Matthew by Scott Risley (2010)

Why does Jesus' genealogy matter? The Messiah had to come from a certain family line according to prophecy. Not only was Jesus descended from Abraham but also through David's family line. He could not be descended from Jeconiah. Several woman are also included in this genealogy including Tamar, Rahab and Ruth.

Did the virgin birth actually happen? And why is it important? Not only is Jesus' birth unique but it fulfills predictions made hundreds of years before. A word study of alma and parthenos is included along with a comparison with other religions.

How do you respond to the King? Matthew gives us three different reactions to the birth of Jesus. King Herod felt threatened and ordered the murder of all infant boys in Bethlehem. Herod's scribes were preoccupied and apathetic, giving Herod the information needed to track down and murder the recently born King of the Jews that the Magi were searching for. The Magi went to great lengths to find and bring costly gifts to the newborn King.

John the Baptist, confirmed by Jewish historian Josephus, fulfilled prophecy from Isaiah and was similar to Elijah. John called out many religious leaders of his day for not showing real change indicative of a relationship with God. His baptism of Jesus was an announcement to everyone of who Jesus was as the final prophet anointed the final king.

Jesus faces temptation by Satan in the desert just after being baptized. Jesus refutes Satan using the Bible and refuses to take the easy way out.

God wants us to lead moral lives, but He wants to set the priorities, not have us decide ethical and moral priorities for ourselves because we are so often deceived. Many of the ethical teachings in the Bible are principles not set in stone "rules".

Living in this modern era it is easy to believe that anxiety about money is normal, but God calls it a sin! Instead, store up treasures in heaven by investing in your own spiritual growth by focusing on following God who loves and cares for you. If your treasure is in God, your heart will follow. You can either live a life filled with anxiety or you can seek first God's Kingdom and enjoy Him for eternity.

In the world, there are many voices telling us that Jesus is just one of many ways to heaven. Jesus could not disagree more with that statement! Jesus says He is the only way to the Father in heaven. All of humanity is under the curse of death but each person is free to choose between the world's way or God's way of salvation. The choice is yours. Will you choose the narrow gate or the wide gate? Will you build your house on the sand or the solid rock?

Matthew's account of Jesus' first three miracles focused on outcasts. He healed a leper, a gentile servant girl and a woman, Peter's mother-in-law. These miracles authenticated him and His authority. They demonstrated his power is expressed in love.

In the previous chapters, Jesus demonstrates His authoritative teaching. In Matthew 8 and 9, He displays the extent of His authority by His command over nature by calming the storm, by His power over demons, and by His power to forgive sins. Having proven He has the power to deal with anything you might face and the power to forgive sins, He is offering to forgive your sins.

When Jesus calls Matthew the tax collector to follow Him, Matthew gets up and follows Him and throws a big party for Jesus and His disciples. Even after seeing all the miracles Jesus has performed so far, the Pharisees object to Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners. Jesus responds by saying it was not the healthy that need a a doctor but the sick and then continues to do miracles. Then the Pharisees accuse Him of preforming miracles by the power of Satan. The miracles validated Jesus as the Messiah but the Pharisees could not see it.

When Jesus sent out the disciples on their first mission journey, he was teaching them important ministry principles that apply to us today as well. First, we go in the authority of Jesus. it is not under our own power that we are able to serve supernaturally. Jesus calls us to work together in teams not autonomously. We focus our effort where there is responsiveness. We must learn to trust God for our provision. And finally, our mission is very important.

The parable of the farmer going out to sow seeds mark the beginning of Jesus only speaking to the crowds in parables. The Pharisees and spiritual leaders had begun to realize Jesus was often critiquing them when he addressed the crowds following Him. They became increasingly hostile to Jesus so He began speaking in parables so those with ears to hear would hear and those who did not desire to hear truth, would not hear.

In Jesus' day, the Jews were expecting the coming Messiah to inaugurate the Kingdom of God. When Jesus claimed to be the Messiah, the Jews assumed He would bring in the physical Kingdom of God in their day. They did not understand that He was inviting people now to enter the Kingdom through faith but the literal, physical Kingdom on earth was yet in the future.

When Jesus fed the five thousand with just a few scraps of bread and fish He was teaching a bigger lesson. He was demonstrating that He is willing to provide for our deepest needs even beyond food. He is offering eternal life. Another lesson is that He loves to use other people as His agents of provision. When we allow God to use us to meet the needs of others, their needs are met, it gives significance to our lives and it spiritually feeds us too.

When the disciples saw Jesus walking on water toward their boat, Peter called out to Jesus, who invited him to come out of the boat and join Him on the water. But Peter took his eyes off Jesus and onto the waves and storm around him and began to sink into the waves. When we have a horizontal focus, we only see the danger but when we have a vertical focus, our problems seem more like challenges. As Peter began to sink, he called out to Jesus who reached out and rescued him. Be like Peter, get out of the boat, focus on Jesus, not the dangers, and call out to Jesus.

When the Pharisees confronted Jesus about His disciples not washing their hands before eating as their traditions demanded, Jesus turned the tables on the accusers. He instead accused them of putting their outward religious observances over and above God's moral commands. Their external posturing was just going through the motions rather than having a true spirituality based on having been cleansed by a faith-based relationship with God.

Every person alive will need to decide who they believe Jesus is. Their eternal destiny depends upon this decision. The second decision, if one believes Jesus is the Son of God, is whether or not you will follow Him. There is no cost to you to receive salvation but there is a cost to follow Jesus. The best part of the Christian life is reserved for those who go all the way. Can you afford to not follow Him?

Initially, the disciples did not understand the significance of their mountaintop experience of witnessing Jesus' transfiguration, they later realized that Jesus fulfills and supersedes the Old Testament, that He is greater than Moses and Elijah. They learned that God is both transcendent and immanent. Peter, in his exuberance, wanted to build permanent shelters for Jesus, Moses and Elijah to live in that moment rather than enjoy the experience however fleeting it may be.

When the Pharisees challenged Jesus about the rules for divorce, Jesus confronted them with God's design for sex and marriage. Instead of asking what conditions will allow them to get out of their marriages, they should be asking why is their marriage failing. When each spouse is centered on a relationship with God, each is free to give sacrificially to the other instead of needing to take from the other. As each draws nearer to God, they draw nearer to each other.

Contrary to what many people might think, God really want you to have a successful marriage and a great sex life! For single people, try to view singleness as a gift from God. Don't take matters into your own hands while you are looking for a God-centered marriage partner. For folks already married, center your family around God and learn to be a love-giver. For everyone else, relationships are best when done God's way. So, start a relationship with Him!

The rich young ruler asked Jesus what good deed he must do to have eternal life. Rather than answer his question directly, He asks the ruler questions to uncover his profound misunderstanding of how good God really is. Jesus revealed how high the bar of goodness truly is. In spite of all his efforts to be good enough, he needed to give up on relying on his own merits and come to Jesus like a little child. Once he received grace (if he ever did) he needed to follow Jesus.

This parable where the late workers get paid as much as the early workers often bother people when they first hear it. It offends our self-righteous sense of justice. Our flesh cries out, "That's not fair!" God's grace is very different from what we expect. The more self-righteous we are, the more offensive grace is to us. God's undeserved grace is central to Scripture which clearly depicts the cross as the only way to salvation. The gracious soul discovers "...that blessing has been received from God while we were yet unworthy and undevoted."

Jesus gave us a perfect example of leadership that is far different than what the world offers. He did not lord over us His authority, but was humble and serving. He sacrificed His life for us. As believers, we must first follow Jesus' leadership but also must learn to lead like He does. Although the cost to lead like Jesus is high, the aspiration is noble and worthwhile.

As Jesus' ministry on earth comes to a close just before Passover, the gloves come off! No more forbidding people to tell of their miraculous healings, no more hiding His true identity! As He enters Jerusalem to accomplish His mission to die on the cross, He enters, riding on a donkey according to prophecy, to not only verify who He was but to provoke the people to make a decision about Him.

On the Tuesday before Jesus went to the cross, the religious leaders attempted to discredit Jesus. They thought by challenging Him on His authority to teach and do miracles they would find evidence to arrest Him. With each attack brought against Him, Jesus silenced the hypocritical leaders. He demonstrated their contempt for their Maker. When they asked, "Who do you think you are?" He answered, "I am the Son!"\r\n

The disciples asked Jesus what will be the sign of His coming and the end of the age. Jesus answers them, but they did not understand that the answer spoke of two separate times. They did not know that there would be a very long gap of time between the beginning of the end and the bodily return of the Son of Man. The signs of the end fell into three categories: Birth Pains, Preconditions and Specific Events.

Scott Risley goes over all the preconditions that must be in place for the End to finally arrive. Two thousand years after the disciples asked Jesus what would be the signs of the End, we now live in a period of time when many of the preconditions have been realized. Some of these preconditions were unimaginable to people hundreds or even fifty years ago but now are common place. Israel is inconceivably back in its home country. Technology allows the whole world to be interconnect and communicate with one another in seconds on the other side of the world. All these things that seemed so unlikely are now happening. God told us all these things would happen and He told us Jesus is coming back too...

Since the return of Jesus has still not happened, some people say things are "just the same as it was since the beginning" but the Bible, unparalleled in accuracy, gives us a one-of-a-kind predictive scenario that accords with events throughout history. Whether all these conclusions are right or wrong, the big picture is clear, Jesus is coming back. Are you ready?

As we live in these Last Days, no one knows when Jesus will return, so we need to be ready at all times. God will let you live your life as you choose, but He will call you to give an account at the end. Will you be found faithful?

The story of Mary pouring out her expensive perfume on Jesus to anoint him before his burial is still being told for almost two thousand years, just as Jesus predicted. The Lesson we can learn from this is nothing that we pour out on Jesus is a waste. Most people won't understand, but Jesus sees it differently. "Have our eyes been opened to see the preciousness of the One whom we are serving?...that nothing less than the dearest, the costliest, the most precious, is fit for Him?"

Whereas the enemies of God used the cross to kill Jesus, God used it to bring eternal life to whomever puts their faith in Jesus to pay their sin debt. When Jesus said, "It is finished," He was proclaiming the punishment for sin had been fully paid by His death. For anyone who believes, the certificate of debt has been cancelled. Have you asked to have your certificate of debt nailed to the cross? Are you growing in your appreciation of the cross?

The historical resurrection of Jesus after His Crucifixion is an exciting story that is non-negotiable. After two thousand years, no one has been able to discredit its authenticity. If, after all these years, no one can give a natural explanation of the recorded event, then the logical conclusion is a supernatural event occurred. The New Testament accounts of His resurrection were written so that people would believe Jesus is the Christ and by believing, have eternal life in His name.

After Jesus resurrected from the dead, He met with the disciple and commissioned them to send them out into the whole world to continue the mission He started. He came to seek and save those who are lost. As the Father sent Him, He likewise sends the disciples to go and make disciples, baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teach them everything Jesus had taught them. Just as the disciples were commissioned, so is every Christian called to follow their example.