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 30, 2008
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 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 5, 2008
Matthew 12 – Part a
The first half of Matthew chapter 12 tells us of some accusations the Pharisees were making against Jesus and his disciples. Specifically, they were trying to say that Jesus and the disciples were breaking the Sabbath. In reality, they were only breaking rules that the Pharisees had set up around the Sabbath. As I’ve written before, Following God’s laws are meant to provide us with more freedom, not less. (more…)
May 3, 2008
Matthew 11
Almost all of Matthew chapter 11 directly tells us of the importance of trusting in the Gospel of Jesus for salvation, or indirectly by declaring that he is the Messiah. First we’re told that John the Baptist is in prison and he sent some of his disciples to ask Jesus,
Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?
April 30, 2008
Matthew 10 – Part a
Almost the entire contents of Matthew 10 can fall under the “Salvation Is Jesus” category for this blog. It includes instructions for the disciples’ first major “missionary journey”, warnings that they can expect hardship and persecution for spreading the Gospel, and direct statements of the necessity of receiving the Gospel of Christ. (more…)
April 28, 2008
Matthew 9
In Matthew chapter 9 we are shown four examples of people’s faith in Jesus and two examples of Jesus telling the need for Christians to share the Gospel of Christ. We’ll cover them quickly, one at a time. (more…)
April 27, 2008
Matthew 8
Matthew chapter 8 begins with a few stories of the value of faith. First there is a man with leprosy (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…)
April 16, 2008
Pride is Really Weird (and Dangerous)
The Origin of Pride
Pride sure is a weird thing. I think that the original sin of the universe was pride. Satan is the father of sin, and his sin was wanting to be exhaled above the Most High. He ignored the boundaries that God had set because he thought he knew better than the God that created him. He thought he could run the universe better than God and wanted to be in God’s place. (more…)