Book: Mark

2 Woes for the Pharisees

God’s name is unequivocally the most complex and most important name ever! Because of this, we need to recognize the significance of His name and understand that when we speak of God, we are speaking of More Than Just A Name. We are referring to Jehovah, the “Self-Existent One”. Jehovah… read more

The plan for man’s salvation was established from the very beginning. Foretold through the prophets, fulfilled by Jesus during the events of Passion Week, and continually echoed today through the apostle’s writings. Let us never forget that Jesus was the plan from the beginning.

Tonight’s topics include Jesus’ casting out of a demon, predicting His death once again, and a fish with a coin in its mouth.

Worship doesn’t have to be complex, loud, and showy, for it to be authentic. The things which motivate us lead us to true worship. When that worship is motivated by the love we have for God, the results are expressions of pure joy.

As Christ followers we must honestly examine our motivations for our service to the Gospel. If we find we are not following the Lord for the right reasons, we must confess this sin before God, and seek His strength and guidance to bring us back into truly godly fellowship.

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.

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.