218 people in our community are currently praying with you.

Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.

Prayer to Find God

Grant me, O Lord my God, a mind to know you, a heart to seek you, wisdom to find you, conduct pleasing to you, faithful perseverance in waiting for you, and a hope of finally embracing you.

~ Thomas Aquinas 9/2021

Prayer For the Damned

Dear Holy God, I remember today all those who spend their lives denouncing Christ; the sarcastic atheists who make fun of believers; the people whose careers are built on trying to discredit your Word; and all those who follow false, dead-end religions. Help me to expunge any anger I may feel when attacked by such people, or when I hear their misguided words. Let your Spirit be strong in me, to educate my tongue, if I am called upon to respond to one of them; and let me always answer in love and serenity.

Most of all, heavenly Father, forgive them; if it be Your will, bring the light of your salvation to them, heal them of their bitterness and self-absorption, that any and all of them might find the beauty of life in Christ, and be torn away from the clutches of Satan. In the name of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,

Mason Barge 1/27/2015

Meditation

“God always answers prayers. Sometimes it’s ‘yes.’ Sometimes the answer is ‘no.’ Sometimes it’s ‘you gotta be kidding.’”

~ Jimmy Carter

Affirmation

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead, our Lord Jesus Christ, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant equip us with every good thing that we may do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight; through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever.

~ Hebrews 13:20-21

Think of the day ahead in terms of God with you, and visualize health, strength, guidance, purity, calm confidence, and victory as the gifts of His presence.

Evangelarium from the Lindisfarne Gospels, created around 700 A.D. at the island monastery of Lindisfarne, off the northeast coast of England.

The Year’s At The Spring

Matthew 4:23-25 (ESV)

Jesus Ministers to Great Crowds

nd he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them.

And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

Notes on the Scripture

The first 3 1/2 chapters of Matthew describe occurrences that are important, but introductory: His birth, early life, baptism, temptation, etc. At 4:23 we see a shift, as Matthew plunges us into the actual ministry of Jesus. This is the bulk of the book and will continue until it gradually shifts focus to His preparations for the crucifixion.

Matthew’s great strength lay in recording Jesus’ words. Without him, we would live in a different world, for a majority of Jesus’ teachings would be lost, especially his direct instructions on how we should live. But as a history of the life of Jesus, it lacks some of the details of the other gospels.

In today’s lesson, we are given no details at all. The passage must cover a goodly period of time and distance, for enough time passed that word of Christ spread at least as far south as Jerusalem, east into the Greek cities on the other side of the Jordan (the “Decapolis”), and north into Syria. (See Map.) This would have taken time in an era when both travel and communications were primitive.

Matthew
(A. van Dyck, 1620)

Also, Matthew was called as a disciple fairly late, possibly last among the twelve apostles. Matthew describes his call in Ch. 9, but Luke and Mark seem to put it earlier. Harmonizing the chronology of the four gospels is beyond the scope of our study, but Mark and Luke seem more interested in putting the events of Jesus’ life in correct order; while Matthew arranges his gospel in teaching modules.

Three activities are named. First, Jesus taught in synagogues. These were numerous, for it took only ten Jewish men to form a synagogue. Sacrifices were made only at the Temple in Jerusalem, so synagogues were limited in nature to matters such as education and prayer. They were almost like Quaker meeting-houses, for there was no permanently designated preacher. At a meeting, a portion of the Torah would be read, prayers would be said, and educated members of the congregation would teach. Learned visitors were most welcome to speak, since they would bring new knowledge and fresh viewpoints.

As we will see in later chapters, Jesus might have had a fresher viewpoint than most synagogues had counted on; he would, in fact, cause a furor with his revolutionary and even heretical teachings.

Secondly, he “proclaimed the gospel.” That is, he told them the good news, that the Kingdom of God had arrived. Whether he lay claim to divinity during this period, we do not know. But surely he attacked the Pharisees for their hypocrisy and laid the foundation for the new covenant: that salvation would require a change within, not simply outward compliance with the law of Moses.

Third, he healed. Generally, healing by Christ and his apostles would occur only in a person who had faith in him and his word. This was not some sort of reward, nor a method to manipulate people into outward protestations of faith. It was rather a sign that Christ could remit sin . . . and not just personal sin, but the original sin of Adam which had engendered all human misery.

Daily Inspiration

“The Importance of Works”

Current Memory Verse     Remember the Bible

Print Today’s Devotion