Abide in the Vine

12/09/2025

Jesus' Heart For Sinners
Matthew 9:10-13

10 Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples.

11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

While the religious folks only see the sinners and the tax collectors as unwanted outcasts, misfits, and undeserving of anything, the Lord Jesus eats with them for He desires to call and heal them of their sinfulness.

Being teachers themselves, their inquiry,
“Why does your teacher eats with tax collectors and sinners?”, implies that it was unusual for them to see a teacher associating with sinners. It also shows how much regard they had for themselves. So, their self-righteousness and hypocrisy keep them from seeing the need of sinners. Thus, they were never moved by love and mercy.

But the Lord Jesus is merciful to the sinners. He saw their need. He saw that they were sick, in need of deep healing.

12 When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

13 But go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’
For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

Mercy - that’s what He desires to bestow upon the sinners.

He knows that no amount of sacrifice brought and done by any sinner can avail the healing that his soul needs.

So, the Lord Jesus Christ is for the sinners, dealing with them according to His mercies as He calls them to repentance. He is indeed the Friend of sinners for He does to us what we cannot do for ourselves - the deep healing of our sinfulness.

Like the tax collectors and sinners during that time, we also were sick due to our sin but the Merciful Physician found us, saw our need, and healed us.

11/09/2025

I am thankful to the Lord for the life of our brother, Charlie Kirk. May we all be courageous like him in speaking the truth in love as ambassadors for Christ.

Salute, Charlie! Unwasted life indeed.

09/09/2025

Matthew 8:2-3 NKJV

2 And behold, a l***r came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”
3 Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

There we see a l***r who, according to the Levitical Law, shall be unclean as long as he has the disease, shall live alone, and shall dwell outside the camp (Leviticus 13:46). But we see him coming towards Jesus, the Holy One, who was being followed by a great multitudes. And so, there at that instance, we saw the willingness of the Lord Jesus Christ to clean the unclean.

When we survey the Scriptures, we will see that leprosy, being a loathsome and contagious disease, is a picture of sin. So, while not all of us have leprosy, all of us have sinned (Romans 3:23). Just how a l***r is separated from people, we have been separated from God because of our sin (Isaiah 59:2). It is only proper then to see ourselves like that l***r - alone, separated, and loathsome. But just like the l***r, realizing our very need, we must run to Him who is able and willing to cleanse us.

When we run to Him, that's when we will experience His power and willingness to cleanse us of our sinfulness. Leprosy probably covered the body of that l***r but in just one touch of Jesus, he was made clean. In the same way, we may be covered with sin and shame, but the love of Christ covers a multitude of sins. Our sins, surely, are many but His mercy is more.

Being the gracious and holy One, Jesus is not affected by the contagious leprosy of that man but His touch affected the man - he was immediately cleansed. So, if you've sinned, you must come to Him. If you feel unclean, you must come to Him.
Only Jesus can cleanse us, not our good works. We may appear clean by doing good, but only Christ can truly and deeply cleanse us from the inside out. His touch can heal and clean not only the most loathsome disease but also the sinfulness of man.

05/09/2025

Oh, may we all have this heart - a heart that seeks the Father's will.

John 5:30 (NKJV)
I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.

This is true intimacy.
This is what having a relationship with God means.

29/08/2025

Praying in Secret

Matthew 6:6 (NKJV)

But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

28/08/2025

"More Than A Touch—Fully Robed"

The woman reached through pain and tears,
Twelve weary, waiting, hopeless years.
She touched His hem and in that place,
She found His healing, felt His grace.

So too am I, in sin unclean,
With shame and wounds that can be seen.
Yet reaching out in faith, I know,
His mercy meets me, heals my soul.

Not just a hem, but clothed am I,
In righteousness the Lord supplied.
A sinner loved, restored, set free.
His life exchanged, His robe on me.

Reflections by Kim by Kim Lopez

26/08/2025

Psalms 1:2-3 (NKJV)
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
3 He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.

The blessed man is...

he whose delight is in the word of God,
he who meditates the word of God day and night.

He is liken to a tree that's planted by rivers of waters. Thus, his leaves do not wither, becomes fruitful, and his works becomes prosperous.

As believers, we cannot just desire the unwithered leaves, the seasonal fruits, and the prosperous works. We must be planted in the word of God and must be intentional about it.

So, let's not uproot ourselves from God's word. Rather, let us plant ourselves in it.

24/08/2025