 Matthew 15:21-28
What's going on when our prayers seem to "fall on deaf ears" in heaven? Why would a good God not be quick to come to our rescue? Matthew tells us about a time when Jesus was accosted by a Canaanite woman. Jesus was very reluctant to help her -- her daughter was tormented by a demon. As we think about the story, we learn valuable lessons about our own relationship with God. We are inspired again to worship God in the name of Jesus.
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 Matthew 15:10-20
It is always tempting to try to overcome our shortcomings by ourselves. "Self-improvement" is a primary value of our times. But Jesus reminds us that the problem is rooted in our own hearts and minds. In this lesson, we consider how Jesus calls us to seek God's help in the transformation of our soul.  Matthew 15:1-9
We pass on knowledge and wisdom from one generation to the next through a tradition process. When it comes to teaching our children and others to understand the Bible, that process requires using our own words to explain God's words. Jesus warns religious teachers to avoid the sin of replacing God's words with our words. We must be sure our hearts are always loyal only to God, to worship him in our teaching.  Matthew 14:22-33
Many forces in the world today conspire against Christian faithfulness. Daily news cycles and Facebook posts seem to beg us to become discouraged in our resistance to a culture more ungodly by the year. In Matthew's account of a perilous sea crossing by Jesus' first disciples encourages us to stay faithful to Jesus against these forces that tempt us to give up.  Matthew 14:13-21
Whatever we are hungry for, if we bring that to Jesus, it will be multiplied. We must be careful, though, to hunger for that which will bring blessing rather than a curse.  Thomas needed to see the evidence of Jesus' death to believe that the living Jesus was the same man who died on the cross. In a similar way, Christians live in a world that needs to see the marks of our own death in Christ before they will believe what we preach about Jesus.
 Fred Willmon surveys Paul's letter to the Philippians. Highlights of this letter encourage Christians today to have a vibrant faith in Lord Jesus.
 Romans 10: 14-17
In this famous passage, Paul calls attention to the need for listening to the message Jesus Christ has sent into the world. This calls Christians to be careful to give first priority to listening to the "apostolic" teaching kept for us in the Bible. Many Bible studies written by others can be helpful in some ways. Nothing should take the place of studying the Bible in the form that its teachings have been given to us by God's wisdom.  In Matthew 5:16, Jesus teaches that his disciples are to do their good works in such a way that God receives the glory. This sermon considers how that works when God is the source of his own glory.
 Matthew 13:51-52
Jesus concludes a series of parables about the kingdom of God with a parable about understanding his teaching about the kingdom of God. Those who understand, according to Jesus, are able to bring out new things along with the old things in the collection of Christian wisdom. |
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