helpful – Page 23 – Broken Believers

“He 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?”

Matthew 13:54, NLT

Chapter 13 of Matthew is your very own gold mine. There are veins of precious ore throughout these parables. They will give their riches to anyone humble enough to seek them. They each are concentrated truth–these parables are gold!

Parables are a fascinating way to impart teaching that requires a quiet and gentle heart. Not everyone will gain access to them. The truth in them will only touch the hungry heart, the real seeker. It’s like they are locked up, and the Holy Spirit has the combination, but He will gladly share it with the sincere heart.

At this point in Jesus’ ministry, He arrives in His hometown. He goes to the synagogue and begins to teach. (What an awesome time to be in the congregation.) Their teacher Jesus is absolutely astounding! They stand and watch Him; they are astonished and amazed. The text tells us that Jesus not only taught them, but He performed supernatural healings.

The people in Nazareth who were witnesses in such a direct way, begin to draw false conclusions about Jesus. They can’t deal with His youth and can’t believe what He has come from God–as their Messiah.

However the general consensus was profound; “everyone” was in agreement with what they had just witnessed. For a few, they would never be the same. When we encounter Jesus, and hear His wisdom, and see His wonders–it has the power to change us. And that is no mean feat.

Below you will find internet links. I have gathered these up, finding them useful, entertaining and a blessing. Some of these are mental illness links, others quote links. Some are quite general, and others much more specific. There are also a few Bible study aids, and these are quite valuable as ‘good ones’ are hard to find.

I am sorry that they are just laid out like this, but to categorize them would be difficult. My apologies. I realize that this pretty raw, but I hope you’ll be able to ‘mine’ something out of them. I skimmed through and left a comment on some the url’s. Handling some of these may require some patience.

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http://www.biblegateway.com/, perhaps the best Bible/versions

http://www.thegracetabernacle.org/quotes/gracequotes.html

http://bipolar.alltop.com/

http://www.dbsalliance.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_publications

http://newstracts.org/christiansites.html, great collection

http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/imonk-101-when-i-am-weak-why-we-must-embrace-our-brokenness-and-never-be-good-christians, the Monk is always good, this is one of my personal favs

http://www.gotquestions.org/, hundreds of questions, good site

http://www.moodyradio.org/brd_AudioMin.aspx?id=13144, interesting, and Moody as a rule is solid

http://www.preceptaustin.org/, good site, but take your time with it.

http://net.bible.org/home.php

http://www.roundtripmissions.com/, planning STM trip?