This chapter highlights Jesus’s authority over sickness, demons and the elements of nature. Jesus calms storms and casts out demons and sometimes that also makes people afraid.
Matthew 8
When he came down from the mountain, large crowds followed him.
Continue readingThis chapter will finish the Sermon on the Mount which began in chapter 6 and runs through chapters 6 and 7. “Judge not” is a well known passag of scripture that may actually be too well known. Remove the log from your own eye, the Golden Rule, the wide vs. narrow gate and building on the rock are all in this chapter.
Matthew 7
“Do not judge, so that you will not be judged.
Continue readingWe are on chapter 2 of the Sermon on the Mount. This is so much easier to read and discuss than the measurements of the tabernacle curtains or making the priestly garments. I’m not saying we shouldn’t read those chapters, obviously we did, but these words of Jesus have more direct application to the Christian life. Don’t just read over it and check a box on your checklist; read it, think about it, soak in it. Let it change you.
Matthew 6
“Be careful that you do not practice your righteousness before men, to be seen of them: otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven.
Continue readingIf you have been hoping for a longer podcast episode. then I have good news. If you were happy with the 8 and 9 minutes episodes we’ve been having, then you should say something when I ask for feedback. This is the first of three chapters that record Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount. It’s not just that the chapter is 48 verses long, it’s that Jesus says so much good stuff.
Matthew 5
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up into a mountain: and when he sat down his disciples came to him.
Continue readingJesus fasts for 40 days and nights and is then tempted by Satan. He then begins to preach and call disciples. Let’s talk about what fasting is and why Jesus is doing it before we look at what Satan tempts him with. Matthew 5, 6 and 7 is the Sermon on the Mount. We will start that tomorrow and spend a few days on the things Jesus says. Lots of good stuff in there.
Matthew 4
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit up into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
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,
Continue readingRead the Bible is now available as a podcast on Spotify. There will be other platforms soon; I don’t have a crew of techies to create accounts and paste RSS feeds all day, it’s just me. The image here is the title card shown on Spotify. It needed to be square and I was a little concerned about downloading an image that might someday be cited for violating copyright. So this is a picture that I took myself, of my Bible.
Matthew 2
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, wise men came from the east to Jerusalem,
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3/4 of the Bible is the Old Testament. There is nothing I can do about that but we are going to break it up by switching back and forth. We will spend pretty much the entire month of June reading Matthew’s Gospel before getting back into the Old Testament at… Leviticus. Matthew tells Joseph’s side of the story of Jesus’s birth and has wise men. We will get to Luke’s account before Christmas which features Mary and the angels appearing to shepherds.
Matthew 1
The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
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Have you ever started a new year with the goal of reading the Bible straight through, Genesis to Revelation, and finish by December 31st? I know people that do, my dad was one of them. In addition to preaching and studying texts for teaching Sunday School, he made it a point to read straight through each year and did that like 30 times. We should read the Bible and that’s one way to do it. But many people have tried and failed and sometimes instead of trying something else they just quit.
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The Bible is God’s Word. 2 Timothy 3:16 says that All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness... but the proper application of scripture to our lives requires discernment. Some verses speak directly to us while others require historical or cultural context. The United States is not Israel. The people of Israel in the Old Testament is often an allegory for the Christian Church but promises made to the nation of Israel do not apply verbatim to Americans. 2 Chronicles 7:14 is often taken out of context wrongly applied. If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land was a promise made to the nation of Israel. There’s a lot of truth in that verse that does apply to people everywhere. We should humble ourselves. We should pray, seek God’s face and turn from wicked ways. But the United States of America is not going to be healed as a whole as a Christian nation. The Kingdom of God is being built from people of every nation.
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The Master's Table 