Mt23

Imagine the tone in which Jesus delivered His message to the "religious hypocrites"! I guarantee it was a blistering rebuke not a gentle instruction.

I am convicted by the challenges this message contains. Aren't you? These men were primarily focused on external appearance. They wanted to "look good" to others, but the reality of their hearts was a different story. They challenged people to do things they themselves would not do. The talked of generosity, yet they were full of greed and self-indulgence. They spoke of having peace with God, yet their converts were all children of hell. What they said and what was true were in opposition to each other.

In summary, these hypocrites were all about themselves! THEY were who mattered to them. Jesus says that they were ruled by pride. His challenge to them and to us is clear. He said, "Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."

Mt22

When was the last time you were either "amazed" or "astonished" by something Jesus said or did? If you had to pause and think, you have drifted too far from Christ!

Jesus was a teacher who "amazed and astonished" even those who were seeking to kill Him. Anyone who had a conversation with Him and everyone who heard Him teach was profoundly impacted by His words and His actions. Jesus was God in flesh and there was never a day that His life did not demonstrate that reality to everyone who encountered Him.

I am convicted today that my life has drifted from the "amazement and astonishment" of Jesus. I am in a season where I believe God is eager to "amaze and astonish" again. He is able. It is all He does! Anyone not amazed or astonished was simply not paying attention to all Jesus was doing. My prayer is that I would see clearly what God is doing in our day.

Mt21

When do you think about faith? Is it when you are wanting God to do something for YOU or is it when you are wanting God to do something for HIM?

Jesus said, "If you have faith and don't doubt, you can do anything." If Jesus said it, then it is true. So the question remains, why do so few things that we want actually happen? Is is a lack of faith? 

I believe the answer is simple. Faith in Jesus that is directed for our selfish desires is simple misdirected faith! Jesus generally doesn't desire for us the same things we desire for ourselves. His desire is to make us like Him. Our desire is to make our lives better. He desires to make our eternity better. Our desires is to have a great life.

Have faith in Jesus today for heaven's sake. This kind of faith will not go unrewarded.

Mt20

Greatness is not in the number of people who serve you, but rather in the number of people you serve. 

It never ceases to amaze me how opposite this world's ideas are to those of Jesus. We value first. Jesus values the last. We value being served. He values serving others. He was God and He gave Himself for us! He was a servant to all. Giving everything so that we could have eternal life. The crazy thing is that we think we DESERVED that!

God generously gives Himself to us. We fail to be grateful. We desire Him to continue to serve us. It is upside-down! 

Find someone to serve today. It is a statement of gratitude. It is the action of greatness.

Mt19

I know of no greater measures of one's faith than their giving and their marriage. Anyone truly following Christ will seek to be fully devoted and faithful to a marriage that pleases Jesus and be generous with the financial resources God has entrusted to them.

Without Christ our marriages turn into a selfish pursuit of our own desires. It is by His spirit that we are convicted to truly love and lay down our lives for another. It begins with our spouse, but should extend to everyone! If we don't have a great marriage, the rest of our relationships are sabotaged.

The same is true of our giving. If we are not generous toward God, our value system is totally out of wack. God has given us everything! As we give to advance His work, we are acknowledging that we understand the purpose of money. Most are unwilling to trust God with a tithe, much less everything they have!

It is a good thing to examine ourselves.

Mt18

What value do we place on the children in our lives? What are we influencing them to become? Who do we desire them to be?

Jesus said, "woe to anyone who leads a leads a child away from Me!" Now I doubt that any of us would intentionally "lead" a child to not follow Jesus, much less to walk away from Him, but I wonder if our lives are actually doing just that! What is it that we praise our children for? What do we train them to know and do? What do we commend in them?

These verses are particularly critical for parents. God has entrusted the next generation to us. What children believe about Jesus will be the result of what they "see" in our lives. I pray my kids see a true pursuit of Jesus in me. I pray they desire to follow Christ because they are encouraged to do so with my words and my life. I pray I will value nothing more than that in them.

Model for the children a pursuit that really matters.

Mt17

What will we do as a result of our faith today? Jesus expected His disciples to live by faith. He was discouraged when their faith was so small that little was happening in their lives as a result of it. How do you think Jesus would feel about your faith?

I wonder what kind of disciple I would have been. Would I have been the one who was often rebuked by Jesus for saying and doing the wrong things? Would I have been over zealous? Doubtful? Bold? Have you ever placed yourself in the disciples situations? I try to think about that all the time.

Frankly, I think whatever is true of our faith today would have been true of our faith back then. Personally I feel that God would do far more with all of us if we would simply apply His word more directly in our daily lives. He is still at work in mighty ways. He still has the power to do supernatural things. His desire is to do those things through those of us who believe.

There is no doubt Jesus would say to me. "You have little faith." I'm convicted today.

Mt16

I joyfully give up my "nothing" to gain everything in Christ. Jesus does not want to be "added" to our lives. He wants to totally have them! If we have everything in this life without Jesus, we have nothing in the life to come.

"Beware of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees." Jesus said that it just takes a little false teaching to ruin the purity of the gospel. These religious leaders were all about keeping external rules and regulations to "earn" God's favor. Jesus makes it clear in this chapter that there is nothing one can do to "merit" salvation.

Jesus said, "If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me will find it." Salvation comes not through merit, but rather through yielding our lives to Jesus. We must lose ourselves to gain Christ.

Mt15

Sadly, often religion becomes a substitute for seeking God and actually ends up driving us away from Him. We are so prone to self-righteousness that we naturally reject God in the name of religion.

In this chapter, self-righteous pharisees were dishonoring their parents, yet very particular about eating rituals! They were tithing of their wealth, yet they were not generous. They felt righteous before God, yet Jesus saw them as utterly sinful. Their religious pursuits defined "hypocrite" in Jesus' mind.

It makes me wonder what things I do in the name of religion that are dishonoring to God. Do I do things in His name that He would have nothing to do with? Am I more like the pharisees than I want to admit? Are you?

Mt14

Other than Jesus, only Peter actually walked on water! It was only for a moment, but every step was one more than any other man. His method was to focus on Jesus. When he took his eyes off Jesus, he sank like a rock. In the midst of his sinking he prayed an awesome prayer; "Lord save me!"

The key to getting through the storms of life is to focus on Jesus and to walk with Him. Peter was able to "walk" on water because Jesus was walking on water. As long as Peter was focused on Jesus, he was able to do everything Jesus was calling him to. When he changed his focus to something other than Jesus, he began to sink. Peter's next great move was to pray! Peter blew it plenty, but in this chapter we have much to emulate.

This principle applies to every aspect of our lives! Seek to focus on and follow Jesus today. Don't let life distract you from the reason for living. Walk with Jesus.

Mt13

Parables were Jesus' preferred teaching method. A story that makes a point. This chapter is full of parables about the "kingdom of God". Jesus told several of them and then asked His disciples, "Do you understand all of these?" They said, "Yes we do."

But did they? Absolutely not. At least not yet. They were more confused after He finished than before He started! They asked Jesus to explain, but still did not have the context to get the message right. They were still looking for an earthly kingdom in which Jesus rule. They had no idea.

But what was the purpose of the parables? Was it not to help them turn their attention to a kingdom that is NOT of this world? Wasn't it to get them to live for something bigger than this life? Wasn't it to get them to joyfully and intentionally know that this life is only lived purposefully as we gather souls for the life that is to come?

I think so.

Mt12

Have you ever heard of the "unforgivable sin"? Maybe you wonder if you have committed it! Jesus said, "Every sin and blasphemy is forgivable accept blasphemy against the Holy Spirit." But what is that?

Consider the whole of scripture. What is the requirement for salvation? What is the basis for my salvation? Who can be saved and what must they do? The answer is clear: repent of sin and put your faith in Jesus. Another way to say it; place your trust in Jesus. Look to Him for salvation.

The unpardonable sin is rejecting the work of the Holy Spirit! His role is to lead us to embrace Jesus. To "blaspheme" Him is to reject His conviction on our lives. In this chapter, not only were they rejecting the work of Jesus, they were giving credit to Satan, for that work!

Many believe "the unpardonable sin" cannot be committed today! They believe that Jesus is speaking about a situation that is specifically happening in this context and could only happen when He was present on this earth. Yet, many die without "God's pardon." Their sins will not be forgiven. They have committed the "unpardonable sin."

Mt11

Do you ever struggle with doubt? Even John the Baptist struggled. Notice how Jesus dealt with his doubt. He encouraged John to examine His life and the scriptures even more closely. He knew the scriptures would continue to strengthen John's faith in Him.

I think we all struggle with doubt from time to time. Life is a constant battle and doubt is a powerful weapon in Satan's arsenal. When we doubt, we are not confident in the things Jesus is calling us to do. When we doubt we are not pursuing with all our energy the life that is to come. We get trapped in the short-sighted reality of this life alone.

We should take our doubt to Jesus and the scriptures. Our doubting in not sin. Continuing to doubt without seeking answers is. Truth can handle all questioning. Jesus said, "Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Great words from our Savior.

Mt10

How quickly and easily do we identify with Jesus? Are we quick to identify with Him or are we afraid of what others might think if we "lead" out with being a follower of Jesus?

I have discovered that most christians rarely talk about their "love" for Jesus even with other christians much less non-believers or strangers! We might not be quick to deny Jesus, but we certainly are not bold to identify with HIm. We are afraid of what others will think. 

Stop and think about this for a minute. Is there anything right about that? Absolutely not! Jesus said, "If you acknowledge me before men, I will acknowledge you before my Father in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, I will deny him before my Father in heaven." Jesus said this knowing it would create conflict! Yet He challenged His followers to be bold.

Why? Because we never know who God is calling to Himself and He might just want to use us to lead them to Him. Remember Jesus' one prayer request yesterday? 

Learn to be bold in identifying with Jesus. 

Mt9

Jesus' one prayer request was that God would raise up laborers in the harvest of souls. Are you an answer to that request? Are you seeking to introduce others to Jesus?

This chapter begins with a group of friends who bring their crippled buddy to be healed by Jesus. Jesus saw "their" faith and healed the crippled man. This man could have never had this encounter with Jesus apart from his friends. They were the ones who provided the opportunity for him to meet Jesus. In many ways, we are the ones who have a similar opportunity with those who we consider friends. They might not be crippled but, without Jesus, they have an even more deadly disease!

Jesus said, "The harvest is plentiful, the laborers are few." Are you a laborer for the kingdom. Have you introduced anyone to Jesus? What could be more important than that? What could be more satisfying? Make it your goal to be working in God's harvest this year.

Mt8

Did you notice what "amazes" Jesus? It was a Roman centurion who understood and respected authority.

Jesus was continuously encountering people who wanted something from Him. They were constantly coming to him asking Him to heal their sickness or help someone they loved in need. Yet this centurion was unique. He demonstrated a faith that impressed Jesus. He understood a principle that cause Jesus to commend his faith and set him apart.

But notice the comment it provoked in Jesus. He said, "I tell you that many will come from the east and the west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Jesus was amazed at the faith of this Roman, but broken hearted that many Jews would reject Him.

Often those who have the closest seats to the action, miss the whole game. Don't miss the point of the gospels. Place your faith in Jesus.

Mt7

Enter by the narrow gate. It is difficult and unpopular but it leads to life! The easy and broad way leads to death.

Living to please God is becoming more and more difficult in our culture. Morality and faith, conviction and principle are less and less popular every year. If you want to take abuse in this culture, take a stand against selfishness and sin. Say that there are things that God hates and things that are wrong.

God's path seems to be getting even more narrow as each year passes.

Mt6

If you do what you do to get the approval of men, your reward is limited to this life and men's capacities. If you do what you do to be rewarded by God, your reward is eternal and has unlimited capacity! Do what you do for God's approval.

It is difficult to escape the trap of wanting man's approval. In fact, often even our "righteous acts" are done purely to be seen by others. Jesus takes a hammer to that whole idea. He says, "Don't seek man's reward. Seek God's." 

What is our private life like? When we are alone, out the view of others, who are we? It is in those moments that our relationship with Jesus comes into the clearest view. It is in that context the "Who and What" we value has the greatest attention. The second question is, "Who are we around others?",and "Does who we are change depending on the others we are around?" 

Let this year be a year of seeking to truly please God in every context. He will reward us.

Mt5

When the whole chapter is in RED LETTERS, you should probably pay close attention to every word! Apparently Jesus was into short, extremely powerful sermons. Every sentence could easily be a something to ponder and meditate on. Wow.

Some would say this is the greatest sermon ever spoken. Jesus Himself speaking to His new disciples and those who would gather to begin His earthly ministry. Every word is God's word. Every sentence is powerfully crafted. Every point is easy to grasp, yet will never be fully understood. 

Take your time as you read and meditate on these verses.

Mt4

It should bother us that Satan used (or should I say misused) scripture to "tempt" Jesus! Often he will use a wrong interpretation of God's word to lead us to sin. Even in the garden of Eden, his strategy was to misquote God Himself. His first words were, "Did God really say"?

We need to be good students of God's word. Our world is messed up and there is temptation on every corner. We are bombarded almost continually with challenges to God's word and truth! We need to be more vigilant to know what God has truly said. Let's make this year a year of growing in our knowledge and understanding of all that God has said.

Temptation will come. Jesus fought temptation with truth. Seek to know and live by the truth.

Mt3

What do you think John the Baptist was like? He obviously wasn't the "best dressed preacher", nor was his diet the "newest trend", but his teaching was humble, truthful and full of conviction. I would have love to have been on the scene when Jesus came to be baptized by him.

Speaking of baptism, have you been baptized since you have become a christian? Jesus Himself thought it was necessary to be baptized. He said it was to "fulfill all righteousness". His baptism pleased the Father. It was at HIs baptism that the Holy Spirit descended on Him in the form of a dove. Jesus encouraged his followers to be baptized and He commanded them to baptize everyone who put their trust in Him.

If you have not been baptized since coming to faith, I would encourage you to make this year the year you follow Jesus' example and get baptized. You won't regret obeying Jesus in this way. Don't let lame excuses keep you from obeying Jesus and following His example.

Mt2

Are you seeking to hear the voice of God today? If you hear His voice, will you obey? 

Two things struck me from today's chapter. First is the number of times that God spoke to people in their dreams! He spoke to Joseph and to the wise men multiple times in dreams. They knew it was the voice of God and they obeyed it immediately. Does God still speak to us in dreams? Generally when I have a dream, it's just weird. I dream a lot, but I rarely sense that God was speaking to me directly through a dream. Have you?

Secondly, I am amazed at the cruelty of Herod. He slaughtered babies in order to protect his place of power! Imagine the horror that filled the community. Imagine the pain that entered every household with a small boy! It is unthinkable to me that men would have carried out those orders. Ultimately, even Jesus would be slaughtered on the cross!

Since Adam and Eve's sin in the garden, this world has been messed up! Even today there are unbelievable atrocities happening in our world (abortion, senseless violence, trafficking, etc.). We need to be hearing and obeying the voice of God. Wise men still hear and obey God's voice. Follow God's leadership today.

Mt1

It's a new year! Purpose to spend time each day reading the Word of God. It will be time well spent. Find someone to commit to reading the New Testament with you. Do it together. Talk about what your reading. Ask questions. Share insights. Help each other learn and grow. If you are a parent, instruct your children in these truths. Make 2014 the best year yet for your personal study of God's word.

Mt 1: I am always amazed at the women listed in the lineage of Jesus; Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba (listed as Uriah's wife). It is as though Matthew wanted to emphasize the evidence of grace in the lineage of Jesus. All of these women have very colorful backgrounds. All of them were "unlikely" candidates to be is the line of Jesus. Yet, we find them boldly listed and named.

The gospel is the story of God's grace. Grace that is greater than all our sin. Grace that allows each of us to be used by God in many ways. 

It's a great beginning to the best book ever written. Enjoy God's word with me this year!

troy