Acts chapter 4 picks up the story right where chapter 3 left off, with Peter and John preaching the resurrection of Jesus to the people gathered in amazement at the healing of a crippled man. The Sadducees, a group of Jewish religious leaders who did not believe in a resurrection of the dead, arrested Peter and John for their preaching and put them in prison for the night. Nevertheless, a good number of men believed in the message that Peter and John preached and the number of believing men in Jerusalem grew to about five thousand (more…)
July 7, 2008
June 15, 2008
Matthew 27 – Part a
In Matthew chapter 27 we read about the staged “trial”, torture, humiliation, and crucifixion of Jesus. Salvation is made possible through the events covered in this chapter. There would be no hope for us if it were not for the willingness of Jesus to do his Father’s will, and die in our place as the perfect and final sacrifice. From Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane, we know that this is the only way that the justice of God can be satisfied, while at the same time showing mercy to the people who deserve the punishment. (more…)
May 30, 2008
Matthew 23
In the entire chapter of Matthew 23, Jesus gives one of the most stern rebukes of the teachers of the law and the Pharisees. Remember that these were the people who were supposed to be teaching and leading the Jews in the ways of God, helping the people to see their hopelessness in themselves and their need to trust in God’s grace for their salvation and righteousness. Instead the Pharisees made up their own rules and made them more important than God’s law (more…)
May 24, 2008
Matthew 21
The last half of Matthew 21 contain two of Jesus’ parables that tell us that belief in Him is the way to Salvation. The second parable especially makes it clear that salvation is dependent upon Jesus and goes over prophecies of the rejection of Jesus by the Jewish nation. (more…)
May 20, 2008
Legalism Example
Recently at my place of employment, the main women’s restroom was being redone. This left just a single toilet for all the women in the whole building. This created a long line to the women’s toilet. This created lots of loud talking and laughter. This created one small problem. (more…)
May 11, 2008
Matthew 15
In Matthew 14 we can read about the beheading of John the Baptist, Jesus Feeding over 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish, and Jesus walking on water. We will focus in on chapter 15 when the Pharisees accuse Jesus of breaking Jewish law. (more…)
May 6, 2008
Matthew 12 – Part b
The second half of Matthew chapter 12 we will look at starts in verse 38. This section of scripture has some indirect statements that fall into the “Salvation Is Jesus” category of this blog. (more…)
April 19, 2008
Matthew 3
Matthew chapter 3 begins with a description of John the Baptist’s ministry, preaching in the Desert of Judea. He was preaching of repentance and people would confess their sin and be baptized. Some of the Pharisees and Sadducees came to check out this strange man in the desert and they did not like what they heard. (more…)