Messenger: Brian Hupp

In this study, we discuss Jesus’ trial before the Roman prefect – Pontius Pilate. We see from Luke’s account that Jesus actually stood trial before Pilate twice. Between these hearings, upon learning that Jesus was a Galilean, Pilate sent Jesus to Herod Antipas the tetrarch of Perea and Galilee hoping… read more

We continue our verse-by-verse study through Matthew with Peter’s profession of faith in Jesus as the Messiah/Christ at Caesarea Philippi

By His sacrifice of His own life on the cross in our place, Jesus has redeemed us out of slavery to sin and the curse of death that sin brings with it. But our justification by the shed blood of Jesus is just the beginning of the process of sanctification through which God is perfecting us into the image of Jesus to make us ready for the culmination of His redemption of us unto eternal life. As we pass through His sanctification we will experience times of great triumph, but we will also go through periods of spiritual drought and outright rebellion against God – possibly even falling back into those same sins out of which Jesus first rescued us. In such times, our great enemy will attack us with lies – even causing us to question our salvation in Christ. But Jesus our Redeemer also stands ready in such times to be our great Restorer – bringing us back into fellowship and continuing His process of sanctification within our hearts by the power of His indwelling Spirit striving against the weaknesses of our fleshly selves.

Some of the Sadducees and Pharisees demanded a sign from Jesus to demonstrate the He is the Hebrew Messiah, but He refused to give them a sign and departed from them. Later He warned His disciples to beware the “leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. They thought that He was speaking about the leaven of earthly bread, but He chastised them saying to remember His provision of bread in the feeding of the 5,000 and later the 4,000. Then they realized that He wasn’t speaking of actual leaven, but the spiritual leaven that is symbolic of the sinful false teaching of Israel’s religious leaders. Of course, the same warning is applicable to the false teaching in the Church today.

Matthew records a number of miracles in his gospel account. Matthew’s purpose in sharing these stories was to show his Jewish audience that Jesus is their מָשִׁיחַ mâshîyach – the promised anointed one whom the Jews have been awaiting since the time of Abraham. Jesus Himself speaking to Phillip said that if Phillip didn’t believe Jesus was in the Father and the Father in Jesus, then at least Phillip should believe on account of the works that Jesus performed. Jesus never performed His miracles to put on a show or to convince anyone He is God. Most often, Jesus healed people in response to their faith that He could rather than the other way around.

WARNING – Unscrupulous prosperity gospel preachers in our world today have twisted this concept to say that if we only have sufficient faith, God will be obliged to bless us in any way we might choose. Of course, this is blasphemous heresy put forth by men and women with no fear of God.

Matthew records a number of miracles in his gospel account. Matthew’s purpose in sharing these stories was to show his Jewish audience that Jesus is their מָשִׁיחַ mâshîyach – the promised anointed one whom the Jews have been awaiting since the time of Abraham. Jesus Himself speaking to Phillip said that if Phillip didn’t believe Jesus was in the Father and the Father in Jesus, then at least Phillip should believe on account of the works that Jesus performed. Jesus never performed His miracles to put on a show or to convince anyone He is God. Most often, Jesus healed people in response to their faith rather than the other way around.

Here in Matthew 15, we see that Jesus went out of His way to cast a demon out of the daughter of a Gentile woman of Tyre in response to her faith. Matthew points out that this woman recognized Him as the Jewish מָשִׁיחַ mâshîyach – calling Him Lord, Son of David. He then healed many in a crowd probably made up of Jews and Gentiles together in the region of Decapolis, before feeding 4000 men, plus women and children. As part of our study, we look at the various times in which bread played a key role in the ministry and teachings of Jesus.

As we read God’s Word, it is helpful for us to have a mental picture of the locations of the places mentioned in the Biblical text, their positions in the land relative to each other, and the distances which separate them from each other. So it is worthwhile to spend a little time looking at maps of the Middle East region, the Levant, the State of Israel, and the province of Galilee.

In Matthew 15:1-20, Jesus was challenged by Pharisees from Jerusalem about why His disciples did not wash their hands before eating. Jesus turned their accusation back around asking why they imposed a man-made tradition on the people that led them to disobey the 5th Commandment to honor father and mother. Then Jesus explained to His disciples that it is not the physical cleanliness of what we allow into our mouths that defiles us, but the evil words we allow out of our mouths from the fullness of our hearts which defiles us.

On the night He was betrayed to die on the cross in our place so that we might be forgiven of our sins and restored into fellowship with God, Jesus gave His disciples “a new commandment” that we love one another, saying that people would recognize that we are His disciples through the love we exhibit for one another. But exactly how do we show this love that Jesus has commanded for our brothers and sisters in Christ. Paul tells us that our love for one another must be genuine, and gives some concise characteristics of this love in Romans 12:9-17.

This is a re-recording of the message shared with the adults at our 2023 VBS. Our children are continually beset by a lying attack from our great enemy Satan. As parents, we have a duty to defend our children against these attacks by providing them a solid foundation of Biblical… read more