April 24, 2020 Good Morning!

We have completed the book of Matthew.....

Matthew Summarized

• Chapter 1  The genealogy of Jesus of Messiah
• Chapter 2 The wise men Visit the Messiah, The Escape to Egypt, The Return to Nazareth
• Chapter 3 John the Baptist Prepares the Way, The Baptism of Jesus
• Chapter 4 Jesus is Tested in the Wilderness, Jesus Begins to Preach, Jesus calls his disciples, Jesus heals the Sick
• Chapter 5 Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount, The be-attitudes, Salt and Light, The fulfillment of the Law, Murder, Adultery, Divorce, Oaths, Eye for an Eye, Love for your enemies
• Chapter 6 Giving to the Needy, Prayer, Fasting, Treasures in Heaven, Do not worry
• Chapter 7 Judging Others, Ask, seek, knock, The narrow and the wide gates, True and false prophets, True and False disciples, the wise and the foolish builders
• Chapter 8 Jesus heals a man with Leprosy, the faith of the centurion, Jesus  heals many, the cost of following Jesus, Jesus calms the storm, Jesus restores two demon-possessed men
• Chapter 9 Jesus forgives and heals a paralyzed man, the calling of Matthew, Jesus questioned about fasting, Jesus raises a dead girl and heals a sick woman, Jesus heals the blind and the mute, the workers are few, 
• Chapter 10 Jesus sends out the twelve
• Chapter 11 Jesus and John the Baptist, Woe on un-repentant towns, The father revealed in the son
• Chapter 12 Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath, Gods chosen servant, Jesus and Beelzebub, The sign of Jonah, Jesus Mother and Brothers
• Chapter 13  The Parable of the Sower, The parable of the weeds, The parable of the Mustard seed and the Yeast, The parable of the weeds explained, The parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl, The parable of the Net, A prophet without honor
• Chapter 14 John the Baptist is beheaded, Jesus feeds the five thousand, Jesus walks on the water
• Chapter 15 That which defiles, the faith of the Canaanite Woman, Jesus feeds the four thousand
• Chapter 16 The Demand for a sign, The yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducee's, Peter declares that Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus predicts his death
• Chapter 17 The Transfiguration, Jesus heals a demon-possessed boy, Jesus predicts his death a second time, the temple tax
• Chapter 18 The greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven, Causing to stumble, the parable of the wandering sheep, dealing with sin in the church, the parable of the unmerciful servant.
• Chapter 19 Divorce, the Rich and the Kingdom of God, The Little children
• Chapter 20 The parable of the workers in the vineyard, A mothers request, two blind men receive sight
• Chapter 21 Jesus comes to Jerusalem as King, Jesus at the temple, Jesus curses a fig tree, The Authority of Jesus Questioned, the parable of the two sons, the parable of the tenants
• Chapter 22 The parable of the wedding banquet, Paying tax to Caesar, The Greatest commandment, whose son is the Messiah?
• Chapter 23 A warning against Hypocrisy, Seven woes on the teachers of the law and the pharisees
• Chapter 24 The destruction of the temple and signs of the End times, The day and hour is  unknown
• Chapter 25 The Parable of the ten Virgins, The parable of the bags of Gold, the sheep and the goats
• Chapter 26 The plot against Jesus, Jesus anointed at Bethany, Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus, the Last supper, Jesus predicts Peters denial, Gethsemane, Jesus Arrested, Jesus before the Sanhedrin, Peter disowns Jesus
• Chapter 27 Judas hangs himself, Jesus before Pilate, The Soldiers mock Jesus, The crucifixion Of Jesus, The burial of Jesus, the guard at the tomb
• Chapter 28 Jesus is Risen, The Great Commission

PSALM 54

Prayer for Defense against Enemies.

To the Chief Musician; with stringed instruments. A skillful song, or a didactic or reflective poem, of David.

Save me, O God, by Your name;

And vindicate me by Your [wondrous] power.

Hear my prayer, O God;

Listen to the words of my mouth.

For strangers have risen against me

And violent men have sought my life;

They have not set God before them. Selah.

Behold, God is my helper and ally;

The Lord is the sustainer of my soul [my upholder].

He will pay back the evil to my enemies;

In Your faithfulness destroy them.

With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to You;

I will give thanks and praise Your name, O Lord, for it is good.

For He has rescued me from every trouble,

And my eye has looked with satisfaction (triumph) on my enemies.

Works Cited

Amplified® Bible (2015) 

Next is.......... The Book of Luke

The gospels share the same stories but different perspectives. We can pull out and skip around to different chapters. Basically we can read the chapters that differ from Matthew. Matthew gives us a full story of the gospel of Jesus Christ but we can learn more details from Luke. All of it is Good News. I like to think of each gospel as reading from different angles. 

For example: if you think about a room with five people; lets say each person is at a one corner of the room and the main person is at the front of the room. Each one is seeing the same thing but at different angles or we could say the gospel or their story is filter through that person as a individual who expressing their point of view. I am one person I cannot see everything that happens at every moment. I only have two eyes and two ears but with multiple people you have a clear picture to make one big picture as well as lots of agreement. One person may notice the speaker has a dot on his tie. Another may notice his shoes is brown but they agree on the major parts. It is true we all have different perspectives and certain things may jump out at one person versus another person may not notice it. Scholars also say that Luke did investigation so his writings will probably give bigger pictures than Matthew. 

Who is Luke?

Luke was a physician and he was also a missionary as well a fellow worker who worked with the Apostle Paul.

 (He is called Luke the Doctor)

His Audience: According to the NIV study bible his audience was Theophilus; but in general it is written to all believers. 

Luke Writings

( What Scholars have discovered about his writings)

• He understood the Greek 
• He had a great vocabulary
• He has a rich writing style
• Even though he writes about Jesus life scholars found that he used personal  investigation and other eyewitness accounts in his writings. He is not always the eye witness. 
• His language is different from the other gospels

Another example of differences between Luke and Matthew is the portrayal of John the Baptist. In the book of Luke we have lots of details about John the Baptist. We get a picture of his ministry in more detail and less details in the book of Matthew. Luke tells us about his teachings and both books share other similar details. 

As you read you can look for those similarities and differences.

I have meet lots of people who say they see contractions in the bible but I see none. I that that it works together logically. It is coherent. It is beautifully put together and at times its complex but I really think God wanted it to be simple so that all men could read it.

Luke Chapter 3

In the Fifteen year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar-when Pontius Pilate was Governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea, and Traconities and Lysanias Tetrarch, of Abilene- during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 

He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance of the forgiveness of sins. 

As it is  written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:

A voice of one calling in the 

wilderness

Prepare the way for the Lord, 

make straight paths for him, 

Every valley shall be filled in, 

every mountain and hill made low. 

The crooked roads shall become straight, 

the rough ways smooth, 

and all the people will see God's salvation. 

John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, you brood of vipers! 

Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father. For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. 

What should we do then? The crowd asked.

(what is producing good fruit?) 

John answered, Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.

Even tax collectors came to be baptized. Teacher, they asked, what should we do?

(John taught the people what was right in God's eyes)

Don't collect any more than you are required to, he told them. 

Then some soldiers asked him, And what should we do?

He replied, Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely ---be content with your pay.

The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah. 

John answers them all, "I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

(Jesus teaches about the Kingdom, He teaches what is right and he will give men the comforter)

His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat in the barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. And with many words John exhorted the people and proclaimed the good news to them. 

But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of his marriage to Herodias, his brothers wife, and all the other evil things he had done, Herod added this to them all: He locked John up in prison. 

THE BAPTISM OF JESUS 

When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying,  heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.

(Matthew says it differently, This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased, both statements say the same thing, just in a different way. Remember our vocabulary is different, our language is  different, we speak different, but some people find fault with the bible because of the writers. I not sure what those that dispute the bible really want because without witnesses you don't have a story. God allows these men to proclaim his word. It is flowing through a personality)

Now Jesus himself being about thirty years old when he begin his ministry. He was called the son, so it was thought, of Joseph. 

THE GENEALOGY

(Luke did research in his writings)

the son of Heli, the son of Matthat, 

the son of Levi, the son of Melki,

the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph,

the son of Matthathias, the son of Semein, 

the son of Josek, the son of Joda, 

the son of Joanan, he son of Rheasa, 

the son of Zerubbabel, he son of Shealtiel, 

the son of Neri, the son of Melki,

the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, 

the son of Elmadam, the son of Er, 

the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer, 

the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, 

The son of Levi,  the son of Simeon

the son of Judah, the son of Joseph

the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim, 

the son of Melea, the son of Menna, 

the son of Mattaha, the son of Nathan,

the son of David, the son of Jesse,

the son of Obed, the son of Boaz

the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon,

the son of Amminadab, the son of Ram, 

the son of Hezron, the son of Perez

the son of Judah, the son of Jacob, 

the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, 

the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, 

the son of Serug the son of Reu, 

the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, 

the son of Shelah, the son of Cainan, 

the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem,

the son of Noah, the son of Lamech,

the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, 

the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, 

the son of Kenan, the son of Enosh, 

the son of Seth, the son of Adam, 

the son of God. 

I find joy in the readings; and great joy because God gives John the Baptist great respect. Before we are introduced to Christ in the gospels we are introduced to his forerunner. He never had a drink, he was not with woman like we see men today, and he was separated from things that would defile him. He followed God from the time he was born. He was a special child and his parents were aware that God had blessed his mothers womb. 

I believe that the format of the Gospels are in honor of John the Baptist. He is not on the scene long but we know him. He is a part of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He also died doing the will of God.

He lived a very sacrificial life unto God and God honors him. 

 Jesus knew that John would live again. Deep in my spirit I just believe, John the Baptist is a very happy man in heaven. I believe that because according to Matthew when Jesus died on the Cross lots of good men were loosed from death. Do I understand it all. No. But Jesus got up, and John got up too, and according to Matthew many others got up too. 

I believe God is faithful and he has special things for those men who lost their lives for his sake.