.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, or chicken out of where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we continue looking at Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount, we come to a set of three messages that progressively get more challenging. While we are more familiar with the first two messages in this set, the third one is very powerful and very challenging, especially in the New Testament Christian era as it has tried to separate itself from its Jewish roots.

Let’s continue reading Jesus’ message and be reminded of these three messages. Our passage is from Matthew, chapter 13, and we will read from the New International Version. Starting in verse 13, Jesus continues His sermon saying:

¹³ “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Let’s pause reading here briefly, because we have just finished the first two messages. Most people stop reading here and they separate the next message from these first two. However, I believe these ideas are connected if for no other reason that that Jesus shared them in this sequence.

In building up the sequence of messages, Jesus first tells us that we are to be salt in the earth. Salt in moderation seasons a dish nicely, and salt in abundance preserves what it is with. There is a middle area where there is too much salt for seasoning, but not enough for preservation, but I don’t think Jesus is emphasizing salt in this great of a detail. Instead, Jesus is first challenging us to affect the world around us, even if this effect is subtle and not clearly seen. If we stop affecting the world around us, then we will cease to be useful for what God has called us into the world for.

Next, Jesus describes His people as a light of the world. This is more challenging because while salt can be hidden and effective, light ceases to be useful if it is hidden. This means that the more we share and represent God, the greater our light will be and the more visible God may choose to make us. Jesus describes our light as our good deeds, but not us doing good seeking glory for ourselves. Jesus challenges us to “let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (v. 16)

Immediately following this, Jesus moves into the third message, which is perhaps the most challenging. Continuing in verse 17, Jesus tells the crowd:

¹⁷ “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. ¹⁸ For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. ¹⁹ Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. ²⁰ For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Some people might say that when Jesus died on the cross and when He was resurrected, this marked the completion referenced in this third message. They view the phrase that everything is accomplished means that everything needed for salvation through Jesus is accomplished, and because of this, now the Law is no longer relevant.

However, Jesus challenges this idea in at least three ways. First Jesus directly says that He did not “to abolish the Law or the Prophets”. Abolishing in this context means doing away with. Jesus didn’t come to do away with the Law. Instead, Jesus tells us He came to fulfill the law. Fulfilling is different. In a strange twist, Jesus came to live 100% obedient to the law because He knew we couldn’t. Just because Jesus lived 100% obedient to the law doesn’t mean that the law isn’t valid. This would be like saying that because my neighbor obeyed the speed limit on the road near our homes means that I can now break it.

Obeying a law does not abolish it.

The second way Jesus challenges this idea is by giving a time for when the law will be modified. Jesus tells those present “until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law”. When Jesus continues by saying until everything is accomplished, the context is that everything will be accomplished when heaven and earth disappear. This makes the Law and the Prophets just as relevant today as they were prior to the cross.

The third challenge to this idea is when Jesus emphasizes that the highest positions in the kingdom of heaven will go to those who practice and teach the commands of the Law and the Prophets. There will be those who are welcomed into the kingdom who have not done this, but that is because entrance into God’s kingdom isn’t about what we have done or what we can do. It’s about what has been done for us.

A bonus fourth challenge comes in Jesus’ final statement on this point. Jesus tells those present “unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” The Pharisees and the teachers of the law appeared to be the most righteous people in society at that time. While there was hypocrisy rampant in that spiritual culture, the bar was set even higher than a Pharisee who lived what he preached. Jesus sets the bar for entrance into God’s kingdom in an impossible to get position. This is the power of the Law. The Law stops us from gaining entrance into God’s kingdom, and it is what protects God’s future kingdom from the presence of sin.

Everything in this third challenge regarding Jesus fulfilling God’s law amplifies the relevance of the Law for Christians, and nothing Jesus says here suggests that the Law is any less relevant than it was prior to His arrival on earth. Instead, Jesus’ arrival marked the entrance of God making a way for us to experience God’s kingdom when we failed to live up to God’s standard.

Does Jesus’ death and resurrection make God’s standard no longer relevant? Some might think so, but others believe that this act validates God’s justice while also revealing His love.

All three of these messages challenge us as believers and Christians to be witnesses for Jesus. We are to be salt, we are to be light, and we are to be obedient champions of God’s law, holding up the law while also sharing that the law is the reason Jesus came to this planet!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first and place Him first in your life. Understand that Jesus came to earth not because God sent Him here to die, but because Jesus came to show us how much God loves us when we deserved death. Jesus did not deserve death, and nothing in Jesus’ life warranted facing the cross. Jesus chose this path to show us how much God loves us and just how valuable we are in His eyes!

Also, as I regularly challenge you to do, intentionally pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn and grow each and every day. Choose to spend time praying and studying to grow personally closer to God and to fall in love with Him like He has fallen in love with you. Discover in the pages of the Bible, a God who gives up everything for you and me!

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or give up on where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Continuing our journey into the week Jesus was crucified, we come to one of Jesus’ more challenging, controversial parables. While the parable isn’t all that challenging to us living today, at least on the surface, it spoke in a powerful way to those living in the first century who heard Jesus’ words in the temple.

Our passage is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 12, and we will read it from the Good News Translation. Starting in verse 1, Mark tells us that:

¹ Then Jesus spoke to them in parables: “Once there was a man who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a hole for the wine press, and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to tenants and left home on a trip. ² When the time came to gather the grapes, he sent a slave to the tenants to receive from them his share of the harvest. ³ The tenants grabbed the slave, beat him, and sent him back without a thing. ⁴ Then the owner sent another slave; the tenants beat him over the head and treated him shamefully. ⁵ The owner sent another slave, and they killed him; and they treated many others the same way, beating some and killing others. ⁶ The only one left to send was the man’s own dear son. Last of all, then, he sent his son to the tenants. ‘I am sure they will respect my son,’ he said. ⁷ But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the owner’s son. Come on, let’s kill him, and his property will be ours!’ ⁸ So they grabbed the son and killed him and threw his body out of the vineyard.

⁹ “What, then, will the owner of the vineyard do?” asked Jesus. “He will come and kill those tenants and turn the vineyard over to others. ¹⁰ Surely you have read this scripture?

‘The stone which the builders rejected as worthless
    turned out to be the most important of all.
¹¹ This was done by the Lord;
    what a wonderful sight it is!’”

¹² The Jewish leaders tried to arrest Jesus, because they knew that he had told this parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd, so they left him and went away.

This passage is powerful because without clearly saying so, Jesus clearly challenges the religious leaders about their leadership and their attitudes towards God. While some in the crowd listening to Jesus might miss the parallel in Jesus’ choice of describing a man building a vineyard, this detail would not have been missed by the religious leaders. While He could have described any type of farm, Jesus chose a vineyard because it referenced a key challenge towards Jerusalem and Israel in the book of Isaiah.

In Isaiah, chapter 5, we discover a powerful parallel:

¹ Listen while I sing you this song,
    a song of my friend and his vineyard:
My friend had a vineyard
    on a very fertile hill.
² He dug the soil and cleared it of stones;
    he planted the finest vines.
He built a tower to guard them,
    dug a pit for treading the grapes.
He waited for the grapes to ripen,
    but every grape was sour.

³ So now my friend says, “You people who live in Jerusalem and Judah, judge between my vineyard and me. ⁴ Is there anything I failed to do for it? Then why did it produce sour grapes and not the good grapes I expected?

⁵ “Here is what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge around it, break down the wall that protects it, and let wild animals eat it and trample it down. ⁶ I will let it be overgrown with weeds. I will not trim the vines or hoe the ground; instead, I will let briers and thorns cover it. I will even forbid the clouds to let rain fall on it.”

⁷ Israel is the vineyard of the Lord Almighty;
    the people of Judah are the vines he planted.
He expected them to do what was good,
    but instead they committed murder.
He expected them to do what was right,
    but their victims cried out for justice.

When we read about the religious leaders being upset about Jesus’ parable in our passage from Mark’s gospel, we clearly can see that they saw the connection with Isaiah’s passage. Isaiah’s passage leaves no room for interpretation.

This parable Jesus shared is found in the gospels of Matthew and Luke as well. In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus make’s His big climactic statement a question, which the people listening respond to Jesus’ question with Isaiah’s answer. In Luke’s gospel, the people respond with shock and a little disbelief.

Seeing this minor discrepancy might make one doubt the gospel record, but these subtle differences draw our attention to the big truth that there were people present who responded in both ways. In this crowd, there were people present who made the connection to Isaiah’s prophecy before Jesus had even finished the parable, and people who were shocked to learn that there would be an eventual end to the owner’s patience.

However, this parable and Isaiah’s message point us to an interesting conclusion: While the evil tenants in Jesus’ parable are killed and the vineyard is turned over to others, Isaiah’s message describes the vineyard illustration as being equally about God and His chosen people. Isaiah’s message challenges those present by saying in verses 3 and 4: “So now my friend says, ‘You people who live in Jerusalem and Judah, judge between my vineyard and me. Is there anything I failed to do for it? Then why did it produce sour grapes and not the good grapes I expected?’”

Isaiah’s passage draws our attention onto the big truth that God’s character is on trial. God gave His people every blessing and advantage He could imagine, and they still rejected Him. This then becomes a challenge to those who don’t believe in free will. While we might not understand every choice we make, and while not all choices are easy or even positive, we have been given the freedom of choice. If humanity didn’t have a choice, then God is ultimately to blame for the state of this world.

God describes how He did everything for His people, and they still rejected Him. We could transpose this idea onto the Garden of Eden, with Adam and Eve eating the fruit, or even earlier when Lucifer and the rest of the angels were created in Heaven.

When the angels were created in heaven, Lucifer included, everything was created perfectly. If Lucifer had been created in a way that bent him towards sin in any way, then he would not have been perfect, and his choice to hold God accountable for his own choice would be a valid argument. If Adam and Eve were created with the desire to sin, then God would be at fault.

However, just because God knows the future doesn’t mean those He creates don’t have the freedom of choice. In a similar way, just because you can re-watch a movie and the characters do the exact same things as the first times you watched doesn’t mean that the characters in the movie had no choice. In all cases, God created a perfect scenario with free will being given to those He created, and those He created chose to reject Him.

Jesus tells us in His parable that the vineyard would be given to others. However, just because this could symbolize the end of literal Israel being identified as God’s chosen people, we shouldn’t forget the big truth this parable teaches:

God gives everyone the freedom to choose Him or not. (This truth we find in Isaiah.)

And God is looking for a people who will return His portion of fruit to Him. While those in Israel may have rejected God, pushing God to look elsewhere, don’t think for a moment that means we are exempt from the same expectation. If we choose to not be fruitful towards God, we will face the same realization that the Jews did in Jesus’ time: God will seek out another group to focus on.

The challenge for us to remember is to be fruitful towards God, and to return His portion of what He has blessed us with.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

Always seek God first and be sure to thank Him for what He has blessed you with. Be sure to return to Him His portion of what He has ultimately blessed you with. Remember that without God giving you life, you would be nothing, and this means that everything you achieve is because He gave you opportunity.

Also, be sure to always pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow closer to God and to discover what He is really like. While a pastor or podcaster can give you things to think about, only through personal prayer and study can you discover this for yourself!

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another never give up on, abandon, or stop short of where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!