Matthew

Matthew 1:21 And she [Mary] will have a son, you [Joseph] are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. (t-vo) When you get the time, Id strongly suggest that you take the time to read this chapter. It tells of the lineage of Jesus, who is the way of salvation for the entire world. In that lineage includes Rahab, who was a prostitute, and David, who was an adulterer and murderer, just to name a few of the unlikely people to be mentioned as ancestors to the savior of the world. What does this tell us? Regardless of how bad you think you were or are God can use you. Once you give Him ownership of your life, He will use you for His glory. Dont doubt God today, let Him use you. Matthew 2:10 When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! (t-vo) Lets make sure there is no confusion here in this passage: the wise men werent joyous because they were seeing the star, they had been seeing the star during their entire journey. The wise men were joyous because they had found the stars resting place, and they knew that this meant they had found Jesus. Finding joy in the star would be a lot like worshiping a gift rather than the giver, and thats called idolatry. Are there any gifts from God that you are worshiping instead of Him? If so, ask God to reveal to those to you, and then do away with them. Youll be happy you did. Matthew 3:3 The prophet Isaiah was speaking about John when he said, He is a voce shouting in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lords coming! Clear the road for him! (t-vo) John the Baptist is easily one of my favorite men in the Bible. I love his passion for God and willingness to become less so that Christ could be more. I also love the challenge his life presents to all of us. We may not be John the Baptist, but we are called to prepare the way of the Lord. Through the lives we live and the words we speak, we should be preparing people to receive the life saving message of Christ. One day, Christ is returning. Are we preparing the way for Him? Matthew 4:1-2 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry. (t-vo) Ever been there, in the wilderness that is? Im not talking about a physical wilderness, even though Jesus was physically in the wilderness. Im talking about a spiritual wilderness a time when you feel as if God has abandoned you; a time when you feel weak; a time when you begin to wonder if you will ever make it through. Tomorrow well talk about how to come through that. Today though what if, as is the case for Jesus, the wilderness time is exactly where

God wants you? Often times, in the wilderness of the soul is where we learn to truly trust God. Theres always something better waiting for us on the other side of the wilderness. Matthew 4:3-4 During that time the devil came and said to him, If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread. But Jesus told him, No! The Scriptures say, People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. (t-vo) Every time Jesus was tempted His answer was the same, No! The Scriptures says for every temptation Jesus went to the Word of God. When we are going through the wilderness times of life we need to stay connected to Gods word. Be sure to connect to His Word on a daily basis, it alone is our source of life. Matthew 5:3 God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. (t-vo) For Jesus and His audience, primarily Jews, this idea of the Kingdom of Heaven (KOH) was much more than a place we go when we die. For them the KOH was something to be experienced in the here and now, it was the contentment and peace that only comes from trusting in God. Those who are poor, or poor in spirit (not thinking to highly of themselves), are more likely to put their hope and trust in the KOH here and now, because its all they have. Even if we may not classify as poor, hopefully we can realize that everything we have is a gift from God. We may have earned it through hard work, but we were given the physical and mental ability to work from God. So everything is a gift from Him. Having this kind of attitude, gratitude toward God, helps us to be more trusting and reliant upon Him thus always hoping in the KOH. Matthew 5:4 God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted. (t-vo) This verse speaks to the depth for which God cares for us. When we mourn whether because of the death of a loved one, personal illness, or even complete hopelessness God can be close to us. In those moments of mourning God is as close as we want Him to be, just waiting for us to reach out to Him. Reach out to Him, and let Him comfort you in your mourning. Matthew 5:5 God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth. (t-vo) This verse of scriptures has been twisted into meaning something that I dont think it means. At times, it seems that some use this verse as an excuse to let themselves, and their beliefs, be minimized and pushed around How can I stand up for myself if Im supposed to be humble?. I believe God wants us to stand up for what we believe in, protect our families, and generally be strong men and women of God. Humility comes into play when we ask ourselves why we do what we do. Do we boldly stand up for what we believe in for our own benefit, and do we serve God to bring glory for our self? Part of humility is doing what we do for the benefit of others and the glory of God. Be bold and serve your family well with a humble spirit, seeking to bless others and glorify God.

Matthew 5:6 God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied. (t-vo) Many translations use the word righteousness rather than justice, either way both imply a sense of setting things right in the world. When we look out at the world and see all the pain and evil destroying our families do we shrug our shoulders think to ourselves, its all going to be destroyed soon anyway? Or do feel a deep desire to help make things right? The desire to set things right, bring justice/righteousness, to the world is a God given desire follow it. One day Christ will return, and He will bring true justice to the world. So if youve suffered from lifes injustices or you are striving to see justice here on the earth, hold on, its (He) is coming soon! By the way, Im speaking of Gods justice, which goes to the very core of a mans life. Not social justice, which only affects the surface level of a mans life. Matthew 5:7 God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy. (t-vo) I looked up the word merciful in the Greek, and it literally meant, merciful. Thats helpful. So I looked the word merciful in the English (a language I struggle with), and it means, providing relief. Doesnt that sound good? When we give relief to others, helping or forgiving them in some way, God in turn gives us relief. This may be an old saying but, in order to be blessed we must learn to be a blessing. Look for opportunities to be merciful today because God has shown, and will continue to show, you much mercy. Matthew 5:8 God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God. (t-vo) We all want to see God active in our everyday lives, but how exactly do we receive pure hearts? Well, at the moment of salvation the Holy Spirit begins the work of purifying your heart. However, many of us make this job a bit more difficult by constantly filling our minds and hearts with the filth of this world. By constantly focusing on the negative, violent, perverse, and vulgar messages of this world, we cause our hearts to be less pure. Some of these images we cant escape, unless of course we all lived in caves. But we can counteract these messages by choosing to focus more time and energy on Gods message. Matthew 5:9 God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called children of God. (t-vo) I often hear this verse used in the context of global peace by those who work for that peace. Which is all well and good, however we do know that there will never be global peace until the Return of Christ. So global peace sounds like an impossible task, but what about peace in our homes? By striving for peace in our homes our schools and business will also have peace. If husband, wife, and children are all working for and living in peace with each other all the other places will work themselves out. The point is, work peace yes, but be sure to start working for peace in your homes. Matthew 5:10 God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

(t-vo) Standing for what is right (Gods standards) is often unpopular and goes unappreciated by those around us, and may even cause us to be persecuted. Your friends and family may not understand your stance on issues of morality and the people in your workplace may not always appreciate your life of honesty and integrity. But thats ok, because standing for and living by Gods standards is always the right thing to do, and God blesses those who do right. Id rather be popular and appreciated by God, then anyone else. Matthew 5:11-12 God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. Be happy it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way. (t-vo) This may sound like a bit of a bit of a repeat from the previous t-vo, but these verses go a step further. We should be happy about persecution. One reason is that if we are being mocked and persecuted than our faith has been noticed. A noticed faith is the only type of faith that has the ability to impact the lives others. But the primary reason is that the blessings we will receive from God far out way any pain we may face in this life. We are happy because one day we will be spending eternity with Christ! We just need to live our lives with eternity in mind. Matthew 6:34 So dont worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Todays trouble is enough for today. (t-vo) Worry seems to be primarily about trust, and most of us know that not worrying about tomorrow is quite a bit more difficult than simply not doing it. Throughout this chapter Jesus is speaking about the intentional focus of our lives, and right before this verse He speaks of the intentional focus of Gods life that is care for His creation. Once we realize that God holds nothing back from us, not even His Son, He will become the intentional focus of our life. Once He is the intentional focus of our lives we realize that we are the focus of His, and He can be trusted. Matthew 7:7 Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened. (t-vo) What is it you are praying for today? If it seems to be an impossible request thats a good place to be, because God deals in the realm of impossibility. If it seems as if you have been praying FOREVER for one particular subject, dont stop. In Gods time the answer will come. Until then keep trusting in and praying for Gods best. Matthew 8:34 Then the entire town came out to meet Jesus, but they begged him to go away and leave them alone. (t-vo) This entire chapter is just phenomenal! The lead up to this particular verse is this. Two men were crazy possessed by demons. They were violent, lived in a cemetery, and controlled

that area of the land. Jesus comes and in a moments time sets the men free. But in the process a herd of pigs is destroyed. This is where we pick up, with the towns folk kicking Jesus out. The pigs most likely represented a source of income for this town. So the people were essentially choosing their economic stability and normal way of life over the radical freedom brought by Christ. Do we do the same? Rather than choosing to spend time with the Living Word of God these people choose to fight for the status quo. Choose Jesus! Matthew 9:18 As Jesus was saying this, the leader of a synagogue came and knelt before him. My daughter has just died, he said, but you can bring her back to life again if you just come and lay your hand on her. (t-vo) Remember, this man was a leader of a synagogue, which means he would have worked very closely with and served at the discretion of the Pharisees. The Pharisees hated Jesus. This man had to be willing to lose everything else just to see Jesus. But when you hold the life of your daughter up against everything else in life, the choice is easy. I pray that God would give us all this type of passionate desire to know Jesus better. Dont let the fears of this world hold you back from Him. Chase Him boldly! Matthew 10:38-39 If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine. If you cling to your life you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, will find it. (t-vo) Like I said, theres an Awakening coming, and its going to be awesome. But we (the Church) need to learn to take up our cross and lose our life to Jesus. Only then will we truly know what life is. Its time we quit PLAYING church and start BEING THE church. Its time we realize that when Christ saved us He didnt just save us so we could go to heaven (although thats important). Christ saved us so that we could be His representatives on the earth. And in order to represent Christ well we need to follow Him with everything inside of us. No more games, just Jesus. Matthew 11:29-30 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at hear, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give is light. (t-vo) To be yoked by something or someone is to become controlled or submissive to that thing. The farmers of the day would yoke the oxen in order to control the oxen while they plowed their fields. Jesus wants to have complete control of our lives. Not for selfish motives, but in order to set us free from ourselves. Jesus tells us that the only way to find our life is to lose it, and the only way to find rest is to submit ourselves to doing the work of the Lord. This is because we only find peace when we radically submit to fulfilling the purpose of God in our lives. Dont run from Him, be willing to work for Him, and you will find rest.

Matthew 12:9-11 Then Jesus went over to their synagogue, were he noticed a man with a deformed hand. The Pharisees asked Jesus, Does the law permit a person to work by healing on the Sabbath? (They were hoping he would say yes, so they could bring charges against him.) (t-vo) What a stupid question, of course God would be pleased by the healing of the hurting on the Sabbath day. As ridiculous as their question was, it revealed the religious spirit that had over taken the Pharisees. You see the Pharisees were so concerned with following their religious rules and order that they missed the very presence of God in their midst. Sound familiar? In church we can become so complacently comfortable with our routines and structures that we miss the very thing we have gathered together to experience the presence of God. In churches all across America, people are missing what God is doing NOW because they are focused on what they think should be happening next. Put away those thoughts. Focus on God not religious rules and order. Jesus wants to free us from all of our misfocusing (new word). Matthew 13:23 The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand Gods word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted! (t-vo) Here Jesus is explaining the parable of the four soils. You should go back and read it. Basically there are four types soil described here, and three of them are junk. But in the fourth soil the seed grows into a beautifully powerful plant. This plant goes on to produce more of itself. Sooo. Hows your soil? Jesus tells us that the seed represents the Word of God and the soil represents our lives. What are you doing to nurture the soil of your life so you can effectively receive the Word of God? Ive heard people say that they, dont get anything from reading the Bible. The Word of God is powerful and always useful. Chances are its a soil problem, not a seed problem. Dont allow the cares of this life, and the enemy of your soul, to continue polluting the soil of your life. Matthew 14:27-28 But Jesus spoke to them at once, Dont be afraid, he said. Take courage. I am here! Then Peter called to him, Lord, if its really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water. (t-vo) I know that this is a fairly familiar story. So just consider this a reminder. You know the rest of the story. Peter walks out on the water, and eventually becomes distracted by the waves, and loses sight of Jesus. The more things change the more they stay the same. We do well when focused on Jesus, but then we either become distracted by the chaos around us (like Peter), or we become complacent in our faith. Both will cause us to sink, and the cure for both is a renewed focus on Jesus. Matthew 15:28 Dear woman, Jesus said to her, your faith is great. Your request is granted. And her daughter was instantly healed.

(t-vo) This little story from Jesus life used to really bug me. This woman obviously believed in the power of Christ to heal her daughter. Yet Christ repeatedly ignored her. I thought that this story was kind of mean and really random. But we know that Christ is not mean, and nothing about the Bible is random. This woman had to PRESS IN a bit to receive her miracle. This story reminds me of prayer. After all when we pray we are speaking to Jesus, and what was this woman doing? Have you ever prayed for something, but not received the answer right away? I believe that this passage is teaching us that regardless of how often we have prayed about an issue without seeing results, we should keep PRESSING IN. Dont give up asking for that "impossible" miracle. We serve a God to whom the word impossible means nothing. Keep on pressing in, until you hear His voice. Matthew 16:23 Jesus turned to Peter and said, Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from Gods. (t-vo) This verse is in the context of Peter just telling Jesus that he should not complete the work God sent Him to complete. That is die on the cross as a sacrifice for sin. As Jesus pointed out, Peter was seeing the situation from a human perspective only. Peter was not seeing the whole picture of what God wanted to do. This type of thinking, human perspective only, was a dangerous trap for Jesus, and is a dangerous trap for us as well. When we begin to look at our life from a human perspective only, we limit the possibilities for God to move in our lives. Never limit Gods plan for your life. Attempt to see your life through His eyes today. Matthew 17:4 Peter exclaimed, Lord, its wonderful for us to be here! If you want, Ill make three shelters as memorials one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. (t-vo) This, the building of memorial shelters, obviously didnt happen. Instead Jesus came down off the Mountain of Transfiguration, rounded up His men, and went back to doing the work of the Father. This could easily be seen as a picture of salvation. It seems that for many, they never move beyond salvation. Instead they build themselves a memorial shelter and camp out right there. Never growing or maturing in the Lord. This is a horrible waste of salvation, because Christ doesnt save us JUST to save us. If so, we would all be raptured the moment we commit to Christ. No, Christ saves us so that we grow in our knowledge of Him, and can declare the Good News (Gospel) of salvation to others. These two things happen at the same time as we grow we declare, and as we declare we grow. Now is NOT the time to stay in the same place in our faith. Now is the time to mature in our faith, and be about the work of the Father that is spreading the Gospel. (Side note: the computer tells me raptured isnt a word, but I dont care.) Matthew 18:8-9 So if your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. Its better to enter eternal life with only one hand or one foot than to be thrown into eternal fire with both hands and feet. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. Its better to enter eternal life with only one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.

(t-vo) These verses sound harsh and offensive. They are. You see these verses give us an idea of the offensiveness that our sin is to God. We have a tendency to down play or even ignore sin, but that sin we ignore is offensive and heart breaking to God because it separates us from Him. If we are going to deal with our sin, and be the people God wants us to be we need to be equally offended by our sin. Im not saying we should hate ourselves, but we should realize how precious we are to God and deal with our sin accordingly. Matthew 19:14 But Jesus said, Let the children come to me. Dont stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children. (t-vo) Ive always thought that this verse was in reference to the faith of small children, and I still think it is primarily about that. Most times, kids are willing to trust their parents simply because they are their parents. We too should be willing to trust God simply because Hes God. But theres one more thing Id never thought of, these kids had a desire to be with Jesus. They were willing to drop everything else and go after Him. Hows our desire to be with Jesus? Are we willing to drop everything for the sake of the only thing that really matters? Matthew 20:24,28 When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, there were indignant. (28) For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and give his life as a ransom for many. (t-vo) James and John had just asked to be given places of honor with Jesus, above the other 10 disciples. Naturally the disciples were upset with them, even though they shouldnt have been. There are few things in this life that annoy me more than Christians argue with each other about meaningless (is there really anything that matters more than Jesus?) things. The things we most often argue about are personal preference and personal praise. We want others to look at us and think, Theyre special because they did this, said that, or we do what they want. But Christianity isnt a popularity contest. We are all meant to be servants, one to another. And when we argue about silly things we cease being servants. We cease following Christ. Matthew 21:12-13 Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out all the people buying and selling animals for sacrifice. He knocked over the tables of money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. He said to them, The Scriptures declare, My temple will be called a house of prayer, but you have turned it into a den of thieves! (t-vo) First off, passion for God and the things of God is always a good thing. We should passionately and boldly stand up for what is right, even if it makes us unpopular. Who cares? If God is with us, who can be against us. along those lines, this a t-vo for the whole Church, how would Jesus react if He were to visit our churches? Would He find His people about His business, building His Kingdom, or would He find us about our own business, building our own kingdoms? If we want to see awakening and revival in our churches and our nation, we need to be about His business.

Matthew 22:5-6 But the guests he had invited ignored them and when their own way, one to his farm, another to his business. Others seized his messengers and insulted them and killed them. (t-vo) Weve all been invited to the most incredible part ever the Marriage Supper of The Lamb (AKA Heaven). While most of us have never insulted (okay maybe weve insulted Gods messengers) or killed Gods messengers most of us, at one point or even now, have ignored Gods messengers. Rather than listen, and obey, Gods word we choose to go about our own business. This is essentially saying to God, that our STUFF is more important than He is. This attitude needs to change. Like we talked about Sunday, we need to walk through the Sword of Gods word, allowing it to destroy everything in our life that holds us back from Him. Stop ignoring Gods Word, instead walk through the Sword. Matthew 23:25 What sorrow always you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy full of greed and self-indulgence! (t-vo) Are we guilty of this also? Do we spend too much time cleaning up our actions, trying to be good Christian, instead of allowing God to radically change us on the inside? The world doesnt need more good Christians. The world needs men and women who have been so consumed by the fire of God that their hearts, source of emotion and motivation, has been, and is continually being, brought into line with the Heart of God. Our hearts should be so changed that the change in our hearts will be exemplified through our actions. This is what the world needs. Not more good Christians, but more Fire of God consumed Christians. Matthew 24:14 And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come. (t-vo) The Bible often describes the Day of the Lord (End Times) as being both great and terrible. This passage of scripture gives us a glimpse into why. During that time there will be great pain and suffering for the Christian and non-Christian alike, but also during that time the Good News will go into al the world and there will be a great revival. The spreading of the Gospel is why the Day of the Lord will be great! God will use the struggles we face during that time to draw people to Himself. The question is, will the Church be ready to be a source of joy and hope, because of Christ, during that time? I believe God is preparing His Church for that time right now. All across our nation and the world, God is waking up His Church to His greatness. Ensuring that we will be ready for a great revival! Matthew 25:31 The master was full of praise, Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Lets celebrate together! (t-vo) This parable tells the story of servants who were entrusted money while their master was away. Two used it wisely, earning more money for their master, while the third wasted it by

burying the money in the ground. We should know by now that this parable isnt about the money at all, but has a much higher lesson to teach us. Weve all been given talents and abilities, which are meant to be used for the Glory of God and the spreading of His Good News. This spreading of the Good News will then cause an increase of people who know and love Jesus. So, what are you doing with the abilities God has given you? Are in investing them in others by spreading the Gospel, or are you wasting them by doing nothing for the God who saved you? Matthew 26:67-68 Then they spit in Jesus face and beat him with their fists. And some slapped him, jeering, Prophesy to us, you Messiah! Who hit you that time? (t-vo) Heres a glimpse of what the Son of God, Creator of the universe, went through for you. Its so easy to take Church, the Bible, and worship for granted. Yet all of these things came to us at a high price. As we gather to worship this weekend, I pray that we are all be mindful of the high cost that was paid by Jesus all so we could be with Him. Dont take Christs sacrifice lightly. Matthew 27:9-10 This fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah that says, They took the thirty pieces of silver THE PRICE AT WHICH HE WAS VALUED BY THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL, and purchased a potters field as the Lord directed. (Emphasis added) (t-vo) To the Pharisees and other leaders of Israel, Jesus was only worth 30 pieces of silver. What is Jesus worth to you? Is He worth your life? If Jesus is not worth everything to you by everything I mean a reckless abandonment for Him, forgetting what others around you may say, and living only to please Him then you are probably placing too little value on the life, death, and victorious resurrection of Jesus. Matthew 28:19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. (t-vo) Notice Jesus didnt say, Go and get folks saved (my hillbillian for Evangelize). No, Jesus wants us to do more than simply evangelize people. Jesus wants us to disciple people. When we disciple people we are helping them grow in their faith, which in turn enables them to go spread the Gospel to others. By disciplining a few, we are impacting many. Through discipleship we greatly increase the impact we make in this world. When discipleship is a priority, churches are stronger because Christians become stronger.