Day 69 of Reading the Bible in 90 Days

Good morning and a happy, peaceful, restful Sabbath to you. We are going to pick up our reading were we left off; in Matthew's account of the gospel. We've read through the Old Testament, all the prophets accounts of the gospel has been consumed by us and their warnings.

Matthew chapter 5

¹And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:
²And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,


Jesus, now of age to teach, went into the mountains and many people were following Him to be healed and be around this man that showed the similitude of one of the old prophets; like Elijah. Just like in our days today, no one is actually walking around and really healing anyone because the ailing people in the county hospitals would leave and find this person. And Jesus began to tell people what they are blessed for. I think people should take a double look at these.




If you're mourning, not just for rough things that happened or happens to you, but for all the bad and negative things you see and hear in the world, you'll be comforted. If you're meek, you're blessed and will inherit the earth, not heaven; if you're merciful, you will obtain mercy, if you're pure in heart, meaning you always have good intentions and follow that with good deed, you're blessed and will see God. Peacemakers are blessed, if you're choked for righteousness sake, or for Jesus sake, you're blessed and will see the kingdom of God.


Once you have good understanding of the word of God; you are suppose to be the salt of the earth. Salt is the flavor of the food. We are suppose to flavor the earth with truth and hope of the better day that the Lord is going to bring by sharing His Word (v13). We are suppose to be the light to the world; you cannot hide under a bush and think to shine your light? We are suppose to shine so men can see our good works and want to serve our Father in heaven.


¹⁷Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.


Remember Leviticus and Exodus, and all the things spoken by the prophets? Jesus says here clearly that we are not to think He has come to destroy (nail to the cross) the law or anything the prophets have said and proclaimed and declared. Jesus has come to fulfill His role in their prophecy. We still must all do our roles.


And just to confirm and put an exclamation point on that Jesus then says:



¹⁸For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
¹⁹Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.


The littlest law, like stealing a pack of skittles candy, will not pass until ALL is fulfilled. In the Old Testament, prophets spoke about Israel returning rejoicing, all nations coming up to Jerusalem, the sun being darkened. These things have not been fulfilled yet; so naturally all of the laws of God are still in full force. This is a good thing; because if you could commit adultery now; I know plenty of men who would be smiling... and women too.


Jesus even made the commandments even more binding where the sin is committed in your mind. Before if I actually committed adultery; I sinned. Now if I merely think about it, Jesus said I'm sinning; because He understands that all things we do originate in our minds.


The children of Israel use to have this real aggressive attitude, king David and his mighty men would stomp you out if you talked against the Lord or did against His ways, Elijah would be harsh to kings, Samuel chopped a man to pieces, Moses killed 3,000 men for making the golden calf. Jesus comes and turns that aggressive behavior and that zeal into peace.


If someone talks bad about you, let it go, if they want your jacket, give them your shirt too. If they smote you on the cheek, give them the other cheek. In plain words, be humble because the Lord will vindicate you in the latter days. Not that David and the priest and prophets were wrong, they were intact and nation ruling themselves then; but now they are under the Roman hand and there was much division among the children of Israel. So Jesus teaches to take the humble road.


Jesus warns to remove things from our lives that will cause us to get cut off from His kingdom. I know some men that really need to remove their eyes; but the reality is, if going a certain place or watching a certain program causes you to do foolish things, stop going to those places and watching those programs.


Jesus tells us to love our enemies; as the Father let's the sun shine on all; we are to love all. As the Master says, it easy to love someone who loves us; but it is much more challenging to love someone who always has it out for us.

⁴⁸Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.


Jesus ends this power packed chapter with what He told Abraham, to walk before the Father and be perfect, because the Father is perfect! We'll make mistakes for sure; but if you're striving for perfection, you will be great along the way.

Matthew 6

Here in chapter six, Jesus again continuing His teaching taught the children of Judah about being humble. Do not drop tithes in the bucket and tell the congregation that you just put in $500 dollars. That's what hypocrites and those who want credit do. When you give to the poor, don't even let your right hand know about it if you did it with your left hand (v1-3). Same thing when you pray; I'm sure you've seen people pray these long exaggerated prayers, squeezing their faces, repeating things over and over, and yelling at the top of their voice as if God is wearing a godly hearing aid.


But when you pray you pray go into a secret chamber and pray to the Father secretly. He already knows what you want and need. Just pray, even the Lord's prayer and get up and go. The Lord's prayer covers every base you need covered. Our Father who is in heaven currently, Holy is His name, His kingdom is coming soon (and not to a theater near you but you'll be in it in one way or another); and His will, will be done in the earth as it was in heaven. All that had a problem with His will in heaven were thrown out right?


Then in verse eleven we ask for food and things we NEED, and then we ask for forgiveness as we also have mercy and forgive others (many forget about this part).


Then we ask to not be lead into temptation, this covers all temptation, but the Lord does not tempt us. This temptation is the lust we have in our own minds. You see your neighbor always leaves his door open and you can be in and out with his valuables, that's your own temptation. The temptation the Lord gives is allowing your job to fire you and make it tough to get a new one; to see if you will still serve Him. He may let your child get ill and die and see if you curse Him and die as Job's wife told him to do. God may not allow your business to grow to see if you put Him on the fence or not. This is how the Lord temps us; and there is one final big temptation coming soon, it's the hour of temptation we'll read about soon, called the great tribulation.


Then the prayer ask the Father to deliver us from evil. We read in Isaiah that He can deliver you from evil by giving you a premature death. He can deliver you from evil by not letting you win a million dollars and destroying yourself, or He can do it the way we all like by just protecting us. Either way we have to understand that by God.


We end the prayer by acknowledging that it is His kingdom, He has the power and all the glory forever. Amen.


We covered every based we need in life and it was about thirty seconds. Now if you did something horrible and you feel bad; go in your closet and beg for mercy and forgiven. Make you one of those long prayers that Daniel and David did; but don't do it in front of people. The only one that matters in your prayer is God. Jesus main message is to do things for the glory of God and not to show off for man.


Jesus also tells us; not to strive to get rich while we are in this temporary form of life, where it will come to an end. I bought a new car in 2004 and each year it's breaking down. I got to buy another car in a few years. I buy an iphone and in a year they make a newer model, treasures corrupt in this life. But when the Lord comes and makes us God like Him; you can do something one time and it's good forever. No more innovation on the iphone; I made it perfect the first time.


If you put your heart on riches; you will end up serving your desire for riches; and you cannot serve two Masters at the same time. You have to serve God only, everything else is secondary.


²⁵Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?


Do not think about tomorrow; allow the God who created you to deal with it because He can see it. You can plan for it; but don't put heavy worry into it. If God takes care of the birds, He is certainly going to care for the beings He made in His image (v26-30). We have to have more faith in our God, seriously!


³³But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
³⁴Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.


The Lord makes a statement here that we should consider. Don't worry about what your poor family will eat or drink tomorrow or what you will wear, these things the Gentiles seek and worry about (Jesus was speaking to Israel telling them again don't do like the Gentiles). What we must do is seek after God's kingdom and His righteousness and all the things we need and want will be added to us. Solomon sought wisdom and money and power and greatness was added to him. You've heard the saying, let's cross that bridge when we get there, or let tomorrow take care of itself. You heard it from Jesus first!

Matthew 7 ¹Judge not, that ye be not judged.

Don't judge until you are qualified to judge, and do not correct others until you have corrected yourself.


¹²Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.


Ask and it will be given. I met a guy who would always ask because he told me there is a chance I can get it. But if I don't ask; I am sure not to get it. Look for it and you will find it, knock and it will be opened. Verse seven and eight is referring mostly to asking, seeking, and knocking for God's word and truth, and you'll certainly get it. However, it is not limited to that, you can ask, seek, and knock for material goods that you want that as well. As long as you ask with a pure heart and it will be received for the edification of the Lord God.


The Father will give, if we give to our children, the Father will certainly give to us. Do unto others as you want them to do to you; this is the law and the prophets. This is what they law and the prophets were trying to tell us.


¹³Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
¹⁴Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
¹⁵Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.


In life, do not always go with the trend or the fad; but go where it's narrow and few are going, especially pertaining to the word of God because narrow is the gate that leads to life and it is few that find it. Jesus also tells us to be aware of false prophets that come to you in sheep's clothing but are wolves within. There is a method to tell if a prophet is false, measure what he teaches against what is in the bible that you read every day! If a math teacher gets up and dynamically teaches and speaks on how 2 + 2 is 19, no matter how serene he was or how well he spoke, he is a false math teacher.


The same thing with a minister. It matters not how nice he dresses or how caring he listens to your problems; if he teaches out of the bible and it is different than what you plainly read; he is false, whether he does in on purpose or on accident.


¹⁶Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
¹⁷Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
¹⁸A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.


Bad trees bring bad fruit, so look at their behavior, look at their kids, look at their associates and friends; and that will tell you who they are. This is good stuff here; I thought the proverbs were wisdom; but this is far superior.


Jesus tells us that not all who call on Him will enter into the kingdom of heaven. This is scary until you read the end of verse 21; but all that DO the will of my Father will enter in. At the judgment, many are going to lay out all the things they did for who they thought was the Lord. Casting out devils, preaching, praying for the sick, giving to the poor. This does not sound like the bad people of the earth. The Hitlers of the world are probably going to take their punishment and go; but false ministers and all who followed them will be pleading their cause before the Lord. And for Jesus to profess that He never knew them and for them to depart out of His face those who work sin; that will be a horrible day (verse 21-23). This is why it is good to dig into this bible and find out and understand.


²⁸And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:
²⁹For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.


It is good to take heed to these words; dwell on what Jesus taught us from chapter five to this point. When He finished, the people were amazed at His doctrine, He taught with authority, and not like the other local preachers.

Matthew chapter 8

⁴And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.


Now Jesus had the ears of the people and He healed the people so many followed Him. He healed and told the people to do what is written by Moses. Jesus kept the commandments and He had to because no man is above the laws of God.


¹⁰When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.


And everyone with faith that heard of Jesus would come to Him. A Roman soldier heard about all He was doing and asked for his servant to be healed and Jesus began to go to the man's house. But the man did not think he was worthy at all of Jesus coming to His house and asked Jesus to just speak the word only. Jesus was amazed because the children of Israel did not have as much faith as this stranger had.


Jesus then commented on how people from all nations will come and sit down in the kingdom of God with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but the children of the kingdom, the children of Israel, will be thrown out because of their lack of faith (v11). The Jews and Israel have been killing God's prophets from day one. We read how Jeremiah went prophesying for years on end; no one listened. But Jonah went and spoke for one day to the Assyrians, sons of Ham, and they repented fasted even made their animals fast. Other nations catch on better than Israel when you count number for number. It doesn't mean the Jews are cast away. Jesus then said the word and the centurion's servant was healed in that same hour.


Jesus was on a healing mission, He healed Peter's wife's mother, pulled out devils, healing all who were sick; because He was fulfilling prophesy. ¹⁷That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.


In verse twenty, Jesus let's us know that He did not have a home once He moved from His parents house. He traveled much, so He probably lodged in peoples homes in towns that received him or he probably stayed at different disciples homes because He didn't have a place to lay His head. He also let's us know that He knew that Israel as a nation were spiritually dead, by the statement, "let the dead bury their dead." He was about life; spreading the news on how to obtain eternal life, and He did not have time to wait on people who were not about life. Let the spiritually dead bury the physical dead (v22).


Jesus then went into a boat and the winds picked up and Jesus was in the back sleeping while His disciples were all panicked. He was wakened and told the sea to calm down and it did; and they were amazed. Jesus told them they could do that too; but they lacked faith. We can do that, but we lack faith in God and ourselves.


Another interesting story is when Jesus came into the country of the Gergesenes, two men possessed with devils came out of a graveyard, fierce and wild, that no one would even go near them. We've seen that, people so crazy you don't even want to go near them. Those are the people we originally crossed to the other side of the street for.


The devils cried out to Jesus asking Him what He was doing here with them, they called Jesus the Son of God, and asked if they are to be punished before their time? This let's us know that you can't just confess with your lips that Jesus is God or Lord because devils do that and disobey and will be punished; so we will to if we just say, Jesus is Lord, then proceed to do everything we want.


Jesus told them to leave the man and go into a herd of pigs that stood by and they did and the pigs ran violently into the sea drowning. The owner of the pigs fled and ran to tell the people of the city. Symbolically, Jesus reminds us of His dietary law by send the devils into the pigs and watching them perish. Then the people came out to meet Jesus and asked Him to leave up out of their coast.


Jesus just saved a man from being possessed with devils, a man who the people were scared of; and they are mad because one the herder will lose money on the pigs he was selling for people to eat, and two the people were upset they will not be able to eat the pigs. And they asked the Lord of the world to leave. Amazing.

Matthew 9

While Jesus had plenty of fans and followers, His teachings went opposite of many of the religious leaders of that day and even of this day; so that many began to talk against Him. When He healed a man; He did so by forgiving the man's sins. Certain scribes thought to themselves He blaspheming. Jesus asked them which is easier, telling a man to get up and walk or that his sins are forgiven?


Jesus let it be known to all the men that He has power on earth to forgive sins, but for their sakes will do what is more natural and acceptable; telling the man to get up and walk. And the people were amazed and praise God. The Pharisees gave Jesus a hard time for hanging out with sinners and other risky characters, the publicans. That's like Jesus coming and hanging out with bad politicians. Jesus asked them to healthy people need a doctor? No, sick people do, people keeping the law do not need Jesus as much as people who do not.


Jesus hung around sinners to correct them and heal them, not to get in good with them. This should slap some people awake that only like to be around so-called holy friends; the "I'm holier than thou" crowd need to hang around some unholy people and rub some of the holy on them.


Jesus then raised a young girl from the dead. She had a fever and died and Jesus brought her back to show the people and us the power of God. He didn't pound on her chest and give CPR, He simply grabbed her hand according to Matthew, and she was revived (v25).


He gave the sight back to two blind men and said something we should pay close attention towards: ²⁹Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you. It is according to our faith that we are healed or that we succeed, or that anything that befalls us. If we believe, we can certainly achieve it. Do you believe you can get that job? Let it be according to your faith!


Jesus kept performing miracles and healing, the religious leaders kept hating and speaking against Him, and Jesus said the workers of God are few, but the work needed to be done is great. He told us to pray for more workers for the harvest.

Matthew 10

Jesus now selects 12 men (for each tribe of Israel), and He gave them power to do all that He was doing; power against unclean spirits, heal all manner of sickness, and teach His true words. Remember, He was looking for more workers to assist Him in this heavy job of bringing more souls to the harvest. He also gave them a directive:


⁵These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:
⁶But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.


He commanded that they do not go and teach the Gentiles and I'm sure other strangers (He just mentioned Gentiles in particular because they were in power at the time), but to rather go and teach, heal, and revive the lost sheep of the house of Israel. You have to reteach the priest before you can send them to teach the others. The teacher must go to school before they can teach one student. Tell the Israelites that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Do this freely, do not take money, just go.


Teach to all the house of Israel, who ever receives you go in; who ever rejects you leave out, but teach. Remember what Ezekiel said about being a watchman right; it is the priest job to give the message from God; not to convert a soul.


The people that reject you, Sodom and Gomorrah will be more tolerable than it will be for them in the day of judgment. Also, Jesus reminds them that He is sending them as sheep among wolves, so they should be as wise as a serpent, but harmless as doves.


As they did to prophets; so will they do to real servants of Jesus Christ. Jesus is speaking in the future so He is speaking to them to write for our edification later.


We are not to worry about what to say if people arrest us or alienate us for trying to serve the Lord. We are to relax and let the Father speak through us (v19-20).


This is something that many people do not realize, it is that Jesus has not come to the earth to send peace initially, but to bring a sword (v34-36). He will begin dividing households starting with the parents and kids, spouse, and even in laws. When you begin to really serve Jesus, you will have enemies and they will begin in your own house.


If you have no enemies and you've been a Christian for all your years; you may have to ask yourself, am I really serving Jesus? And it is for this reason that Jesus said anyone who loves their brother or sister and parents or spouse more than Him, is not worthy of Him (37). It may be one day that you decide not to celebrate Christmas because of Jeremiah 10 or you decide to keep the commandments of God and your friends and spouse give you a hard time about that. Are you going to forgo keeping the commandments in order to please your spouse and friends?

Matthew 11

¹And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities.
²Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples,


What Jesus did was set up teachers who went out to different cities to jump start the Israelites there in teaching them about the coming Kingdom of God. John was in jail and heard about what Jesus was doing, so he sent two of his guys to ask Jesus if He is the One. Jesus told them to tell John all the works He is doing and basically measure them against the scripture of all the things the coming Messiah was to do (v1-5). In other words; yes I am the Messiah; but some things Jesus let's us figure out on our own. If you keep answering questions for people, you sort of weaken them because they rely on you instead of praying to the Father and getting the answer on their own.


⁶And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.


If you are not offended by Jesus doctrine of keeping the commandments, He says you are blessed. Some are offended when they learn of a dietary law that prohibits them from eating their favorite pork or clams, oysters, and shrimp dishes. However, if you are not; you are blessed.


Jesus concerning John the baptist said that the prophet Malachi and Isaiah wrote about John as the messenger who will prepare the way for Christ (v10). John also was credited as being the greatest man that was born of women. We need to evaluate John's life and emulate. However, lowest man in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John (v11). Everyone in the kingdom of God we be immortal Gods and are just like Jesus; so quite naturally that will beat a man any day of the week.


Jesus also tells His disciples that John certainly came in the spirit of Elijah, who was taken up in a world wind.


Jesus wonders what to compare this generation to. He said it's like children sitting in the markets shouting to their fellows saying we have played music and you don't dance and we have mourned and you have not come to lament and comfort. In other words, we cannot please you no matter what we do. Jesus was referring to Himself and John the baptist. John did not eat the "finer" foods of the day and he did not drink any alcohol, and many of the religious leaders of his day said he has a devil (v18).


Jesus came eating whatever the big restaurants presented (clean foods, when He says eating it is compared to John's diet of locust and honey), and Jesus drank so much that the locals called him what people today would call "drunks" "winos" or "alcoholic." They called Him a wine bibber (v19). Jesus had a few drinks in His day, however, I'm sure it wasn't to the point of wasting Himself.
As Jesus went out and taught, He began to find fault with and severely hate and correct the doctrine of the modern day preachers and ministers. He told a lot of cities that if they do not repent, at the judgment (day), Sodom and Gomorrah will have it easy compared to them (v20-24).


²⁵At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
²⁶Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight.


Jesus thanked the Father that He has given great knowledge to people who appear to be babes in education and "theology", and has hid the basics prominent ministers and pastors and great men of "theology." This speaks volumes!

Matthew 12

⁸For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.
Jesus addresses the Sabbath day. People like to think the Sabbath day is and was a day of laying down and absolutely no work, work meaning you couldn't even walk to the kitchen to get a drink of water. It is not and Jesus gave examples when great men of God did things that profaned the Sabbath, but they were guiltless. However, the underlying message is that Jesus Christ is the Lord of Sabbath day, which is the 7th day of the week. That would mean someone else is the Lord of the first day of the week. We have to choose the Lord we want to follow.


¹²How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days.


Jesus furthermore, healed a man on the Sabbath day and told us that it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath day. Going to cheer up a ill friend is doing good works on the Sabbath day. Going to a baseball game is not necessarily in the same boat.


²¹And in his name shall the Gentiles trust. I saw this verse and couldn't help but think about the chapter in Malachi that spoke about the Lord's name being great among the Gentiles. Jesus was written as fulfilling this prophecy. I guess His name is actually Jesus and it's equivalents in any other language!


As Jesus continued to heal people and cast out devils; the Pharisees seeing the mounted pressure resorted to bad talking Him. It's like politics, when John McCain the US Senator, saw US President Barack Obama defeating him, McCain resorted to slandering President Obama's name. The pharisees did the same thing in saying Jesus cast out devils using the power of devils. Jesus explained to them that a house divided against itself can't stand, so He could not be doing His works in the name of Satan.


³¹Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.
³²And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.


So He warned the pharisees and all men today; that blaspheming the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. All other sin will be forgiven; but speaking against, lying on, and blatantly misleading people away from the Lord will not be forgiven, not in this world nor the one to come!


Because everything we do comes out of our mind, if we do evil it is because our mind is evil (v33-36). All idle words will be brought into judgment. I took the time to look up idle and the most comprehensive definition I saw concerning Jesus statement in verse 36 was this: having no basis or reason; baseless; groundless.


When you speak, especially concerning the word of God, and you have no basis for what you're saying, no reason, that is definitely idle and it will be brought up before you in the judgment.


The pharisees wanted a miracles sign from Jesus to prove He was the Messiah (v38-39). I'm sure if Jesus made Himself jump up to the clouds and come down safely, they would have thought He was some sort of freak of nature and not from God. So He did not give them a sign except from Jonah who we read about that went to Nineveh before trying to run from God's command.


⁴⁰For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.


Jesus was very definitive about the 3 days and 3 nights, almost exaggerating it so that you couldn't say 3 days as in Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. But you would have to count each night (12 hours) and day (12 hours). So all we have to do is find out when JESUS died and do the 3 nights and 3 days and we have proven that He is the Messiah or Christ.


I was most told He died on Good Friday and rose on Easter Sunday. However, the 3 days and 3 nights, in this instance, would prove that Jesus was indeed not the Messiah and that we are still waiting on Him to come and die for the sins of the people. I'll let the reader figure this one out by him or her self. Just remember to look at Daniel chapter 9 about the Messiah dying in the middle of the week.


⁴¹The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.


Jesus is warning His people to repent and they won't and He is greater than Jonah who preached to the people of Nineveh and they listened. Jesus just said the Nineveh people are going to condemn the Israelites because of their disbelief. The same will happen regarding the queen of the south, she came all the way up to hear Solomon's words concerning the name of the Lord, yet these Israelites in Jesus own backyard won't listen and believe and He is greater than Solomon.


⁵⁰For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.
Your real family are the people who do the Lord's will Jesus tells us. If your mom is an atheist, he may be your physical mom, but Jesus tells us that our spiritual brothers and sisters are our real family.

Matthew 13

Here Jesus saw large crowds following Him, so He addressed them speaking in parables. He spoke on the sower of seeds. After the parable, his disciples asked Jesus why He spoke in parables?


He replied that it is not for them to know the mysteries of the kingdom; so He speaks in parables to them because they do not want to see, hear, nor understand (v11-13). So really, the parables are always broken down to understand, if you do not want to deal with Jesus, then you won't understand it.


Remember, the Lord gives a good understanding to them who keep His commandments. Now if you didn't understand the parable of the sower of seeds, Jesus explains it clearly in verses 18 through 23. It should be much clearer to understand, if you want to understand it.


²⁴Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: He gave another parable of the kingdom of Heaven, the tares and the wheat. And He gave others, and none of the things He spoke to the crowd were not given but in parables. So after the people left, His disciples ask Him to break down the parable of the tares of the field.


³⁷He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;
Jesus is the one who sows the good seed.


³⁸The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;
The field is the world and the good seed are the people who will get into Jesus kingdom but the tares are of the devil.


³⁹The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
The enemy is the devil and the harvest is the end of the world, the reapers are the angels.


⁴⁰As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.
The wicked children of men are the tares that will be gathered and burned in fire at the end of this age (at the end of the day of rest).


⁴¹The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
Jesus will send His angels and they will gather out of His kingdom every thing that offends His laws and those people who sin willfully.


⁴²And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Those tares will be thrown in a furnace of fire, also known as the lake of fire where there will be plenty of suffering.


⁴³Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
The righteous will shine, as mentioned earlier in Daniel chapter 12, and be like their God. Those of us reading that have eyes and ears, let us hear and see.


⁴⁹So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just,
⁵⁰And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.


Jesus makes a lot of mention of the lake of fire, which is worse than what is described and called hell to us. Hell is made fun of on TV so often it is not even scary anymore. But Jesus said in the furnace of fire, there will be much suffering. We should take this to heart and really get it right.


⁵⁴And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works?


Jesus went back to His home town and taught and the people were amazed; but they since they grew up with Him they said "isn't this sweet little Jesus that grew up with us?"


Michael Jordan is just Michael to his family. Barack Obama is sweet like Barack to the people he grew up with. So it is hard to be anything great to them. Your older siblings changed your diaper, so you are just a little sibling to them; and they can't picture you as this great person you have become.


This lead Jesus to proclaim: ⁵⁷And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house.
⁵⁸And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.


Because Jesus miracles were based on the faith of the people He healed; He couldn't heal people in His home town because of their unbelief. Also we see Jesus parents had plenty of additional kids after Jesus, brothers and sisters had Jesus.

Matthew 14

You're probably wondering why John the baptist was jailed? He was jailed because he told Herod that that he could not marry his brother's wife because of the law. Herod wanted to kill him but the people thought John was a great prophet and there may have been an uproar if Herod did. So he simply jailed this man who was trying to save his life.


He had killed John because a birthday gift vow; but when he heard of the fame of Jesus, he thought John came from the dead (1-11).
Jesus was told of John's death and went by Himself. However, the people followed Him and He ended up doing a great miracle. Feed 5000 men, with only five loaves of bread and two pieces of fish.


He then gets on a ship and shows His disciples the ability to walk on water. Peter tried for two or three steps then lost faith and began to drown. It's like the man who makes 3 or four big business deals, then suddenly can't believe how well he's doing and thinks something is wrong. All of the sudden he cannot make another deal; all because of his own unbelief that started with just a drip of doubt.


They then went to the land of Gennesaret and all who touched His garment were healed.

Matthew 15

The pharisees complained to Jesus about His disciples not washing their hands before they ate. So Jesus controlled the conversation by asking them a question in verse 3.


³But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?


Jesus laid out one of the commandments that the people were breaking when they kept their traditions. ⁴For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.
By following their tradition, they have made God's commandment to have no effect on them and have made themselves hypocrites as Isaiah prophesied that the people love God with their mouths, but their hearts and minds are far from Him (v6-8).


⁹But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
When He said this, He told them that they worship God in vain, teaching the doctrines of commandments of men. Do not get caught worshiping God in vain; because Jesus will tell you to depart from Him, you who work iniquity.


¹⁴Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.


Make sure the person you are following is not blind. Both the blind leader and the blind follower will both fall in a ditch.
¹¹Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.


Many people enjoy using this verse as a means to void God's dietary law out. However, we will see if Jesus is referring to food or something else when He explains it to Peter.


¹⁷Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?
¹⁸But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.
¹⁹For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
²⁰These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.


What you eat ends up coming out of you as waste, but the things you say with you mouth came from thoughts you conceived. So the to EAT with unwashed hands does not defile you.


He did not saw to eat a pork chop with fried catfish does not defile you, because that will, but with unwashed hands, no!


Only to the Lost Sheep of Israel


A Canaanite woman came crying after Jesus to help her daughter who was vexed with a devil, and she was persistent with it till the disciples wanted to send her away.


²⁴But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.


Jesus finally turned to her and told her His job and mission requires Him to only speak with and reteach the lost sheep of the house of Israel; and they being the priest of God will then teach and heal the nations.


She worshiped and begged Jesus for help and wouldn't leave. Jesus told her it is not good to take the children's bread (Israel) and give it to the dogs (strangers). She agreed, but said still the dogs (non Israelites) can eat the crumbs that fall from the Master's table (v26-27).


With that great faith, Jesus healed the daughter. It only takes faith to get something done. Again Jesus fed a multitude of men up to 4000 plus with seven loaves and a few pieces of fish. Faith that the Father can provide is the key to life.


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Peace & Grace