Read more“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil. But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. The Queen of the South will rise up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.”
Gospel of Matthew (12:15-32)
Read moreBut Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. Many followed Him, and He healed them all, and warned them not to tell who He was. This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet:
“Behold, My Servant whom I have chosen;
My Beloved in whom My soul is well-pleased;
I will put My Spirit upon Him,
And He shall proclaim justice to the Gentiles.
“He will not quarrel, nor cry out;
Nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets.
“A battered reed He will not break off,
And a smoldering wick He will not put out,
Until He leads justice to victory.
“And in His name the Gentiles will hope.”Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and He healed him, so that the mute man spoke and saw. All the crowds were amazed, and were saying, “This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?” But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons.”
And knowing their thoughts Jesus said to them, “Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself will not stand. If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand? If I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason they will be your judges. But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can anyone enter the strong man’s house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.
He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.
“Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.
Gospel of Matthew (12:1-14)
Read moreAt that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat. But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath.” But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he became hungry, he and his companions, how he entered the house of God, and they ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests alone? Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent? But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here. But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire compassion, and not a sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
Departing from there, He went into their synagogue. And a man was therewhose hand was withered. And they questioned Jesus, asking, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse Him. And He said to them, “What man is there among you who has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Then He *said to the man, “Stretch out your hand!” He stretched it out, and it was restored to normal, like the other. But the Pharisees went out and conspired against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.
Gospel of Matthew (10:40-42)
“He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward.”
Read moreGospel of Matthew (10:24-39)
Read more“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign the members of his household!
“Therefore do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.
“Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.
“Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household.
“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.
Gospel of Matthew (9:27-38)
Read moreAs Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” When He entered the house, the blind men came up to Him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.” Then He touched their eyes, saying, “It shall be done to you according to your faith.” And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them: “See that no one knows about this!” But they went out and spread the news about Him throughout all that land.
As they were going out, a mute, demon-possessed man was brought to Him. After the demon was cast out, the mute man spoke; and the crowds were amazed, and were saying, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.” But the Pharisees were saying, “He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.”
Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.
Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. Then He *said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”
The Power of the Scripture
For almost a decade we’ve been going through the same thing after Christmas, but this year I decided we’re going to take a break. We’re going to continue on in Matthew – though not today – and when we get done with Matthew we might revisit our vision statement. But I would encourage you to take one of the brochures and look at it, just to see what the vision statement is. It might actually be something we can do in a bible study; to discuss those things more thoroughly and find out more about what the Lord wants from this place; this specific body of believers. So I encourage you to get one and look at it and maybe pray about that and see.
But today what I want to talk to you about is just the Scripture itself.
And I want you, like always at the start of the year, to read through the Bible the whole year. I can’t express enough how valuable and important that is to do. And to do it year after year after year. I get it; I understand the limits of time and some people’s struggle with reading itself — not just the Scripture, but reading any book at all. And so, listen to it. Do whatever it takes to get through the Scripture. I encourage you to do it.
Read moreGospel of Matthew 9:14-26
Gospel of Matthew 9:14-26
Then the disciples of John came to Him, asking, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. But no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”
While He was saying these things to them, a synagogue official came and bowed down before Him, and said, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay Your hand on her, and she will live.” Jesus got up and began to follow him, and so did His disciples.
And a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years, came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak; for she was saying to herself, “If I only touch His garment, I will get well.” But Jesus turning and seeing her said, “Daughter, take courage; your faith has made you well.” At once the woman was made well.
When Jesus came into the official’s house, and saw the flute-players and the crowd in noisy disorder, He said, “Leave; for the girl has not died, but is asleep.”And they began laughing at Him. But when the crowd had been sent out, He entered and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. This news spread throughout all that land.
So, we’re going to deal with a couple more miracles, and then a statement about fasting and the coming Kingdom of God.
Before we go to the part about fasting, I want you to consider that Jesus—in His three and a half years in ministry—would have healed hundreds and thousands of people. Just a couple weeks ago, we read how people from all the surrounding areas were coming to Him after He healed Peter’s mother-in-law. That was a common thing, in a sense. A fairly regular occurrence. There would be many people, many stories, that we don’t have specific access to in the Bible. So, the ones that are presented to us—the ones that are specifically mentioned—are not random. They are there for a specific purpose, and each one probably conveys to us something unique about Jesus Christ.
Read moreGospel of Matthew (9:1-13)
Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. Some men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.” At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!” Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” Then the man got up and went home. When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to man. As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
So far in Matthew chapter 8, after the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has healed a leper, a centurion’s servant, Peter’s mother-in-law; He cast out a demon and calmed a storm. Now He is going to deal with a paralytic, and also a man who would be considered a “chief sinner”. He is actually going to talk to us, in both of these stories, about sin and the sinner. The first one will deal with sin, and the second about the sinner himself.
Read moreGospel of Matthew (8:23-34)
All right. We’re going to start in verse 23; two more events in the life of Christ. One is the calming of the storm and the other one is the dealing with the Gadarenes demoniac.
When He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered with the waves; but Jesus Himself was asleep. And they came to Him and woke Him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing!” He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm. The men were amazed, and said, “What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”
When He came to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes, two men who were demon-possessed met Him as they were coming out of the tombs. They were so extremely violent that no one could pass by that way. And they cried out, saying, “What business do we have with each other, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?” Now there was a herd of many swine feeding at a distance from them. The demons began to entreat Him, saying, “If You are going to cast us out, send us into the herd of swine.” And He said to them, “Go!” And they came out and went into the swine, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and perished in the waters. The herdsmen ran away, and went to the city and reported everything, including what had happened to the demoniacs. And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw Him, they implored Him to leave their region.
In the book of Matthew, after the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus - up to this point in time - has healed a leper, the centurion’s servant, Peter’s mother-in-law, and then of course numerous other healings that aren’t recorded specifically. And now Jesus is going to deal with two other issues:
1. He’s going to show His authority over the weather itself.
2. He’s going to show His authority over the demonic entities of the world.
Gospel of Matthew 8:14-22
So we were in chapter 8, going through the book of Matthew. We’re going to start with verse 14 and probably go through 22 today, I think. It says,
When Jesus came into Peter’s home, He saw his mother-in-law lying sick in bed with a fever. He touched her hand, and the fever left her; and she got up and waited on Him. When evening came, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill. This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: “He Himself took our infirmities and carried away our diseases.”
Now when Jesus saw a crowd around Him, He gave orders to depart to the other side of the sea. Then a scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.” Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” Another of the disciples said to Him, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” But Jesus said to him, “Follow Me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead.”
Again, we are going through Matthew’s version of events: Jesus has come down from the mountain and right away He heals a leper; then He heals a centurion’s slave. He heals Peter’s mother-in-law. He’s going to calm the sea in a few verses. He’s going to cast out a demon from a man. So, towards the end of chapter 9 there are numerous miracles that have taken place at the hand of Christ, as He is revealing: The things He spoke on the Sermon on the Mount about the kingdom of God? Now He is actualizing those.
Read moreGospel of Matthew 7:28-8:13
I’m going to actually start in Matthew 7:28, because we didn’t really touch on those two verses, so we’re going to do that real quick; and they fit into what we’re going to talk about today, anyway. It says,
Read moreWhen Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.
When Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed Him. And a leper came to Him and bowed down before Him, and said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one; but go, show yourself to the priest and present the offering that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, imploring Him, and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented.” Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” But the centurion said, “Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed that very moment.
Gospel of Matthew (7:24-29)
We are getting to the end of the Sermon on the Mount. We have moved pretty slowly through this just because it’s such a powerful set of texts. Next week we are going to continue on in Matthew, of course, but this is the last bit of the Sermon on the Mount and it says this (starting with verse 24):
Read more“Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”
When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.
Gospel of Matthew (7:21-23)
Alright … Matthew, chapter seven.
We are going through the book of Matthew and we are in the Sermon on the Mount, getting closer and closer to the end of the Sermon. We are going to start in verse 21.
We talked a couple weeks ago about the narrow and wide gates. Last week we talked about the idea of prophets and fruit-bearing, and I took that to mean beyond just the prophetic realm to leadership in general. And with that, I wanted to make a couple quick clarifications before we read the text. One: somebody was concerned because they know people that are struggling in the church and I want to clarify again – I think I tried to make it clear last week, but maybe not clear enough — there is an expectation on leadership that is not on everybody else. By the way, as a leader, I have an expectation of you; but God puts a greater stress upon leadership in any church or city or whatever the case may be. There is a judgment for leadership that is going to be greater, according to the Scripture; and I take that seriously. So when we were talking last week, I wasn’t talking necessarily about the people who are coming to hear the Gospel, or people that are newly born again, or anything like that. I realize we are all going to struggle; we are all going to miss it. We are hoping, though, as we grow in Christ, we get better and better at walking out the Chrsitian walk. And more important than that, just better at loving Jesus Christ.
Read moreGospel of Matthew (7:13-20)
We’re going to start in chapter 7, verse 13. We had an aside last week when we talked about baptism. The week before, Chase talked about verse 7-12 I believe it was, and so we are going to jump in on verse 13 and we will read that first and then go from there.
It says:
Read more“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits.”
Baptism
We are going to move away from Matthew, to talk about baptism. Yesterday, when I decided to do this, I was thinking that I wish I would have gave Chase the option to talk about baptism or what he talked about last week. If I would have been paying attention, I would have done that, because it would have been nice if Chase chose baptism; to hear his take on it and what it is. But instead, you guys are going to hear my words again on baptism.
We are going to actually be covering a little bit of ground, so we will move kind of fast through some sections, and hopefully that won’t be a distraction to anybody. I want to talk a little bit about the history of baptism, and then we’ll talk about some of the scripture surrounding the baptism, etc.
First of all, the word baptizo means “to immerse, to plunge under, to die.” And because of those words, it became to mean “to be overwhelmed.” The idea, of course, is to be covered.
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Gospel of Matthew (7:7-12)
… But, anyway, we are kind of re-hashing because this is getting towards the end of the Sermon on the Mount and just to kind of review where we have been and what brings us to this point, starting in chapter 5- the Sermon started before that- but starting in verse 17, He starts to give this exposition of what righteousness is and how we can be righteous and how we can fulfill the law and whatnot. He has covered a lot of different topics; He has talked about different sin issues like adultery and murder, and He has talked about different interpersonal relationships- loving those around us, and loving those who hate you, and being generous to people, and whatnot; and then different motivations of what you should be seeking after – attaining wealth versus treasures in heaven – those types of things.
And kind of a big theme, or similarity, that runs through the whole thing is this heart issue and that a lot of it is based on your motives and not necessarily the very thing that you are doing. And so, I’ll get into that a little bit here on prayer today, but just kind of a background, remembering that that is what is kind of the focus throughout much of this sermon that He is giving is: what is going on in the heart rather than the actual actions or the words that you say, or things like that.
Read moreGospel of Matthew (7:1-6)
We are going to talk about judging others today. So, we will read the text and I think what we are going to do is we are actually going to start in six, which is kind of- in some ways it’s not a stand-alone text actually, but we are going to actually start there and then we are going to go back to the other one.
It says, “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”
And verse six says, “Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”
Read moreGospel of Matthew (6:25-34)
All right, you can turn over to the book of Matthew, chapter 6. I seriously, for a few moments, considered having Than play the Bobby McFerrin song “Don’t Worry Be Happy” as the intro, but I chose not to do that. Nonetheless, I did listen to it this morning. I was thinking about how, whenever I think about worry, that’s one of the things that comes into my mind. And I realize that it’s not biblical, some of the things that he talks about – not worrying about things that we should not even be interested in. But nonetheless, the point is that idea that Jesus is trying to get his disciples to see: the value of Him towards them and therefore, how they don’t really have to consider a lot of the things that we do consider.
So, we’ll start with verse 25. It says, “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
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