Matthew 10:24-11:6 What are you afraid of ? What are the things that paralyze you and fill your mind with worry? Jesus addresses fear and worry in Matthew 10. Matthew 9-10 describe the call of all believers to participate in God’s kingdom work. The beginning of chapter 10 describes what the disciples were to do and today’s reading describes how we are to do it. We are to serve God without fear of ...

Matthew 10:1-23 Matthew 9 ended with a call to pray for God to send out people to do his work. Matthew 10 begins by Jesus sending out the disciples to do this very work. Their prayers turn into action. This paradigm is often the way that God works in our lives as well. As we pray for something, our heart will inevitably change, and we will be compelled to take action in the area we have been prayi...

Matthew 9:18-38 What do you do and where do you go when you have run out of options? Where would you go if no doctors could cure your child? Where would you turn if you had an incurable disease? Where would you go if you were blind and nothing could restore your sight? Where would you turn if you encountered someone who was demon possessed? We meet the potential answer to all of these questions in...

Matthew 9:1-17 Who is Jesus? This is the most critical question for every person to answer. Yet it was difficult for those in Jesus’ day to answer, as it is also hard for people in our world today. Jesus did not fit into anyone's preexisting box when he came to Earth. The Pharisees could not make sense of the fact that he claimed to forgive sins, while at the same time he was eating with tax colle...

Matthew 8:18-34 We reveal how valuable something is by what we are willing to relinquish for it. Jesus has multiple people who claim to want to follow him, but he warns them about what that will cost them. If they follow Jesus, they are going to have to give up the comfort of a permanent residence and are even going to have to give up their families. Are they willing to sacrifice these things for ...

Matthew 8:1-17 How often do we just “go through the motions?” We can go to church every Sunday, give money away and back to God, read our Bibles, and be mostly nice to others. These are all good things, but they are also things we can take too much pride in—not one of those things buys us salvation. Being raised in a Christian home with parents who pray over you and take you to church every week i...

Matthew 7:15-29 What are you looking for? Some people are looking for a spouse, a new job, a package to arrive, or for a more stable financial situation. All of us are inevitably looking for something, but are we looking/watching for the right things? Jesus ends the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5- 7) by instructing us to "watch out." We are to externally watch out for those who are propagating lie...

Matthew 6:25-7:14 Worry is a chronic issue in most of our lives. We find ourselves filled with anxiety that does not seem to dissipate and struggle to experience the freedom and life which Christ has made available to us. Beautifully, Jesus gives us a way to live that can overcome worry. Jesus tells us not to feed our worry but to “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.” In seeking to motiv...

Matthew 6:1-24 What motivates you to live the way you do? Are you motivated by a desire to fit in, for material prosperity, for ease, or for God’s glory? As Jesus continues the Sermon on the Mount, he wants us to consider what is motivating our actions and from whom we are seeking to receive praise. Jesus speaks multiple times to the temptation to live to be seen by others. This attitude creeps in...

Matthew 5:27-48Doctors can give you an assessment to determine your heart health. They can examine your history, an EKG result, and a number of other factors to determine your likelihood of having a cardiac event. Jesus in his sermon wants us to examine our heart health, not physically but spiritually. So, what is your spiritual heart health? Jesus first points out that the health of our heart is ...

Matthew 5:1-26 We live in accordance with the kingdom to which we belong. As citizen of America you pay taxes, follow laws, and can vote. So, what does it look like to live aligned with God’s kingdom? Jesus will develop the ethics and character of a citizen of the kingdom of heaven in the Sermon on the Mount (chapter 5-7). He will describe what the blessed life looks like and how we can live with ...

Matthew 4:12-25 At the arrest of John the Baptist, Jesus’ public ministry began. The primary message which he communicated was about “the kingdom of heaven/kingdom of God.” The way into the kingdom is to repent of our allegiance to alternative kingdoms and embrace him. We are called to leave the darkness and enter the light. We are called to give up self-reliance and acknowledge our need for a sav...

Matthew 3:7-4:11 Jesus’ life in the Gospel of Matthew is filled with conflict. At birth he faced the opposition and murder attempt of Herod, and then he faced the tempting of the devil. If we are going to follow Jesus with our life, we should expect that similar opposition, difficulty, and temptation will come to us. Yet in the face of temptation, there is always a way out. The model of Jesus in o...

Matthew 2:13-3:6 We live in a messed-up world. A world filled with wickedness, war, and chaos, and we find these same things doing battle in our hearts. The Bible does does not gloss over the brokenness of the world: instead it shows us how we can have hope amid it. In Matthew’s gospel account we see the early life of Jesus mapped onto the story of the Exodus. The story of Israel becomes the story...

Matthew 1:1-2:12 A new year creates new opportunities. We can commit to new habits and new behaviors that will improve or destroy our lives. One of the best commitments we can make is to spend time with God. As we embark on a year of reading through the New Testament, we will discover the central place Christ is to play in our lives. Matthew’s gospel begins by looking back in history. He shows tha...

Revelation 19:1-22:21 The Bible ends where it began. We began in Genesis with a good creation and humanity enjoying relationship with God and we end with something similar. All who have placed their faith in Christ will enjoy God forever on a new earth untainted by sin or evil. Our lives will be filled for eternity with the joyous presence of God. So often our culture pictures eternity as people w...

Revelation 15:1-18:24 God’s judgment is coming to an end. Finally, he is about to deal with all the sin and evil in the world, and the final outpouring of his wrath comes as seven bowls are emptied. We have seen this image of a cup or bowl as a receptacle for God’s judgment throughout the Bible. Now we see its full and final display. It is as if all previous acts of judgment were like teaspoons an...

Revelation 11:1-14:20 The contrast between those who are aligned with Jesus and against him is never clearer than in Revelation. We are first introduced to two witnesses who are prophets and are given power to send down fire from heaven. Yet these allies of God will be killed, and their enemies will rejoice as if it is a worldwide holiday. God is opposed by a powerful threesome of a dragon, a beas...

Revelation 7:1-10:11 Judgment is the proper response to evil. Without judgment, evil would remain forever and Satan would win. God’s wrath and judgment consume much of Revelation. The first acts of judgment are unleashed through the opening of seals, the second group accompanied by trumpet blasts, and the final ones emptied out of bowls. The judgments are eerily like the plagues that struck Egypt ...

Revelation 3:1-6:17 After reading the first four letters to the churches yesterday, we now encounter the final three. These letters follow a general pattern of: a truth about Jesus, a statement about the church's present condition, an exhortation to action, and a reward to come. Every church is called to action, but each one is given a specific motivation to encourage them to live transformed live...