OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON TO FREE THE CAPTIVES

Mathew chapter 9 verses 32 - 34 records Jesus' encounter with a man who was brought to him who could not speak and was demon possesed.

32 As they went out, behold, they brought to Him a man, mute and demon-possessed. 33 And when the demon was cast out, the mute spoke. And the multitudes marveled, saying, “It was never seen like this in Israel!”

34 But the Pharisees said, “He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons.”

The demon was cast out and the man was able to speak revealing that a demon can be the cause of specific physical pathologies.

This astonishing intervention by the Lord Jesus created a stir among the people who had never encountered power like that.

The religious establishment, beginning to sense that they were losing relevance in the face of the  dramatic miracles performed by Jesus, issued an explanation for the miracle claiming that Jesus' authority to expel demons came from the ruler of demons.

Later in Mathew chapter 12 verses 26, Jesus counters that accusation against him by asking;

If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?

Amen.

4

OUR FATHER WHOSE WAYS ARE RIGHTEOUS

From Psalm 119 - Aleph;

Blessed are those whose paths are blameless

Who walk according to Your ways

Oh, that my heart was steadfast

In seeking  to obey 

Seeking  to obey

I will turn to You with all my heart

For I yearn to sing Your praise

I will consider all of Your commands 

And follow in Your ways

Follow in Your ways

Follow in Your ways

Psalm 119 - Aleph

Blessed are those whose ways are blameless,

    who walk according to the law of the Lord.

2 Blessed are those who keep his statutes

    and seek him with all their heart—

3 they do no wrong

    but follow his ways.

4 You have laid down precepts

    that are to be fully obeyed.

5 Oh, that my ways were steadfast

    in obeying your decrees!

6 Then I would not be put to shame

    when I consider all your commands.

7 I will praise you with an upright heart

    as I learn your righteous laws.

8 I will obey your decrees;

    do not utterly forsake me.

OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON TO BRING SIGHT TO THE BLIND

Departing from the rulers house where the young girl was brought back to life,  Jesus was followed by two blind men who cried out to Him for mercy and Matthew chapter 9 verses 27 - 32 captures a revealing encounter.

27 When Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying, “Son of David, have mercy on us!”

28 And when He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”

They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.”

The Lord Jesus asked them if they had the prerequisites for healing their sight which was belief in Jesus' ability to restore their vision.

The two men vocally affirmed that they did believe and Jesus touched their eyes and according to their faith, their eyesight was restored.

29 Then He touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith let it be to you.” 

30 And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, saying, “See that no one knows it.” 31 But when they had departed, they spread the news about Him in all that country.

In an attempt to manage the political temperature surrounding His ministry, Jesus did not want it known that it was He who had healed the men and so He warned the men to keep the source of the miracles to themselves but the two men could not contain themselves and divulged Jesus' involvement throughout the region.

A few verses further and we see the political effects of the news of the occurences of the miracles. The religious establishment began commenting on Jesus' work and ascribing it to the powers of darkness.

Matthew chaptwr 9 verse 34; But the Pharisees said, “He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons.”

4

OUR FATHER WHO SENT A SAVIOUR MARKED BY THE ABILITY TO HEAL AND RESTORE

Matthew chapter 9 verses 18 - 26 recounts the events of one miracle that occurred on the way to performing another one.

As the Lord Jesus was speaking to John's disciples, a ruler in the city interupted their conversation to ask Jesus to come lay hands on his daughter who had died so that she would live.

That ruler was at the synagogue at Capernaum when Jesus healed the man with a withered arm and at a time of personal anguish and desperation, turned to the only person he had encountered who had the power to reverse the tragedy that had visited his house.

18 While He spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped Him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live.” 19 So Jesus arose and followed him, and so did His disciples.

Jesus ended his conversation and He and his disciples followed the ruler to go his home where his daughter was. As they traveled, a woman who had be plagued for twelve years with a reproductive disorder that caused her to bleed continously.

She, needing a miracle and knowing of Jesus' ability to miraculously heal the sick, decided to discreetly touch the edge of His cloak to get her miracle without anyone noticing.

20 And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment. 21 For she said to herself, “If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well.” 

To her horror, her touch that was meant to be inconspicous did not go unnoticed but brought everyone to a stop on the road. However, instead of reproaching her, the Lord Jesus told her to be encouraged because her faith had healed her.

22 But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, “Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And the woman was made well from that hour.

23 When Jesus came into the ruler’s house, and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd wailing, 24 He said to them, “Make room, for the girl is not dead, but sleeping.” And they ridiculed Him. 25 But when the crowd was put outside, He went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose. 26 And the report of this went out into all that land.

When the Lord arrived at the rulers house, there was active and noisy mourning underway and He spoke to the people as He pushed through the crowd telling them that the girl was not dead but merely sleeping but in response, the people rolled their eyes and scoffed. They knew the girl was dead and found it laughable and naive that someone would claim otherwise.

When the crowd was cleared from inside the house, Jesus went in and took the dead girl's hand and she woke up. The news of this event spread like wildfire throughout the territory.

Amen.

4

OUR FATHER WHOSE ONLY BEGOTTEN SON WAS GIVEN AS A SACRIFICE TO REDEEM US INTO A NEW AND BETTER COVENANT

Matthew chapter 9 verses 14 - 17 captures a meeting between John the Baptist's followers and the Lord Jesus.

John the Baptist, having been prophetically tasked with identifying the promised Messiah to the world, had, during baptism in the River Jordan, pointed Jesus out as the One who was to come according to prophecy.

Subsequent to that time, John and his followers had been keeping abreast of the activities of Jesus and His followers and were trying to make sense of the difference between what they had expected would occur and what they were hearing was actually occurring.

14 Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?”

15 And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. 16 No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. 17 Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

John the Baptist and his followers lived austere lives of deprivation as did the religious leaders of Israel at that time. They had noticed that Jesus' disciples were not fasting and they asked Jesus why this was the case.

Jesus, making clear that fasting is an act of mourning, explained to those questioning Him that while His followers were with Him, they were in celebration mode because they were like a groom's friends while the groom was with them.

Jesus assured John's followers that just as a groom's friends would mourn when the groom was taken away from them, Jesus' disciples would fast when He was taken away from them in the approaching days.

The Lord then told them a parable of the unshrunk cloth and a parable of the new and old wineskins.

If an old garment had a tear, it would be counter-productive to patch the tear with new fabric because the old cloth had already shrunk during the many cycles of washing and drying it had been through. 

Conversely, the patch of new cloth, having not done its shrinking yet, would undergo the shrinking process while attached the old garment and the differential would cause the new patch to tear out the stitching and the original tear would be made worse.

The patch of new cloth could be read to be the new culture and new covenant that Jesus was ushering in. 

The old garment would then be the established culture and the old covenant that John and his followers as well as the religious leaders were adhering to at that time.

Jesus explained that the new covenant could not be meshed into the  fabric of the old because the disperate age and exposure would cause them to differentially react and they would rip apart from each other and make the old covenant's insufficiencies even worse.

Similarly, if new wine is placed into old wineskins, the old wineskins burst because, being pre-used, have already stretched to their maximum extent and have lost their elasticity due to aging.

The new wine, when sealed in these old wineskins, begins the fermenting process and the great pressure generated by the gas production then exeeds the old wineskins' ability to contain it and they explode and dump the wine and ruin the old  skins which would otherwise have been useful for storing non-fermenting liquids like water.

The new covenant, if poured into the infrastructure of the old covenant, would expand beyond the capabilities of the old structure and it would have been damaged by the pressures and demands of the new. The old covenant, damaged in this way, would lose its utility of preserving traditions and historic references and fulfilling its ultimate destiny.

In this way, Jesus revealed to John and his followers why the disciples of the new covenant could not stay in lockstep  with the  prevailing culture of the old covenant and the new culture would seem peculiar and out of step to those ensconced in the old culture.

Amen.

4

OUR FATHER WHOSE SON CAME FOR SINNERS

The book of Mathew chapter 9 verses 9 - 13, records the  calling of Mathew himself and also records Mathew's millieu.

9 As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him.

10 Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

12 When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

The testimony of Mathew, one of the disciples of Jesus, was that he was called by Jesus directly out of his work place at a tax office.

In response, Mathew invited Jesus and his other followers to his home for dinner (as per other translations. NKJV does not identify where the dinner was held)

Others who were invited to the dinner were other tax collectors and people outside the religious establishment's acceptance.

When this came to the attention of the religious leaders, they asked why Jesus, if He were a true man of God, would eat with tax collectors and sinners.

Jesus's irrefutable response was that if a physician came to a location, those who were in good health would not need to associate with him but those who were sick needed to get close to the one who could cure what ailed them.

Referencing Hosea chapter 6 verse 6, which reads;

For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

Jesus told the religious  leaders to learn what the prophet meant by the phrase, "For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice."

This revelation rebutts the sanctimony of the religious enforcers by highlighting that God's primary concern is love and mercy for people over the offerings of sacrifices and religious practices and observances. The verse goes on to include the idea that getting to know God supercedes the presentation of burnt offerings.

With God being represented as One who was focused on the redemtion and reclamation of human beings, it should have been clear to the religious leaders that the One sent from God would be found interacting with sinners as a physician would interact with the sick.

Amen.

7

OUR FATHER WHOSE SON HAS THE POWER TO FORGIVE SINS

Mathew chapter 9 begins with Jesus' departure from Gergesenes and His return to His home base in Capernaum.

1 So He got into a boat, crossed over, and came to His own city. 2 Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.”

3 And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, “This Man blasphemes!”

4 But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? 5 For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’? 6 But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”

7 And he arose and departed to his house.

8 Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men.

Upon arrival, a paralysed man lying on a bed was brought to Him and the Lord, seeing the faith of those who brought him, spoke to the paralyzed man and told him to be encouraged because his sins had been forgiven.

Among the witnesses of the event were some scribes who responded within their hearts with an accusation of blaspheme against Jesus because He was dispensing forgiveness as though He were God.

Detecting their inner thoughts, Jesus addressed the scribes with an incisive revelation of what was in their hearts. He then asked them a question that inverted the accusation of blaspheme into a challenge on their presupposition of Jesus' identity.

He asked them the question, "What was easier  to say, 'Your sins are forgiven' or to say 'Arise and walk?'"

If Jesus was a blasphemer, the answer to the question is that neither is harder because saying phrases like these is easy if nothing of substance was going to happen.

However, Jesus was not a blasphemer because He had the ligitimate right to forgive people of their sins being God Himself.

To demonstrate that this was true, Jesus told the paralyzed man to arise and grab his bed and go home.

The man, paralyzed from a neck injury or a nerve disease or a brain disorder, was immediately able to get up and pick up his bed and go home.

Jesus' ability to speak a phrase and cause a miraculous healing validated his ability to forgive sins.

The observers of these things glorified God for showing such power through men but they did not know that God himself was doing these things right there with them in person.

Amen.

2

OUR FATHER WHOSE SON CAME TO SET THE CAPTIVES FREE

Mather chapter 8 verses 28 - 34 records the arrival at the other side of the Sea of Galilee and encounter with two demon-possessed men.

28 When He had come to the other side, to the country of the Gergesenes, there met Him two demon-possessed men, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no one could pass that way. 29  And suddenly they cried out, saying, “What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?”

30 Now a good way off from them there was a herd of many swine feeding. 31 So the demons begged Him, saying, “If You cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of swine.”

32 And He said to them, “Go.” So when they had come out, they went into the herd of swine. And suddenly the whole herd of swine ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and perished in the water.

33 Then those who kept them fled; and they went away into the city and told everything, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. 34 And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw Him, they begged Him to depart from their region.

In the country of the Gergesenes, two belligerent men possessed by demons occupied a grave yard and terrorized the area so that people avoided passing by there.

Recognizing Jesus as the son of God, they reacted to His arrival by asking why He had come there when He had no business with them and then they concluded that He must have come there to torment them before the appointed time of judgement.

Realizing that the Lord intended to free the men from their grasp, the demons pleaded that if they were to be cast out, they be permitted to enter a herd of swine that was feeding a distance away.

The Lord said one word. "Go".

The demons came out and swarmed into the herd of pigs and the pigs rushed down a steep embankment into the Sea of Galilee  and drowned.

The caretakers of the pigs ran back to their city and reported the events that had just  occurred  at the sea and all the people of the city came out to meet Jesus and they, seeing the high cost of His activities, begged Him to leave them.

The people of the city had discounted the value of the restoration of the possessed-men to their right minds and return of security to area of the cemetary and adjacent roadways. Instead, they only considered the economic impact of the loss of the herds of pigs and they asked Jesus to leave.

8

OUR FATHER WHOSE SON MODELLED THE LIFE OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD FOR THOSE WHO WOULD BELIEVE

Mathew chapter 8 verses 23 - 27 captures an incident that occured on the sea of Galilee as the Lord Jesus and His disciples crossed in a boat.

23 Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. 24 And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. 25 Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”

26 But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. 27 So the men marveled, saying, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

As they sailed across the open water, a sudden and violent squall struck the boat that caused huge waves to engulf it.

At the time, Jesus was asleep in the boat and His disciples, in a panic, woke Him up to get Him to save them because they were certain that they would not survive the storm.

The Lord, having been teaching His disciples about the ways of the kingdom of God, awoke to find them stricken in terror.

He asked them why they were fearful. After all, he had been teaching them not to worry and that their Father in heaven cared for them more than any other creatures and would protect them.

He had also shown them the power of faith by demonstrating the power to heal and evict demons but when they were subjected to the test of the storm, the disciples had lost their composure and frantically awoke the Lord.

The Lord was about to show them that the way of the kingdom was one of power over the elements and He rebuked the winds and the sea and the storm was immediately quelled and calm was restored.

Witnessing this, the disciples had to revise their understanding of who Jesus was.

His sphere of control (which up to that point had touched on healing and deliverance),  now included the forces of nature and they were astounded.

The scope of the kingdom of God was larger than they had comprehended but they would have to expand their understanding to include all of creation because, as Romans chapter 8 verse 19 says;

For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.

Amen.

12

OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON TO INITIATE THE KINGDOM OF GOD ON EARTH

Mathew chapter 8 verses 8 - 22 says this;

18 And when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave a command to depart to the other side.

19 Then a certain scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.”

20 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

21 Then another of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”

22 But Jesus said to him, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

Crowds of people surrounded Jesus and He instructed his disciples to set sail to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.

Before they left, two men wanted to join Him and approached him. To the one who declared “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go”, Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

This enigmatic statement points to the natural realm on the earth where residences are given to all creatures but when a scribe from the established society decided to follow Him, Jesus let it be known that to follow Him meant that he had to be prepared to abandon his residency among the comforts and accoutrements of this world and be as a vagabond in the same way that Jesus was.

Another man decided to follow Jesus but only after he attended to the funeral of his father and Jesus said to him that to be part of the kingdom of God meant abandoning the engagements of the perishing world and putting all his attention on seeking first the Kingdom of God.

In both cases, a serious decision to following Jesus meant an immediate detachment from their lives bound to the earth in order to ascend into the spiritual life of the kingdom of God.

Amen.

3

OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON TO FREE US AND HEAL US

From Mathew chapter 8;

14 Now when Jesus had come into Peter’s house, He saw his wife’s mother lying sick with a fever. 15 So He touched her hand, and the fever left her. And she arose and served them.

16 When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, 17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:

“He Himself took our infirmities And bore our sicknesses.”

 The Lord visited the house of His disciple Peter and Peter's mother-in-law was laying down with a fever and Jesus, operating in the authority of the kingdom of God, saw her in that condition and He touched her hand and the condition left her.

Later that evening, other people, stricken by demon-possession and sickness, were brought to Jesus  and with a word, He cast out demons and healed the sick in keeping with the prophet Isaiah's  prophecy about Him that he would take our infirmities And bear our sicknesses.

Amen.

2

OUR FATHER WHOSE KINGDOM IS ONE OF AUTHORITY AND FAITH

5 Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him,         6 saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.”

7 And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”

8 The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

10 When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! 11 And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.        12 But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.” And his servant was healed that same hour.

The Lord Jesus, upon entering the northern town of Capernaum, was approached by a Roman soldier of the rank of centurion ( this rank is  a commanding officer in the Roman army over roughly 100 men ).

The centurion, begging Jesus, told Him about a servant who was at home paralysed and in agony. Jesus, hearing this, proposed that they go to the centurion's house to heal the sick servant.

The centurion then counter-proposed with his understanding of what was possible in the situation.

He explained that it would be innappropriate for someone of such great rank as Jesus to enter his humble house but instead, all that Jesus would need to do was say the command of healing and the servant would be healed remotely.

Being in the Roman army made the centurion familar with the mechanics of authority and from what he had heard of Jesus, had inferred that Jesus's power was a function of authority and therefore, in the same way that he could issue a command to his unit and that command would be carried out at a distance, Jesus could issue a command and that command could be fulfilled even without immediate proximity.

Jesus was astonished at the incisive perception of the Roman soldier and informed those who were with Him that the Roman soldier's faith was the greatest deposit of faith He had ever encountered on earth and that included all those who operated in faith in Israel.

The Lord Jesus then opened a glimpse into a reality of the kingdom of God that had just made itself manifest at that moment: The kingdom God was going to include people from every direction, race and tribe who would, by faith, gain seats in the kingdom of God while others who were born into the kingdom would be disqualified from authority in the kingdom (with intense regret) by their lack of faith.

The Lord Jesus then released the Roman soldier to go and said to him that what he had believed would happen, would indeed happen.

The sick servant was healed.

Amen.

9

OUR FATHER SENT HIS SON TO RESTORE US FROM EXCLUSION

The Lord Jesus, having completed the teaching series on the hillside, descended into crowds of people who were following Him.

Mathew chapter 8 verse 1 - 4 captures a moment when from among the many people, a man with the skin disease of leprosy approached Jesus and worshipped Him;

1 When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him. 2 And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”

3 Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

4 And Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

This passage starts with a man with leprosy worshipping Jesus and in doing so said that if it was Jesus' will, the disease could be removed from him.

Jesus touched the man with His hand saying that He was indeed willing and commanded that the man be cleansed of leprosy and the man was cured immeadiately.

The Lord then commanded the man to maintain secrecy over the how he got healed but to go present himself to the priests in order to be examined and ceremonially cleansed which was part of the elaborate procedure of being restored from quarantine back to regular life as prescribed in the book of Leviticus chapter 14.

The Lord also told him to take a gift to the priests as a sacrifice in accordance with the law of Moses concerning the ceremonial cleansing from leprosy. The sacrifices required are described in Leviticus chapter 14 verses 10 - 11 with a modified prescrition for those who were poor a s could not afford in verses 21 - 22.

10 “On the eighth day they must bring two male lambs and one ewe lamb a year old, each without defect, along with three-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with olive oil for a grain offering, and one log of oil. 

11 The priest who pronounces them clean shall present both the one to be cleansed and their offerings before the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

The man's healing and submission to the ceremonial cleansing rituals along with the gift of his sacrifice was to be a testimony to the priests that the healing power of God was now active in land and that people who were excluded from their lives in the family of Israel were now being restored.

Amen.

16 

OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON TO DO AND TO TEACH Part 23

24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.

26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall."

28 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, 29 for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

Reaching the end of His discourse on the hillside, the Lord Jesus advised His listeners to put into practice the things He had taught them because what He had taught them was the solid rock of truth. A person who based his life on these teachings would be like a house built on solid rock that could not be undermined by the erosive forces of weather and would remain standing through rain, floods and winds.

On the other hand, hearing the words of Jesus and rejecting them or failing to put them into practice would result in a great fall because that person, by basing their lives on other foundations, would be like a house built on a sandy foundation that is easily undermined by rain, floods and winds.

Even if a person were to use engineering intelligence and strong materials to build a solid house, if the house was constructed on a sandy foundation, when water flooded or wind blew around the base of the house, the particles of sand would be individually swept away until the house was no longer evenly supported and it would break apart.

The words of the Lord are the definitive explanations of the basis upon which a person can successfully establish their lives in the kingdom of God because they are a unitary whole that cannot be washed away piece by piece.

If a person cobbles together the principles of living in the kingdom of God from sources other than the Lord Himself, that person will find that the bits and pieces of their founding philosophy will be eroded away under the different pressures in his environment and his life in the kingdom of God will collapse.

The people listening to the Lord Jesus were astounded by how authoritatively and powerfully He delivered His words. 

They were used to the uncertain and hedged way the scribes taught them while Jesus, a master of the subject matter, spoke with the conviction of one who established the principles.

Amen.

6

OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON TO DO AND TO TEACH Part 22

Being part of the kingdom of God requires that we do the will of the Father who is in heaven.

Citizens of the kingdom of God are imbued with the power and authority of that kingdom but the Lord Jesus emphatically taught His followers  in Mathew chapter 7 verses 21 - 23 that the requirements for being classified as operating lawfully in the Kingdom of God while using its resources is that all such activities must be those aligned with the will of the Father.

21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

It is possible for people to be given access to the kingdom of God and once there, find themselves able to deploy the utensils and powers of the kingdom under their own volition. They discover that they can invoke the powers of the kingdom to prophesy, cast out demons and perform signs and wonders and in doing so, come to believe that they are qualified to be admitted into the kingdom of heaven.

However, admittance to the kingdom of heaven is based on the close knowledge and love that is cultivated with the Lord and this relationship is predicated on adherance to the will of the Father and failing to do so is judged as lawlessness and disqualifies us from being with Jesus in the kingdom of heaven.

Once admitted into the kingdom of God by systematically selecting to go through the narrow gate and difficult path, we now must grow in the kingdom by seeking the will of the Father and doing it in the authority and power of the kingdom of God.

This is the lawful way of the kingdom of God that the Lord Jesus demonstrated as He declared in John chapter 5 verse 19;

Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in the same way.

Amen.

14

OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON TO DO AND TO TEACH Part 21

The Lord Jesus continued His teaching regarding the kingdom of God and in this passage in Mathew chapter 7 verses 15 - 20, He revealed a hazard that exists for those operating in the eco-system of the kingdom of God;

15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

The phenomenon of false prophets is a dangerous reality that requires us to shed naivete and be on constant watch for attempts to infiltrate the associations of believers.

Sent by the kingdom of darkness as agents of personal and corporate destruction, these false prophets dress up in attire, language and culture that mimics the servants of God and they bring with them false and toxic doctrines and foster strife and disunity.

Out of their ministrations come sinful conduct, discouragement, introduction of idols, ruined relationships, loss of direction, loss of connection to God, divided and scattered flocks and a myriad of other pathologies that weaken the assemblies of believers.

The Lord cautions us to be alert for such actors trying to inveigle their way into positions of influence among the believers who are ensconced  in the kingdom of God.

Their deceptions and disguises are often sophisticated and we can easily mistake a wolf dressed in a sheep's garment for an actual sheep but the Lord tells His followers that even if the agents of darkness manage to get past the first screen, it will soon become evident whose kingdom they serve because they will involuntarily yield bad fruit that is impossible to disguise and when identified, the infrastructure supporting the ministry of the agents of darkness can be spiritually cut down and consigned to the fire.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON TO DO AND TO TEACH Part 20

Mathew chapter 7 verses 13 - 14 continues with the elucidation of the characteristics of citizenship in the kingdom of God and in this passage,  the Lord Jesus decribes what access to the kingdom of God entails.

13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 

14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

The Lord Jesus provides a key for when we want to migrate into the kingdom of God by letting us know that we will encounter two gates. One gate will be wide and the roadway through it will be broad and easy to traverse. The other gate will be narrow and the roadway through it will be difficult to travel on.

The secret that the Lord is presenting here is that as we navigate our way towards the kingdom of God, there will be options that we will run across along the way and that we should select the difficult and hazardous way rather than the easy and straightforward route.

If, for example, we arrive at a scenario where someone needs our help and to do so would put us into a bind because we would be delayed or our resources would be tapped out while alternatively, we could refer that person to other people and move on unencumbered by the inconvenience, the Lord's counsel is that those who are seeking to enter the kingdom of God should pick the option that is challenging and hazardous over the easier way because the kingdom of God has a screen that selects for those who are inclined to undertake the difficult options rather than gravitate towards shortcuts.

This screening process results in only a few finding the entry point to the kingdom of God and it is the remnant that stumbles into the kingdom of God that discover the abundant life that the salvation of the Lord acquired for them.

As John chapter 10 verse 10 says, 

10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHOSE MERCY ENDURES FOREVER

From Psalm 118

I shall not die, but by the Lord I shall live

And declare with praise the works of the Lord

His mercy shall ever endure 

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

The stone which the builders turned away

Has now become the chief cornerstone

God is the Lord and He gave us His light

This is truly the day that the Lord has made

We rejoice and are glad in it

Psalm 118 

Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!

For His mercy endures forever.

2 Let Israel now say,

“His mercy endures forever.”

3 Let the house of Aaron now say,

“His mercy endures forever.”

4 Let those who fear the Lord now say,

“His mercy endures forever.”

5 I called on the Lord in distress;

The Lord answered me and set me in a broad place.

6 The Lord is on my side;

I will not fear.

What can man do to me?

7 The Lord is for me among those who help me;

Therefore I shall see my desire on those who hate me.

8 It is better to trust in the Lord

Than to put confidence in man.

9 It is better to trust in the Lord

Than to put confidence in princes.

10 All nations surrounded me,

But in the name of the Lord I will destroy them.

11 They surrounded me,

Yes, they surrounded me;

But in the name of the Lord I will destroy them.

12 They surrounded me like bees;

They were quenched like a fire of thorns;

For in the name of the Lord I will [a]destroy them.

13 You pushed me violently, that I might fall,

But the Lord helped me.

14 The Lord is my strength and song,

And He has become my salvation.

___________________________

15 The voice of rejoicing and salvation

Is in the tents of the righteous;

The right hand of the Lord does valiantly.

16 The right hand of the Lord is exalted;

The right hand of the Lord does valiantly.

17 I shall not die, but live,

And declare the works of the Lord.

18 The Lord has chastened[b] me severely,

But He has not given me over to death.

19 Open to me the gates of righteousness;

I will go through them,

And I will praise the Lord.

20 This is the gate of the Lord,

Through which the righteous shall enter.

21 I will praise You,

For You have answered me,

And have become my salvation.

22 The stone which the builders rejected

Has become the chief cornerstone.

23 [c]This was the Lord’s doing;

It is marvelous in our eyes.

24 This is the day the Lord has made;

We will rejoice and be glad in it.

25 Save now, I pray, O Lord;

O Lord, I pray, send now prosperity.

26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

We have blessed you from the house of the Lord.

27 God is the Lord,

And He has given us light;

Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.

28 You are my God, and I will praise You;

You are my God, I will exalt You.

29 Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!

For His mercy endures forever.

OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON TO DO AND TO TEACH Part 20

Mathew chapter 7 verses 7 - 12 continues with the Lord Jesus explaining the mechanics of accessing the  kingdom God;

7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! 

12 Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

After having faith that leads to salvation, the new believer needs to progress towards gaining citizenship in the kingdom of God for which our salvation qualifies us for.

In this passage, the Lord Jesus explains the principles of asking, seeking and knocking. The kingdom of God is only made accessible to those who want it enough that they repeatedly ask for access, look for access and knock on the door to be let in.

The Lord assures us that those who press for access to the kingdom of God will be granted access and for comparison, He asks us if any of us on earth, though fallen in nature, when pressed by our children for a piece of bread, would instead give them a stone? He then lets us know that God in heaven is all the more willing to grant the good things of His kingdom to His children who persistently pressure Him.

This line of thought ends with the Lord telling those of us who would seek the kingdom of God that the elementals of how to decide what conduct to cultivate are found within us. 

If we consider our own matrix of preferences on how we want to be treated, this is the acceptable standard on how we are to treat others. 

It is this baseline of our patterns of conduct that, when we have them established in our lives, we are prepared for access to the kingdom of God.

When we persistently ask and seek and knock, we will find ourselves being transformed in such a way that we begin to behave as we would have others behave towards us and this makes us ready to be admitted into the spiritual kingdom of God.

(Retroactively written after commenting on verse 13 - 14)

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON TO DO AND TO TEACH Part 19

Mathew chapter 7 verse 6 carries two injunctions from the Lord Jesus along with three consequences for failing to uphold the injuctions.

6 “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.

The two injuctions are;

• Do not give holy things to the dogs
• Do not present pearls (precious items) to pigs

The consequences for doing so are;

• The holy and precious things are trampled
• The pigs and dogs turn against you
• The pigs and dogs tear you apart

This teaching reveals a dynamic that exists when people in the kingdom of God are interacting with those who are not.

The holy and precious things are articles that are revealed to those who frequent the corridors of the kingdom of God.

Holy things are spiritual impliments and instruments that spiritual people employ to facilitate transactions betweeen the realms of the spirit and the realms of the temporal.

Pearls represent valuable spiritual treasures that can be traded for by sacrifice and labour in the natural realm. Revealed spiritual mysteries and spiritial knowledge are examples of pearls.

Dogs represent those people who are in the household of God but have not  ascended beyond the life of the flesh and have returned to their vomit.

Pigs represent those who are dominated by demonic spirits and operate as functionaries of the kingdom of darkness.

When walking in the spirit as is the requirement of citizenship in the kingdom of God, disernment must be utilized when interacting with people to distinquish between those to whom holy and precious things can be given lest the holy things be defiled and the precious things be devalued.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON TO DO AND TO TEACH Part 19

The Lord, continuing in Mathew chapter 7 verses 3 - 4, teaches His followers the principles of self-awareness and self-alignment.

3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

The tendency for us to look askance upon those around who have issues in their lives while ignoring our own shortcomings is a very real phenomenon that stems from our familiarity with our own moral ecosystem that makes us blind to our own proclivities.

The Lord calls this hypocricy and advises us to examine our own lives objectively and endeavor to extricate harmful behaviour patterns enmeshed in us before we start looking into the lives of others to correct their foibles.

Living in the spirit requires clarity in perception to be able to assist others and thus it is imperitive that we remove obstacles and contaminants in our lives that muddy our ability to correctly perceive the issues our brothers are entangled in.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO LOVES US

From Psalm 117

How great is our God's love for us

His faithfulness never comes to an end

Extol Him who saved us and called us His friends

All you nations and peoples, let's all Praise His Name

All you nations and peoples, Let's all praise His Name

Psalm 117

Praise the Lord, all you nations;

    extol him, all you peoples.

2 For great is his love toward us,

    and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.

Praise the Lord.

OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON TO DO AND TO TEACH Part 18

Mathew chapter 7 verses 1 - 2 record the Lord's teaching on passing judgement on other people.

1 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

Jesus' counsel to us on this subject is to avoid judging other people altogether because of the hazards that accompany undertaking judgement over other people.

First, if we step up to judge others, we qualifyl ourselves to be judged as well.

Second, when we judge others, our own methodology of judgement will be used to judge us. If, for instance, we discriminate on how we pass judgement based on people's social standing, this bias will be used against us.

Third, the same harshness or severity that we mette out against other people when we sit in judgement over them will be used against us.

The gold standard is not to judge other people but if judgement is forced upon us, we must be as carefull and impartial as possible when examining cases we are adjudicating and we must also be as merciful as we can be.

In the kingdom of God, adherance to the guidance of the Spirit of God on matters of judgement will exempt us from being judges ourselves.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON TO DO AND TO TEACH Part 17

Mathew chapter 6 verses 28 - 34 continues the lessons of prioritization of the things of the kingdom of God over concerns for temporal things. The Lord Jesus tells His followers that they are far more precious than flowers of the field that God clothes in splendor.

28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 

31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 

34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

The Lord assures His people that worrying about the things like food, clothes and shelter would be fruitless. Instead of worrying, we should instead seek God's kingdom and His righteousness and those things that are needed will be provided along with the things of God's kingdom and righteousness. 

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON TO DO AND TO TEACH Part 16

The Lord Jesus, in Mathew chapter 6 verses 25 - 27, continued teaching His followers about how to live as citizens of His kingdom and expounds on the previous lesson that touched on the impossibility of serving both God and mammon (money) at the same time.

He adjures His people not to expend energy worrying about how they would survive in the world. If they were to primarily concern themselves with the things of the kingdom of God, all the things they require will be provided to them by their Father in heaven;

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 

26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 

27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

This passage has tones of the verse that Jesus used to reject the temptation to turn the stones to bread in the wilderness in Mathew chapter 4 verse 4;

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

This refutation alludes to the fact that life is more than bread and the fulfilment of physical needs but is, in fact, rooted in the spiritual provision that comes from the utterances of God.

Jesus tells His followers that in the same way that our Father provides food for the birds of the air, we, who are of much greater concern to the Father, would be provided for. 

If we attend to the things of the kingdom of God, we do not need to server mammon and we need not worry about how we will nourish and clothe ourselves because our Father will take responsibility to provide the things we have need of.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON TO DO AND TO TEACH Part 15

The Lord Jesus, in this verse, establishes the axiom of the hazards of split loyalty.

24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Have two masters brings about the conflict of love and devotion versus hate and resentment.

In trying to serve two masters, inevitably, situations will arise that will result in the servant having to chose between the fulfillment of service to one master over the other.

One master will rebuke the servant even though the failure to please one master  was impossible to mitigate. Hate and resentment against that master begins to fester making life unbearable.

In the verse, the Lord gives an example of two masters who some people would try to serve concurrently but would fail at doing so: God and money.

Those who would serve God have requirements on their time and resources. Those who would serve money must render time and resources to acquire and manage it.

To try to serve both at the same time would degrade into a hopeless miasma of contrary interests and ultimately, a believer, pressured by the practicalities of survival like food and clothing, would have to decide between one or the other.

The Lord, in Mathew chapter 6 verses 31 - 33, gives us the way out of this connundrum with theses counterintuitive words; 

31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON TO DO AND TO TEACH Part 14

The Lord Jesus gave an anatomy lesson in Mathew chapter 6 verses 22 - 23;

Vew International Version

22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

English Standard Version

22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

In this teaching, I believe that the Lord is speaking strictly of the spirtual eye and the bible versions e.g. ESV that refer to the eye as singular are the correct ones.

The physical body, having no perception sensors with which to detect things of the spirit, must rely on the proper functiong of the spiritual eye to know the things of the spirit.

If our spiritual eye is in good condition, our physical body is infused with light of the spiritual realm and spiritual entities that would try to inhabit our physical body are displaced by the light and we can live free of demonic influence over our bodies.

If our eye is bad, our bodies remain in darkness and it is in this condition that demonic entities  can thrive in our bodies.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN IS SOVEREIGN

From Psalm 115

Our God in heaven

Ever worthy of our praise

We will extol You

All our days

Our God in heaven

Sovereign are Your ways  

Glory and honor To Your name

Sovereign are Your ways  

Glory and honor to Your name

Psalm 115

1 Not to us, Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.

2 Why do the nations say, "Where is their God?"

3 Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.

4 But their idols are silver and gold, made by human hands.

5 They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see.

6 They have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but cannot smell.

7 They have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but cannot walk, nor can they utter a sound with their throats.

8 Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.

9 All you Israelites, trust in the Lord' he is their help and shield.

10 House of Aaron, trust in the Lord' he is their help and shield.

11 You who fear him, trust in the Lord' he is their help and shield.

12 The Lord remembers us and will bless us: He will bless his people Israel, he will bless the house of Aaron,

13 he will bless those who fear the Lord' small and great alike.

14 May the Lord cause you to flourish, both you and your children.

15 May you be blessed by the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

16 The highest heavens belong to the Lord, but the earth he has given to mankind.

17 It is not the dead who praise the Lord, those who go down to the place of silence;

18 it is we who extol the Lord, both now and forevermore.

Praise the Lord.