Category Archives: Nazareth

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2 Big Questions to Help You Live Intentionally for God

Jesus' example at Capernaum is a model for strategy.

It’s always easier to react to life rather than to shape it. To go with the flow rather than to dig a new trench. But God gives us help to choose the direction of our lives.

Capernaum synagogue, where Jesus taught

(Photo: Capernaum synagogue, where Jesus taught. Courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)

The Lord helps us live intentionally for Him. God has given us the freedom to make significant choices in spite of our circumstances.

Jesus’ example at Capernaum shows us what choices to make to live intentionally for God.

Two questions can help us do that.

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3 Timely Galilee Reminders from Jesus to Empower Your Life

The Lord's words can take us way beyond information to life transformation.

When Jesus taught, His content came across like no other teacher in history. He taught with authority and compassion, but His words gave more than information.

3 Timely Galilee Reminders from Jesus to Empower Your Life

(Photo: Sower’s Cove by the Sea of Galilee. Courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)

Galilee gave stage to Jesus’ life—from His early years in Nazareth to His latter years in Capernaum. During His ministry these places also played a role to offer several timely reminders.

Jesus’ teaching did much more than dispense facts. He taught to empower us with truth that could transform our lives.

Here are 3 examples.

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3 Sites Where the Habits of Jesus Can Help You Crush Compromise

How to Follow the Lord’s routines at Nazareth, the Wilderness, and the Mount of Olives

Bad habits are hard to break. But here’s the good news: so are good habits. Once installed, a good routine serves as a powerful ally in your walk with God. Three habits of Jesus show us how.

3 Sites Where the Habits of Jesus Can Help You Crush Compromise

(Photo: Olive trees on the Mount of Olives. Courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)

The Gospel of Luke highlights several places in the life of our Lord that give us a window into the habits of Jesus. His commitment to these habits revealed His character in moments of opposition, weariness, and even danger.

Three places. Three lessons. Three habits essential to your life.

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Nazareth—Jesus’ Hometown with a View to the Past and the Future

Not many people can say they grew up on a hill that overlooked the battlefields of history. But Jesus could.

Jesus’ hometown sat off the beaten path and high on a ridge that overlooked the International Highway and the prominent Jezreel Valley.

Nazareth—Jesus’ Hometown with a View to the Past and the Future

(Photo: Nazareth Mount of Precipitation. Courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)

The gospels tell us Nazareth rested on a hill with a formidable precipice (Luke 4:29). From here Jesus cold see the battles of Israel’s history.

The city’s name likely comes from the Hebrew term netzer, meaning “branch” or “shoot.” Some scholars believe this represents the faith of those Jews who returned from exile. Their hope focused on the coming Messiah, the “righteous Branch” of David, promised by the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 23:5; 33:15).

But when He did finally show up, they tried to throw Him over the cliff.

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See the Jezreel Valley from 4 Panoramic Places

You'll see more than land here. You'll see life.

Most visitors to Israel see the sprawling panorama of the Jezreel Valley only from atop the monastery of Muhraqa on Mount Carmel. This vantage remains one of the best, to be sure.

See the Jezreel Valley from 4 Panoramic Places

(Photo: Jezreel Valley from Mount Carmel. Courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)

But there are a number of other views of the valley that also find their place in the Bible.

These high spots also offer a good view of life, and I’ll give a one-sentence application from each site.

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Nazareth Village—A Visit to Century-One Galilee

I entered the tourist site with a heavy dose of skepticism. After all, I love to show the inseparable connection between history and faith. We go to ancient sites in Israel to connect them with biblical events and to our lives today.

Tourist traps don’t align with those goals.

Nazareth Village

(Photo of Nazareth Village by מוחמד מוסא שהואן CC-BY-2.5, via Wikimedia Commons)

I’ll be honest, to spend time meandering through a place where people dress up in costumes like some Christmas play sounded to me to be . . . well, let’s just say I thought we could spend our valuable time somewhere else.

To my surprise, our time in the Nazareth Village proved to be one of our guests’ favorite stops in the Galilee. The village transported us back two thousand years and gave us a taste of the first century in a place where significant events actually occurred.

It gave a taste of life when Jesus lived here.

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