Tag Archives: Matthew

You have your mission (Matthew 10:5-42), Apr 23, 2015

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Today’s Podcast


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Today’s Scriptures

Today’s Bible reading plans include:

Ready – Matthew 10:5-42
Set – Psalms 141; Matthew 10
Go! – 1 Samuel 27; Psalms 141; 1 Chronicles 9; Matthew 10

Matthew 10:5-42
5 Jesus sent out these twelve with clear instructions.

Jesus: Don’t go to the outsiders or to the towns inhabited by Samaritans, a people whose Jewish ancestors married Gentiles. 6 Go instead to find and heal the lost sheep of Israel. 7 As you go, preach this message: “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, and cleanse those who have leprosy. Drive out demons from the possessed. You received these gifts freely, so you should give them to others freely. 9 Do not take money with you: don’t take gold, silver, or even small, worthless change. 10 Do not pack a bag with clothes. Do not take sandals or a walking stick. Be fed and sheltered by those who show you hospitality. 11 When you enter a town or village, look for someone who is trustworthy and stay at his house as long as you are visiting that town. 12 When you enter this home, greet the household kindly. 13 And if the home is indeed trustworthy, let your blessing of peace rest upon it; if not, keep your blessing to yourself. 14 If someone is inhospitable to you or refuses to listen to your testimony, leave that house or town and shake the dust from your feet. 15 This is the truth: Sodom and Gomorrah, those ancient pits of inhospitality, will fare better on judgment day than towns who ignore you tomorrow or next week.

16 Listen: I am sending you out to be sheep among wolves. You must be as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves. 17 You must be careful. You must be discerning. You must be on your guard. There will be men who try to hand you over to their town councils and have you flogged in their synagogues. 18 Because of Me, naysayers and doubters will try to make an example out of you by trying you before rulers and kings. 19 When this happens—when you are arrested, dragged to court—don’t worry about what to say or how to say it. The words you should speak will be given to you. For at that moment, 20 it will not be you speaking; it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

21 Your task will be fraught with betrayal: brother will betray brother, even to the point of death; fathers will betray their children, and children will rebel against their fathers, even to the point of death. 22-23 When you are persecuted in one town, flee to the next town. This is the truth: you will not be able to witness to every town in Israel before the Son of Man comes. Everyone will hate you because of Me. But remember: the one who stays on the narrow path until the end will be saved.

24 A student is no greater than his teacher, and a servant is never greater than his master. 25 It is sufficient if the student is like his teacher and the servant like his master. If people call the head of a house “Beelzebul,” which means “devil,” just imagine what they’re calling the members of his household.

26 Do not be afraid of those who may taunt or persecute you. Everything they do—even if they think they are hiding behind closed doors—will come to light. All their secrets will eventually be made known. 27 And you should proclaim in the bright light of day everything that I have whispered to you in the dark. Whatever whispers you hear—shout them from the rooftops of houses.

28 Don’t fear those who aim to kill just the body but are unable to touch the soul. The One to fear is He who can destroy you, soul and body, in the fires of hell. 29 Look, if you sold a few sparrows, how much money would you get? A copper coin apiece, perhaps? And yet your Father in heaven knows when those small sparrows fall to the ground. 30-31 You, beloved, are worth so much more than a whole flock of sparrows. God knows everything about you, even the number of hairs on your head. So do not fear.

32 Whoever knows Me here on earth, I will know him in heaven. And whoever proclaims faith in Me here on earth, I will proclaim faith in him before My Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns Me here, I will disown before My Father in heaven.

34 Do not imagine that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 I have come to turn men against their fathers, daughters against their mothers, and daughters-in-law against their mothers-in-law. 36 You will find you have enemies even in your own household. 37 If you love your father or mother more than you love Me, then you are not worthy of Me. If you love your son or daughter more than you love Me, then you are not worthy of Me. 38 If you refuse to take up your cross and follow Me on the narrow road, then you are not worthy of Me. 39 To find your life, you must lose your life—and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

Jesus: 40 Anyone who welcomes you welcomes Me, and anyone who welcomes Me welcomes the One who sent Me. 41 Anyone who welcomes a prophet and surrenders to his prophecy will receive a prophet’s reward, and anyone who welcomes a righteous person and conforms to the righteousness that surrounds him and proceeds from him will receive a righteous man’s reward. 42 And anyone who has given so much as a cup of cold water to one of the little ones, because he is My disciple, I tell you, that person will be well rewarded.

Today’s Devotional

From today’s background scripture God might say:

There’s a lot packed into those thirty-eight verses of instructions. Jesus knew what His disciples would face as they went out into the world to share My message, though. He knew the kind of people they would run into and the encouragement they needed now at the beginning of their journey. Jesus knew they would have successes along the way and many would come to know Him because of the message they shared, the many they healed, the miracles performed.

Others would hate Jesus’ messengers for the same reason. Because they proclaimed the message I gave them, those twelve would find others hated them as much as they hated Me. They would learn it doesn’t take long to be run out of town, beaten, stoned, arrested or held in prison for their message being given to others.

But their instructions were clear and they carried them out faithfully. Your instructions are clear, too. Jesus gave them to you before He came back to Me. “Go into all the world and make disciples. Teach them My commands and baptize them in My name and His name, and the name of the Holy Spirit.” If you’ll do that, you’ll do some incredible things for the kingdom and I’ll be with your each step of the way. 

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Some things are urgent (Matthew 8:5-22), Apr 21, 2015

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Today’s Podcast


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Today’s Scriptures

Today’s Bible reading plans include:

Ready – Matthew 8:5-22
Set – 1 Samuel 24; Matthew 8
Go! – 1 Samuel 24; Psalms 57-58; 1 Chronicles 8; Matthew 8

Matthew 8:5-22
5 Eventually Jesus came to the little town of Capernaum. In Capernaum a military officer came to Him and asked Him for help.

Officer: 6 Lord, I have a servant who is lying at home in agony, paralyzed.

Jesus: 7 I will come to your house, and I will heal him.

Officer: 8 Lord, I don’t deserve to have You in my house. And, in truth, I know You don’t need to be with my servant to heal him. Just say the word, and he will be healed. 9 That, after all, is how authority works. My troops obey me whether I am next to them or not—similarly, this sickness will obey You.

10 Jesus was stunned by the depth of the officer’s faith.

Jesus (to His followers): This is the plain truth: I have not met a single person in Israel with as much faith as this officer. 11 It will not be just the children of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob who celebrate at their heavenly banquet at the end of time. No, people will come from the East and the West—and those who recognize Me, regardless of their lineage, will sit with Me at that feast. 12 But those who have feigned their faith will be cast out into outer darkness where people weep and grind their teeth.

13 Then Jesus turned to the Centurion.

Jesus: You may go home. For it is as you say it is; it is as you believe.

And the officer’s servant was healed, right then.

14 Jesus went to Peter’s house, and there He saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed, sick and burning up with a fever. 15 Jesus touched her hand, and then she was healed—the fever vanished. She got up from bed and began to wait on Him.

16 Toward nighttime many people who were possessed by demons were brought to Jesus, and He said one word of command and drove the demons out, healing everyone who was sick. 7 These miraculous healings fulfilled what the prophet Isaiah had predicted:

He took our infirmities upon Himself,
and He bore our diseases.
18 Jesus saw that a crowd had gathered around Him, and He gave orders to go to the other side of the sea. 19 A scribe came up to Him.

Scribe: Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.

Jesus: 20 Foxes have dens in which to sleep, and the birds have nests. But the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.

Disciple: 21 Jesus, before I do the things You’ve asked me to do, I must first bury my father.

Jesus: 22 Follow Me! And let the dead bury their own dead.

Today’s Devotional

From today’s background scripture God might say:

You heard the verses just read. You know the stories of the centurion’s faith and Peter’s mother-in-law. You know about the crowds coming for healing and exorcism and to hear My teaching. But I want you to learn something else from what you just heard. It comes from the interaction with the scribe that came to follow Me. I gave him a task to do, but he wanted to bury his father first.

My answer to the scribe probably sounds hard to many of you. But the message I gave the scribe is the same message that carries through this whole passage. The message is very clear to Me and I hope it becomes clear to you if you haven’t gotten it already. Here it is: There is urgency in My work.

It’s not earth-shattering news, I know. But it’s important for you to understand and I want you to feel that same urgency. I had a very short time to live with you in the flesh and show you what abundant living looks like. I had a very short time to carry out the task I came to earth to do. Everything I accomplished had an urgency about it.

All the people that came to Me for healing came with an urgency for relief. They didn’t want to wait another minute for healing and as a compassionate God who created those who came to Me for help, I didn’t want to wait a minute longer either. You know when you’ve suffered any illness, you want to get well, now, not later. There is an urgency to your prayers. There is an urgency to your actions for healing. You want to be well again.

So it is with My tasks for you. They bring healing to someone’s heart. You might not understand how, but the skills, talents, and gifts I’ve given you, I’ve given for a reason. That reason always helps others and grows My kingdom. It edifies Me and My church. And there is an urgency to the spiritual healing of others. You can introduce Me to people no one else around you can.

You see the urgency with the healing. It’s clear in My message to the scribe. Time is precious. You might have today or you might have another 100 years. But you don’t know. Life is too fleeting not to prepare for being with Me now and forever. And how about your co-worker or your spouse? Your children and your neighbor? They need Me, too. Who will introduce them to Me if you don’t? Their time is short, also. You could be their last chance. Don’t let them lose that opportunity because you think you have something “more important” to do. What can be more important that helping someone make it to heaven?

The message I hope you carry with you today and every day is the urgency of sharing the good news of My forgiveness for the asking. Live for Me and experience real freedom and life everlasting. The time is now.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Why should you pray? (Matthew 6:5-18), Apr 19, 2015

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Today’s Podcast


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Today’s Scriptures

Today’s Bible reading plans include:

Ready – Matthew 6:5-18
Set – 1 Samuel 22; Matthew 6
Go! – 1 Samuel 22; Psalms 17; Matthew 6

Matthew 6:5-18
5 Likewise, when you pray, do not be as hypocrites who love to pray loudly at synagogue or on street corners—their concern is to be seen by men. They have already earned their reward. 6 When you pray, go into a private room, close the door, and pray unseen to your Father who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not go on and on, excessively and strangely like the outsiders; they think their verbosity will let them be heard by their deities. 8 Do not be like them. Your prayers need not be labored or lengthy or grandiose—for your Father knows what you need before you ever ask Him.

9 Your prayers, rather, should be simple, like this:

Our Father in heaven,
let Your name remain holy.
10 Bring about Your kingdom.
Manifest Your will here on earth,
as it is manifest in heaven.
11 Give us each day that day’s bread—no more, no less—
12 And forgive us our debts
as we forgive those who owe us something.
13 Lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
But let Your kingdom be,
and let it be powerful
and glorious forever. Amen.

14 If you forgive people when they sin against you, then your Father will forgive you when you sin against Him and when you sin against your neighbor. 15 But if you do not forgive your neighbors’ sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

16 And when you fast, do not look miserable as the actors and hypocrites do when they are fasting—they walk around town putting on airs about their suffering and weakness, complaining about how hungry they are. So everyone will know they are fasting, they don’t wash or anoint themselves with oil, pink their cheeks, or wear comfortable shoes. Those who show off their piety, they have already received their reward. 17 When you fast, wash your face and beautify yourself with oil, 18 so no one who looks at you will know about your discipline. Only your Father, who is unseen, will see your fast. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.

Today’s Devotional

From today’s background scripture God might say:

I can’t tell you how important prayer is to you. So many think of prayer as just a few rote words at meal or bedtime, but prayer is so much more. It’s communicating with Me. How else will you know Me or express yourself to Me except through prayer? I must hear from you for you to solidify your relationship with Me.

Can you imagine building a friendship or a marriage without talking to each other? How would you ever get your thoughts across? How would you support each other? How would you help each other reach your goals, your dreams? If you don’t talk to each other you wouldn’t know each others dreams, so you would only get in each others way. Relationships would crumble and die.

The same is true in your relationship with Me. We need to talk to each other. I left you My word. In most Bibles, it’s only twelve or thirteen hundred pages. That might sound like a lot, but it’s the length of about three or four novels. Isn’t reading My word as important as reading the latest novel? Just three or four pages a day and you’ve read My word through in a year. Doesn’t My relationship with you mean at least that much to you?

It’s equally important to talk to Me. Yes, I know your thoughts before you speak them, but often you don’t know them until you articulate them. Praying helps put your thoughts about Me or about your concerns, your intercession, your praise into your consciousness and give coherence to your thought. You explore who I am and what I’ve done for you when you pray. You share your deepest feelings, your doubts and fears when you pray. Then I can come to you and meet your needs and you know I’m the one who does it.

We need to talk to each other. I talk to you a myriad ways, but principally through My word. Read it, meditate on it, learn of Me. Listen to Me in nature, in the character and thoughts of other followers of Mine. Share with them your thoughts, also. Voice your prayers to Me. It takes few words, but it takes words from the heart.

Prayer changes things. You don’t like the way things are around you? Then pray.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Want to trade places with John? (Matthew 3), Apr 16, 2015

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Today’s Podcast


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Today’s Scriptures

Today’s Bible reading plans include:

Ready – Matthew 3
Set – 1 Samuel 18; Psalms 11; Matthew 3
Go! – 1 Samuel 18; 1 Chronicles 6; Psalms 11; Matthew 3

Matthew 3
1 Around the same time, a man called John began to travel, preach, and ritually wash people through baptism in the wilderness of Judea. John preached a stern but exciting message.

John: 2 Repent! For the kingdom of heaven is near.

3 John’s proclamation fulfilled a promise made by the ancient prophet Isaiah, who had said, “There will be a voice calling from the desert, saying,

Prepare the road for the Eternal One’s journey;
repair and straighten out every mile of our God’s highway.”
4 John wore wild clothes made from camel hair with a leather belt around his waist—the clothes of an outcast, a rebel. He ate locusts and wild honey.

5 People from Jerusalem, all of Judea, and indeed from all around the river Jordan came to John. 6 They confessed their sins, and they were baptized by him in the Jordan.

7 He told some Pharisees and Sadducees who came for the ritual baptism,

John: You children of serpents! You brood of vipers! Did someone suggest you flee from the wrath that is upon us? 8-9 If you think that simply hopping in the Jordan will cleanse you, then you are sorely mistaken. Your life must bear the fruits of turning toward righteousness. Nor are you correct if you think that being descended from Abraham is enough to make you holy and right with God. Yes, the children of Abraham are God’s chosen children, but God can adopt as daughters and sons anyone He likes—He can turn these stones into sons if He likes.

10 Even now there is an ax poised at the root of every tree, and every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and tossed into the fire. 11 I ritually cleanse you through baptism as a mark of turning your life around. But someone is coming after me, someone whose sandals I am not fit to carry, someone who is more powerful than I. He will wash you not in water but in fire and with the Holy Spirit. 12 He carries a winnowing fork in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor; He will gather up the good wheat in His barn, and He will burn the chaff with a fire that cannot be put out.

13 And then, the One of whom John spoke—the all-powerful Jesus—came to the Jordan from Galilee to be washed by John. 14 At first, John demurred.

John: I need to be cleansed by You. Why do You come to me?

Jesus: 15 It will be right, true, and faithful to God’s chosen path for you to cleanse Me with your hands in the Jordan River.

John agreed, and he ritually cleansed Jesus, dousing Him in the waters of the Jordan. 16 Jesus emerged from His baptism; and at that moment heaven was opened, and Jesus saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon Him, alighting on His very body.

Voice from Heaven: 17 This is My Son, whom I love; this is the Apple of My eye; with Him I am well pleased.

Today’s Devotional

From today’s background scripture God might say:

Not many people want to change places with John the Baptist. It might sound cool to baptize My son in the Jordan and announce the beginning of his ministry to the world, but…

Even in Jesus’ day, camel hair clothes and only sporadic baths in the desert didn’t exactly draw the fashion crowd. John could probably smell himself. It was only because of My message he attracted anyone at all. But then again, the message wasn’t exactly the popular theme of the day either.

John cried for repentance. He pled for those who came to him to cast off the ritual of the temple just for the sake of practicing rituals as many of My earlier prophets did. He made a lot of enemies among the religious…few among the righteous. I gave him a hard mission trumpeting My arrival in flesh and blood. I knew few would believe him. I knew he would have at least as difficult a time as the prophets before him.

John never backed away from his task, though. Despite the rough treatment. Despite the hard conditions. Despite the many who shouted at him, hated him, tried to drive him away or change his message, John stayed true to his task. He never let up on his call to repentance to those who failed to follow My word.

John even found himself imprisoned after announcing to Herod the wrongs he committed in his illicit marriage. Still he refused to back off from the message I gave him to share with those around him. It made no difference whether they held high positions of authority or barely survived from day to day. John’s message, My message always came across boldly and without hesitation.

Not many want to change places with John. His might sound like an interesting life, getting to baptize My son. But living like John and losing your life to an executioner’s sword, few will sign up for knowingly. I won’t give you John’s task. But I will give you something only you can do for Me. And when you do what I ask, boldly and unhesitatingly, I guarantee you’ll meet Me face to face one day.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.