WHAT KIND OF MAN?

TEXT: MATTHEW 8 http://www.biblica.com/bible/verse/index.php?q=matthew8&niv=yes

PARAPHRASE

“TOUCH”

Coming down from the mountainside where he had been teaching those who believed in him, a man with leprosy, in humility on his knees called Jesus his Lord and said he believed Jesus had the power to heal him if he wanted to. Jesus, doing what others would consider unthinkable, touched the diseased man as he told him he wanted to heal him saying, “Be cured!” at which point the man’s leprosy was gone. After this, Jesus told the man not to tell anyone what had happened but instead to follow the law of Moses by showing himself to the priest and offering a gift so that he could be officially declared cured and restored to society.

“FAITH”

Entering Capernaum, the commander of many Roman soldiers came to Jesus asking him to help his servant who was lying paralyzed and suffering at home. When Jesus said he would go home with him to heal his servant, the commander told Jesus he didn’t deserve to have him come to his home but he believed all Jesus needed to do was speak his words of healing right where they were in order for his servant to be healed. He went on to explain the basis for his belief in Jesus’ authority to heal by describing how as a Roman commander he knows the meaning of authority because being under authority from above, when he speaks to his men, he speaks to them with the authority of the emperor behind him and therefore obey – indicating to Jesus that he believed he spoke with the authority of God behind him such that if Jesus just “said the word” the illness his servant was suffering from would obey Jesus and leave. Jesus was amazed when he heard this and said to his followers he had not seen anyone in the nation of Israel with such great faith as this Roman commander who was a gentile. He told his followers that when the great Messianic feast occurs with the patriarchs there will be many people gathered from across the gentile nations who will come to take their places in the kingdom of God but those from the nation Israel who think they are subjects of the kingdom merely because of their birthright will be thrown out into the darkness where they will suffer eternally.

“FULFILLMENT”

Coming to Peter’s house in Capernaum, seeing Peter’s mother-in-law sick in bed with fever, Jesus touches her hand at which point her fever left and she got out of bed and welcomed Jesus into her home.

That evening, many people were brought to where Jesus was and he drove evil spirits out of the demon- possessed and healed those who were sick in fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy about what the Messiah would do when he came, “He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.”

“COST”

Seeing the crowds around him Jesus gave orders to cross over to the other side of the lake as a teacher of the law told him he would follow him wherever he went. Jesus responded to the teacher by telling him that following the Son of Man involved living homeless unlike even animals of the earth like foxes (who have holes) and birds (who have nests). When another disciple said to Jesus he needed to go and bury his father before he could follow him, Jesus told the man that following him comes above everything else and that those who are spiritually dead can bury their family members who are physically dead.

“WHAT KIND OF MAN?”

After getting into the boat with his disciples, a severe storm develops as they cross the lake, threatening them as Jesus sleeps. Waking Jesus up in a panic, the disciples tell him to save them, fearing they are going to drown. Jesus tells his disciples they have “little faith” as he asks them why they are so afraid – getting up and commanding the wind and waves to calm down – which they do just like the illness the commander’s servant had did when it obeyed Jesus’ words. The disciples were amazed at “what kind of man” Jesus was that not only demons and illness obeyed his word, but the larger forces of nature controlled by God did as well.

“HOLY, HOLY, HOLY”

Arriving on the other side of the lake in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men, who were so violent no one would travel near the tombs they lived in, came to meet Jesus. When the demons immediately recognized Jesus as the Son of God they feared being prematurely destroyed before the end of times and so asked Jesus to cast them into a large herd of pigs. When he granted this the demons went into the pigs, the pigs went off the steep bank into the lake and died, those tending the pigs reported what all that had happened in town, and the town’s people came to see Jesus, but after seeing him pleaded with him to leave their region because they were frightened by who he was.

PRINCIPLES

1. MATTHEW TOLD HIS FIRST CENTURY READERS THAT JESUS WAS THE CHRIST (MESSIAH), THE SON OF GOD.

2. HOW DID MATTHEW TELL HIS FIRST CENTURY READRS THAT JESUS WAS THE CHRIST (MESSIAH), THE SON OF GOD?


MATTHEW TOLD HIS FIRST CENTURY READERS THAT:

A. Jesus touch had the power to heal a leper.

B. Jesus’ word had the authority to heal a Centurion’s servant from afar.

C. Jesus’ touch had the power to heal Peter’s mother-in-law of her fever.

D. Jesus word had the power and authority to drive out demons.

E. Jesus’ healings fulfilled Isaiah’s Messianic prophecy about him.

F. Jesus’ words had authority over the winds and waves.

G. Jesus’ identity as the Son of God was immediately recognizable by the demons.

H. Jesus’ word cast demons from two men into a herd of pigs.

I. Jesus’ holiness was frightening to the people of the Gadarenes.


3. MATTHEW TELLS US TODAY THAT JESUS IS THE CHRIST (MESSIAH), THE SON OF GOD.

4. HOW DOES MATTHEW TELL US TODAY THAT JESUS IS THE CHRIST (MESSIAH), THE SON OF GOD?

MATTHEW TELLS US THAT:

A. Jesus’ touch has the power to heal us today.

B. Jesus’ word has the authority to heal us where we are.

C. Jesus’ touch has the power to heal us of our fevers.

D. Jesus’ word has the power to drive out our demons.

E. Jesus’ healings continue to fulfill Isaiah’s Messianic prophecy about him.

F. Jesus’ words have authority over the storms in our lives.

G. Jesus’ identity as the Son of God is immediately recognizable by demons today.

H. Jesus’ word will cast the demons in our lives away where they too can be put to death.

I. Jesus’ holiness can be frightening today too when it stands next to sin and the demonic, but ultimately is not to be feared because he has overcome both for us through his death on the cross and through his resurrection from the grave.


PRAYER

Our Father, we praise You that is by Your Son’s will that we are healed by Your power and authority.

Our Father, we thank you and give You praise for Your Son and the power and authority You have given to heal through His Name.

Our Father, forgive us for our lack of faith, for fretting in the midst of the storms in our lives when You are right there beside us, and help us with our unbelief.

Our Father, we thank You for Your Word, through Isaiah the prophet about the Messiah and what he would do when he came, that he would take up our infirmities and diseases and that we would know who the Messiah was by his doing this.

Our Father, we thank You that our biggest infirmity, death, has been overcome, has been healed by Your Son’s death and resurrection, his sacrifice for us, his taking our sins upon himself so that we may live eternally.

Our Father, we thank you that those things in life that we fret over and the demons in our life that plague us that bind our lives and keep us imprisoned in a tomb can be cast away by a mere word that is said in the name of Your Son.

Our Father, today whatever is binding us from the past, whatever has deeply hurt us, whatever issues we struggle to let go of, whatever anger that lingers inside, whatever anxiety or panic there may be, we say in the Name of Your Son Jesus Christ that it “Go” and that it be gone from this point on and that the complete calmness that came over to the lake after Your Son rebuked the storm come into our hearts and minds to replace the fret and the demons that have been holding us hostage.

Our Father, help us to remember that our battles in this world also take place on a spiritual level so that the issues and conflicts we experience in this world have a spiritual connection as well and thus we are in need of Your protection from spiritual demons in addition to those in our lives that are psychological and physical in nature.

Our Father, we raise these petitions in the Name of Your Holy Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Amen.


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HEARING & LIVING

TEXT MATTHEW 7 http://www.biblica.com/bible/verse/index.php?q=matthew7&niv=yes


PARAPHRASE


“Judging & Discerning”

Jesus tells his believers that if they go around self-righteously judging others, they will be judged by God and He will use the same standards on them as they use when they self-righteously judging others.

Jesus asks his believers if it makes sense to judge their neighbor for something they are doing wrong when unknowingly or unconsciously they themselves are doing a similar wrong thing but to an even greater degree. He tells his believes that they can’t go around saying to some one something like, you are sinning by your adulterous relationship, when they are struggling greatly with the sin of lust themselves. He tells them to do so turns them into hypocrites and that before trying to help someone with a sin they are struggling with, they need to learn that the sin they see in the other person helps them to become aware of their own sin so they can first do something about so they can then help their neighbor with their sin.

Jesus then warns his believers to discern who they share the sacred and precious news of the kingdom with because if they share it indiscriminately, those who are cruel and evil may end up turning on and doing them great harm.


“Ask, Seek, Knock 4 Gold”

Jesus tells his believers if they ask His Father, He will provide for them; if they seek His Father, they will find Him; and if they knock, the door to the kingdom of heaven will be opened by his Father. He tells them that everyone who asks, His Father receives; everyone who seeks His Father, finds Him; and everyone who knocks on the door to the kingdom of heaven, will have it opened for them by His Father.
Jesus contrasts for his believers earthly fathers, who despite being sinful beings, never deceive their children by giving them stones or snakes when asked for bread or fish; with their Father in heaven, who because He is holy will most certainly give good gifts to those who ask Him for them.
So in giving to others like their heavenly Father does, Jesus tells his believers that in everything they do they are to do things for others as they would like others to do things for them and that this way of treating one another summarizes what the Law and the Prophets say.


“Narrow vs Wide

Jesus tells his believers they must enter the kingdom of heaven through the narrow gate by following the narrow road that leads to it that only a few people find, in contrast to the broad road that leads many people to the wide gate of destruction.


“False Prophets & Messiah”

Jesus goes on to tell his believers to watch out for false prophets who can lead them down the broad road to destruction. He describes them as disguising themselves as shepherds, making themselves appear as if they are looking out for the welfare of the flock, while in reality they are evil wolves whose only interest is in leading the members of the flock astray one by one so they can devour them with the goal of destroying the entire flock. Jesus tells his believers these false prophets can be identified by what their ministry produces. He tells them that the ministries of false prophets produce nothing of value for the kingdom of heaven; they are like thornbushes or thistles trying to bear grapes or figs – something that’s just not going to happen – such that eventually, like nonproductive trees, they will be cut down and destroyed.

Jesus goes on to tell his believers that not all who call on him as “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, that only those who do the will of his Father will enter. He tells them that in addition to calling him “Lord” many people will tell him on the day of Judgment that they prophesied, cast out demons, and performed many miracles in his name, but he will them “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” because although they called on him as an earthly Lord and did all of these things in his name as Messiah, they never did his Father’s will which was to fully believe he was the Christ, the Son of the Living God and have faith in what he had done.


“Foundational Authority”

Jesus ends his words to his believers on the mountainside by telling them that whoever hears his words and lives them out is like a wise man who built his house on a foundation of rock so that it is able to withstand bad weather when it comes in contrast to a foolish man, who having built his house on sand, loses it when it crashes down during a storm.
Having finished speaking, the crowds were amazed at Jesus’ teaching because of its inherent authority, being used to the authority the teachers of law had because of their academic positions.


PRINCIPLES

1. The Gospel Writer, Matthew, told his First Century audience that Jesus told
his believers that hearing and living out his word produces a firm
foundation for life.


2. What did Matthew say that Jesus told his believers a firm foundation for
living does?


3. What does Jesus tell us as believers today a firm foundation for living does?


4. A firm foundation for living helps us to:


- not self-righteously judge our neighbor

- discern who we share the Good News of the kingdom with

- go to the Father in prayer

- treat others as we would like them to treat us

- know there is a narrow path to the kingdom

- know there are false prophets who lead down a wide path to destruction

- be able to identify the ministries of false prophets

- know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God

- know that Jesus’ authority was from above


PRAYER


Our Father, we thank You and give You praise for Your Son’s words to us from the mountainside.

Our Father, we thank Your Son for fulfilling the word of the Law through these words and by what he did for us.

Our Father, forgive us when we self-righteously judge our neighbor, forgive us when we do not treat our neighbor as we would like them to treat us, forgive us when we do not come to you in prayer as you call us to.

Our Father, help us to discern those who would turn on and harm us for sharing the Good News of your Kingdom and to be able to identify the fruitless ministries of false prophets in this world that can lead us and others down the wide road to destruction.

Our Father, help us to know with certainty in our hearts that Jesus is the Christ, and Your Son , for You are the Living God; and help us to know with certainty in our hearts that Jesus is both our Lord and Savior so that we will have no worry about which road we’ve been on or what gate we are at on the Day of Judgment .

Our Father, we thank you for the authority from above Jesus had when he was on earth and we thank You for the authority of Your Holy Word.
And, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we raise this prayer to You today.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

SEEK 1ST

TEXT Matthew 6 http://www.biblica.com/bible/verse/index.php?q=matthew6&niv=yes

PARAPHRASE

“Hypocrisy 1”

Regarding good works, such as giving to those in need, Jesus tells his believers not to show off by giving to those in need and then announce their generosity to impress others so they will think highly of them, but instead to give to those in need in a way that even they barely know what they have given because their giving flows from obedience to God and compassion for people. Jesus tells his believers those who give for the honor of men are hypocrites and receive no further honor while those who give out of obedience to God and compassion for people will be rewarded by Him.

“Hypocrisy 2”

Regarding prayer, Jesus tells his believers not to pray standing in the synagogues or on street corners as if they are on some stage giving a performance or like the pagans who repeat incantations over and over as if God weren’t all knowing. Jesus tells his believers that those who pray like this are hypocrites in that they are looking for applause from humans while his believers are to pray privately and to his Father instead of using prayer to perform like this for humans.

Jesus tells his believers they should pray like this:

Father in Heaven, Your name is Holy,

I pray that Your Kingdom and Your Will
be accomplished here on earth as in Heaven.

Provide us today what we need to live.

We ask You to forgive us our sins just as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us.

And protect us from pointless persecution,
but deliver us from Satan, the evil one.

Expounding on his prayer, Jesus tells his believers that if they forgive those who sin against them, their Father in heaven will forgive them as well, but if they don’t, their Father won’t forgive them their sins either.

“Hypocrisy 3”

Regarding fasting, Jesus tells his believers when they fast not to show people how much they are suffering by looking so somber and ill, but instead to freshen up by washing their face and by putting oil on their head so no one can tell whether they are fasting or not. Jesus tells them those who make a show of their fasting are hypocrites who receive their full reward from impressing those around them while those who don’t make a show of their fasting honor God by what they are doing and will be rewarded by him.

“Heart & Soul”

Jesus then tells his believers the difference between storing up earthly treasure and heavenly treasure. He says earthly treasures don’t last because moths or rust will decay and destroy them or thieves will break in and take them. However, he says heavenly treasures can’t be destroyed or stolen. Jesus tells his believers if they build up treasure on earth that is where their heart will be, but if they build up treasure in heaven this is where their heart will be.

Jesus tells them their eyes serve as a lamp for their body in that their eyes let light shine inside deep down to their soul. However, he tells them if their eyes don't let light in, their body is dark throughout deep down to their soul and they are living in so much darkness they don't even know it.

Jesus tells his believers that they can’t serve two masters because no matter how much they try they will end up hating and despising one of them and loving and devoting themselves to the other - they can’t serve both God and Money.

“Prolong & Provide”

Jesus tells his believers that God wouldn't give them such great gifts as life and a body and then neglect to provide for their needs when it come to eating, drinking, or clothing. Jesus tells them they can trust in God to provide for them by describing how God takes care of feeding the birds of the air and clothing the fields with lillies even though they are of less importance to Him than people are. Jesus tells his believers that His Father knows what they need so they shouldn’t go around lacking faith and acting the same way as those who don’t believe in God do, worried about what they will eat, drink, or wear. He tells them instead of worrying (something that doesn’t prolong their life), they should instead pursue God’s kingdom and righteousness so that their heart will be right and their soul will be full of light and as a result of this all their physical needs will be met as well. Jesus tells them to stop worrying about tomorrow and to live one day at a time by the grace of God because there are enough issues to deal with in the day at hand for them to be getting ahead of themselves and trying to play out in their minds what might never happen anyway the next day.


PRINCIPLES


1. The Gospel Writer, Matthew, tells his first century audience (and us today) what Jesus told his believers the consequences of a lost heart and dark soul were.


2. What did Jesus tell his believers the consequences of a lost heart and a dark soul were?


3. What does Jesus tell us today the consequences of a lost heart and a dark soul are?


A. Hypocrisy in

(1) Giving

(2) Praying

(3) Fasting


B. Earthly Treasures that

(1) Rot

(2) Get Robbed

(3) You Serve


C. Worries about

(1) Life

(2) Provisions

(3) Tomorrow


PRAYER

Our Father, We praise You for Your Kingdom and Your Righteousness.

Our Father, We praise You that heavenly treasures do not rot, can not be stolen, and are eternal.

Our Father, We praise You that Your Son is the Light of the world who shines into our soul taking away the darkness that otherwise naturally exists.

Our Father, Forgive us when we give, pray, or fast for any reason other than Your honor and glory. Search our hearts and remove all hypocrisy that exists. Cleanse our hearts of all mixed motives and falsehood so that what we do will be in Your Holy Name and not for human attention and praise.

Our Father, We ask that we would be strengthened by Your Holy Spirit so that we would seek first Your Kingdom and Your righteousness so that we would not lead lives of worry. We ask that we would grow in faith so that we would trust in Your provision and not act as if You did not exist or did not care about us.

Our Father, We ask that our eyes would shine so that others would see You and that You exist and come to know You so well that they too do not need to worry about their life or about tomorrow.

Our Father, we pray all of this in the Name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, Amen.

HOW TO LIVE

TEXT MATTHEW 5 http://www.biblica.com/bible/verse/index.php?q=Matthew 5&niv=yes

PARAPHRASE

“Live This Way”

Seeing the crowds, Jesus went up a mountainside and when those beleiving in him came to him he began teaching them using words of blessing;

Blessed are those who have lost their spirit because through their dependence (on the Messiah) they will gain God's kingdom where the last are first.

Blessed are those who are weeping for sins because they will be comforted (by the Messiah).

Blessed are the those who are gentle and self-controled because they will enter the Promised Land - the new heaven and the new earth.

Blessed are those who desire the righteousness and justice of God because they will be filled with it when the kingdom is consumated.

Blessed are those who are merciful to those who are guilty, suffering, and in need because they too will receive mercy from God.

Blessed are those whose hearts have been purified of sin because this makes them fully devoted to the Messiah and able to see God through the eyes of faith.

Blessed are those who make peace because in reflecting God through their acts of reconciliation they will be called His sons.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for their obedience to God because they, like those who have lost their spirit, will gain His kingdom.

Blessed are those who have false things said about them, those who are persecuted, and those who have many false things said about them because of Jesus. Such people can rejoice and be happy in spite of being treated in this way because their reward is ultimately in heaven – their treatment in this world will be like that of the prophets who came before them but who are now rejoicing in heaven.

“Preserve, Flavor, Reveal”

Jesus then told those who believed in him they are like the salt of the earth and the light of the world. And as salt, a preservative and flavoring for food, if they lose their saltiness, they lose their ability to preserve and flavor the world from moral decay as representatives of God’s Kingdom and therefore they are no longer good for anything. Being the light of the world by exposing sin's darkness and witnessing God's kingdom through their acts of comfort, mercy and peace will cause others to praise God in heaven - something that will not occur if they withdraw from the world and hide their light.

“Fulfill & Accomplish”

Jesus goes on to say he did not come to get rid of the Books of the Law or the Prophets but instead to fulfill what they say about him. Furthermore, he says that nothing of the Books of the Law and the Prophets will disappear until everything is accomplished prior to the end of times and that anyone who breaks the least of the commandments and teaches others to do so will be considered the least in the kingdom of God in contrast to those who obey and teach these commands who will be considered great in the kingdom of God. Jesus then warns those who believe in him that unless their righteousness is on a higher level than that of the religious leaders, i.e. their righteousness makes them the salt and light of the world, they too will be left out of the kingdom of God.

“Murderous Heart”

Jesus then begins fulfilling the Law starting with the commandment ‘Do not murder,’ by saying that since anger in the heart underlies murder if those following him are angry with someone in their heart they are subject to judgment in the same way a murderer is. He says that if in their anger they insult someone by calling them “empty headed” they must go before their religious leaders to give account of their sin and if out of anger they call someone a “fool” they are in danger of the fire of hell.

Jesus tells them there are two ways of reconciling their anger depending on whether they are angry with a fellow believer or with an adversary. With a believer, if they are in the process of offering a gift to God and remember a fellow believer has something against them, they are to leave their gift and go and reconcile with their fellow believer and then return to offer their gift to God. With an adversary, they are to settle matters quickly (during all the pretrial proceedings) if they are being taken to court because otherwise at the trial the Judge may rule against them and they will end up being handed over to an officer who will take them off to prison.

“Adulterous Eye”

In continuing to fulfill the Law, Jesus says something similar about adultery, that anyone who looks at a women lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. And, using hyperbole to promote the need to radically deal with sin, he tells those who beleive in him that if their right eye (that feeds their imagination) or right hand causes them to sin, cut it out or off because it is better to lose a part of their body than to sin because of it and then for their entire body to end up in hell.

“Exceptional Divorce”

About the sanctity of marriage, Jesus tells his disciples that although Moses said anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce, as the Messiah who fulfills the Law, he says that anyone who divorces his wife, except if she has been unfaithful to him, causes her and anyone who marries her to commit adultery.

“I Say Yes ”

Referring to a statement on keeping the oaths you have made to the Lord from Leviticus, Jesus provides further fulfillment of the law by telling those who believe in him that it is better not to swear by or make any oaths at all - either in the name of heaven (God’s throne) or in the name of Jerusalem (God’s footstool) – or by their own head, because all oaths are really oaths in God’s name and it is better to just be truthful by letting their yes really mean yes and their no really mean no because if it doesn’t, their lack of truth reveals the work of the devil in their lives.

“Respond Paradoxically”

Jesus quotes to his disciples from the books of Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy where it instructs on justice being provided by returning injury for injury. He then fulfills these Scriptures for those who believe in him by telling them not to resist an evil person, instructing them how to respond paradoxically to evil by turning their left check towards the one who strikes them on their right cheek, by giving their cloak to the one who sues them for their tunic, and by going two miles with the one who forces them to go one mile – confronting their evil in these "non-eye-for-an-eye-ways". Jesus also tells those who believe in him to give to those who ask them and to loan to the those who ask to borrow from them.

“Perfect Love”

Jesus tells those who beleive in him that although they have read in Leviticus they are to love their neighbor, they know their culture preaches they are to hate their enemies. However, he tells them in fulfillment of this that they are to love their enemies, especially those who persecute them, because even their persecutors are their neighbors. Jesus reminds those who believe in him that God provides sunshine and rain for both the righteous and unrighteous, the good and the evil. Jesus also reminds them that loving and greeting only those who love and greet them comes so natural that even the tax collectors and pagans do these things. He tells them that their love for people needs to be on a higher level, they need to be the salt and light in the world based on the righteousness of God, their purification from sin, and the compassion, mercy, and peace they have for others – perfected in their heavenly Father.


PRINCIPLES

1. Matthew told his first century readers that while sitting on a mountainside, Jesus taught those who believed in him how they should live.

2. What did Jesus tell those who believed in him 2000 years ago how they should live?

3. What does Jesus tell those who beleive in him today how they should live?

-Jesus says we are to live the blessed way not the cursed way.

-Jesus says we are to live as salt and light in the world not as good for nothing flames hidden under bowls.

-Jesus says we are to live resolving the anger in our heart not with perpetual murderous rage in our hearts.

-Jesus says we are to live cleansing lust from our mind not with adulterous eyes.

-Jesus says we are to live commited to the sanctity of marriage rather than to frivolous divorce.

-Jesus says we are to live speaking the truth not trying to hide behind the oaths we swear.

-Jesus says we are to live responding paradoxically to evil rather than by fighting it.

-Jesus says we are to live loving our enemies who persecute us not by hating them.

PRAYER

Our Father, We give You praise for Your Son’s teaching on the Blessed way to live. We ask Your forgiveness for how short we fall in living this way and we ask that Your Holy Spirit would renew us each day by cleansing us from our sin and would continue to help us grow in Your righteousness so that as Your sons and daughters we can be agents of compassion, mercy and peace in this world.

Our Father, We give You praise that as Your Son’s disciples we are the salt and light of this world. We pray that Your Holy Spirit would strengthen our faith so that our lives will both preserve and shine Your righteousness in this world so that others will come to know You, praise Your Holy Name and enter into Your kingdom.
Our Father, We ask as Your Son’s disciples that when angered, we will not sin, but instead will resolve the anger in our hearts as He instructed – through reconciliation and settlement rather than through insult and damnation.

Our Father, We ask as Your Son’s disciples that we will fight the temptation to feed our imagination with lust as Your Son fought His temptations by the devil in the desert through Your powerful Word. You have told us that when we are tempted you will provide a way out so that we can stand up under it and we ask You help us to prepare our minds with Your Word so that we have an answer for any temptation that seizes us.

Our Father, We praise You for the sanctity of marriage, for two becoming one flesh, and we ask that Your Holy Spirit would protect our marriages and the marriages of others. We ask that past life issues be recognized for what they are and identified when they are infiltrating, being acted out and contaminating the marital relationship and bond. We ask that the deep pains associated with past life issues - the scars they have left behind and the impact these pains and scars can then have on one’s marriage – be healed through Your Power and Love at the deepest levels possible in our lives so that we can be set free of these chains that bind us and which make it seem as if life would be better with someone else.

Our Father, We praise You for being Truth and Your Son for being the Way the Truth and the Life. And, we ask that we would speak the truth instead of trying to cover it up by throwing people off by swearing oaths in an attempt to unnecessarily try to protect ourselves from something we think will make us look bad, will impact our self-worth and diminish our dignity as a human being. You know that we end up thinking these ways because of our distorted view of ourselves based on our concluding certain events in our life mean something (usually bad) about who we are and based on our not fully embracing your creation of us in Your image and Your Son’s dying for us on the Cross as the foundation of our value and worth as a person. We ask that You free us of the distorted conclusions we have made about ourselves and that you transform our thinking so that we fully embrace Your Love for us as the foundation of our value and worth as a person – a Love that never changes and never ends.

Our Father, We ask that Your Holy Spirit give us the courage to respond to evil in a paradoxical way – by giving someone who is evil more than they are demanding and thus making them confront what they are really doing by turning the tables on them so they are no longer in the position of power and control. Keep us from returning evil with evil and from trying to resist and fight evil in our own way.

Our Father, We ask Your Holy Spirit to supernaturally strengthen us so that we can go beyond our natural ability to love and greet those who love and greet us, so that we are able to love and greet our enemies who persecute us. We ask that we are able to grow in Your righteousness as disciples of Your Son so that we become compassionate, merciful and peacemakers to all in this world regardless whether they love and greet us or not because we know You have perfect love, perfect compassion, perfect mercy, and perfect peace as our perfect Father in Heaven.

Our Father, We pray all of this in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, AMEN.

EVERY WORD: GOOD NEWS!

OCTOBER 1-4, 2009 THURSDAY-SUNDAY

TEXT MATTHEW 4 http://www.biblica.com/bible/verse/index.php?q=matthew4&niv=yes

PARAPHRASE

“Powerful Word”

After being baptized by John Jesus is led into the desert by the Spirit of God to be tested like Israel was when they wandered in the desert for forty years.
Hungry after fasting for forty days and nights, the devil tempts Jesus to sin by using his power as the Son of God to provide for himself by turning stones into bread instead of submitting to God’s will as the Messiah by living according to His Word. Jesus resists this temptation by quoting God’s powerful Word from the Book of Deuteronomy to the devil, “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

After this the devil tempts Jesus to sin a second time by taking him to the top of the Jerusalem temple and using his status as the Son of God to force God into using His power to save him. Trying to turn the tables on Jesus’ use of God’s Word to resist temptation, the devil misapplies a Psalm about God commanding his angels to protect those who trust Him in encouraging Jesus to throw himself off the top of the temple. Recognizing the devil’s attempt to trick him into demanding God miraculously prove He cares for him, Jesus resists this temptation by accurately quoting God’s powerful Word to the devil from another part of the Book of Deuteronomy, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”

Then, taking Jesus to a place where he shows him all the world’s kingdoms in their grandeur while hiding their sin, the devil tempts Jesus to sin a third time by telling him he can have everything he sees if he bows down and worships him instead of God. Recognizing the devil’s attempt to turn him into a worldly Messiah who avoids the Cross and engages in idolatry, Jesus resists this temptation by commanding the devil to leave as he tells him what it says in God’s Word in another part of the Book of Deuteronomy, “Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.”

And after this the devil left Jesus as angels came to be with him and care for him.

“Preaching Ministry”

Hearing John the Baptizer was now in prison, Jesus returned to Galilee a region of the Gentiles outside Judea. And, after leaving his hometown of Nazareth, he went to live in Capernaum by the Lake of Galilee in the areas of Zebulun and Naphtali which fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy about these Gentile Galilean regions which were considered despicable – “…the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” And from this time on Jesus began his preaching ministry continuing John’s message, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is near,” but within the context that with a light having dawned in the darkness of this region of the Gentiles, the kingdom of God was not only near, it had arrived with him – with his baptism and with his testing in the desert.

“Calling Disciples”

Walking along the Sea of Galilee, Jesus, seeing brothers Simon (called Peter) and Andrew as they are fishing, tells them to “Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” They immediately leave their nets to follow him. Farther along, Jesus, seeing brothers James and John in a boat with their father Zebedee preparing their nets calls them and they too immediately leave their boat and father to follow him.

“Healing Ministry”

Jesus teaches in the synagogues, preaches the good news of the kingdom and heals every disease and sickness the people have as he goes throughout Galilee. News of Jesus’ healing ministry spreads all over Syria leading to people with various diseases, those with severe pain, those who are demon possessed, those with seizures, and those who are paralyzed to come to him and he heals them all. People from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from across the Jordan make up the large crowds who begin following Jesus. Jesus’ healings further announce the kingdom of God has arrived; that he is the Messiah, the Son of God; and that the good news of the arrival of the Messiah and the kingdom has to do with God’s plan for dealing with sin – what John the Baptizer referred to as Jesus’ purifying baptism of the soul by the Holy Spirit and fire.

PRINCIPLES

1. The Gospel writer, Matthew, tells his first century readers (and us today) that Jesus was prepared for his ministry.

2. How does Matthew tell his first century readers (and us today) that Jesus was prepared for his ministry?

-Jesus was led by the Spirit of God into the desert to be tested like the Nation of
Israel had been.

-Jesus fasted for forty days & nights which made him hungry and vulnerable to the
devil’s temptations.

-Jesus fasted alone in the desert for a long time and learned that the Word of God,
not food, gives life.

-Jesus learned the how the devil worked in tempting him to sin:

-by tempting him to follow his own will

-by tempting him to misapply God’s Word

-by tempting him to put God to the test

-by tempting him with power

-by tempting him to worship other gods

-Jesus learned to resist and stand up to the devil’s temptations to sin by using
God’s powerful Word.

3. What does Matthew tells his first century readers (and us today) Jesus’ ministry was?

-Jesus’ ministry was to preach the “repentance of sin”.

-Jesus’ ministry was to be a “great light” shining in the spiritual darkness of
Galilee of the Gentiles

-a great light shining in the spiritual darkness of a despised group of
people

-a great light that would therefore shine in all the nations on earth

-Jesus’ ministry was one of disciples “catching” people so they could be saved from
their sin

-Jesus’ ministry was to “teach” people what the kingdom of God was like.

-Jesus’ ministry was to “preach” the good news of the kingdom

-that the Messiah had come

-that Salvation had come

-Jesus ministry was to physically, emotionally and spiritually “heal” people

-confirming he was the Messiah

-confirming the kingdom had come

-confirming God’s good news for sin

-that Jesus’ baptism by the Holy Spirit & fire purifies the soul of its
sinful nature

PRAYER

Our Father, We thank You for Your Son’s ministry, for the repentance of sin, for His being a light in the darkness to the despised Galilean Gentiles, for his being a light in the darkness to all nations of the world. Father, we praise You for this.

Our Father, We praise You and thank Your Son for his ministry of teaching, preaching and healing. We praise You for Your Son’s teachings about what Your kingdom is like and for preaching the good news about what it means that Your kingdom has come on earth as it is in heaven.

Our Father, We praise You for your plan for sin, for Your Son, the Messiah, the Suffering Servant, who identified with our sinfulness in his baptism, who you prepared in the desert to resist the temptations of the devil in order to obey your will – to follow and obey Your will even to the point of dying on the Cross for our sins – providing us the baptism of the Holy Spirit & fire that purifies our soul of its sinful nature.

Our Father, We thank Your Son for his healings for not only what they announced at the time but for what they mean for us today because of Your plan for our problem with sin.

Our Father, We ask that through the power of the Holy Spirit, Your Son would touch our bodies, minds and souls and cure us from all sickness and disease - that which relates to sin and that which doesn’t – and Your Son would cast out from our lives anything that is binding us, holding us hostage and keeping us from being restored to health. We pray that Your Son will cast out from our lives anything physical, emotional or spiritual that perpetuates any suffering in our lives whether we are aware of it or not. And Father, we give You the glory for forgiving us, restoring us, and for saving us through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Our Father We thank you for Your Son’s disciples, for those in our lives who helped to catch us as if we were fish in an ocean, who in following and obeying You and Your Son sought us out, found us and witnessed Your great light in this world to us, to our hearts and minds, so that we were able to hear, understand, and accept Your Good News.

Our Father, we ask that You test us, that You place us in the desert and tempt us so that we can be prepared for the ministry you have for us, so that we will be able to obey Your will instead of following our own.

Our Father, we ask that you strengthen us through our time of fasting and when we are alone for 40 days and nights and become hungry and more vulnerable to the devil’s attacks and temptations. Father, help us to know that Your Word is life itself and the only thing that can sustain us, that when tempted by the devil, if not for Your Word, our only option would be death.

Our Father, Help us to discern the devil’s ways of tempting us, the devil’s schemes of trying to get us to follow our will not yours, to misapply and twist Your Word to try and force You to get what we want, to crave worldly power and to worship other gods. Help us to stand up to temptation through Your powerful Word and by telling the devil to flee.

Our Father, Forgive us when we sin, when we fail to recognize the devil’s temptations, when we knowingly or unknowingly give in to them and when we fail to stand firm against temptations with Your Word.

Our Father, Forgive us when we fall short and do not obey You, when we fail to respond to Your Son’s call, when we have not been effective as disciples and when we have not let our light shine in this world.

Our Father, prepare us and use us as Your Son’s disciples, as fishers of men, creating in us the response you did in them when they obeyed Your will, not their own and followed Your son when he called. Help us to not put off Your Son’s calling in our life to some later date or time, help us to immediately go and follow Him when He calls.

Our Father, We pray all of this in the Name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, AMEN.

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