Biblical Truths from West Palm Beach church of Christ

We are returning to our series on Jesus as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew. Chapters 21-25 record the mounting rejection of Jesus as he proclaims the coming judgment on the city for their rebellion against God. We are going to spend the rest of this summer in this section of Matthew and this study will take us into the fall of this year. As we come to Matthew 21 it is important to know that we are starting the final week of Jesus’ life on earth. Jesus is now ready to fully reveal himself to the city of Jerusalem and ultimately to the whole world. Jesus is ready to proclaim who he is to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. This moment is what we call the triumphal entry which is recorded for us in Matthew 21. The whole scene is captured in the first 17 verses of Matthew 21. So it is important that we do not stop short at verse 11 but take in the whole picture as recorded through verse 17…

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It is the final hours of Jesus’ life. A woman anointed his body with very expensive fragrant oil. Meanwhile, Judas, one of the twelve apostles, one of his close friends, has gone to the chief priests and has agreed to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Jesus has instituted the Lord’s Supper with his disciples. In Mark 14:26 Jesus and his disciples are walking to the Mount of Olives. Jesus warns his disciples that they are going to fulfill the scripture that the shepherd will be struck and the sheep will be scattered. All of them declare emphatically that they will never deny Jesus, even if they have to die with him.

We cannot begin to comprehend the weight and gravity of the situation that Jesus is enduring at this moment. He knows that he is about to die. He knows that he is going to die in a very painful way, crucifixion being considered one of the most painful ways to die. He has concerned for his disciples and their safety with the arrest impending. One of his close companions is not with him because he is leading soldiers to him. So we need to relate to Jesus and see that this is a great moment of difficulty…

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Last week we saw that praying aligns our will to God’s purposes. Praying the words “your name be honored as holy” means I have a responsibility to not discredit the name of my Father by my actions. Further, my concern will be that God’s purposes will be accomplished, volunteering to help expand the kingdom in the hearts of humanity. Jesus continues in his prayer:

So much of the prayer has not been focused on ourselves. We are focused on God, his kingdom, and God’s will being accomplished on the earth. Now we turn to our needs. I would like for us to realize that we can talk to God about our physical needs. In fact, our Father wants us to talk to him about our physical needs.  As a parent, we want our children to talk to us about the things we need. We want them to speak to us about what is going on in their lives…

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Jacob has had quite a night. Messengers have told Jacob that Esau is coming to meet him with 400 of his men. Jacob believes that Esau is coming to take vengeance. He has split his traveling party into two groups in preparation for his attack. Jacob has prayed for God to rescue him from his brother. God’s answer to Jacob’s prayer has been to wrestling with him all night, putting one of his hips out of joint. But the wrestling with God had a message. You have struggled with God and with people and have prevailed. In short, you have struggled with people your whole life and have overcome because God has been with you. In fact, no longer will you be called “swindler/cheater” (Jacob). Now you will be called “struggles with God” (Israel). Now it is morning and Jacob is limping from the struggle. He looks up and he sees Esau coming with his 400 men. God has confirmed that he is with Jacob. But here comes Esau. What is going to happen? What is this encounter with Esau going to teach God’s people for all time? Open your copies of God’s word to Genesis 33…

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In our series looking at the book of Jonah we have seen the relentless grace of God on display toward his rebellious prophet. After preaching to the capital city of Assyria, Nineveh, God relented from the disaster he had proclaimed against them. God shows that he will relent if we will repent. Jonah knew this was God’s character and express that this is the reason why he ran and quit from being God’s prophet (4:2). Jonah is so angry with God for doing this that he prays for God to kill him. God does not carry out his wish but asks a simple question. “Do you do well to be angry?” This brings us to the final act of this book regarding God’s teaching of his wayward prophet. Open your copies of God’s word to Jonah 4 and we are going to look at the final verses of this book…

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We are looking at how God is going to transform the character of Jacob. The beginnings for Jacob are not recorded in positive light. His name means that he is a swindler. His brother says that he is a cheater and a deceiver. Jacob has taken advantage of his brother to take the birthright from him. Further, Jacob deceived his blind father to steal the blessing from him. Therefore, his brother Esau wants to kill him and this is why Jacob must run away and live with his uncle in Haran. But now Jacob is ready to take his family and return to his homeland of Canaan. Jacob leaves Haran with his family and sets his face to go to Gilead (cf. Genesis 31:21,25). But what happens at the beginning of Genesis 32 is very important to understanding everything that happens next in Jacob’s life…

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Jonah has been on a journey with God. God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach against it. Jonah has gone the other direction. But God has shown relentless grace toward his wayward prophet and in the third chapter of Jonah we see his prophet proclaim judgment on the city. The news of God’s judgment runs through the city and all the inhabitants repent. They call out to the Lord and turn from their evil ways. Chapter 3 ends with God relenting from the disaster because he saw how the people turned away from their evil ways.

Now you would think that this would be a great victory for Jonah. You would think that Jonah would be so excited to see the people of Nineveh turn from evil and cry out to the Lord. How exciting to see the turn around the word of the Lord caused through Jonah’s proclamation. But it was not good to Jonah. Open your copies of God’s word and read the first four verses of Jonah 4…

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