In this chapter we read about the death of John the Baptist, the feeding of the 5,000 and Jesus walking on water, as well as Peter. The fame of Jesus makes it difficult for him to move from place to place and he will have to avoid going into cities and let the crowds come out to him in the wilderness and desolate places.
Matthew 14
At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus,
Continue readingDisciples from John the Baptist come to ask Jesus if he is the one. Jesus tells them to report back all the things they see and hear. Jesus denounces their cities noting that if the things they are seeing had been done in Tyre, Sidon and even Sodom they would have long since repented.
Matthew 11
When Jesus had finished giving instructions to his twelve disciples, he departed from there to teach and preach in their cities.
Continue readingIntroduction of John the Baptist and the baptism of Jesus.
Includes discussion about the length of the podcast. I am trying so hard to be brief that the episodes actually need to be a little longer?
Matthew 3
In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea,
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This is how I spend Black Friday. Well, it would be nice but truth be told I am pretty much no longer capable of sleeping in. I’m in bed most nights by 8:30 or 9 and up at 5 or 6 AM whether there is a reason to be or not. A few years ago we were at my brother’s house for Thanksgiving. The meal was over, things were winding down, people were starting to leave. He knew that our coffee maker had gone out and I would be looking for one. He showed me the Walmart Black Friday circular, which had new items coming out onto the floor in phases. The sale actually started that evening, Thursday at 6 PM, at which time I could get a Black & Decker drip coffee maker with automatic timer for the low price of $11. I fell for it. My first clue was that no parking spaces were available. Before 6 every space was filled and cars were parked at the fuel center, on the sidewalks, on the grass… I didn’t even know our local Walmart had any grass until that moment. I got in and found my item in about 15 minutes. It then took another 1 hr. 45 min. to check out. EVERY… REGISTER… WAS… OPEN… but a sea of moving people looked more like boats unloading at Ellis Island in the 1920’s than the Walmart checkout lines I was used to. Never again my friends, never again. There is nothing in there I need or want that badly.
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God manifests himself in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It’s easy to recognize the Father and Son in many of our Christmas stories and traditions, but the Holy Spirit is sort of the missing character. That’s just in our remembrance of the story; in the Biblical account, he is all over that story.
If we’re aware of the Holy Spirit in the Christmas narrative at all, it’s probably when the angel Gabriel tells Mary that the Holy Spirit will come upon her and she will conceive, Luke 1:35. That’s just the first time Luke will mention the Spirit. Continue reading
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. -Romans 5: 12-17
In some ways, Jesus is like Adam. By one man’s transgression, sin entered the world. And by one man’s righteousness, victory over sin entered the world. Adam and Jesus are alike in that both are a type of “first man.” At the same time, they are total opposites if you think about it. Adam was the first man to sin; Jesus was the first man to live without sin. Continue reading
The Master's Table 