Once while I was driving home from watching the local fireworks display on the Fourth of July, I was thinking about the passage of time. It had been over 200 years since the signing of …
The Gospel of Matthew #16
If you were one of Jesus’ apostles and had to distill the ministry of Jesus and put it in, as Matthew did, 28 chapters and so many pages, where would you start? What would you …
The Gospel of Matthew #15
It is hard for me to imagine Jesus being surprised at anything. After all, Jesus knows the thoughts and intents of the heart, doesn’t he? Isn’t he able to know what we would think before …
The Gospel of Matthew #14
I don’t want to be misunderstood; I agree entirely with Paul when he says: For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of …
The Gospel of Matthew #13
One day when I was praying forgive us of our debts as we forgive our debtors it dawned on me that I was praying in the first-person plural. I was not merely asking God to …
All About the New Testament #3
One day a man named John Mark sat down to write out his testimony. His writing materials were gathered around him: pen, ink, and sheets of papyrus—the writing paper of the time. The sheets would …
The Gospel of Matthew #12
Have you ever wondered why some people refuse to swear in court? So when swearing in witnesses and jurors, the court often asks someone to swear or affirm. Well, it grows out of this statement …
The Gospel of Matthew #11
When Jesus said, Don’t think I am come to destroy the law. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill it, I don’t really think Jesus’ disciples thought that was a strange thing to …
The Gospel of Matthew #10
You know, I think Christianity was a lot simpler before the first theologians came along. The early Christian evangelists, for example, going from town to town preaching the good news of Jesus Christ, did not …
The Gospel of Matthew #9
I believe that most people in the world want to be right. I certainly don’t know a soul who wants to be wrong, plans so that he is wrong, works so that he is wrong. …
All About the New Testament #2
I know it will make some people uncomfortable for me to say this, but…Jesus was a Jew. He was born to a Jewish mother and raised in a Jewish household. He was circumcised on the …
The Gospel of Matthew #8
Imagine yourself walking down the aisle in your supermarket, filling up your basket with things from right and left, and spending all your hard-earned pay. A little further down the aisle from you is a …
The Gospel of Matthew #7
Do you believe that it was possible for Jesus to sin? Oh, I know that Jesus did not sin—that is not even a question—but was it possible for him to sin? The devil came to …
The Gospel of Matthew #6
John the Baptist was a very influential preacher. He was not a limousine evangelist; he did not fly into town on a jet and get picked up in a limo. He did not stay at …
The Gospel of Matthew #5
Jesus was born in Bethlehem, a mere five miles from Jerusalem as the crow flies. It would have been very easy for the religious and political establishment of Jerusalem to have come down to Bethlehem, …
All About the New Testament #1
It is not surprising that, when a person picks up the Bible and starts to read, they find themselves a little bit lost. After all, the Bible was written a long time ago—the last book …
The Gospel of Matthew #4
Welcome back, members of the jury. Today we are continuing with the testimony of one Matthew—also known as Levi—former tax collector and later disciple and apostle of Jesus of Nazareth. I intend to support his …
The Gospel of Matthew #3
It is staggering to consider the amount of work that has gone into the scholarly study and analysis of the Bible. I mean, men will write whole chapters on one Greek word, whole books on …
The Gospel of Matthew #2
I want to pose yet another mystery about the four Gospel accounts: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. But before I can do that, we need to consider some things. We’re allowed, in studying the testimony …
The Gospel of Matthew #1
Today, I have a curious job. I want to take a book that is probably very familiar to you and make it unfamiliar. The book is the Gospel According to Matthew. It’s the first book …