Monthly Archives: May 2022

Matthew 16- Passion of The Christ

1 Reply

From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. Matthew 16:21-23

The Cross of Christ seems like a mystery, even 2,000 years after it happened. The questions of why did Jesus have to die? Why would the Son of God willingly lay down his life? What does this cross mean for us today? These are questions many ponder today and questions the disciples pondered centuries ago, however Jesus already answered these questions before he even went to the cross!

Jesus said “How he (Christ) must go into Jerusalem, suffer many things, be killed, and rise again on the 3rd day” Jesus clearly laid out God’s redemption plan for humanity, however the disciples and many people today, still don’t understand what Jesus did for us! Even when the scriptures foretold in Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22, that the Messiah had to die, the disciples still didn’t understand what Jesus told them

Peter actually rebuked Jesus, think about that! Peter said “Lord , this should not happen to you” Now Peters heart was in the right place, but he didn’t understand God’s redemption plan for humanity, that Christ would pay for the sins for the world so we can be justified before God the Father and inherit eternal life. I fear many today still don’t understand this fact, that Christ is our Passover Lamb, that Jesus paid it all on the cross!

The first step is the understanding of our sinful nature, our depravity. Until people recognize they are sinners and repent, they will never understand the cross of Christ. If people truly understood their sinful nature, and they understood the wages of sin is death, then they would be crawling to the cross! This is why it’s important to preach the gospel of Christ, which was commanded by Jesus himself (Matthew 28:19)

In another twist, Jesus called Peter “Satan”! Why? Because he totally misunderstood the gospel, and misunderstood Christ’s mission here on Earth, to bring salvation to everyone who repents and becomes Born Again! The Passion of the Christ, is the core of the gospel message, and is God’s finished redemption plan for humanity! Amen!

Matthew 16- Who Is Jesus?

5 Replies

When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Matthew 16:13-16

Who do you say Jesus is? This is a question we should all ponder in our hearts. Do you know Jesus? If someone asked you who Jesus is, could you properly explain? This is probably the most important question in your whole life, do you know the real Jesus? Christ asked his own disciples this same question and got some various responses. Some people thought Christ was John the Baptist, some people believed Jesus was the prophet Isaiah, some believe he was the prophet Jeremiah, but Jesus asked “Who do you say that I am”?

Even in todays world, if you asked multiple people who Jesus is, your going to get different responses. For example, if you asked a Muslim who Jesus is, your going to get a response than a Jehovah Witness, or if you asked a Mormon your going to get a different response from an Orthodox Jew. You see everybody has different thoughts and ideas about who Jesus is, but do you know the real Jesus? Do you know the Christ from the Bible?

Peter knew who Jesus is, he said “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God”, that is the correct answer. How did Peter know the real Jesus? Because Peter has a personal relationship with Christ, not a religion. If you want to know the real Jesus, read the Word of God, don’t listen to the words of man

And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. Matthew 16:17-20

How did Peter know who Jesus is? God revealed it to him, as Paul said “The natural man doesn’t understand the things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:14) Peter understood the words of Jesus because of the Holy Spirit, without the Spirit of God, we can’t understand God. This is why so many false religions are confused about the real Jesus, because they don’t have the Holy Spirit, they are led by the flesh of man

Jesus said” Upon this Rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it” , the Catholics believe the Rock is Peter but Jesus Christ is the Rock,  the Chief Cornerstone (1 Peter 2:7) even the Apostle Peter said this himself! Our foundation is in Christ alone, the Son of the Living God, Amen!

Memorial Day

4 Replies

When I think about Memorial Day, one word comes to mind “Sacrifice” On Memorial Day in America , we honor those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice to save others, our soldiers in the Military, our first line responders , our Police Officers or Fire Fighters. There are many brave men and women who gave us the freedom and liberty we have today

Why did these heroes lay down their lives? It all because of Love, its a love for your country, or a love for justice, or a love for your neighbor and family. Sacrifice is often motivated by Love

So as we celebrate and honor our hero’s, lets not forget our Lord who payed the ultimate sacrifice for the sin of the world, Jesus Christ! Even when we were still sinners, Christ still died for us and paid the ultimate sacrifice. Why would Jesus do this? Because He loves us before we even loved him. God didn’t want to see anyone perish, so he sent his only begotten Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins

So this Memorial Day, remember and honor your loved one who paid the price, but also remember our Lord Jesus Christ who paid the ransom for all of us! For God so loved the world that He gave his Only Begotten Son, whoever believes in Him shall not perish!

Matthew 16- Beware of The Leaven

4 Replies

And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread. Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread? Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? Matthew 16:5-10

Jesus again is going to use Bread as an analogy to teach the disciples about not listening to false teachers and false doctrine. Jesus said to them “ Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees” The disciples totally misunderstood what Jesus was saying , and thought he was talking about actual bread. However Christ was referring to “The Leaven” of the religious leaders, meaning their false teachings

As the Apostle Paul said “ A little leaven leavens the whole lump” (Galatians 5:9) meaning a little false doctrine or false teachers corrupts the whole community. We see this in Christianity today, many false teachers teaching false doctrines confusing many Christians about their salvation or who Christ is. This is why Jesus warned the Apostles, beware of the religious leaders!

But the disciples thought Jesus was referring to physical bread, and then Christ’s response was “O You of little faith” think about this, the disciples just experienced The Lord providing bread for over 9,000 people with limited loaves, and they still don’t have any faith. The disciples are still worried about how God will provide for them!

How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. Matthew 16:11-12

Jesus said to them “How is this you don’t understand?” The disciples totally missed the point, Christ was warning them about false teachers and they are worried about where their next meal is coming from, doesn’t this sound familiar? The Church today is more worried about money and numbers, yet they compromise doctrine to appease people

Listen to the warning of Jesus Christ! Beware of false teachers! Beware of false doctrine! The Word of God is your foundation and authority, Amen!

Matthew 16- The Sign

3 Replies

The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven. He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times? A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed. Matthew 16:1-4

We live in a world and generation that is fixated on the thought of science and philosophy, to the extreme that it has become the religion and faith for those who have rejected God and his sovereignty. People will make ridiculous theories and label them as “science” so they can be validated and accepted as truth. However the majority of these theories have no truth in them, and are total depravity. As the Apostle Paul said “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:22)

The religious leaders were no different, they created their own laws and rules, and rejected the One true God. When Jesus Christ, the Messiah, walked the Earth, not only did they reject him, but they challenged him to provide a sign. The fact that God became a human being and performed miracles, wasn’t enough for them. The reality is they didn’t really care about God or want to know God. They wanted to validate their depraved theories to justify their sinful lifestyle, the same with our society today

Jesus called them out “You hypocrites, you can discern the face of the sky, but you can’t discern the sign of the times” The key word here is “discern” , the religious leaders and this world have no spiritual discernment.The natural man doesn’t understand the things of God  (1 Corinthians 2:24) People go to college to predict the weather, but they can’t discern who created the Heavens and Earth. They can’t discern good and evil, they can’t discern who Jesus Christ is. They demand a sign, as a loophole to escape Gods judgment, which will not happen unless they repent and become Born Again (John 3:3, Luke 13:3)

For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Romans 1:20

People demand a sign from God, however God made it clear, the evidence of his existence is clearly seen, and we are without excuse!  Those who believe on judgment day, they can escape the wrath of their sins by demanding a sign will be mistaken! Everyone in their heart knows God created the Heavens and the Earth, the evidence of God’s existence is clearly seen in the planet and human life, you are without excuse! You won’t be able to argue your way out of your sentence, the wages of sin is death! (Romans 3:23)

If you’re looking for a sign, look to Jesus Christ! As God said “This will be a sign to you, a virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, his name will be Immanuel (God is with Us) (Isaiah 7:14) Amen!

Matthew 15- Bread from Heaven

2 Replies

And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus’ feet; and he healed them: Insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see: and they glorified the God of Israel. Then Jesus called his disciples unto him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way. And his disciples say unto him, Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness, as to fill so great a multitude? And Jesus saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven, and a few little fishes. Matthew 15:30-34

Most of us are familiar with Jesus feeding the 5,000 people, however here is another instance where Christ fed 4,000 plus people in the wilderness. Now we notice great crowds coming to see Jesus in the wilderness, but why? We see Christ performed many miracles and healings, and of course that made the people in awe and wonder, but were they really coming to Christ for the right reasons?

We see this scenario in John 6, when great multitudes were coming to Jesus because they wanted to be healed or they wanted to witness a miracle, but that was about it. You see many came to Christ to see a performance but they didn’t come to Christ for salvation. They wanted a miracle but they didn’t recognize who really was the Miracle. They wanted to be healed but didn’t recognize the Great Healer!

But Jesus had compassion on the great multitude, and was going to perform another miracle, a feeding of 4,000 people with 7 loaves of bread. Now also, we must recognize that Christ in the New Covenant is the “Greater Exodus”, as Moses led the Israelites through the Wilderness and God provided the Bread from Heaven, Jesus Christ delivered the bread himself and Christ himself is the Bread from Heaven!

And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave thanks, and brake them, and gave to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets full. And they that did eat were four thousand men, beside women and children. Matthew 15:35-38

Notice the symbolic number of 7, which means completion in the Bible, and while the great miracle satisfied everyone for that day, I wonder if they recognize the greater miracle in Jesus Christ? Often ourselves we look at the temporal world and don’t look towards  God’s eternal Kingdom. The Bread satisfied their bodies for the day, but the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ, can satisfy their soul for all eternity!

Are you fixated on the miracle or the Miracle Worker? Look at the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ who will give you eternal life and not just temporary satisfaction, Amen