Oct 5, 2012 | Matthew
We have come to learn that ours will never be the largest church in town – even the largest Baptist church. That used to bother me, because I was trained in a school where it was expected that all its graduates should pastor the fastest growing, most exciting,...
Oct 4, 2012 | Matthew
I have been struggling with how to approach and to teach this chapter. It seems necessary to me to give us an overview before we break it into its component parts. Thursday after, I was mulling over exactly how to approach an overview, but I was getting nowhere. And...
Oct 3, 2012 | Matthew
As I said this morning, I believe that at some point – either here or earlier – Christ established His first church. Tonight I’d like to build upon that part of my message. But I’m not thinking about the doctrine of the church – “ecclesiology.” That is an important...
Oct 2, 2012 | Matthew
I am told by those who have been in prison, and by those who minister to people in prison, that it is not difficult to convince those captivated, incarcerated audiences that they are sinners. If I had to guess, there is only one other place where it will be easier...
Oct 1, 2012 | Matthew
I am going to a place this evening where I have never been before. Some will say that I have lost my mind; while others might say that I should have come here years ago. Some will find this message curious, but others might think of it as a complete waste of time....
Sep 21, 2012 | Matthew
I am hoping that you might find this message at least half as interesting as I did in preparing it. But as some might say, I am hoping against hope. This is a message about the work of the ministry – not the ministry itself. It’s not so much about those who receive...
Sep 18, 2012 | Matthew
This is the day that much of Christendom is celebrating Easter and the resurrection of Christ. Many of those celebrants are not aware that many other professing Christians are not joining them today. Some sects of Christianity believe that the resurrection took...
Sep 17, 2012 | Matthew
If we set our sights any lower than the person of Lord Jesus we will miss “the mark for the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus.” If we make our heros anyone less than Christ, we will be mediocre saints, if saints at all. There is not a man on this earth a...
Sep 16, 2012 | Matthew
My out-line this morning is not particularly out-standing, but the five points flow smoothly out of the text. Here we have another miraculous healing, much like several that we’ve all ready considered. But every case has its own particular characteristics, and those...
Sep 16, 2012 | Matthew
When the two blind men heard that Christ had come out of Jairus’ house, they began to cry out for help. Specifically, they called for help from the “Son of David.” They didn’t plead for help from “Jesus,” “Messiah” or from the “Son of God.” They were beseeching the...
Sep 15, 2012 | Matthew
I can not very well verify his statement, but Spurgeon once said that the Orient was filled with blind people. “In our own streets we meet here and there with a blind beggar, but they swarm in Eastern cities. Oph-thal-mai is the scourge of Egypt and Syria, and...
Sep 14, 2012 | Matthew
Psalm 66 is a wonderful song of praise. I wonder if these two blind men knew their hymnal well enough for their hearts to fill with words of David? “Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands: Sing forth the honour of his name: make his praise glorious. Say unto...
Sep 13, 2012 | Matthew
Like a great many of our Lord’s miracles, this particular one has been recorded in three of the gospels. The miracle which follows is only found in Matthew, but the healing of this woman was considered by God to be really important. I can say with absolute...
Sep 12, 2012 | Matthew
Next Sunday, I plan to return to this scripture using this woman as a picture of saving faith. Throughout our study of Matthew, we are going to be looking at miracles as illustrations of salvation. But there are also a great many other lessons sandwiched between...
Sep 11, 2012 | Matthew
I have several books in my library with collections of quotations. Among them, my favorite is nearly 2,000 pages, and it is filled with wonderful material in very tiny print. It is possible to look up a subject, and find perspective on that subject from a dozen...
Sep 10, 2012 | Matthew
This is a well-known story from the life of the Lord Jesus, and I have preached from it several times. But I haven’t made this kind of approach before. I hope that it will be a blessing. This was still early in our Lord’s ministry, but He had already testified of His...
Sep 9, 2012 | Matthew
I dealt with the subject of fasting about eighteen months ago, so I am not going to look directly at it again. But the context of that subject was raised before the Lord Jesus, and it leads to an interesting investigation. Why did the disciples of John and the...
Sep 8, 2012 | Matthew
Thursday was a big day at our house. In Sahalie’s little private school, the kindergarten class was celebrating Valentine’s Day. And preparations began early in the week, if not actually a week before that. Judy had prepared a box of things to send to the grandsons,...
Sep 7, 2012 | Matthew
As I reminded you last week, the text for our first message in this study did not come from Matthew 1:1 – It was Matthew 9:9 where we read of Jesus call of Matthew – the penman of this scripture. In that message we considered his occupation, his call, his obedience...
Sep 6, 2012 | Matthew
This message could, and probably should, be divided into a dozen separate sermons. But I am thinking that there might be something useful in stepping back and looking that the larger picture. Why did the Son of God become incarnate? Why did Christ come into the world?...
Sep 5, 2012 | Matthew
In the edition of the Bible which I use, verse 9 is marked as a paragraph all unto its own. I am not going to directly refer to this verse tonight, because that was our text in the first message which we had in this series. It introduces Matthew to us, a man who is...
Sep 3, 2012 | Matthew
Generally speaking the more someone meditates on the Word of God, the more God will bring to his heart. It doesn’t matter if that scripture has been studied a hundred times, on the hundred-and-first there still may be something which has never been considered before....
Sep 3, 2012 | Matthew
Are there any words or phrases which are particularly yours? A couple of weeks ago, Bro. Bill saw where I had used the word “serendipity,” and he jokingly said, “Hey, you can’t use that word; it is mine.” I laughed at him and then agreed, although he didn’t create...
Sep 2, 2012 | Matthew
A few days after I mentioned the evangelistic DVDs on the back table, one of the members asked me to look at a website criticizing their producer – Ray Comfort. The critic didn’t just criticize – he condemned Mr. Comfort, calling him a “damnable heretic.” I know...
Sep 1, 2012 | Matthew
This is a passage of scripture which appeals to every level of Christian experience. It is good for Sunday School lessons from pre-schoolers to the teens and adults. And it contains enough mystery to baffle John Gill and John Calvin combined. There are lessons here...
Aug 11, 2012 | Matthew
I am told that the beautiful stones, which we call diamonds, are not at all beautiful when they are pulled from the ground. And I suppose that if it was up to me, I’d probably not be aware that I was looking at a raw diamond if I saw one. However, if you showed me a...
Aug 10, 2012 | Matthew
I have lots of questions about this scripture and all the other scriptures which speak about demons. Twenty years ago, I spent weeks studying what the Bible says about Satan and his armies. I read several scholarly works on Satanism, several of which I pulled out...
Aug 9, 2012 | Matthew
Following the spectacular miracle in the midst of the sea, the Lord and His disciples made it across to Gergesa. One of the apparent results of the storm was that the hoard of eavesdroppers all returned to Capernaum. When they had set sail, “there were also with him...
Aug 8, 2012 | Matthew
The great Baptist Missionary Adoniram Judson was in a Burmese prison for preaching the gospel. The king of that country was a Buddhist and was thoroughly intolerant to everything foreign, and Christ is definitely foreign to a Buddhist. It is said that one day Anne,...
Aug 7, 2012 | Matthew
This brief history of a small event in the life of Christ carries with it some huge implications. Adding the accounts of Mark and Luke to what is here in Matthew, we have a full rendering of the event. And of course, as mature Christians we believe every word of it...
