Chapter & Verse

The Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand—The Book of Matthew · Pastor Adam Wood · Matthew 18:15–20 · November 30, 2025

Transcript:
Matthew chapter 18 this morning, Matthew chapter 18. Lord willing, this morning will be the first part of a two-part study in the second half of Matthew here. And the reason I say it's not actually two separate, it's not actually one message that's divided into two, but the two parts are intimately related. And so what we'll study tonight, if the Lord is willing, is directly related to what we'll see today this morning in Matthew 18, verse number 15. Matthew 18 verse 15. The Bible says, moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, and go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. And if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church. But if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. Verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. That should be familiar to all of us, a recent study we've gone through with that. Verse 19. I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Would you pray with me this morning? Thank you, Lord Jesus, for your word. Thank you for the truth that it contains. We pray that you would help us to, you give us grace, that is, to live up to it, to do what your word says, to obey your voice. Because we know your way is the best way. And Lord, you have good motivations for everything that you tell us. It is for your glory and for our good, for our benefit that your name might be glorified through us in this world around us. Lord, help us as we study your word. Guide us each one. Help me, Lord, to say the things that your people need, Lord, because you alone know the needs of each and every person. And so Lord, just like we come every Sunday, Lord, we acknowledge that we can't do anything without you. And Lord, that you are the one who is able to meet our needs, spiritual and otherwise, you're the one who is able to direct our steps individually. Our eyes are upon you, Lord. So help us, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Notice in verse number 15 that this, 15 to 20, this section begins with the word moreover, which indicates to us that it is a continuation of sorts from the previous section that we studied last week, which is the section of Scripture dealing with offenses or stumbling blocks. And it's no surprise that this section, which deals with a trespassing brother, we'll get to that in a minute, is related to offense because oftentimes the very thing that causes us to stumble is the sin of another. We can think that we have this hyper atomized view of ourselves and we think, well, what I do, it doesn't affect anybody else. That's their problem. And the Lord says, that's not the way it works. We affect each other, both in our families, in our church, at our work, whatever the context is, what we do affects other people. Sometimes that causes a stumbling block. Sometimes it encourages others. And sometimes it causes situations where there's a trespass. And so it's no wonder that these two sections are connected by the word moreover. Notice what it says in verse 15. Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee. So I want to set the context of these verses because it's very specific. I know that sometimes these verses are used and applied more generally and that's good. That's fine and right. But I want us all to see specifically what the Lord's referring to in this passage. The first indicator is the word brother, the word brother. In other words, the spiritual connection is what the Lord is primarily referring to. If you keep reading, he mentions brother in verse number 15, trespass against thee. Verse 16, there is a mention of two or three witnesses, one or two more. And then in verse 17, there's a mention of the word church. So the idea is there's one or two more, two or three witnesses. And if that fails, then it goes to the church. And then if the person in question neglects the church, then the person is treated not as a part of the group anymore, but is treated as someone outside of the group. So that sets the context of this. What's primarily in view is not necessarily personal relationships like you might have at your home or your work or your job or whatever. Although the principles here definitely apply. But what is specifically being referred to here is the relationship that might exist in a church setting. That's why the brother, the witnesses, and then the church is mentioned. So in this case, the main thrust, the main truth that the Lord is aiming at is this situation in which we find ourselves on a weekly basis. That is, the church meeting together. The church is not just the church on Sunday. The church is the church every day. But we meet on Sunday and we have relationships, hopefully with one another outside of our meeting. That's the hope. That's the goal. Sometimes there are problems that arise within people in the church. But again, we're not even talking about just personal problems. If you and I as individuals, if we have any kind of relationship with another human being, there are going to be problems. Right? It is inevitable. It doesn't matter. They could be your blood brother and sister. Sometimes the biggest problems that we tend to have are with people that are closest to us. Husband, wife, children, parents. Brothers, sisters. But then anytime you have coworkers, you have friends, you have extended family, you have church folk, brothers and sisters in Christ, and it goes on and on from there. Anytime you have two people that are rubbing together like this, there's going to be sparks from time to time. And the Lord obviously has principles to deal with that. Let me show you one that we've already studied. And I want to show you a contrast. Go to Matthew 5. Don't lose your place here because we're coming right back. Matthew 5 verse number 23. Matthew 5 verse number 23. You see the same terminology, although it says something different. Matthew 5, 23. Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberst that thy brother, same term, hath ought against thee. Now, the word ought, we've already looked at this, but the word ought just means anything. So, ought is not a thing. It's a container that contains anything. Okay? Leave there thy gift before the altar and go thy way. First, be reconciled to thy brother, then come and offer thy gift. Notice the context of this is worship. Right? This is temple, in the temple is what this is talking about. But the context is worship, which is kind of similar to a church setting, is it not? Verse number 25. Agree with thine adversary quickly, whilst thou art in the way with him, lest in any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, thou shalt by no means come out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing. So, in verse 23 and 4 we see that in this case, unlike in Matthew 18, this is a case where I'm going to worship and I remember that someone has a problem with me. Not the reverse. Not I have a problem with them. Not that they have harmed me, but I remember that they have the idea that I have harmed them. I'm to leave my gift, go to that person, and reconcile that problem. Of course, to the best of my ability, and then offer the gift. In other words, there's not supposed to be, where it is at all feasible, there's not supposed to be outstanding issu...

Adult Sunday School: Our Great God · Pastor Adam Wood · November 30, 2025

Transcript:
Alright, well we are going to try and conclude this morning our study on the aseity of God, which is? What's that? No beginning or end? Self-existent, they're actually related, exactly. The idea of aseity is something that exists independently of any other cause. It's a word that we can use to describe God. We say, to put it easily, it's God's self-existent. So this is a series we're doing in our Sunday school called Our Great God when we're looking at the attributes of God. And again, I want to reiterate to you that my desire and my goal and hope as we go through the attributes is not to just give you theological terms or even theological truths, although we want to cover those. But to also look at it, look at these truths from a practical perspective as they relate to us in our lives practically, as they relate to the Lord Jesus Christ and as they relate to the gospel. And that's what we're going to do today. So let's pray and then we are going, we'll do a brief review and then we are going to get into the section about the practical aspect of God's self-existence. So let's pray together. Father, we thank you that you are a God whose attributes exceed our understanding. Lord, you're not a God that we can put our brains all the way around. You're not a God who is comprehensible to us. Lord, we know some things according to the ability that you've given to us when you created us. But Lord, there are many things that exceed our understanding and we are so glad for that. Lord, help us to truly stand in awe each one of all of your attributes and of this attribute in particular. And Lord, help us to to really give you praise and live like you are the God you describe yourself to be. And so Lord, we look to you now as we look in your word in Jesus name. Amen. All right. So what we saw last time is in God's self-existence, the primary kind of go-to verse for this is Exodus 3 14 in which God speaks to Moses. He says when Moses asks what God's name is so that he can tell the children of Israel, the Bible says and God said to Moses, I am that I am. Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I am, hath sent me unto you. And I am as we saw is just the be verb, which is the statement of God's existence. So no matter what point in what we would call history, whether it's past, present or future, God can always say I am at that moment because he exists. That's that's what that describes. Then we looked at Isaiah several verses in Isaiah. We looked at Revelation chapter one. I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end. And then the two things in particular that we we kind of derived from this truth is that God has no original cause. The fact of God's existence means that that God pre-exists everything and nothing brought God into existence. He is his own cause. And in fact, he has no cause. And that he is the original cause of all things. And so whatever came into existence came into existence dependent upon God. All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made. And then this quote from from Tozer, which we're going to look at this book, several quotes from this book today. Just some good things. Tozer has a way of putting things in a very concise and powerful way, unlike many other authors. And so I just want to share some of those quotes with you today. But this is one quote of his. He says, God has no origin said innovation and it is precisely this concept of no origin which distinguishes that which is God from whatever is not God. The second thing we looked at also was because God is self-existent and does not had no original cause. So before anything was God already was therefore God is not dependent upon any thing. I'll read these verses again just as review. Job 22 verse 2 and 3. Can a man be profitable unto God as he that is wise may be profitable unto his self unto himself? Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous or is it is it gained to him that thou makest thy ways perfect? Psalm 16 verse 2. Oh my soul thou hast said unto the Lord thou art my Lord my goodness extendeth not to thee. Act 17 five. Neither is God worshiped with men's hands as though he needed anything seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all things. So one of the primary identifying characteristics of the true God if he is laid beside everything in this world that is called God is God is self-existent. He depends upon and needs nothing whatsoever. I want to be honest with you and we'll see it in just a minute. That fact bothers some professing Christians. That fact bothers some professing Christians. The reason it does is because some people have been taught to think God needs them. But that's not the God of the Bible. You know what? The Lord's not concerned to be honest with you. I don't think he's concerned one wit that his attribute bothers us. I don't think that worries him at all. It doesn't. So it is upon us to look at the scripture and to read how God has described himself. He says this is the way I am. This is who I am. This is how I am. And if we have a right view of God himself then that sets everything else in the right view as well. So we have three things. Remember every one of these attributes what I want to do is go through each one. I want to go through the theological part which is what we did last week. I want to look at the practical part. I want to look at, so relate, I called it in my notes for those of you that take notes, Ms. Brenna. Relation to practice, relation to Jesus Christ, and relation to the gospel. That's kind of the three ways I'm looking at it. So how does this attribute of God, God's aseity or self existence, relate to our practical life? Our practical life. As I said, this attribute bothers not only Christian, professing Christian people, but this attribute is directly contradictory. It is one of the primary attributes that contradicts some claims of so-called science. Now, you might think that the primary attribute of God that contradicts what might be called science is the fact of God's being a creator. God is creative. That might be one, but actually kind of at a lower level, this attribute really is diametrically opposed to the God of science. Now, I love science. I'm a science person. I like, read the encyclopedia for fun. So I like science. But the Bible says that there is no wisdom or counsel or knowledge against the Lord. And so science, the word science means knowledge. That's what the word means. And yet the worldview that has at its top, at the very peak, that has science as God is going to be in conflict with the God of the Bible. There can only be one. And science is not it. Now, why do I say that science has, that mankind, secularists, if you will, atheistic types, agnostic types, have science as their God? Because they would not say that. If you say, oh, you believe in science, so science is your God. They'll, I don't believe in God. Science is not God. Science is just facts. But here's the thing. You know, remember, in Acts 17, we saw that Paul used the aseity or self-existence of God to identify him among the other gods. Remember? Did you remember seeing that in Acts 17? So if we label something as self-existent, we are giving that thing or person, as the case may be, an attribute of God that identifies him as deity. And that is exactly what science has done with itself. Okay? So if you ask someone who has science as their God, or maybe a person who has science as his or her God, asks us, okay, you believe in God, then where did God come from? And we say nowhere. Right? We say nowhere. He is self-existent. He is, there's never been a time that he has not existed. He is Alpha and Omega. He is I Am. Right? To the materialist who worships that, and that's the term, that's the Ten-cent term. For someone who believes only in the material universe and does not believe in anyt...

Brother David · John 17 · November 25, 2025

Transcript:
Then turn with me to John chapter 17. John chapter 17. Turn this on. All right, thank you Isaiah. I should be on here. We're going to be going through this chapter and take some time to look at first a very high level overview and then we're going to dig into a couple thoughts of what the main point of this chapter is and then also how can we can apply this to our relationship with the Lord. This is Jesus praying for you. So, John 17 set the context here. This is during the time right before he died that he was praying for his disciples and his disciples who were yet to come which includes you and me and the ones that have not yet come to Christ. The ones who he is seeking are far off. John chapter 17 Jesus prays, these words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and saying, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son that thy son also may glorify thee. What I'm going to do just so you know is I'm going to go through several verses and we're going to stop and we're going to talk about and see how this applies and once we get to the end of going through this chapter on an overview we'll get more into some of the lessons we can learn. We're going to go through verse three here. As thou has given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou has given him. And this is life eternal, that they may know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ who I am sent, whom thou hast sent. So it's important when we set the context here Jesus Christ is, John is a portrait view of Jesus Christ. It's not so much focused on his doings though it does talk a lot about that. It focuses on the person of Jesus Christ and it is here that we see eternal life is a person. It is not a process, it is not a procedure, it is not a series of steps that you have gone through, it is not a checkbox that we make. Eternal life, if you will have eternal life you will have Christ and all of him and nothing else because eternal life is not something where we work out something, it is something that Jesus Christ worked out for us. In verse one we see God is worthy of all glory and honor. Jesus through his life glorified God and God's power, grace, and justice was glorified through Jesus. Eternal life we see in verse three and this is life and this is life eternal. That's equivalent. Eternal life is not based on your performance, it is based on the work and person of Jesus Christ and your participation in this is based on your location not the series of steps you take and are you in Christ. See God sent Jesus Christ and we must be clear on who Jesus is in order to be in him. Verse four says, I have glorified thee on the earth. This is Jesus speaking of his father. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And one of the things I love about this in verse four is he says he's finished the work. Jesus hasn't died yet and that's because God is not in our time, he's not confined to our dimensions as we would say in physics. God is outside of time, he's outside of dimensions so when Jesus Christ speaks of realities for us that we are dead and risen with Christ and we are seated in the heavenlies that's already happened in his mind because he's there at the beginning and the end. Time is not linear moving in one direction so Jesus Christ can speak of things that have already happened or have not yet happened as if they were there. And that is very encouraging when we realize that Christian life is not about trying to work things out so much as it is resting in something that Jesus Christ already worked out. See God is outside of time but we are confined to time and before we get all metaphysical here it's just important to realize that we can claim those realities even if we have not yet experienced them because remember our Christian life, our experience, our eternal life, it's not based on something we work out, it's based on something we lay hold upon by faith that he did for us. How simple, how glorious it is. Jesus finished this work, he glorified God and everything that was necessary to please God Jesus accomplished. Consider this, Jesus was successful in this mission that he finished. Our eternal life and our life here on earth hinges on this, not what we do. If Jesus had not succeeded we would have no hope. We have hope because he did succeed, he did glorify the father, Jesus did please God on my behalf, he did pay for our sins and we are in him. And now God views us the way he views his beloved son because of what Christ did. Moving on to verse five, and now oh father glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they were and thou gavest them me and they have kept thy word. You see God gets glory when we are with him, when we are his family. It's interesting God wanted a family, he wanted friends and neighbors and that's why he came to earth to die for us. Note that Jesus repeatedly references his deity, he didn't hide who he was to the people who believed him and wanted him, that would be his disciples. But he was quite coy it seems and it seems confusing about people who did not want him. Christ is found of those who want him and he is very obvious to those who seek him, to those who he is drawing to be clear, it also speaks of that. But God is not looking to impress anyone and we see that in parables that he tells, if they will not believe Moses and the prophets neither will they believe me. But it is not as if God has left us without a witness because he is seeking and he is going after that lost sheep we see in the parables earlier in the gospels. He is coming unto us but he will be found of those who diligently seek him. He that cometh God must believe that he is and that he's a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. God has used Jesus to bring people unto himself. We know all things that God wants us to know through Jesus Christ. Being in Christ we keep his word and in verse 7 we understand the riches and all things, the riches of all things that we have being in Christ. In Christ we have all things and that is in 2nd Peter 1 we see that, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ grace and peace be multiplied according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. So here we see the sufficiency of Christ that all things that we need for doubts, for fears, we'll talk about that later, are found in Christ. That is a very radical idea and a very radical promise and one that we have to lay hold upon again by faith because there are many many times that I do not feel perfect and complete in him as the word of God describes us and that's where we choose to believe what God has said about our lives instead of looking and leaning onto our own understanding because God is outside of time and perhaps he has given us all things in a way that we have not yet, not perhaps but for sure he has given us all things in a way that we might not fully realize. Verse 8 says, for I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me and they have received them and have known surely that I came out from thee and that they have believed that thou didst send me. You see the people who are in Christ we're now learning more about what they are. Their location is in Christ. They have received the words of Christ and have believed Jesus. We are confronted with the word of God. We don't believe it to make it as true. We don't have to go through a series of steps again in order to, you know, I was actually listening to some Christian songs on Spotify whatever and then there is this song that came on and it started was calling Liking the Scriptures, Liking the Scriptures Unto Me and the first verse started talking about Noah and then I was like...

Pastor Adam Wood · 2 Kings 6:24–7:20 · November 23, 2025

Transcript:
Second Kings, chapter six, verse 24. Let's pray and then we'll begin reading in that verse. Our Father, thank you so much for the testimonies of your people here tonight. Thank you, Lord, especially, but that behind the testimony is the work of the Lord, individually, with one sheep who was gone astray, with one little one, with one whose soul you did not want to see perish. Lord, as you said this morning in Matthew 18, it is not your will that any of these little ones should perish. Thank you for the testimony of your work in each person here. And Lord, we pray that you would do it over and over and over again among us. Lord, I think of these little kids that are here, Lord, in our church that are growing up, learning, growing. Lord, give them a testimony like this, of salvation, not only of salvation, but also of a great work of God in them. And we ask that to an individual, to the individual, Lord, that every single child would be affected by the gospel and by your work in their lives. Bless our time in your word now in Second Kings. We pray that you would guide us and help us to receive the truth in Jesus' name, amen. Second Kings 6, verse number 24. And it came to pass after this, that Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, gathered all his hosts and went up and besieged Samaria. Okay, so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna use this story, this narrative of Ben-Hadad and his siege of Samaria as an illustration to get to a certain point, because this story provides kind of a ripe illustration for one truth, as I said, that I want us to take away from this. So Ben-Hadad is the enemy of Israel, okay? He is, he really shouldn't be, but he is. He's the enemy of Israel, and he is coming against Samaria to besiege it, that is, to surround it and let no one in and out, okay? And the result, this time, the result of a siege was that the city would go into a famine, where people could not, you know, eventually everything in the city is exhausted, nobody's bringing anything in, taking anything out, and so eventually you're gonna run out of water, you're gonna run out of food, you're gonna run out of everything that you need, and then it really starts to get difficult, and the siege can last for quite a while. So this is what he's trying to do, and he represents Satan. Now, I will show you why in just a minute, verse 25. And there was a great famine in Samaria, and behold, they besieged it, until an ass's head was sold for four score pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove's dung for five pieces of silver. Yes, exactly, what you're thinking is what I'm thinking too, that's disgusting, all of it. Verse 26, and as the king of Israel was passing upon the wall, there cried a woman unto him, saying, Help, my lord, O king! And he said, If the Lord do not help thee, when shall I help thee, out of the barn floor or out of the wine press? And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give me thy son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow. So we boiled my son and did eat him, and I said unto her the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him, and she hath hid her son. This is a terrible, terrible place to be. You think, well, the things they used to do back then, oh no, it's not back then. This is what humanity does when they're in dire straits. In 2025, we have not progressed. In fact, in many ways, we've regressed. But here's the thing. So you have Ben-Hadad, who represents Satan, has, through his power and temptation, has brought humanity into this place of depravity. Now, not directly, just like Ben-Hadad had not attacked the city, but as a result of his siege, humanity is now exhibiting these terrible indications of depravity, so I'm just trying to, just as an illustration. And so these people are doing what sinners do. They're sinning, they're depraved, they're wicked, they're eating their kids, all right? And the illustration to that is that the depth of human depravity, it knows no bounds. You can sound it and you're not gonna get to the bottom. There is no echo. It's deep. Humankind is full of sin. And that was all started originally at the prompting of the devil. When the devil tempted man, and of course he continues to tempt man, but originally he tempted man and became what is the first cause of man's wickedness and depravity. And this is what Ben-Hadad is doing to them. And as a result of the famine, so think about the famine, picture the famine, or think of the famine as an illustration of man's depravity. Where has it brought them, right? These people are, at the end of this siege, are completely destitute. They have nothing, right? And this is a degraded spiritual state of destitution. And this is where these people are right now. Verse 27, notice what the king says kind of inadvertently. He says this. And he said, if the Lord do not help thee, when shall I help thee? Out of the barn floor or out of the wine press? And this is the thing we need to remember, thinking of the famine, thinking of the human condition, thinking of our sin. There's only one person who has a solution for that. It's not a man. It's foolish to trust in the arm of man. It is God himself. And the king kind of reveals that unwittingly when he says, if the Lord doesn't help, there is no help to be found. Is that not true of salvation? It is true. There is no help for the sinful condition of man, except God himself provides it. Now he goes on to say this, verse 27, out of the barn floor, out of the wine press. So this is the king speaking. The wealthiest man around, he is the king of Israel, right? He is the top dog. Not even the king has the wherewithal to help this lady. The king himself is destitute. How then can a man who is also destitute from the famine help another who is likewise destitute due to the famine, starving because of the famine? And the king in this case kind of reminded me of the religious leader, kind of the religious gurus of our day, the popes of the world, the imams, who want to tell others the way that they can be delivered from this famine. They can be delivered from their sinful condition and keep the laws and the rules and all that, but they themselves can't keep it. You know why? Because how can that person save someone when he himself is also destitute? That's the fundamental problem. And this is why when our savior came, he had to be sinless. There is no savior that has sin, for he has his own sin, how can he help another? But we continue, verse 28, or let's continue, go through verse 30. And it came to pass when the king had heard the words of the woman that he rent his clothes and he passed by upon the wall and the people looked and behold, he had sackcloth within upon his flesh. Then he said, God do so and more also to me if the head of Elisha, the son of Shaphat, shall stand on him this day. But Elisha sat in his house and the elders sat with him and the king sent a man from before him, but ere the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, see how this son of a murderer has sent to take away mine head. Look, when the messenger cometh, shut the door and hold him fast at the door. Is not the sound of his master's feet behind him? And while he yet talked with him, behold, the messenger came down unto him and he said, behold, this evil is of the Lord. What should I wait for the Lord any longer? Now we get to verse number one. Now we know that Elisha is a prophet, that's key, verse one. Then Elisha said, hear ye the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord, tomorrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel in the gate of Samaria. You know, Elisha, being a prophet, the one through whom God speaks, he has a message. God has given him a message and here's the message. It is a message of salvation. It's a message whereby the condition of these...

The Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand—The Book of Matthew · Pastor Adam Wood · Matthew 18:1–14 · November 23, 2025

Transcript:
Amen, let's go to Matthew chapter number 18 this morning. Matthew 18. To be honest with you, one of the benefits and one of the challenges of going through a book and covering each passage and trying not to skip too much. We have skip to verse here and there. But one of the benefits and challenges of our method here is that sometimes you come across passages that don't really make a whole lot of sense in the context of the book. In the context of like, Lord, is this important? That you put it, you spent 14 verses, basically half of a chapter in your word on this one subject. But the answer has to be, obviously it is. Obviously it is that important. And so we're gonna read verses one through 14 of Matthew chapter 18. And we'll see what the Lord has for us. We're just gonna plow through it. And I know for a fact there are some very important truths in here. And probably a lot more than, no doubt, a lot more than I see that I have written down here. So Matthew chapter 18, verse number one, the Bible says this. At the same time Jesus came, at the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child unto him. And set him in the midst of them. And said, verily I say unto you, except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. So there's no way for any person to get through the pearly gates. No way for anyone to be forgiven of sin and receive eternal life unless they come to God like a child. Lord, I don't have anything, I don't know anything, I can't brag of anything, I'm weak. You have to do it all. That's the only way, that humility that a child knows innately. We've already covered that last Sunday. We continue in verse number five, the Bible says this, or verse four, whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child the same as greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name, receiveth me. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe unto the world because of offenses, for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh. Wherefore, if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off and cast them from thee. It is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee. It is better for thee to enter into life with one eye rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire. Now I'm gonna pause here and say one thing. I dare say that most people, even with the Lord's exhortation here in verse nine, verse eight and nine, if it really came down to brass tacks and that was what was required, it was either your hands, your feet, your eyes or heaven, probably 95 out of 100 people would choose their hands and feet in their eyes. That's just, I think that's just a fact. Verse 10, take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones, for I say unto you that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my father which is in heaven. Such an interesting verse, is it not? Verse 11, for the son of man has come to save that which was lost. How think ye? If a man having 100 sheep and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the 90 and nine and goeth into the mountains and seek of that which is gone astray? And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep than of the 90 and nine which went not astray. Even so, it is not the will of your father which is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. Would you pray with me? Our Lord, thank you once again for the opportunity to look into your word. Lord, we confess that we only scratch the surface of your word, but Lord, we do desire to do that today. So Lord, would you help us? Would you be our instructor and our illuminator? Would you help our minds and our hearts to be inclined to your word, to be ready to hear? Lord, take away, I pray, all distractions from your people, things that are put there to take our attention from you, Lord, for what you have to say. And Lord, I pray as well. Lord, there is satanic activity all around us that is invisible. And I ask you, Lord, to protect your people. Protect everyone here from the attacks and wiles of Satan that try to get into our mind and our heart to dissuade us, even as we read in this passage from you, from your will and from your word. So help us, protect us, and guide us in our study this morning. Lord, if there be a person among us who does not know the Lord Jesus Christ and does not have eternal life as a sure fact, prick the heart of that person, I ask you, Lord. Help us now as we look at your word in Jesus' name, amen. The topic of these 14 verses is, you can pull it down to one basic thing, and that's little children, little children. Now we've already covered the first four verses in which the Lord takes a little child and sets the child in the midst of the disciples, which is the disciples are the big dogs, the big shot, the big shots in this world. They're the people whose names are actually written in scripture. They're bigger than any president or any governor or any king. The names of the disciples, and we're not even to the Lord Jesus himself, whose name can't be compared to anyone else, but these are some of the greatest men in history as far as in God's estimation. And yet the Lord takes those and sets a child right in the middle of them to serve as an example, a humbling and humiliating example of faith and an example of what is required for a person to come to Christ in the right disposition. And you know, little kids have an advantage that the Lord points out here, and just to reiterate a little bit from last week, and this is why the Lord uses children as examples to adults, children have the right disposition and the right view of themselves that makes them kind of ripe already for Christ, if that makes any sense. And I mean that in kind of the natural way. In other words, they haven't yet developed the hardened heart and the firm wrong convictions that adults often have over time. And you know, if you have children or you've ministered to children, there is absolutely a difference in disposition from a young child as they age, their attitude and tone towards spiritual things changes naturally, I'm just referring to naturally. They have this kind of naturally kind of sensitive and humble disposition, and this is what the Lord is describing here. But once they lose that, you don't get it back. Once you lose that, once a child loses that, it's very difficult to regain. In fact, it is so difficult that the Lord uses this to adults who must somehow get that disposition back in order to come to Christ in the right heart. So basically you can't come to Christ as an adult, you gotta come to Christ as a child. You can't come to Christ with all your knowledge and wisdom and all your righteousness and all your experience and all those things that we boast to one another of, you can't come to him with any of that. You come to him empty, you come to him as a child. And that's why the Lord uses it as an example. But once a child loses that, that is a difficult thing to regain. And it is actually a huge stumbling block and hurdle for many adults when they are called to come to Christ. Because they don't wanna humiliate themselves in that way. They don't wanna put aside all the things they've learned in their life and all the ideas they've entertained and accepted that might be wrong. They don't wanna do that. They don't wanna acknowledge that they're sinful and that they're hopeless ...

Adult Sunday School: Our Great God · Pastor Adam Wood · November 23, 2025

Transcript:
I have to say, last week when we started, we began our introduction of our new series in Sunday School that we're calling Our Great God. I told you last week that the, you know, one of my favorite things to study and talk about is the person of God Himself. Sometimes we get bogged down in doctrinal things and, you know, doctrinal truths, and all of that is important. If it's in the Word of God, it's important. But as we saw last week, the Word of God is first and foremost about God Himself. There's a little bit of a ring. Pull that down just a hair. Because I'm ahead of the speaker here. So that's what we're doing here. We're going to go into the first attribute of God today. The first one just I picked. There's no way to tell which one should go first. But as I've studied it, it's just so rich. And I really hope that as we study these things, you have an opportunity to really meditate on these things. Even as I read the Scripture and try to explain it and help us understand it, that you would also take the time to meditate upon these things and see what the Lord says in the Bible. The Lord did not give us the Bible in such a way that it is formatted as a book of doctrine, of systematic or elemental theology. That's not the way He did it. He did it through narrative. He did it through His commands. He did it in other ways. So the intention is not to know facts about God. That is not the purpose. If we come away from the Bible thinking that all that is required is to know things about We have missed it entirely. The purpose is to know God personally, to know the one which is eternal life. And so that's what we're going to try to do. So let's pray. And then I'd like to introduce you to the first attribute of God that we're going to look at this morning. Our Father, we thank You so much for the opportunity to meet together Your people. I pray, please incline our hearts to Your Word and to Your will, but especially, Lord, to Yourself. Lord, give us a heart that is so polar opposite than what is natural to us. Lord, that aversion to You, like when Adam and Eve hid from You in the Garden of Eden for fear of You because their conscience was defiled. Lord, give us, I pray, a heart that would run to You. And as we think upon these scriptures and these truths, Lord, they're profound. Help us to see them even more deeply than the things I have prepared, but not just myself, but also each and every person here. Help us to engage our heart and our mind on what is the highest thought that a man can think, to think upon the true and the living God. And so, Lord, we look to You, guide our study, not just this morning, but also the study as we move forward and look at the different attributes. Lord, please reveal Yourself to us personally. Help us to understand and illuminate our mind on these things that we might truly stand in awe of who You are. We pray also for the kids downstairs who are right now, Lord, they're hearing the truths of scripture. They're being reminded of those things. The memories are being built. Please bless them. And Abbey, as she teaches them, give them understanding and grace. Lord, we ask in Jesus' name, amen. All right, the first attribute we're going to look at, we're going to begin, I don't think we'll finish if history is any guide anyway, is God's self-existence, God's self-existence. As Sam pointed it out, the technical and theological term for that is called the a-see-atee, a-see-atee. A, if you're writing it down, it's a-se-i-t-y, a-see-atee of God. And here's just a simple definition. I know you all know what self-existent means, but I'll just give you a definition to go through the paces here. Self-existence is the existence of a being, person, et cetera, by virtue of intrinsic nature, independent, independently of any other cause. Now what's so interesting and ironic is that when I looked that up, because I'm a word person and I looked it up because I wanted to see what the dictionary said about the term self-existence, is that the definition applies to a single person in existence. So they could have just put God and just left it at that, and that would have been right because it can't apply to anything or anyone, anything else whatsoever. The existence of a being. Which one? There's only one that this applies to, so I thought that was kind of ironic. So I want to introduce this to you in the most obvious passage that would touch on this, which is Exodus chapter 3. So let's go there and look at these verses, Exodus chapter 3. This is when the Lord introduces Himself to Moses. Exodus chapter 3. Now just as a side note, if you look at verse 2 of this chapter, it says this, and the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush, and he looked and behold the bush burned with fire and the bush was not consumed. Now this same angel of the Lord that is appearing to Moses is going to speak to Moses. So don't get confused. When you see the word angel, it's not always referring to a ministering spirit like we read in Hebrews. Sometimes God Himself is referred to as the angel of the Lord, and so when you read that in the Old Testament, you need to put that in your mind. Here God is called the angel of the Lord, but we know that it is He identifies Himself as Jehovah, as the one true and the living God. And so just keep that in mind as we go. So Moses stops to look at the bush that is burning but is not consumed, and verse number 4 says, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, here am I. And he said, draw not nigh hither, put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. And he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. And from verse 7 on, the Lord describes what He knows about the plight of the children of Israel in Egypt. Verse 10, come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. And Moses said unto God, who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? And he said, certainly I will be with thee, and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee when thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt. Ye shall serve God upon this mountain. And Moses said unto God, behold, when I come unto the children of Israel and shall say unto them, the God of your fathers had sent me unto you, and they shall say unto me, what is his name? What shall I say unto them? Now pause here a second. Verse number 13 is telling us Moses poses a question to the Lord and says, essentially, who do I tell them you are? Who are you? That's essentially what he's asking. Now he's asking for a name, but a name is a label to identify the identity of a person. So Moses is asking God, and this is key to understanding what we're going to see in just a minute. Moses is essentially asking God, who are you? Who do I tell them you are? And in that context and in answer to that question, the Lord says, verse 14, and God said unto Moses, I am that I am. And he said, thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, I am, had sent me unto you. Now what's interesting is the Lord doesn't give his name, you know, Jehovah, the capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, the reference to God's name. He doesn't tell him that. Now they're related, the words are related in Hebrew, but it's not directly, he doesn't tell him directly, my name is the Lord, like he says in other places. When the Lord answers the question concerning his identity, he does so by saying, I am. I am. Now that's hard to understand. That's profound. There's a lot of depth to that. Now you think about the term I am, and basically what you have her...

The Heart of the Bible—The Book of Psalms · Pastor Adam Wood · Psalm 50 · November 19, 2025

Transcript:
All right, we'll go to Psalm 50 tonight. And what we will do is we will read the Psalm as we go rather than all at the beginning. Psalm 50. Psalm 50, a Psalm of Asaph. So you can divide this Psalm basically into three parts and then a tag on the end. The tag is verse number 23. And the three parts are verses one to six, verse seven to 15, and verse 16 to 22. And then you have the tag on verse 23, just in case that's outlining as something that you enjoy doing, dividing it up. It's not something that comes naturally to me, but sometimes the scripture just kind of flows in that way. And so maybe that'll be a help to you. So before we read, let's pray and ask the Lord to bless our study tonight. Our Father in heaven, we look to you. Lord, our eyes are upon you. You are the God who is the God of judgment. Lord, you are a God who is a consuming fire. You are the Almighty God. You are the great God. You are the everlasting God. And Lord, we in anticipation look forward to the day that you come and we meet you face to face. Lord, we fear not for your coming. Lord, we say even so come Lord Jesus. But there are many, many in our world who should fear, even as this Psalm talks about. Lord, please help us Lord to live in hope of your return in the constant expectation of your return. And Lord, help us to take the things that are written in this Psalm some 3000 years ago through your servants. And that they would, Lord, just as they're alive, then as they are now so that they would give us and quicken us as we read your word. And we pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. All right, Psalm 50 verse number one, the Bible says, the mighty God, even the Lord, had spoken and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined. Our God shall come and shall not keep silence. A fire shall devour before him and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens from above and to the earth that he may judge his people. Gather my saints together unto me, those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare his righteousness for God is judge himself, say la. God is judge himself, say la. And the judgment is one of the key themes and subjects in this Psalm, judgment. It's mentioned in verse four, it's mentioned in verse six, it's mentioned in verse seven, in verse 21, and in verse 22, judgment. So it skips a portion in the middle of the Psalm where it doesn't really talk about judgment as much, but judgment is a major theme in the Psalm. And in verse number one, notice what it says, God has spoken, now notice to whom or about what God is speaking. He's speaking, he has spoken and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof. What does that cover? That turn of phrase, from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof, what is that talking about? It's talking about, huh? But it's referring to the circuit of the sun, right? It's for everywhere the sun shines from the rising of the sun to the going down, it's referring to the entire world. And I know we scientific types will say, well, I mean, that's only the portion of the sun, the earth, the sun, but this is a turn of phrase that refers to the entire world. And so the Lord speaking, the context of the events that we're reading in the first six verses is the whole earth from the rising of the sun to the going down of it, verse number two. Now, this is important because this is God's message, this is what he's telling in the context of the whole earth, everyone in the world. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shined. Now we know what Zion is because it hasn't been too long previous that we studied Zion. Remember we looked at the Psalm that spoke of Zion in chapter number 40, let's see, verse number, rather chapter number 48, Psalm 48 talks about Zion. And we saw, remember, we saw Zion, there's two layers of meaning in Zion. You have the earthly Zion, which is Jerusalem, and then you have the heavenly Zion. And in this case, when we go back to Psalm 50, out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shined. Now you could look at that in a way and you could say, well, out of Zion, that's referring to Jerusalem, the city of God's people. So you could say God's people shine. And you could, by extension, refer to the church, like a city on a hill. And that would be a valid way to look at it. But I think the primary meaning of this is I think it's referring to the heavenly Zion because of the next verse, it says this, for our God shall come. So you have this idea of the Lord is shining out of Zion. He's coming from Zion. And he's coming to us, verse three. He's coming to us with fire and all that. So the idea is the Lord is coming from Zion to us. And we're, you know, speaking to Israel here, we're in Zion. We are, figuratively, we are Zion, and here the Lord is coming. So I think it's talking about God's leaving heavenly Zion, where he abides, where he dwells, and he's getting ready to come and judge. That's what the first six verses are talking about. So he's leaving his heavenly Zion, and when he leaves, he's shining. That's what we talked about last week on Wednesday night, which is the glory of God. Well, actually, that was on Sunday when we talked about the transfiguration. And the idea of glory, what is the primary representation of glory that we see in scripture? What is it? What is it that God has represented in the physical world? By light. And here it is in verse number two, God hath shined. Now listen to this verse. Matthew 24, verse 30. This is, Matthew 24 and five are speaking reference to the coming of Christ, right, in his advent. Here's what it says. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Great glory. You know what that's talking about, right? That's talking about that light, right, that they saw, the glory of Christ. Now here's what's interesting about the coming of Christ in the second advent. When the Lord Jesus comes to judge, and he comes to take his kingdom, it's kind of a difficult thing to fully get our brains around, because the information's a little bit sparse in scripture, but there appears to be a period of time in which the Lord Jesus appears in glory, and all the world sees him before he actually begins, he actually descends to earth and judges. And that's what you see in verse number of Matthew 24, verse 30, is there's a sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and they see him in the clouds, there's a shining. And so you have this idea, what's interesting is when you compare the two, verse number two, it says God has shine. So everything you read in this psalm about God coming, it's actually Jesus, which tells us who Jesus is. But you have Jesus coming, but before he comes, as he departs his heavenly Zion, and he appears, he shines in glory before he descends. Then you get to verse number three. Now remember, we're talking about the coming of God to earth, so this truth of God's coming to earth is something that goes way back in scriptural history. This is not a New Testament doctrine, this is an Old Testament doctrine, which is the foundation of the New Testament doctrine. So even in the Old Testament, God said, I'm coming, you just wait, I'm coming. And that's why the Jews got so messed up and so deceived is because they misunderstood the coming of Christ in his first coming, because that coming was foretold also, but it wasn't the one they were really interested in because it had no glory and it had a cross, and they weren't interested in that part. Not even the disciples were all that interested in that part, right, because they didn't understand it. B...

The Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand—The Book of Matthew · Pastor Adam Wood · Matthew 18:1–4 · November 16, 2025

Transcript:
Alright, Matthew chapter 18, Matthew chapter 18 is where we will be tonight. Matthew 18. Starting at verse number one tonight, Bible says this, At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto you, Accept ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Now if you look back at Mark chapter 9, I'm gonna read just the parallel passage in Mark, Luke also has one, but we're just gonna stick to the Mark passage tonight. Get a little bit more information in Mark chapter 9 concerning this discussion, which I think is helpful for us to see exactly where the disciples are. Now keep in mind that as we read this story here of the disciples and asking who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, that we're talking about the disciples here. We're talking about the inner circle of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're talking about the cream of the crop. We're talking about those who will be and are, even at this time, the most useful. The ones who understand the most of all the disciples of Christ. The ones who have just, three of whom have come through the transfiguration, have seen his glory. And yet they are the ones asking these questions. They're the ones having discussions between themselves on something like this. Mark chapter 9, verse number 33 says this, And he came to Capernaum, and being in the house, he asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way? Now note verse number 33, the word is disputed. That is not a word that's found in Matthew 18. That's different. Disputed. So they were talking about, the disciples were talking about this question without being in the presence of Christ. So just by themselves. The twelve talking amongst themselves. But it was a rather heated discussion. You see that in the word disputed. It was not exactly what you might call a humble discussion. It was a rather heated discussion. Verse 34 says, But they held their peace. For by the way they had disputed among themselves who should be the greatest. And he sat down and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be the first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all. Now sometimes I wonder when I see the twelve, the Lord mentions the twelve, I think of Judas Iscariot. What was Judas thinking as Jesus was talking about this? Probably, you know, Judas was a man who had no spiritual appetite. He was a fake all the way. He was a hypocrite from start to finish. Never was, obviously never was a believer. Was a devil from the beginning, right? That's how Jesus identifies him. Sometimes I wonder just my mind wanders a little bit. And I wonder what was Judas thinking as Jesus taught all of these things? Like he was sitting in church all the time hearing these things. I just wonder if he sat there and just listened and it went in one ear and out the other. You know, never found any good ground. I don't know. This is just amusing here. Verse 36 says this, And he took a child and set him in the midst of them. And when he had taken him in his arms, he said unto them, Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receive with me. And whosoever receive with me, receive with him, not me, but him that sent me. So if you'd like to put a mark in Mark chapter 9, and then go back to Matthew, we will flip back there a little bit tonight. Would you pray with me this evening? Our Lord, we are, we acknowledge that we are, we are, we are in need of great help. Lord, we are like, if we are honest, if we examine ourselves in light of your word, and especially in light of your glory and who you are. Lord, we are just absolutely destitute of goodness or wisdom, of righteousness, of any good thing that we might boast of. We do need, though, a good dose of the humility that you are telling your disciples that they need. Each one of us here, Lord, we need to see ourselves in the right light, in the right understanding. Not only as we see ourselves in light of who you are, but also Lord, that we might see ourselves aright in relationship to one another. So Lord, would you please help us and guide our study tonight? In Jesus' name, Amen. Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? That's the question that they're discussing. And, but that question, I think, is problematic. Well, it is problematic because the Lord actually says it's problematic in Mark chapter 9. But this question, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, as I mentioned, is a question that even though it's problematic, is being discussed by some of the Lord's closest disciples. And I'll say more about that in a minute. But what is implied, what is implied in this question is the problem. And what is implied is obviously, I am the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Right? That's the obvious implication. And the fact that they're disputing it and they're arguing about who is the greatest, each person arguing for himself, each person stumping for his own place in the election of the greatest of the disciples, each one of them filled with the persuasion that he is the greatest. Now, that's to start with, that's a big, big issue. That is a big, big problem. And I do want to turn right back to Mark real quick and look at what it says in verse number 34 and 5. So if you're still there, look back at Mark once again. And what I want to pose to you is this, that the disciples are asking the wrong question. The disciples are asking a question that, you know, sometimes teachers say there is no wrong question, there is no bad question, there is no dumb question. Well, there is a dumb question. This is a dumb question. This is a question that should not be asked by the disciples of Christ, because it reveals something about them and where they are with the Lord. Mark 9 verse number 34, notice what it says, or let's look at 35 again. He sat down and called the twelve and saith unto them, if any man desire to be first, the same, I read verse 35, I apologize, verse 34, but they held their peace for, by the way, they had disputed among themselves who should be the greatest. So they're having this conversation, they're having this, we might call it lively discussion about who's the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, each one of whom is saying, you know, it's probably me, of course, and as they walk by the way, but Christ isn't with them, you know, immediately with them and that ends in the conversation. And so they get to the house and Jesus asked them, what was, what were you talking about? What were you disputing about? And notice their reaction, they're quiet. Why do you think they're quiet? You know, a few minutes ago, they're walking by the way and they were giving reasons why I'm obviously the greatest of any of the disciples. I mean, anyone with two eyes can tell that I'm obviously, you know, I'm among the top three. I mean, look, Peter says, might have said, look, I was chosen to go and see Jesus in his transfiguration. Actually, he couldn't say that because he wasn't allowed to talk about it until after the resurrection. But he was probably thinking it in himself, right? You know how this goes. And so Jesus asked them about it and they held their peace because in them, they knew that this was probably not a discussion that they should have been having. But yet here they are, the preachers having their discussion, having a discussion that they have no business having, asking a question they have no business asking. Verse 35 says this, and he sat down and called the twelve and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, note the word desire. If y...

The Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand—The Book of Matthew · Pastor Adam Wood · Matthew 17:24–27 · November 16, 2025

Transcript:
We're going to be in Matthew chapter 17 this morning. So if you'd get your Bible and go there together. Got some bad news though. We're going to be talking about taxes. Taxes this morning. Matthew chapter 17 verse 22. We'll begin reading verse 22 and go down to verse number 27. Matthew 17 verse 22. The Bible says, and while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, the Son of Man shall be betrayed into the hands of men. Now keep that in mind. We know that the Lord, our Lord Jesus Christ would be betrayed into the hands of men. It says in verse 23, and they shall kill him. And the third day he shall be raised again. And we know that's his main goal. That's his mission. That's the primary purpose for which the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world. He did not come into the world to start a religion. He didn't come into the world to teach a bunch of good things, although he did those things. He came into the world to save sinners. Now the next time he comes, it will not be to save sinners. It'll be to judge sinners. But he has come to save sinners and he died upon the cross to save sinners. That's the chief point. That's the reason he came. And that's an important point when we look at the following verses that we'll see in just a minute. Verse 23, it concludes and says, and they were exceeding sorry. And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter and said, doth not your master pay tribute? He sayeth, yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him saying, what thinkest thou Simon? Of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? Of their own children or of strangers? Peter sayeth unto him, of strangers. Jesus sayeth unto him, then are the children free? Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea and cast and hook and take up the fish that first cometh up. And when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money. That take and give unto them for me and thee. Would you pray with me this morning? Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you for the scriptures that have been written to help us to know you. Lord, thank you for the life of the Lord Jesus Christ who died for us, who was buried, rose again. And thank you for the good things that he did in his life. Lord, we're looking at this example where these people ask him about this tribute. We ask you to please teach us and help us to understand. Lord, what a great example that the Lord Jesus Christ has left us and has revealed to us a great truth about his priorities. Help us, Lord, to mimic those priorities in our own life. And have the right heart and mind toward people around us especially. Lord, you know what your people need this morning. You know the lesson that needs to be taught, the reminders that your people need. So Lord, I ask you by your spirit to please do the work that I certainly can't do, have no power to do. And you can meet the needs of each person here. Lord, our eyes are upon you. In Jesus' name, amen. Now you notice in verse number 24, it says, and when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter and said, doth not your master pay tribute? And then in verse 25, the Lord Jesus mentions the kings of the earth taking custom or tribute. And so what we're talking about here is we're talking about what we would call taxes. Now the word tribute is used, but it's essentially a tax. And this is the only, this portion of scripture about the tax is only found in Matthew, which is interesting to me because even though this, all the narrative before this and after this is found in Mark and Luke, yet this part is the only part that's not mentioned in the other two. And that's interesting because Matthew was a tax collector. So Matthew was one who was familiar with this subject and was, this would have been something kind of near and dear to him at least in familiarity. But there's actually, when we look at verse 24 and verse 25, there's actually several things going on. And I want to point it out to you because it's important if we're gonna understand the whole of what Jesus is saying, we have to understand kind of the details in the background. Now in verse 24 it says, they that received tribute money came to Peter and said, doth not your master pay tribute? And then in verse 25 again, there's a mention of the kings of the earth taking custom or tribute. Now the thing is that there are various words being used here to describe different kinds of taxes. The word, in our text we have the word custom, we have the word tribute in reference to the kings of the earth, but we also have this tribute in reference to these that came to receive it, right? In verse 24. Now just like we have in our day, and we so gleefully and gladly have, multiple layers of taxation, how many of you appreciate that? Say amen. See, I almost got you there. A few people let it slip out. Nobody appreciates taxes. And we know that there are many kinds of taxes, and I know this is true because when we were missionaries, sometimes we got into conversations about taxes, and so trying to explain to the foreigner, someone not from our country, what our tax situation is like, sometimes it's kind of difficult. You could say, well we have taxes, but that doesn't give you the whole picture, does it? Because you have federal income tax, and you have state income tax, and you have property taxes, and you have taxes about the roads, and you have taxes about, you have unemployment tax if you own a business, and you have duties, and excise taxes, and you can go on and on. I mean there's just so many, corporate tax and all these different, so you can't just say, well we have taxes, because there's so many different kinds, and it was true in this day as well. In this day, in these two verses, there's at least three different kinds of taxes being mentioned in these three verses. Look at verse 25 to begin. Verse 25 says, of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? So that gives us a hint. These are taxes taken by the kings of the earth. In other words, these would be kind of like secular taxes. And the word custom and tribute are two different kinds. So custom would be something similar to like a sales tax, or a tax for someone traveling. This would be, we call it in our modern vernacular, the indirect taxes, right? That's what this is. And Rome, as the kingdom that ruled Israel at this time, Rome had these kinds of things. So if you travel from place to place, you might get stopped and have to pay a fee, pay a tax for your traveling. And if you, based upon the goods that you buy or sell, you might have to pay a custom on those taxes. That's one way they tax. And of course, that money went to some level of the Roman Empire. But you also have, in verse 25, in reference to the kings of the earth, a tribute, which is another kind of tax. And a tribute was what we would call a poll tax. This is the kind of tax that you would get, like we find in Luke chapter two, when Mary and Joseph went back to Bethlehem, so that they could be counted in the census, and they could be taxed based upon the counting. Their property would be assessed. It would be something like, I guess like property tax a little bit, but that would be per person. So it was a different kind of tax entirely. And so when you read it, sometimes you can miss that, but there's a little indication of what's happening here based upon the mention of the kings of the earth. So this would be what Rome did, which is also what we find in Luke chapter two. But then you go to verse 24. Verse 24 is a little bit different, even though the word tribute is used, which is just a tax, you know, so it doesn't really specify what kind of tax. But there's a hint in verse 24. Because it says, they that received tribute. Now our fr...

Adult Sunday School: Our Great God · Pastor Adam Wood · November 16, 2025

Transcript:
What I'd like to do this morning is I've been thinking and praying about the next step as we finished up our study of our church, the study when we went through various aspects of our church last week. And so I've been thinking about what direction we might go this week. To be honest with you, the lesson I have for today is kind of a skeleton lesson. It's not fully developed because I want to use it as an introduction to our next study. So what I'd like to cover for the next however long it takes is what I'm calling our great God. That's what I want to call it. And it's based out of Psalm 95. If you would look at Psalm 95, it's actually in the bulletin too if you happen to pick up a bulletin today. Psalm 95, Psalm 95 and verse number 3, Psalm 95 and verse number 3 says this, says this, And so the study we want to begin today is a study called our great God. And what it is, is a study of theology. Theology. And by theology I don't mean it in the broad sense where we study spiritual matters, but the doctrine of God. And if we look at the different subjects, scriptural subjects that we can study in the Bible. We can study prophecy, we can study history in scripture, we can study, of course we can study the cross, the gospel, and those kinds of things. And those are all good things and we've studied them all. We even have studied practical matters as well. But the one subject that in my view is the most enjoyable thing to study is the subject of God himself. And that's what I want to focus in on for the next little bit in our Sunday School class. Is I want us to take some time to just look at who God is and how God is and his various attributes. And I of course don't want to do it in a way that's dry because if there is, when I was praying about this, I was talking to the Lord about how you study these different attributes of God and make them so that they're not dry. If we study the doctrine of God, if we studied who God is and how God is and his various characteristics, and we came out of it with a dry study, we have done something wrong. We have done something wrong. In fact, when you consider heaven, a lot of our songs talk about heaven and what heaven is and what we're going to do in heaven and all these things. But really, heaven, as we'll see in just a minute, the thing that will make heaven so it never gets boring is God. Right? The only thing that matters about heaven is God. Right? The thing that makes heaven worth being there is the fact that God is there. And that because of these various attributes of God, it is utterly, even in a glorified state, even after we've met the Lord, we've been resurrected in a glorified body, no more sin, no more limitations as far as human limitations down here go. Yet, being in the presence of God and every moment discovering new things about our God who is himself inexhaustible, that is what makes heaven heaven. Right? That is what makes heaven the blissful place that it is. So it's not about streets of gold and it's not about gates of pearl and walls of jasper and all of that, those kinds of things, although we know those things are all true, it's about the God who is there. And we should all stand in awe of God. And to do that, we have to understand him. We have to know him. Now, pretty much everybody in the world has a concept of God, but most people in the world view God basically, you could fit him inside of one of these cups right here. Right here. Basically, God could fit inside this little cup in most people's mind. And that's the extent of his character. In other words, they can just rattle off maybe a few things about God and he fits inside the cup. But the truth is that we can spend all of our time on this one subject and never exhaust it. But more importantly than that is just the reality that when we study this particular subject of God in the Bible, we study who God is. It is the most rewarding subject that you can study in the Bible. It really is. This is what it's all about. And what I want to do for the introduction today is I want to go through the scripture and I want to show you what the Bible is all about on this topic. And just kind of do a very brief overview of it. Because we have to have the right focus and the right understanding of the text of scripture if we're going to be able to understand and see God in the text of scripture. Because the Bible is all about the Lord. It's all about God. But before we do that, first of all, let's pray. And then I want to give you a challenge. I want to give you a challenge to open up our study here. Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, that you are a great God and a great King above all gods. And there is none like you. There is none similar. You stand alone. And Lord, we use human language to try and describe you according to your revelation in scripture. We do a poor job. We acknowledge that. We admit that. But Lord, you have put in our hearts at least some measure of a capacity to know you and to understand you and to stand in awe of you and all of your attributes, Lord. We look to you as the greatest thing that could ever be. There's nothing greater that could be on our lips than the truth of who you are. And we say those things and sometimes we say those things and we don't necessarily feel them as we should. But Lord, it is still true. There is no greater subject that could be on our lips than our great God. Lord, through our study this in our Sunday school class, I pray that in each and every person here and myself included, that you through your word and your revelation of who you are, that you would cause each one of us to truly stand in awe of your greatness. That we would not just listen and receive information, but we would be awestruck. That we would be stupefied. That we would truly have a glimpse of your glory through our study here. Lord, open up, we pray, your word to us as we examine it over the various weeks and look at the various characteristics. Make your word come alive to us that we can truly know you better. And Lord, also please help us to know how to apply these truths. These things would not just be information or points on a doctrinal statement, but these truths would affect us in our personal lives and our walks in our daily life. So Lord, help us. We just look to you. Bless our study. Reveal yourself to us in a plain way, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, so for our exercise to begin, I want to give you an opportunity to, as a group, to list every attribute or characteristic of God that you can think of. Every attribute or characteristic of God that you can think of. So who's going to be bold enough to start us out? Joseph. Immutability. Immutability. What does that mean? Right. All right. Yes, sir. God is just. Holy. All right. What's that? Creator. He's the creator. He's creative. All right. Yes, ma'am. Loving. Omnipotent. What does that mean? All powerful. Yes, sir. Longsuffering. God is longsuffering. Anybody else? That's it. Yes, ma'am. Forgiving. God cannot lie. I don't know the word for that. True, maybe. Maybe. Truthful. All right. Yes, ma'am. Merciful. You stole it right out of his pocket. All right. Powerful. Right. That's like omnipotent. Did you say omnipotent? All right. That's right. Omniscient. What does that mean? He knows everything. So you're telling me he knows things that haven't happened yet. All right. We're going to get into that later. Yes, sir. What? Faithful. All right. Okay. He's a friend. How would you? That's sort of like faithful. It's sort of like loyal. Kind of like loyalty. Yes, sir. Triune. What does that Tencent word mean? All right. Very good. Our father. So he's a father. His fatherhood, you could say. Anybody else? Gracious. It's one we haven't covered. All right. Anybody else? All-knowing. That's omniscient. Yep. That's all together. Yep. Our refuge. All right. The onl...