Matthew 16

http://www.esvbible.org/Matthew+16/

The Pharisees and Sadducees tried to test Jesus. They asked Him to give them a miraculous sign from Heaven since He is the Son of God after all.  He told them that they predict the weather based on the sky, but they cannot interpret the signs of the times. Signs don't have to come from Heaven. God is not limited: not by what we think He can dor nor by what we've seen Him do. He tells them evil and unfaithful people look for signs and miracles. Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as "faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." The big deal about faith is that we put everything into it all of the time without ever seeing anything. Yet at the same time, we really do see the signs of God if we just watch. After Jesus finishes talking to the Pharisees, He just walks away and leaves them standing there.

The disciples are worried that they did not take enough bread along for the trip. While they discuss such matters, Jesus tells them to beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees. He knows what the disciples have been discussing, and He asks them if they have not already seen what Jesus has done. He fed a lot more people with a lot less. He tells the disciples that it was never about bread. He has tried to warn them about the false teachings of the Pharisees. Jesus fed the people so that He could keep teaching them. He fed them with the yeast of His true teachings. His yeast is pure and holy, but the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees will ruin the bread. What a person believes will set all of who the person is, and if they don't place their faith in Jesus, they will give into their corrupt nature.

Jesus asks His disciples who they think He is. They reply that other say He is John the Baptist or Elijah or Jeremiah, etc. But Jesus asks them what they think. Peter speaks up and says that he believes Jesus to be the Messiah, the Son of God. Jesus is thrilled at his response. No person made him truly able to accept this truth. God the Father showed him who Jesus was, and Peter chose to believe it and act upon it. Jesus tells Peter that He will build the church on Peter as the rock, the foundation. Nothing, not even Hell, will knock it down. He will pass ultimate approval on Earth once Jesus has gone back to be with the Father. Then, He ordered the disciples not to tell anyone who He really is. This may seem odd, but I did some research and found that He wanted His true identity kept a secret because He wanted His works to prove who He was so people could not find fault in distortion of the word of mouth, He did not want anything to interfere with the cross, His endgame, and He wanted the ultimate miracle of the cross to occur before He sent the disciples out to teach.

Jesus tells His disciples clearly that He will go to Jerusalem, suffer, die, and come back to life on the third day. Peter pulls Him aside and tells Him that they cannot allow this to happen. Jesus yells at Him that Satan is in Peter, tempting Jesus by not thinking the way God does but instead thinking the way humans do.

Jesus tells the disciples that in order to follow Jesus, we must lay down our lives. We cannot live in our old ways because it is in those ways that we let our corrupt nature control us. Say no to the things you want and pick up your cross. Nail the sins and evil desires to it and leave them hanging to die from you forever. Only the people who lay down their lives for Jesus will ever truly live. It will not matter in the end if you have everything if you lose your life. You can't take the treasures of this world to the next one.

Matthew 15

http://www.esvbible.org/Matthew+15/

Some scribes and Pharisees ask Jesus why the disciples break tradition and don't wash their hands before they eat. Jesus, as usual, answers with another question. He asks them why the Pharisees break God's rules for their traditions. The Ten Commandments say, "Honor thy father and mother." Yet the Pharisees tell their parents that all the money and support the parents would have gotten in their old age is going to God now. Jesus calls them hypocrites because of this! They say that they believe in keeping the rules of God, but they break them themselves. Jesus says this is how Isaiah predicted: that the people would worship God, but it would be meaningless. The Pharisees just want to look good to the people they lead, so they sacrifice what they truly claim to believe and a relationship with God. Jesus tells them that it is not what goes into a person's mouth that makes him unclean but what comes out of his mouth. What goes into the mouth came from without and has nothing to do with the person. He or she will digest it and poop it out in the end. What a person says or what comes out of his or her mouth comes from within, so it comes from evil thoughts, and that makes a person unclean. Evil thoughts come from within. No one can make you think evil things. The disciples ask Jesus if He knows He just made the Pharisees mad, and He tells them not to worry about the Pharisees because they are blind leaders. We should not worry about lost leaders because they are trying to lead others away. We need to focus on the one's looking to follow.

While Jesus and the disciples are traveling, a Canaanite woman begins to follow them and shouts to them that her daughter is demon possessed and asks the Lord to help her. Jesus seems to ignore her, so the disciples ask Him what's going on. he tells them that He was sent to help Israel. Sometimes, something seems plausible, but it is not the will of the Lord. Still, the woman urges Jesus to help her daughter, so Jesus finally stops. He asks her if it's fair to take food from children and give it to dogs, and she replies that even dogs pick up scraps from the floor from the master's table. Again, Jesus is amazed by people's faith, and so He cures her daughter. Faith is the bottom line of the Gospel. We must have faith, and there Jesus will be. Then, Jesus moved on and went up a mountain. a crowd followed Him and brought Him the sick, possessed, lame, deaf, mute, blind, etc. and Jesus cured them all. Then, the people praised the God of Israel. Matthew repeats this story after stor because Jesus came to serve people, just as He calls us to serve people. When people see such selfless serving, they will begin to understand the Gospel. That is the key way to bring people to Christ, our lifestyles.

Jesus tells His disciples that He feels bad for the people because they have been with Him for three days and have not eaten. He can't send them away hungry because they might grow exhausted. If you go to Jesus hungry, He will not turn you away. He will feed you. If you leave Him hungry, He knows that you may grow exhausted. If you grow Spiritually exhausted, then there is nothing you can do. You are not useful. Jesus will not allow that to happen if He can help it. The disciples, after seeing this happen once before, do not believe that there is a way to feed such a large crowd. Jesus takes all of the food that they have left, prays over it, breaks the bread, and passes it out. Everyone ate their fill until they were full, and there were seven large baskets of food left over in the end. Four thousand men (and unaccounted for women and children) had eaten that day. After that, Jesus left on a boat. Why such a similar story again? Jesus is not a cheap trick. He knows what He is doing. He can repeat the things that He does, so if He rises from the dead, then He can certainly repeat the process and bring us up from the dead with Him.

Matthew 14

http://www.esvbible.org/Matthew+14/

King Herod had arrested John the Baptist, tied him up, and thrown him in prison because he was in love with Herodias, his brother Phillip's wife. John had told them that they shouldn't be married (historically unclear).  Herod wanted to kill John, but he did not want to upset the Jewish people, who he ruled over because they might think John is a prophet. One night, at a dance, Herodias's daughter danced for the guests, and Herod was so moved by the performance that he told the girl to name anything she wanted, and Herod would get it for her. She told him she wanted the head of John the Baptist on a platter, so she could give it to her mother. Immediately, Herod regretted making the promise, but he could not back down. He gave the girl the head on a platter. Later, when Herod heard about the work Jesus had been doing, he grew afraid because he thought Jesus might be John the Baptist reincarnated. This story just goes to show that Jesus strikes fear into His enemies. Do you have to worry about your enemies if Jesus has promised to protect you, and His enemies fear Him?

When Jesus heard about John the Baptist's death, He wanted to go somewhere alone to mourn, so He got into a boat and began sailing across the Sea of Galilee. A crowd, however, heard about this movement, so when Jesus got off the boat, He saw the crowd waiting for Him. He felt sorry for them and healed their sick and taught them. This example shows how much Jesus served. He wanted to be alone to mourn for His family member who had been executed and talk to His Father. When He saw the people, He began to serve them instead. He put off His own needs for the needs of others. We should live our lives in this way. Go find a cause you support and join. Give with your resources--time and money are the big ones. After some time, the disciples told Jesus it was getting late, and He should send the people home so that they could eat. Jesus told His disciples that they weren't supposed to leave, and He would feed them. The disciples found this ridiculous because they only had five loaves of bread and two fish. That does not sound like enough for the thirteen travelers, much less five thousand men (men and women were not included in this count, so the number is probably larger than 10,000). The disciples were probably a little upset that Jesus asked them to give Him their last bit of food to feed a crowd, even though they "knew" it wasn't enough to feed everyone. Then, when everyone was seated, Jesus prayed over the food, and everyone ate their fill. Not only that, but there were twelve baskets full of food left after everyone ate as much as they desired. How many times do we doubt what Jesus can do in our lives. If He can feed five thousand men (plus unaccounted for amounts of women and children), then He can help you with whatever problems you are facing and then some.

Jesus sent His disciples on a boat to the other side of the sea. Meanwhile, Jesus sent the crowd away. Afterwards, He climbed the mountain so that He could pray to God alone. Jesus often had His quiet time. At least daily. That's what I try to do because Jesus is the ultimate example for how we are to live our lives. The boat was being tossed around at sea by a violent storm. Jesus went out to help the disciples, but when they saw Him coming, they though He was a ghost and began screaming. Jesus told them to calm down and not to fear. Peter, starting to get it before the others, asked Jesus to command Him to walk out of the boat if Jesus was really Jesus. When Jesus did so, Peter got out of the boat and began walking on the water towards Jesus. Don't race over this. A man, mere mortal, was walking on the water in the middle of a storm because of Jesus! All who have read this story, though, know that Peter grows afraid when he realizes how strong the winds are and begins to sink. He calls out for Jesus to save him, and He does. But Jesus is also upset at Peter's lack of faith. When Peter had his eyes and focus and faith and strength in Jesus, he was fine walking on the water, but when he made it about himself again, he began to sink. Jesus will do the impossible through us if we place everything onto Him, but if something scares us, and we begin trying to do it ourselves, it may start to fall apart. Jesus can still save us though, just as He did for Peter.

Matthew 13

http://www.esvbible.org/Matthew+13/

A crowd comes to listen to Jesus that is so large that He gets on a boat in the Sea of Galilee to teach those on the shore. Jesus loves using illustrations to teach. He tells a story about a farmer who plants seeds. Some of the seeds fell on the road, and they were eaten by birds. So often, we plant ourselves where we cannot grow spiritually, so people come along and tear us apart until we are not even ourselves anymore. Other seeds were planted among rocks. The rocks caused the roots to not grow very deep, and the plant sprouted quickly; however, when the sun came out, it scorched the plants, and they died. Some people come to know Christ and stall. They never grow in their faith, so their roots are shallow. The enemy has easy access to them because they can't fight him off, and they take on the world with the little knowledge they have. Still, as soon as they are tested by others, they cannot answer, so their faith withers and dies. Ever others still were planted among thorn bushes. When the bushes grew, they choked the plants. When we go out and try to live as only a holy witness, we are doing good and may have a good foundation, but we need fellowship with fellow believers; otherwise, the dangerous non-believers will suffocate our faith while we have no other Christians to discuss this with. The remaining seeds are planted in fertile ground and produce thirty, sixty, or a hundred times as much as was planted. When I first read this parable, those were the real life connections I drew from the metaphors. The great thing about a living word is that it always holds true and different people can find different truths in it. When you first read it, it may have contained different truths. When Jesus breaks it down, He had different ideas. The disciples ask Him why He uses imagery to teach, and He replies that the people in the crowd do not understand all that the disciples do. He gives them something to think and ponder about. The have eyes but cannot see, ears but cannot hear, and they don't even try to understand. Thus, the prophet Isaiah was right once again. Then, Jesus tells us His version of the farmer story. The people who hear the Word and don't understand will be snatched away by the enemy, like the seed on the road. Some people accept the Word happily, but they don't have any root, so they fade quickly, like the seed in the rocky ground. When suffering persecution, he will give up on the Word. Others still will hear the Word but let the worries of life and the strive for riches get in the way, like the seed in the thron bushes. Finally, the person who hears and understand will plant crops and harvest much more than he planted.

Jesus gives us more judgement stories. This one has the illustration of wheat and weeds. A farmer planted wheat in a field, but his enemy came in the night and planted weeds. So when the plants started growing, the weeds were among the wheat. When the farmer saw this, he knew it was the work of an enemy. The workers asked if they should pull the weeds, but the farmer told them that they might pull the wheat as well. But when they harvested, they would throw the weeds to the fire and take the wheat into the barn. The wheat was planted first, just like how Adam and Eve were pure and perfect, but then the devil planted sin into them. Before long, the world had those of faith intertwined with sinners. God couldn't take the sinners out of the world because everyone had some sin, so He would have to send everyone to Hell. Instead, He waits for Judgement Day, so He can sort out the wheat from the weeds. The faithful people will go to Heaven to live with God, but the sinners and those who reject Him will go to Hell to burn for eternity.

Jesus uses more illustrations to teach. He says Heaven is like a mustard seed. It is the smallest seed, yet when fully grown, it is a tree that birds can nest in. The kingdom of heaven is only for those who can find it, and they are the select few. Yet it is the most elegant, strong, and wondrous thing imaginable. The next illustration is of a woman who puts yeast in dough. The yeast spreads all the way through the dough. God's word is like that. It started as a church in Jerusalem with one man, the Son of God, but it will spread throughout the world. All the stories He told the crowd included illustrations, so what the prophet Isaiah came true again.

Later, when the disciples had gone with Jesus to someone's home, they asked Him what the story of the wheat and the weeds meant. He told them basically what the Holy Spirit told me and I wrote earlier in this entry. The field is the world, and God planted wheat, but the devil planted weeds. The workers are the angels. The harvest is the ends of the world, and the sinners will be thrown into the fires of Hell. There will be much pain and suffering there. The people who have God's approval will shine in the kingdom of Heaven.

Jesus then tells three, short, consecutive stories. The first is about a man who finds buried treasure in a field. He goes and sells everything he owns and buys the field. The second is about a man who finds the most precious pearl and sells everything he has to buy it. These stories are about being a follower of Christ. We have found the buried treasure and the most valuable pearl. Now we must sell all the other beliefs we have and hold onto this one thing because it is the only thing that holds its worth until the end of time. The third story is about fisherman who make a big catch and separate the good fish from the bad fish. The good ones they packaged up, but they threw away the bad ones. Again, this is what will happen to people at the end of the world. The disciples say they understand all Jesus has just told them. Then, He tells them that everyone who becomes His disciple is like a new home owner because he brings old and new into the new home. We cannot eradicate our sinful nature. We must know that we live with it, but we also have what is new, our spiritual nature.In a perfect life, we would listen and follow our spiritual nature always. When Jesus finished the illustrations, He left.

Jesus later went back to Nazareth, His hometown, to teach in the synagogues and perform miracles. While He was there, the people began to question Him. They knew His family. The thought Joseph was His biological father, so they rejected Him. Jesus told them a prophet is only rejected in His hometown. He left without performing many miracles there. Those of us who came to know Christ a long time ago can face this danger. We begin to thank of times He didn't do exactly what we asked or did things in a way we didn't like. We begin to reject the way He does things. We lose the chance for Him to work miracles in our lives.

Matthew 12

http://www.esvbible.org/Matthew+12/

On a Sabbath, the Lord's most holy day, Jesus and his disciples walk through a grain field. The disciples are hungry, so they begin to eat the grain. When the Pharisees saw this, they went to Jesus and asked Him how His own disciples could do something that is not allowed on the Sabbath. Jesus replies with Scripture. He reminds them how King David and His men ate the priest's bread on the Sabbath when they were hungry. Additionally, Moses' Teachings dictate that priests must do things on the Sabbath that are not allowed, yet they are innocent. He guarantees them that there is something, or in some translations, someone, there that is greater than the temple. He's talking about Himself. Jesus is greater than the temple since the point of the temple is to glorify Him. Again, He tells the Pharisees that they do not know the meaning of mercy not sacrifices because the Pharisees have condemned innocent people. The Son of Man has authority over the Holy Day. The reason for the Holy Day is to worship God, so it only makes since that God has authority over it.

Jesus goes to the temple, where the people are waiting with a man who has a paralyzed hand. They ask Jesus if it is right to heal on the Sabbath. Jesus remains calm and asks them if a sheep fell into a ditch on the Sabbath if they would lift it out. Of course they would. They would not leave it there, exposed and possibly dying until the next day. Since humans are more valuable than sheep, Jesus asks tem if it is right to do good on the Sabbath. Nobody has a response to Him, so Jesus reaches out and heals the man. The Pharisees left the temple and plotted to kill Jesus, so He left the place. His time on Earth was not yet over. He could only leave on His time, and the timing was not yet right.

Jesus continues to travel and heals along the way. This confirms what the prophet Isaiah said about Him.

Jesus forces a demon out of a man who has been rendered mute and blind. The Pharisees claim that Jesus can only force demons out with the help of the devil himself. Jesus tells them that this can't possibly make since. Why would Satan force himself out? His kingdom would quickly diminish that way. If Jesus uses the Holy Spirit, however, it proves that Heaven has come to rescue people. Whoever is not with Jesus is against Him. You cannot be in between asking forgiveness for your sins and not. The only unforgivable sin is turning away from the Spirit. You can dis the Son of God but be forgiven. If you know the Holy Spirit, however, and reject Him, you are doomed. Again, Jesus says that you can tell if a tree is good or not based on its fruit, and He tells the Pharisees that no good words come out of their mouths. In the end, everyone will have to answer for every careless word that they have spoken.

The people ask for a miraculous sign, so Jesus can prove that He is really the Son of God. He tells them that producing signs is what prophets did to change the ways and faith of evil people. Jonah spent three days in the belly of a whale, and Jesus says He will spend three days in the belly of the Earth. When the Jews around Jesus get to Heaven, the Nineveh people will condemn them because the people of Nineveh changed their ways after hearing Jonah and the Jews at the time of Jesus heard God Himself in human form. The queen who went to Solomon for wisdom will also condemn them because they have someone wiser than Solomon. Evil spirits are dangerous because once they leave one person, the look for another. They find people who's hearts are not occupied by the Holy Spirit but are empty instead. Then, they take up residence with seven other evil spirits.

Jesus' mother and brothers request His presence, but Jesus asks who His mother and brothers are. He points to His disciples and declares that anyone who does the will of His Father are His mother and brothers and sisters.

Matthew 11

http://www.esvbible.org/Matthew+11/

When Jesus finished giving these instructions, He went to teach in the cities the disciples would go to. Jesus prepares the cities and the hearts of the people that He instructs us to listen to. We do not have to teach about Him alone, He has already been there, and His Spirit is still within us.

John the Baptist, still in prison, hears about what Jesus is doing, so he sends two disciples to ask Jesus if He is the one coming or if they should wait for someone else. Jesus responds that they need only look around and listen. The blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the sick are healed, the dead live and the poor hear the Good News. Anyone who keeps faith in Jesus will be saved.

Jesus talks about John the Baptist. He asks people why they went out into the desert where John had lived. Was it as meaningless as watching tall grass blow? Was it as elegant as seeing people in fine clothes? It couldn't be that one because those people live in palaces. Was it to see a prophet? John the Baptist was more than a prophet. Jesus tells the crowd that Scripture speaks directly of John, and that John is the greatest man to ever be born. Even still, the least person in Heaven is still greater than John. Jesus shows His frustration with the people there because John came neither eating nor drinking and they said he was demon possessed. Jesus came eating and drinking, and the people called Him a drink and a glutton. People are never satisfied by who God gives to them, you cannot please men.

Jesus condemns some of the cities that He has already visited. He tells Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum that they are cursed because they listened to Jesus but still did not change their ways. Sodom will fair out better than them on Judgement day.

Jesus praises God for revealing His mysteries to those considered unrighteous because they will accept and have faith. God tells all who are burdened to come to Him, and He will give them rest and make their burdens light.

Matthew 10

http://www.esvbible.org/Matthew+10/

Matthew introduces the twelve apostles by name, which John, the other Gospel I've studied on here, does not do. Especially since John never ever refers to himself by name. Matthew always refers to himself in third person because the book was probably published anonymously. Jesus gave the apostles authority to force demons and evil spirits out of people and to cure disease and sickness. The names of the twelve disciples: first and foremost is Simon aka Peter. Why? Because Jesus laid it on Peter to be the leader and to really start the church. Despite the fact that Peter only has two short letters included in the Bible and they are often skipped over, Peter started the formal church, and to Catholics, he is the first Pope. Then, there's Simon's brother Andrew, James and his brother John, Phillip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax collector, another James and Thaddeus, Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who (spoiler alert) later betrays Jesus. Not only does Matthew call himself by name instead of first person pronoun, but he also puts himself into the middle of the list. That is humility from the Holy Spirit right there.

After choosing the disciples, Jesus gives them very specific instructions. He sends them out and tells them to go speak to the cities where Jewish people reside. Two things: 1) Jesus sends his disciples away to teach. They have spent much time together fellowshipping and learning, but our purpose as people is to proclaim the Good News around the world. 2) The Jewish people are God's chosen people; therefore, Jesus goes to save them first, and later, in Acts, He decides it's time to open up His grace and mercy to all of the people in the world. All the abilities they just received, Christ tells them to use these to gain the attention of the cities they go to and show the people that their story is true. He tells them to do all of this without charging since they didn't pay to receive them. They also are told not to take any money from the people they visit. Jesus tells them not even to take a travelling bag, a change of clothes, sandals, or a walking stick because the one who works for God deserves to have his needs met. They are putting faith in Jesus for EVERYTHING! Even when they get to the nitty gritty stuff, Jesus has provided instructions. They are to find a family that listens to them and stay at their home. When they enter the house, they greet the family. If the family is good to the disciple, the greeting stands. If not, the greeting is revoked. If they come to a city where they are not welcomed, they are to leave immediately and wipe the dust from that place off of their feet. A bold statement: the cities that don't receive well the disciples of Jesus will fair worse on Judgement Day than Sodom and Gomorrah. God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis with fire and brimstone because Abraham could not find even 10 righteous men there. Angels rescue Lot, the only righteous man there, with his family, and tell him not to look back. When his wife can no longer stand the temptation to see what is happening, she looks back and turns into a pillar of salt. These were bad cities, and Jesus says those who reject His disciples are considered worse. Jesus says He knows that He's sending them into danger. They are like sheep among wolves. Wolves eat sheep. Therefore, the disciples must be cunning yet innocent, so that the people cannot accuse them of any crime. Even so, they will face courts and governors because of Jesus, but they should not worry about what to say or how to say it because Christ will give them the words through the Holy Spirit when the time comes. People will turn against each other, even family and friends because they will embrace Christianity. At the beginning, more than ever, people wanted to persecute the church. But the person who endure in faith until the end will be saved. A student is not better that his teacher and a slave is not better than his master, but it is enough if the student becomes like his teacher or a slave like his master. If the master is Satan, then all who call upon him will have that name. Some of them may falsify Christian behavior, but do not worry because all will eventually be exposed. Don't worry about those who kill the body because they cannot kill the soul. Only be afraid of the one who can kill both in Hell. When Jesus talks about how the sparrows won't fall without His permission and how every hair on all of our heads have been counted, He gives us courage. God controls everything, and He loves us enough that He can tell you how many hairs you have on your head. Jesus will acknowledge us in front of God if we acknowledge Him in front of others, but if we reject Him, He will reject us. Jesus says He didn't come to bring peace but conflict. We have free will. Jesus didn't come to make everyone Christians. These differing beliefs will cause conflict, again, even among family. Those who accept family above Jesus do not deserve to be called disciples. Those who do not lay down their lives do not deserve to be called disciples. Instead, those who accept Christ and prophets and disciples and righteous men will gain the reward that they deserve.

Matthew 9

http://www.esvbible.org/Matthew+9/

Jesus crosses the sea again after the incident with the pigs and sails to Capernum, where He stays most of the time. Some people brought a paralyzed man on a stretcher to Jesus, and Jesus, proud of their faith, told the man to cheer up because He forgave the man's sins. The scribes around Him thought this action dishonored God. Jesus, as fully God as well as fully human, knew their thoughts and turned to confront them. He asked if it is easier to say get up or sins are forgiven. After all, Jesus has the power t forgive the sins on Earth. When we pray that prayer where we ask Jesus to release us from sin and forgive us and wipe us clean from all we've done to hurt Him, we have proof that it really works. Jesus declares it Himself. If you believe Him enough to follow Him with your life, you should easily believe what He says here about forgiving sins. He told the man to get up and carry His stretcher home. The man did as Jesus said. The crowd was amazed by what they saw and filled with awe, they praised God for what can happen.

Matthew comes into the picture for the first time. We can only assume he wrote the first eight chapters and one story based on what the Holy Spirit and other disciples told him. Matthew was a tax collector when Jesus met him. Tax collectors were the scum of the Roman world. They gave the government the required percentage of what people made and got to charge however much they wanted for their own salaries. As you can assume, corruption was rampant among tax collectors, but Jesus chose one to follow Him. Later, Jesus ate at Matthew's house. Many tax collectors and sinners ate with Him that night. When Matthew says sinners, he's not talking about the kind of sin that everyone sins. We know that everyone sins, but the people with Jesus that night were outcasts because of the kind of sins they committed. The Pharisees saw this dinner and asked the disciples why Jesus ate with sinners. Jesus overheard this and told them the sick need a doctor, not the healthy. The Pharisees thought they were perfect and followed the law perfectly. Since following the law perfectly was the way to go to Heaven, then the Pharisees thought that they had it made. They didn't want a savior because they didn't think they needed one. The people eating with Jesus knew that they needed someone to give them entrance to Heaven because they could not make it on their own. That's why Jesus came. We can't make it on our own. None of us can. Then, Jesus says the Pharisees must learn to undertand the meaning that He wants mercy, not sacrifices. To atone for sins in the past, people would have to slater an innocent animal on the altar to take on all of that person's sins. Now, He wants mercy. Mercy is witholding something you deserve. When Christ sacrificed Himself, sacrifices were no longer necessary, but people could now avoid Hell because of mercy. God came to call the sinners because they place their faith in Him, not the one's who think they don't need God's approval because they think they can make it on their own.

John the Baptist's disciples question Jesus about why all people fast except the disciples. Jesus answers with a metaphor. He says that wedding guests cannot be sad while the groom is with them, but one day, the groom will be gone. Then, they will fast. Obviously, Jesus is the groom, and the disciples are the guest. Jesus says that following Him and listening to Him and spending all of their time with Him means that they worship in the ultimate way all of the time, and Jesus never gives up on them until they get it. Once they get it, Jesus will leave them so that they may spread His message throughout the land. Then, they will fast as a way of worship in order to reflect on what they learned from Christ. He talks about patching a torn coat with new cloth is a bad idea. He also mentions putting new wine into old wineskins will ruin both. No one knows for sure what this means. There isn't one clear answer. The best I can do is that while Jesus discusses the benefits of fasting for worship, it is the old way of getting closer to God. We give up something that our bodies need to focus on what our souls need. In the time of Jesus physically on Earth, the there was a new way to do things, and that was to absorb all of the information Christ gave, and to literally get to know God through conversation. Mixing the old and the new was a bad idea at the time. Now, we can do both.

The next story starts when a synagogue leader pleads for Jesus to save his daughter from the dead. Again, an individual from a group of people that despises Jesus comes to Him in faith for help. Jesus and His disciples head to the man's house. On the way, the story gets interrupted in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. A woman, who has been bleeding for twelve years sees the crowd and knows Jesus is there. She thinks to herself if she can just touch His clothing, she will be well again. She reaches out and Jesus tells her that her faith has healed her. She was considered unclean by her society, and anyone she touched would have been unclean, but you cannot be dirty enough to dirty Jesus. Instead, He is so clean that He not only con't be dirtied, but He can clean the dirtiest of people out there.  Then, the synagogue leader's story picks back up, and Jesus arrives at the house. Everyone around mourns for the girl. Jesus tells them to stop because the girl is only sleeping. They laugh at Him. The synagogue leader still had faith enough in Jesus to send the crowd way, and sure enough, Jesus raised the girl from the dead. There are situations when Jesus tells us that it's not as bad as it seems and He can help, but we simply laugh at Him. We think that our problems are bigger than Jesus. Go outside and look up at the sky, especially the night sky. Jesus holds all of that in His hands. Do you know how far the east is from the west?  If you went off the edge of the Earth and went on until you reached the end of east and the same with west? Jesus can reach across that distance. There is no problem too large for Jesus. Then the news of Jesus spread throughout the region. People were so excited about Jesus that they had to tell everyone. We should be out there right now doing the same thing.

When Jesus left the home of the synagogue and formerly dead girl, two blind men began to follow Him, begging Him to heal them. Eventually, Jesus asked them if they thought He could do it, They said yes. They were blind. They had never seen the miracles that Jesus performed, but they believed in what He said and what He said He could do. Jesus healed them and told them their faith saved them. He told them not to tell anyone what happened. Jesus didn't do these things for His own glory. He did it for us so that we could glorify Him. Confusing I know. Just stay with me. Then, the men still told everyone what had happened.

Jesus forces a demon out of a man who could not talk. As soon as the demon was gone, the man began to speak. The Pharisees are truly jealous of Jesus at this point, so they claim He forces demons out of people with the help of the ruler of demons.

Jesus continued traveling, spreading the Good News, and healing. He saw the crowds and felt sorry for them. He told the disciples that the harvest was large, and that they should pray that the Lord who gave the harvest would give workers for the fields.

Matthew 8

http://www.esvbible.org/Matthew+8/

The sermon on the mount ends, and Jesus begins to descend the mountain. On His way down, a man with leprosy asks Jesus to heal him because the man believes that Jesus has the power to do so if He's willing. Jesus tells the man He's willing, and the man is suddenly cured. After this miracle, Jesus tells the man not to tell anyone but to go to the temple and show himself to the priest, and make the sacrifice Moses commands to prove to the people that he really is clean. HUGE foreshadowing. This man came scarred by a terrible disease, and according to Moses, he could not participate in things with the Jewish people or participate in what was holy. Jesus washed away the hideous disease and the man could be clean again. The whole reason Jesus came to Earth in the first place was to clean our hideous sins away. Christ tells the man to go to the temple first so that the people will know that this miracle truly happened. The priest will tell them that the man had leprosy and now he doesn't. That way, people will know Jesus isn't trying to trick them with supposed miracles but truly healing the sick who come to Him.

A Roman soldier came to Jesus and asked Him to heal a servant who was in extreme pain. When Jesus offers to go to the soldier's house, the soldier declares that he is not worthy of Jesus' presence. How unworthy are we all of Jesus' presence inside of our hearts? The man tells Jesus that he knows Jesus can just command it from where He is and it will happen. Matthew reports that Jesus was amazed by this faith! Jesus tells His followers that He has not seen faith so strong in all of Israel, and it was coming from a gentile. Jesus commands that the servant be healed, and at that moment, it was so. We don't need to go to Jesus to start healing. Jesus can give the command to the Spirit wherever we are and we are cured of sin just like that. Also, no matter who we are, Jesus is willing to heal us if we just ask. The healed man in this story was a servant to a Roman soldier. The Roman soldiers were terrible to the Jewish people, and a servant is a lowly position, yet Jesus healed Him. After the display of great faith, Jesus also talks about what He knows from Heaven. One day, people from all over the world will eat with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the ancestors of all Jewish people, in Heaven. He prophesied that gentiles could be saved by His actions as well as the Jewish people. He proceeds to say that some of the citizens of the kingdom of Israel will be thrown out of Heaven. Not all Jewish people have a guaranteed spot in Heaven just because they were born Jewish. That used to be the only qualification needed. Finally, Jesus says that when they are cast into darkness, they will be in extreme pain. This description sounds like more description of Hell.

Jesus goes to Peter's house and sees that his mother-in-law is sick. This is, I believe, the only time we hear about wives of any of the apostles. She had a terrible fever, but when Jesus touched her hand, the fever went away. Immediately, the woman got up and served Jesus. Once Jesus heals us of our former mistakes, we don't have to wait until we gain experience or "become better Christians" to serve Him. He can use us whenever and wherever we are in faith, time, and geography. He has a plan for you to glorify His name. Later, the people begin to bring Jesus all of the sick or demon possessed people. Jesus casts out the demons and heals the sick, making another prophesy in Isaiah come true that Jesus would take away weakness and heal illness. When Jesus saw a crowd, He ordered His disciples to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.

A scribe came to Jesus and said that he would follow Him wherever He went, and Jesus responded that He has no permanent place to live. Jesus was never heading to a final destination on Earth where He would do His work. He traveled around and spoke to all people until He died. We can use this as an example of Jesus never askin us to do something He hasn't first done Himself. Later in Matthew, Jesus issues the Great Commission that tells us to go and make disciples of all the nations. Jesus does this deed Himself throughout His entire life. Then, a man says that He will follow Jesus if He can just bury His father first. It is so easy to make excuses. We can say that we'll follow Him as soon as we do blank or He allows us to do blank. I can do it tomorrow. I can do it next week. I can do it next year. We're running out of tomorrow's. Jesus can come back anytime, and we need to be ready for it. Jesus tells this man to follow Him and let the dead bury the dead. This statement doesn't have the same meaning it has today. What Jesus was saying I read as two-fold. First, lay down the excuses and follow Him today. Let the dead, all the non-believers, bury themselves in their unwillingness to accept the truth. Secondly, the dead need nothing from us. The soul is gone and all that's left is the body. There's no person in there.

While the disciples headed across the sea in a boat with Jesus, a huge storm hit. Waves crashed over the edge of the boat, yet Jesus slept through it. Finally, the disciples woke Him up and asked Him to save them. Jesus scolds them for their lack of faith and calms the sea. The disciples are amazed and ask what kind of man can do that. After spending so much time listening to Him, the disciples still can't figure out Jesus. In a similar way, we still can never completely know who Jesus is while we live. Also, despite them calling Him Lord and asking Him to save them, the disciples don't yet believe that Jesus is the Son of God. So many people come to God when they are in trouble or want something, but they don't truly believe in who He is. Sometimes, He still gives them safety in what they ask.

When Jesus and the disciples arrive at the other side of the Sea of Galilee, two demon possessed men meet them in the road. These men were so dangerous that people could not travel on that road because they would be harmed. Jesus walked right up to them. He has nothing to fear because He can take down any enemy in His path, and if we follow Him, we have nothing to fear because He's rid the path of enemies. The demons shout at Jesus and tell Him He can't torture them before the appointed day. The demons know who Jesus is. They believe what He came to do. They have better theology than anyone currently living on Earth because they were angels and lived side-by-side with God. What sets Christians apart from demons? They believe the "saving principles." What makes us different is that we lived in sin and death, but God let us glimpse the beauty of Jesus. Then, we can ask Jesus to resurrect us from the dead, and He will bring us into His saving grace. He rescues us from the bondage of sin, and we make sacrifices of love for Him. The key of the sacrifices is that they are not painful to give up but that we love Him so much that we want to give up things that distract us from Him in order to spend more time with Him. The demons see a herd of pigs nearby and ask Jesus to cast them there. Jesus tells them to go, and the whole herd of pigs runs off a cliff and dies in the sea. The men watching the pigs run into the city and report everything. Then, the whole town goes to meet Him and begs Him to leave. Jesus just saved two people from demons. Everyone should ask Him to heal them and worship Him for His awesome power. But He didn't do things the way they would have done things, so they wanted Him to leave them alone. We have all done this. Jesus did something great that helped us a lot, but He did it in His way instead of our way. We didn't like that, so we tried to get Him to go. Jesus' way is perfect. His way is far superior than ours. If things happen our way, the world will be so messed up. Trust His way because it is the way. In the end, things were better. The men were cured of their demons.

Matthew 7

http://www.esvbible.org/Matthew+7/

Jesus tells us to stop judging others. When we judge people, we will be judged by the same standards that we use to judge. The part about the sawdust means that if we notice the small things that our brothers and sisters in Christ do wrong then we are hypocrites because we all have screwed up majorly. We can't tell someone that we are going to help them fix their small problem with God when we have a huge, glaring problem. Instead, we need to work on ourselves so that the Lord can lead us in helping others.

Don't let what is valuable and holy go to invaluable places. This is the same sort of thing that Paul talks about false prophets, you can use the truth and twist it for your own evil cause, but when you do this evil deed, you trample it and then those in Heaven will trample you.

Jesus says that we who believe and have faith in Him need only to ask for what we want or are looking for, and the Lord will provide. If you knock on His door, He will open it for you. Jesus uses parents as examples. He says that if a child asks the parent for bread, the parent wouldn't give him a stone. Or the child asks for a fish, the parent wouldn't give a snake. If we as humans, who are inherently sinful and evil can give good gifts to our children when they ask, the Father in Heaven will give us so much more when we ask Him.

The golden rule from Jesus Himself. Always do to others what you would have them do to you. I don't think much needs to be said about that lesson because we have all, raised by Christian parents or not, heard that lesson since a very young age, and it in and of itself is quite self explanatory.

Entering into Heaven means going through a narrow gate because the gate to Hell is wide. Many people will enter through the wide gate because there are masses of unsaved people. There needs to be a wide gate to fit them all in. Few enter through the narrow gate because it may cause trouble for us from people, but the reward is from our Heavenly Father. Only few people find the narrow gate, so look our for it.

Jesus warns us to beware of false prophets. Again, Paul doesn't make this stuff up, it all comes from the gospel. False prophets can be hard to spot because they come on looking and acting like they truly are doing the will of God, but they are simply masking their evil. The tree metaphor is really popular. Good people whose lives are honestly rooted on the firm foundation of Jesus Christ do not produce rotten acts and misled people because God's Spirit leads them in their conversations with others. You will know the false prophets by how they act and teach. Not everyone who stands before Jesus' trone will be allowed into Heaven. Many will claim that they spoke in His name and cured illnesses by His power, but Jesus will tell them that He never knew them in their lives because they never turned toward Him, and He will send them away.

Jesus tells thew crowd that they must build their rocks on a firm foundation, like the wise man who built His life on the stone. When winds came and floods rose, the house stood firm. Jesus is the rock, and our lives are the house. We must build our lives with Christ as the center and focus so that we can stand strong in whatever life throws at us all the way until after death when we stand before Him and can show Him without words how we stood with Him as our foundation. The foolish man built His house on sand, and when the storm and floods came, disaster happened. In the same way, if we focus our lives on anything but Christ, disaster will follow. We will face crises on our own and never truly know how to handle them. And after death, Christ will see that He doesn't know the foolish men, and He will cast them away.

Matthew 6

http://www.esvbible.org/Matthew+6/

Jesus warns us not to do good acts to be praised by people. Instead, we should only do good for lifting the praise to God. If you only do the good works to gain attention, God will not reward. When you give to the poor, don't announce it and make an ordeal over it. Hypocrites give in this way. They talk about how high and holy they are for giving because of the Lord, but they only give so that people will praise them. We should not care about what people have to say about us as long as we know we will have a good report from God in Heaven. When the people give to receive praise, that is the only reward they wil get. When you give, do so privately. It is a matter that is between you and God. He will see, and He will reward you for your goodness.

The same concept goes for praying. The hypocrites like to pray loudly in the center of everything so that everyone can hear. Again, that will be their only reward. Jesus tells us that when we pray we should go into our rooms and shut the doors. When we pray, the Lord's prayer is our sample. "Our God, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil." We cover everything here. Glorify and address God. Ask Him to do His will on Earth through us. Give us our DAILY bread. Ask Him everyday to feed your spirit. Ask for forgiveness. Rescue us from temptation. Then, Jesus says that as long as we forgive others, God will forgive us.

When you fast, don't look like the hypocrites. They look sad and like they are in pain so that everyone will know that they are fasting. When you fast, Jesus says that you should continue to make yourself look like you always do because God knows what you do in private, and He will reward you for it.

Don't store up treasures in this world. Here, moths and rust will destroy things, and thieves can break in to steal them. Instead, store up treasures in Heaven, where none of this can happen. Then, a commonly known verse: your heart is where your treasure is. If you try to serve both God and money, you will hate God and love money or devote yourself to making money and despise God for taking your time. The eye is the lamp to the body. If you look to God as your goal, the body is filled with light, but if you look towards wealth for your goal, your body will not bode well.

Stop worrying! Paul said it in Philippians because He knew Jesus said it. Why worry about what you will eat. The birds don't plant or harvest or store the harvest, yet God provides for them. If we are God's creation in His own image, He will care for us even more. Can you add any time to life by worrying? Don't worry about what you will wear. The flowers in the field are dressed more wondrously than anyone ever, and they never worked or spun yard for their dressings. And they will simply live today and burn tomorrow. So God will provide for you clothes to wear. Everyone worries about what to eat, drink, and wear, but as people of faith, we should have faith in God that He will provide for us what we need. First and foremost, we should be concerned about the Kingdom of God and what is in store for us there. Then, everything wil be provided for you. Don't worry about tomorrow, it will worry about itself. Each day has enough troubles of its own. You should spend time dealing with the current day's struggles through prayer and pray about tomorrow's struggles when they come.

Matthew 5

http://www.esvbible.org/Matthew+5/

Jesus went up a mountain and began teaching his disciples what would later be known as the greatest sermon of all times: the Sermon on the Mountain. He starts by saying that the kingdom of Heaven belongs to the spiritually helpless because they are the ones who need God and who can be lifted up by God. Those who mourn will be comforted. the gentle will inherit the Earth. Those who hunger and thirst for God's approval will be satisfied. Satisfaction for our needs only come from Christ. We cannot find satisfaction in dating, alcohol, success, education, or anything else that people try to turn to instead of Christ. Most of those things are okay if they don't interfere with our relationships with Christ. Those who show mercy will be shown mercy. God extended to us His mercy through Christ that we do not deserve. He saved us from death because He killed His Son and put all of the wroth of God on Him. How little is it for us to show mercy to those who wrong us? Those whose thoughts are pure will see God. Those who make peace are God's children. We often act like our parents because they have instilled their behaviors into us both genetically and by us mimicking them. God is also our father, and He loves peace, so we too should love peace. Those who are persecuted for doing what God approves of will inherit the Kingdom of God. How can you test if you are truly following God in all you say and do? People will persecute you, try to hurt you (mostly emotionally), and try to change your mind. All of that is the devil trying to pull you towards Him instead of Christ, but use that as your fuel to go wholeheartedly after Christ because if this persecution is not happening, you are not a threat to the devil.

Jesus says that we, as people of faith, are the salt of the Earth. Salt at the time was one of the most valuable substances. People used it for not just flavoring food. It could also be used for perserving food. Not only that but salt is a vital part of life for humans and animals. When Jesus says we are the salt of the Earth, He says that we are to preserve His word here on Earth after He leaves to remind humanity what He commanded. Additionally, we can provide life to people. Ephesians 2 says that before we accepted Christ as Lord and Savior, we were dead, not lost or unchurched, but dead. With the gospel in us, we provide what is necessary for life. If we lose the saltiness or the ability to trust Christ who uses us for these purposes, we are useless. The only thing we are useful for after that is to be thrown on the ground and trampled upon. Onwards, Jesus says we are the light for the world. You often hear people who know about theology refer to this light. We believe that God gives us a visible change in life that we can show to all those around us. We shine into the darkness when we associate with people who don't have the light. It is good to fellowship with unsaved people, but we need to remember a flashlight is not helpful in a room that is already fully lit. Jesus calls us the light because we take light to places where it is dark. We are a city on a hill according to Jesus. You cannot hide a city on a hill. Likewise, you cannot hide God in your heart. If you truly trust Jesus and what He came to do, wear Him visibly for all to see. Finally, Jesus says you do not put a lamp under a basket but display it so that it lights everyone in the house. When you shine in front of people, the glory goes back to God. That is the point of why we are here, we must give God all of the glory.

Jesus tells the disciples that He did not come to Earth to set aside Moses' Teachings or what the Prophets said, but to fulfill them. Until He enters the Kingdom of Heaven, all will still be the same. Anyone who finds any laws unimportant and teaches others this will be unimportant in Heaven. Until Jesus fulfills what He came to do, people must follow all of the Old Testament laws perfectly in order to reach Heaven.

Jesus goes deeper into some of the Ten Commandments. First, He talks about murder. It has been one of the Ten Commandments since the time of Moses not to murder. Jesus says not only is that true but also anyone who is angry with another believer has committed murder. If you've called another believer an insulting name, you've murdered him or her in your mind. If you tell a believer they're a fool, you will answer for it before God. If you make an offering and realize that another believer has a quarrel with you, leave the temple and go make peace with the other before giving. If you are going to court, try to make peace with the accuser so that he or she will not hand you over to the judge and the judge to the officer. If you end up in jail, you will pay every penny of your fine. This refers not only to in life but also the afterlife. If you sin against God and man then you must make peace through Christ Jesus before you reach the ultimate judgement. Otherwise, Jesus may condemn you and send you to Hell until you pay your entire fine, which will take all of eternity.

In the Ten Commandments, God states that adultery is a sin. Jesus extends this by saying that anyone who looks on someone with lust has committed adultery in his or her heart. Jesus says if your right eye causes you to sin to cut it out rather than let it send all of you to Hell. Not really sure of the practicality of what He means in this and when He says if your right hand causes you to sin to cut it off. I'll have to research that later. The law at the time also said if you divorce your wife, you must give her a written notice. Jesus says that if you get divorced for any reason other than adultery, it makes it look as though your partner has been unfaithful. Additionally, whoever marries the divorced person looks as though they committed adultery.

Even after some research, I don't really understand what God is saying here.  I'm sorry some of this is not good. I've been interrupted from this a lot, so I actually started this morning and am just now finishing.

Jesus tells them that an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is not a good way of doing things. Instead, we should not oppose evil people. Turn the other cheek. At the same time, a Christian is not meant to just be weak. It's really complicated. The part about walking two miles if forced to walk one means that in Roman times, a roman soldier could make a Jewish man carry all of the Roman's gear from one mile marker to the next along a road. God also says to love your enemy because that's what sets us apart. Everyone loves their friends. After all, the rain doesn't refer to bad things happening to good people but that good things happen to bad people.

Matthew 4

http://www.esvbible.org/Matthew+4/

The Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the devil. Temptation often comes after huge moments like when Jesus found out He was the Son of God because Satan is trying to counterattack. If you turn to God, then Satan loses his grip on you, and he hates losing people to God. God also gives us the strength we need to fight these temptations. Jesus fasted for forty days and forty nights and still didn't fall for the devil's tricks. Just because Jesus was special and holy, He was not safe from temptation. The devil came to throw Jesus, so that He couldn't be the blameless sacrifice. If Jesus succeeded in His mission, people could go to Heaven, and not everyone would be condemned to Hell. First, knowing that Jesus is hungry, as he knows all of our weaknesses and desires, Satan tells Jesus He should turn the rocks into bread. Jesus counters that by quoting scripture about needing to live on more than just bread because you need God's word. Then, the devil takes Jesus up a mountain and tells Him to jump because God commands the angels to protect Jesus. Again, Jesus pulls from scripture and says that we should not tetest God. Finally, the tempter takes Jesus to the top of a high temple and shows Him all of the kingdoms and people of the world and tells Him to bow to him and Satan will give all of that to Him, but Jesus says that scripture tells Him that we must only worship God alone. Then, the devil leaves and the angels come to care for Jesus.

Jesus heard that John the baptist had been arrested, so He moved from Nazareth to Capernaum in the region of Zebulum and Nephtali in on the sea of Galilee. This move also fulfilled a prophesy about this region gaining the light despite the fact that those in it had been dark and dead. Jesus preached to the people about how they should change their ways because the Kingdom of God is forever.

Jesus later calls His first disciples. he sees two brothers, Simon (Peter) and Andrew fishing, as they were fishermen, and told them to follow Him and He would make them fishers of men. They immediately dropped their nets and went. He saw two more brothers, James and John fishing with their father and told them to follow Him. They left their nets and father and followed Him. Fishermen were not high up in society at all during this time. It was a lowly job. The men had to work long hours in less than desirable conditions with stinky dead fish Still, the first four disciples are all fishermen, hand chosen by Jesus. Somebody in a lowlier position is humbler and more likely to change their ways to God because a priest or wealthy man thinks that they already have their lives together and don't need Jesus in order to get to Heaven, but the will not get in based on their own deeds.

Jesus traveled throughout Galilee and taught the Good News in the synagogues about what God was doing. He cured all those who had diseases and were demon possessed. The news about Jesus spread throughout the region, and people brought sick and demon possessed people from all over, and Jesus cured them all.

Matthew 3

http://www.esvbible.org/Matthew+3/

John the Baptist appears in a similar story to what we saw in John 1. John the Baptist is a little crazy. He lived in the wilderness, wore strange clothes made of camel hair, and ate locusts and wild honey only. By this description, you would think that everybody would stay away from him. The opposite is true. People came to him in mass to hear about how they should change the way they think and act and be baptized by him to remember what they need to do. God's power is so vast, that he can take this strange, crazy man and  give him a huge following. When John the Baptist saw the Pharisees and other high religious figures, he called them treacherous snakes, like Jesus later would. He told them that when they stand before God at the gates of Heaven, they better have a better reason to gain entrance than that they descended from Abraham. If God wanted to, He could create descendants of Abraham out of rocks. The time had come when ancestry meant nothing anymore. You can see it in the layout of the Bible. The Old Testament is full of family trees, but the last one is in Matthew 1, which is the first chapter of the New Testament. We no longer worry about who are family was because we are all now Children of God. He continues to tell them that the (family) tree roots are cut, and any branches that don't produce fruit will be cut off and burned in the fire, just like we heard Jesus say in John. The other metaphor John the Baptist uses is that Jesus wil remove the wheat from the husks. He will take the wheat into the barn but burn the husks in a never ending fire. This is one of the places that makes people think that Hell is a never ending fire. In reality, nobody alive has been there, so we cannot be certain, but based on this section of Matthew, that seems like a true statement. The main part of John the Baptist's message is that while he baptizes with water, the one coming later will baptize with the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist says that he is not worthy of untying His sandals.

I like the way Matthew sets this next story up because just above, John the Baptist says that he is not even worthy of untying Jesus' sandals, but later, Jesus comes to John the Baptist and asks him to baptize Him. John the Baptist tries to stop Him and tells Him that he should be baptized, but Jesus finally gets John the Baptist to do it by saying that this is the way things are to be done now. This is the reason that baptism is so important. Jesus declared that we should all be baptized. After He comes up from the river, Jesus looks to the Heavens and sees God tell Him that Jesus is God's son and that God's favor is on Him. He says this same thing whenever any of us are baptized, and He always means it. We are God's children, and through faith, we have His favor.

Matthew 2

http://www.esvbible.org/Matthew+2/

Jesus was born in Bethlehem while Herod was "king." He wasn't really a king, but he was in charge of the region and very much on a power trip. After the birth, enter the wise men to Herod's palace. They asked him where the Messiah was because they had seen the star in the sky, and they wanted to worship Him. Herod had not heard about the Messiah's birth, so he freaked out. He called together the chief priests and asked them where the Messiah was to be born, and they told him that He would be born in Bethlehem because that's what the prophets said. King Herod did not go there himself, however, but sent the wise men. He told them to return and tell him if the Messiah was there so that he too could worship Him. So the wise men set off. From the time they saw the star on the night of Jesus' birth until when they arrived in Bethlehem, much time had passed. Although we often place the magi at the nativity scene, they did not arrive until a little later. The star led them all the way to where the baby was. Mary, Joseph, and Jesus were still in Bethlehem. The wise men were overwhelmed with joy to see the baby and fell, worshipping Him. They opened their chests and gave Him frankincense, gold, and myrrh. This is how we should feel when we see Jesus. He is the savior of the world, and He chooses to reveal Himself to us. We should never forget to have joy from Him through the Holy Spirit. We should always worship in all we do. On the way home, God told the wise men in a dream not to return to Herod, so they went home by a different road.

The next part is generally left out of the Christmas story. The angel appears again to Joseph in a dream.. This time, the angel says that Joseph, Mary, and Jesus must flee to Egypt and stay there because Herod intended to kill the baby. Joseph understood and took the baby and His mother that night to Egypt where they remained until Herod died. This adventure fulfilled another prophesy. Jesus fulfilled over 400 prophesies throughout His life. That would be impossible for anyone except God. Eventually, Herod realized that the magi were not going to return, so Herod had all of the baby boys two years old and younger killed because that is the age range of Jesus at the time. This fulfilled another prophesy. The prophesy talks about Rachel crying for her dead children. Rachel was the wife of Jacob, who God later renames Israel. He had twelve sons who became the twelve tribes of Israel. All of the Jewish people come from these tribes.

After Herod died, the angel gave Joseph the all clear and sent him home. On the way there, Joseph heard that Herod's son was in charge, and he was afraid to go there. The angel confirmed that home was no longer safe and guided him to Nazareth in Galilee. This fulfilled yet another prophesy that Jesus would be called a Nazarene.