Author: Pastor Steve (Page 33 of 48)

Everything we have been saying about Jesus’ authority to forgive sin carries over into the next story, which is why Matthew has included the account of his own calling to be a disciple in Matthew 9. He told about the calling of some of the first disciples earlier. He will provide a full list of the Twelve in chapter 10. Here he includes his own calling to indicate that, like the paralyzed man, he too needed to be healed by Jesus and that the malady he most needed to have cured was his sin. The account shows that his friends needed the same healing as well. Continue reading

People who read Matthew for the first time may think the arrangement of material is haphazard or at best merely topical. It is not haphazard. It is topical. But it is more than topical. First of all, we see a progression in the nine miracles. They start with simple physical healings: the man with leprosy, the sick servant of the centurion, Peter’s mother-in-law. Then they advance to Jesus’ power over nature, as He quiets a storm on the Sea of Galilee, and even over demons when He casts many of them out of the demon-possessed men from Gadara. In chapter 9, Jesus raises the dead and restores sight and speech to people who are blind and mute. Continue reading

“The Christian Gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me.” No disciple better personifies this truth than Thomas who we find in all four apostolic lists. Only John refers to him by name. Ironically, despite knowing little about him and despite the fact he wrote no Gospel or letter accepted by the early Church, he may well be one of the more generally well-known disciples of Jesus. Unfortunately, this popularity is associated with the familiar moniker, “Doubting Thomas,” that has unfairly singled him out from the other disciples. Despite what the other disciples told him; Thomas doubted that Jesus had risen from the dead. But when he saw the marks in Jesus’ hands left by the nails of the crucifixion, Thomas was persuaded of more than the resurrection! Amazingly, he called Jesus his Lord and his God (Jn.20.28). Continue reading

John, the son of Zebedee and younger brother of James, is believed to be the author of the Gospel that bears his name and close companion of Jesus during His final days in Jerusalem. Although the Johannine authorship is not without detractors according to Dr. Eckhard Schnabel “no early tradition ever disputes this identification.” Continue reading

Someone has said that “God prepares men then launches the events of history.” If all history is really the narrative of God unfolding His redemptive plan for mankind, then all history is worth studying. As we do, we discover a fitting plan whereby the right man (or woman) is present and prepared – at just the right time. Today we look at Annas, a person who figures significantly in Jesus’ last days, as we do, we see God’s Sovereignty. Continue reading

In Matthew 27, before Peter and John saw the resurrected Lord. He was seen by the women first, those who had been last at the cross and were now first at the tomb. Jesus met them on their way home after they had gone to the tomb, seen the angels, and heard about Jesus’ resurrection. The angel’s message contains four imperatives that are as important today as they were on that first Easter day for those women: “But the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for He has risen…” Continue reading