Chapter & Verse

The Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand—The Book of Matthew · Pastor Adam Wood · Matthew 16:13–18 · October 26, 2025

Transcript:
Alright, let's get our Bible and go to the book of Matthew. We're picking up from our study in Matthew, and we're in chapter 16 this morning. Matthew 16 will begin in verse number 13. I have to admit this passage, verses 13 through 20 is where we'll be this morning, is one of those famous passages in scripture. It is just extremely significant in the whole of the book of Matthew. It could be called, it could even be called the theme verse, some of these verses in this passage. And so as I come to them, I feel like I need something more substantial to say to you guys that's equal to the importance of this verse. But we're going to go at it. We're going to see what the Lord shows us anyway. Verse 13 of Matthew 16, the Bible says this, When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist, some Elias, and others Jeremiah's, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father, which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. Would you pray with me this morning? Lord, we come to you as a needy people. Lord, we know that we have needs sometimes, and other times you know that we have needs that we're even unaware of. We certainly need your word. If we're going to grow as your people, Lord, we're going to have to grow by the word of God. And that's what we come out to look at this morning. We come to your word. Lord, open our eyes and our heart that we might behold wondrous things out of thy law. Give us understanding, Lord, and teach us by your Spirit these truths. Guide me, Lord, to say the things to help and strengthen your people in their faith, in the truth, in the Scripture. But not only that, Lord, help us not to just go away with more knowledge or a knowledge that's been strengthened, but Lord, that we might apply the word of God and use it to help us to live uprightly and to walk before you unto all pleasing. So Lord, we just acknowledge we need your help in every way in Jesus' name. Amen. Now you've seen in the book of Matthew as we've gone through it, I do want to look at several verses starting in Matthew chapter 1. We'll just take a brief, very brief walk through various verses in Matthew. We've seen a recurring theme that's recurred and has been brought up a number of times in Matthew. And the theme is, who is this Jesus? Who is this Jesus? And that we've seen it over and over. The identity, the question of the identity of the Lord Jesus is a major theme in the book of Matthew, is a major theme in the book of Matthew. Now to you and to me, that question might seem like a settled issue. But if you peer beyond Greenville, South Carolina, you know, because we do get kind of a small world mentality, we do, we think everybody thinks like us and has the same beliefs as us, and that's just not true. When you leave even this area and you go to another part of the country, or especially when you leave this country and go to another part of the world, there are literally billions upon billions of people that have not settled this question. Who is this Jesus? Many, many people, you might be surprised to know that most people in the world have heard of Jesus. So I know we go to Romans 15 about, you know, striving to preach the gospel where Christ is not named, right? But there are actually few places on earth where the name of Christ has not at least arrived in some form or fashion, where people know the name of Jesus. Now I have met, as a missionary, I have met people who had never heard of Jesus, had no idea who Jesus was at all. So they exist, but by and large, even in Cambodia, which is definitely kind of on the fringes of that, most people are familiar with Pré-Jesu, they know who Jesus is, at least in broad terms. But the question of his identity is still an open question. And that's true in most of the world. And in Matthew it's true. When Jesus arrived on the scene, if you put yourself in that place, in that time period among those people, that's an open question. Here you see a man who is just a regular man, a regular Jew, no doubt, just an average guy by all accounts. He hath no form nor comeliness. There's no beauty in him that we should desire him, is what the scripture says. Probably a short man based upon the heights of the skeletal remains of people in the first century, probably about five foot three, just in all ways average. And so there's a lot of reason for questions regarding who he is to be in people's minds. Look at Matthew 1, even going all the way back to his birth, verse 20. But while he thought on these things, this is Joseph now, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. What is this angel Gabriel telling Joseph? He's telling him who this baby is. That's what he's doing. He's addressing the identity question. Right? Now let me say this, and we'll see it in just a minute, but the identity question regarding Jesus Christ is still a question in our day. And the identity question is, if you want to boil down the body of Christian doctrine, you want to boil down eternal life even, it is based upon this first kind of initial question. There's probably another one about who made the world, you know, where we come from. That's probably even more basic and elemental. But on top of that, the question of who Jesus is, is a foundational question. It's the foundation of the cross and the resurrection, because you can't properly understand the gospel unless you understand who this person is. You have to know his identity before you can understand who's on the cross and why that's so significant. It is foundational. You know, a Jehovah's Witness can believe that Jesus died on the cross for his sins, and because he has his identity wrong, it is ineffectual. He has the wrong Jesus. Right? He has a man parading around as Jesus with a mask that looks like Jesus, but it is not Jesus. No more than if a man put on a Donald Trump mask, like you probably will be seeing at some point in the next several days. You'll probably see some people with Donald Trump masks knocking on your door, ringing your doorbell. That doesn't mean they're Donald Trump. Say amen. That's right. That doesn't mean they're Donald Trump. So this identity question is very important. Let's look at Matthew chapter 3, as we just take a stroll through Matthew, chapter 3, verse 11. John the Baptist is speaking here. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. Right? This is, who is this one? And of course, we know later John the Baptist will say, behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away to the sin of the world. But again, even John the Baptist had questions. Who is this? How will I know him? This one who is sent from God. Look at chapter number 3, verse 17. And lo, as John baptizes our Lord, and lo, a voice from heaven saying, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. This is the testimony o...

Adult Sunday School: Our Church · Pastor Adam Wood · October 26, 2025

Transcript:
Alright, let's get our Bible and go back to Romans chapter number 12. Romans chapter 12. What we're going to do this morning is I'm going to make every effort to finish up this study on our church's music today. We are going to kind of circle back around to something that I covered two weeks ago. And to kind of go over that a little bit more from a different angle because I think the principle is important. And then we're going to cover one more thing to kind of conclude our church's this topic of our church's music. Now, we have already covered the idea of the we've examined the concert atmosphere. And so we've looked at that and how that affects the difference between spectating and participating. And we've looked at the use of our hymnal and how that involves participation and not to not to denigrate or downplay the importance of people who are skilled playing and singing special music. That's, of course, that's allowed and seen in scripture. But seeing that the church of the living God is primarily a participation sport, not a spectator sport. And so as much as we can do to promote that rather than the other, that's what we're going to try to do. And so we're trying to as a matter of principle, we're trying to avoid we want to avoid a concert atmosphere in the church. That's not what we were going for. So that's done that's done on purpose. It's not like, you know, well, we can't find anybody that can play the drums or the guitar or run the smoke machine or the you know, it's not like that. It's it's we are intentionally choosing to do what we do. OK, so and that's that all has to do with with kind of a combination of principles that come together. Then we looked at Romans 12, too, which is what we're going to go back to this morning. But before we do, let's pray and just ask our Lord to meet with us and and be our guide and teacher as we look through the scriptures today. Our father, thank you for the opportunity to meet together in the in the Church of God and Sunday School. Thank you for the people that have come and the hearts that are ready to hear Lord work in us and teach us, help us to understand your truth, not only that, but to apply it honestly and truthfully, both in our personal lives, but also in the church. And, Lord, we just want to follow the scriptural principles and examine them with a sincere heart. So help us to do that today and give us understanding and wisdom that your people might be edified because we look to you, Lord, in Jesus name. Amen. Romans 12, one and two. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies of living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. We looked at verse two as it relates to music. It is not is not very often that verse two, specifically the part that refers to conforming to this world, It is not very frequently that you see this verse applied to music, but there's definitely really anything, this is just totally and universally applicable to any matter in which we would take our cues from the world in our worldview, in our way of thinking, in our value system, in our actions, in our words, and of course in our music, in our entertainment. We could go on and on, conforming to the world. In other words, molding ourselves after the pattern they have set, okay, the pattern they have set. But before we can really get into that, I have found in the experiences that I've had on this subject, specifically on the subject of the world, or we might say worldliness. That's kind of a charged word, has a lot of emotional response to the concept of worldliness, but it is a scriptural truth, right? It is a scriptural truth, absolutely, and we'll see it. But sometimes one thing that gets a little confusing is what is the world? What things are considered worldly? In Scripture, there's an example in which the temple is actually called a worldly sanctuary. I think it's in the book of Hebrews, it might be Colossians, or it might be 2 Corinthians, one of the three perhaps. The worldly sanctuary, and that doesn't have the negative connotation, it's just one that exists on earth rather than in heaven. But when we talk about worldly, the question automatically comes up, especially when we're talking about entertainment, or things in very practical matters, perhaps dress, perhaps music, perhaps places we visit, our philosophies. What defines worldly? Worldly is obviously in Scripture negative, it's not a positive thing. And the reason that is, is because the world is viewed negative in Scripture. That's what I want you to see. So I'm not going to try to define that for you. What we're going to try to do is we're going to try to look through the Scripture at what the Lord says about the world, and let you, with an honest heart, examine and evaluate what the Scripture says on the matter. And then each one of us, and this is true of our church, and it's true of you and your life personally, each one of us must take these principles of Scripture and sincerely and honestly apply them to every area of our life. We must do that. Because we talk about the world, well let's just get into it here. Look, if you would, we're going to look at, to start with three passages. Look at John 11 and Matthew 16. John 11 and Matthew 16. John 11 and Matthew 16. So when the Bible refers to the world, it has several definitions, and they're all related, they're all related, but there's several kind of emphases that we see that it's a little bit different, a little bit nuanced, and it's important for us to understand that. Not everything in the world is evil. In other words, the sun and the moon and the stars in God's created world, that's not evil, right? The plants, that kind of plant is evil, but the plants that God made are, well technically he made those too in as much as, but anyway. But those things are not evil, but they're of the world. So obviously there's different facets to this term. John 11 verse 9, look at what it says if you would, it says this, Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleeth not, because he seeth the light of this world. What's the Lord talking about when he says the light of this world? Well in this case he's using an example, talking about men stumbling, he's referring to the sun, right? Which lights the earth, right? So in this case the world just refers to his created, his material creation, alright? Now we know that has been tainted by sin, we get that, but in and of itself is not necessarily evil, okay? So that's one way you can look at what the word world means. Look at Matthew 16 now. Matthew 16, another definition is found in this verse, verse 26. Matthew 16 verse 26, For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? In this case the word world is also a reference to God's creation in some facet or way, but it's specifically referring to possessions, alright? He gained the whole world, everything that is to be possessed in the world, that's what he's referring to. So the world in that case refers to material possessions. That's not really what we're looking at for our study in Romans 12. Alright, look at a couple more passages. Look at John chapter 3 and Mark chapter 16. We'll look at Mark first, John chapter 3 and Mark chapter 16. And this definition or this facet of the word world is the one we're going to be looking at today. Mark 16 verse number 15, And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. In this case the word world refers to all of humanity, okay? All people, humanity. John 3, you're famili...

Joseph Aguilar · Psalm 1 · October 22, 2025

Transcript:
Let's go ahead and pray. Heavenly Father, thank you Lord for the opportunity to be together, to be in your Word, in your house. Lord, we pray that you would give us something from you that you would open your people's eyes to your scripture. Lord, nothing that I have to say but that your Word would not come back void. So Lord, we pray that you would be with those that hear and be with your Word as it goes forth. We pray also for Pastor who's away preaching your Word. Lord, we thank you for him. We pray for the many prayer requests and those who wish they could be here but aren't able to. So Lord, we thank you just for your blessing us, blessing us with your Word because the opening of your Word giveth life and light. And so Lord, we thank you for just being with us and being so good to us and we pray that you would guide and direct everything that happens tonight. In Jesus' name, amen. So if you would turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm chapter one, Psalm one, blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly nor standeth in the way of sinners nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water who bringeth forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous but the way of the ungodly shall perish. So for the sake of alliteration I've used a couple of Tencent words, they're biblical words, but I wanted to point out first of all blessed is the man blessed in his eschewing. So eschewing is a wonderful word that the Lord used with Satan and Job when he said, you know, one that feareth God and escheweth evil just means to put it away. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly nor standeth in the way of sinners nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. So again blessed in his eschewing. So first of all blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly. He talks about the walk here and I've subtitled this the path of convenience. Walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly. It's easy to do wrong. It's often harder at least in the short run to do right. And so when you have the the world's way is the path of convenience, the easy way, the way the accepted way, the way in which you are not weird or strange or ridiculed. It's what is comfortable. So it feels right. It's conflict avoidance. It amazes me every day. There are so many people who go so far and work so hard not to have a conflict. They'll go around and I look at them. I say, you've done all this work not to just say no. Sometimes that's true. But it amazes me the propensity towards conflict avoidance which ends is just delayed conflict. You know the conflicts don't show up but they're just delaying it. The worldly wisdom I used to have I was being explained in I believe it was one of my ethics courses in school that a pension for police department is determined on the last it's an average of the last years that you would have and what people would do is they would get their others to call out so that they could work overtime so that their last few years would be the highest grossing years which their pension would be figured out. Of course that's dishonest but that's worldly wisdom right. Jesus said the children of this generation are in their the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light and sometimes that's what people do. It's the easy way. It's the way of convenience. Satan always comes along with a flashy convenient alternative for a genuine human need usually right before the Lord has something for you. And so if you're walking not in the Council of the ungodly you're not going to be susceptible to that. You're not going to accept what Satan brings to you as an alternative for God's will. And you're a judge things by the Bible. What does the Lord say about the situation not what do I feel and what do my peers say. What is easy. So walking not in the Council of the ungodly. The Lord has has a plan. He brings bring forth his fruit in his season in Ecclesiastes 311. He says he's made all things beautiful in his time and then he is the one that brings the good gifts. Turn with me quickly first to Matthew 6 31. I thought I had my Bible in the car and turns out I didn't. So I'm using Robert's Bible. So bear with me as I find it here. The Lord says take the note therefore take no thought saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewith all shall we be clothed for after all these things to the Gentiles see. Here's the key for your heavenly father knoweth that you have need of all these things. God's not surprised that you need something to eat today. God's not surprised that you need something to wear. God's not indifferent to our human frailties and needs. Remember he was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. And so every good gift and every perfect gift James Chapter 1 16 17 do not air my beloved brethren every good gift and every perfect gift cometh down from above from the father of lights with whom is no variable and neither shadow of turning. And so the option that is presented to you that is easier that seems like it's the more convenient that seems like it's the conflict free option yet requires you to compromise that's walking in the council of the ungodly. So blessed in his eschewing is blessed that he doesn't walk in the council of the ungodly the path of convenience nor standeth in the way of sinners sinners. And I'm calling this the point of curiosity standing the way of sinners lingering loitering loitering lusting falling. So if we were to say that the path of convenience walketh not in the council of the ungodly were the lust of the flesh you need these things your father knoweth that you have need of them. Point of curiosity is less the eyes. What's going on here. Hey that's interesting. I've never seen that before. The original temptation I want to know right has to know I have to know the Lord would have a simple concerning evil. I would get up but what would I have you wise into that which is good but simple concerning evil. Romans 6.19 I like to say when somebody asked me a question that I'm pop cultural illiterate I don't know the mutant the movies the music the current theme of the world. I just don't know it. I also tell them I'm full of useless information which is also usually true. But I am pop culture illiterate because I don't need to know what the world has to know. I'm not going to stand in the way of sinners. So when you're standing in the way of sinners I mean there's even more peer pressure as soon as you stop and stand as soon as you allow for the possibility that you are going to engage in what they want you to do. That's where the pressure is going to be brought to bear. If you're just if you're stopping and standing then they think that they can get you to fall. It says wherein they think that it is strange that you run not with them to the same excessive riot speaking evil of you. First Peter 4.4. We used to have my brother and I when we used to work as regular officers we used to have they would do things they would stuff our lockers full of bad material so that we'd open them so they could make fun of us and all sorts of things which was very fun then when I became promoted because it all stopped. But they used to do these things and they would they would ridicule hey your brother said he was coming to the club with me if you would. You know that's not happening. But they would do those things there's all that peer pressure. I remember somebody stopped and said to ...

Samson Harris · Psalm 23; John 10 · October 19, 2025

Transcript:
Alright, well we're going to be in two different passages this morning primarily. If you would, open to Psalm 23, Psalm 23, and then we're going to be in John 10, John chapter 10. Can anybody hear me okay? I can't, okay. Psalm 23 and John chapter 10. Of course this is a very famous, probably the most popular Psalm in all of the book of Psalms. A lot of people quote it for a lot of different reasons, mostly a lot of times during funerals and things like that, which is obviously totally appropriate. I just wanted to dig a little bit deeper into the Psalm and kind of expose some of the ideas that David was referring to when he wrote this Psalm. Of course David, we know, was a shepherd of his father's sheep in Israel. He's of all people probably the most, the best person to write this Psalm. But I kind of want to dig into it a little bit more and kind of open it up, maybe some of these ideas you've never heard about. And I want to just use John 10 to kind of build on that as well. So again, we'll be in John chapter 10 and then Psalm 23. We're going to start with the first phrase in Psalm 23 is, the Lord is my shepherd. We think of that, we're very familiar with this passage, but what I want us to think about is the relationship between a sheep and a shepherd. Why is it significant? Of course, there's a lot of shepherds. The Bible talks about a lot of different shepherds in scripture, but it's so significant that this Psalm is the relationship between the Lord and a Christian and a believer, one of his sheep. And Jesus is not an ordinary shepherd. Jesus is not somebody who is just kind of a higher link like the Bible talks about. He really does care for the sheep. And I want us to turn to John 10, John chapter 10 verse 12 and 13. John chapter 10 verse 12 and 13. So I'm just going to read the passage here, starting in, I'll just start I guess in verse 7. It says, then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. The thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy. I am calm that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is in higher link and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming and the wolf catcheth them and scattereth the sheep. The higher link fleeeth because he is in higher link and careth not for the sheep. I am the good shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. I'll just end there. I want to focus on just the fact that, like again, the Bible talks about in higher links. Higher links are inferior. They are obviously paid to do a job, but they don't care for the sheep. They don't have the intimate, they didn't pay for the sheep. They didn't go to the market and inspect the sheep. They didn't, they don't care for it on a day-to-day basis. They are just there to do a part-time job kind of thing. The Bible says in Jeremiah, just quickly I'll talk about this, Jeremiah 23. Jeremiah I notice talks a lot about shepherds. Basically God, Jehovah is reprimanding the shepherds, the previous shepherds of Israel. He says, Well be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, saith the Lord. Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people. Ye have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not visited them. Behold I will visit upon you the evil of your doing, saith the Lord. Of course there are other passages there, but basically also in verse Jeremiah 10-21 it says, For the pastors are become brutish and have not sought the Lord. Therefore they shall not prosper and all their flocks shall be scattered. It says in John chapter 10 verse 8, it says, All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers but the sheep did not hear them. Jesus is the good shepherd. He cares for the sheep. He knows them and they know his voice. That's the important part. Of course a hireling will do his job temporarily. He'll have to fill in, but they don't really recognize the voice of the shepherd. He can feed them and all that, but he doesn't walk among the sheep. The sheep don't hear his voice. They don't recognize him. That's one of the attributes that makes the Lord being your shepherd so much different. If you're one of God's sheep, you will actually hear his voice. If you don't hear his voice, then God says that you're not one of his. Jesus is a good shepherd. He calls them all by name. Middle Eastern shepherds would actually do this. They would call their sheep one by one individually. Each sheep had an individual name a lot of times. They would call them out. That's how intimately they knew their sheep. It wasn't just a whole flock of sheep. They knew each one. That's amazing. It says in John 10, he leads them out. He brings them in. He's the door of the sheepfold, but he will also lead them back out to the pastures. Just one quick note on the door is that the Bible says, no man cometh unto the Father but by me. Jesus is the door of the sheep. If you don't come through the door, then you haven't come to Christ. You have to come through the door. Of course, we have people in church. There's a lot of people in church, not necessarily here today, but just that a lot of people have religion. They think they're a sheep, but if you haven't come through the door, which is Jesus Christ, you are not one of his. You need to make sure that you come through the door. The Bible says in John 10, it says he lays down his life for the sheep. This is the kind of shepherd that he is. That's why the Lord being a shepherd is so much different. No other shepherd will lay down his life for the sheep. That's just one thing that I wanted to highlight. Also being a sheep, we think about this, we don't like to think of ourselves as sheep because we're independent, especially as Americans. We want to be independent. We want to do things for ourselves. We don't want to have people telling us what to do or that kind of thing. We think we can make it on our own. If we say the Lord is my shepherd, that means we have to assume the role of a sheep. We have to be that sheep, which means that we have to recognize God as our owner, as our manager, as our leader. We can't just have our own way on things. We belong to Christ, not only because he created us, but because he bought us. Just with the shepherd, he goes to the market and buys a sheep. We are bought with a price, the Bible says. We have that specific relationship. It's not just going to the pig pen. We don't live in a pig pen. We're sheep. We live amongst the flock. We have a sheep fold, but we get led out and actually into a lot of freedom. We get to walk around and we get to be led by our shepherd everywhere we go. That's the picture that's being presented here. To be one of Christ's sheep is to belong to a flock, the most exclusive, well-loved, well-taken-care-of group of creatures in the entire world. We're so much different. We're not better than other people, but we have exclusive access to the Lord God Almighty. We are one of his sheep. That's just a really amazing thought. I want to go to the second part of that verse. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, which means to lack. It doesn't mean not wanting anything like I don't desire anything. It doesn't mean that God will give us everything we want or could wish for, but it just means that we won't lack anything that the Lord ...

The Heart of the Bible—The Book of Psalms · Pastor Adam Wood · Psalm 46 · October 15, 2025

Transcript:
Alright, Psalm 46, what we're gonna do tonight is, is we'll read the Psalm, and we're gonna do something a little bit different than probably what we normally do in the Psalms that we've covered. We're gonna spend a lot of time turning different verses. I say a lot of time, we're just gonna turn to different verses and say less, but I wanna show you some things because of the nature of this particular Psalm. And so let's read it to begin. Verse number one, the subtitle reads, To the chief musician for the sons of Korah, a song upon Alamoth. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Say la. There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most high. God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. God shall help her and that right early. The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved. He uttered his voice, the earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Say la. Come, behold the works of the Lord. What desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth. He breaketh the bow and cutteth the spear in sunder. He burneth the chariot in the fire. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Would you pray with me tonight? Our Lord, thank you for this Psalm. The reminders, Lord, that we have here to be still and know that you are God and to trust you and to rely upon your great power. And Lord, help us as we look through this Psalm, especially this particular viewpoint of it. We pray that you'd give us understanding and wisdom and broaden our perspectives on your word because Lord, we know that your word has so many layers of truth and we could spend all of our time just digging through them and recognizing them. And so Lord, help us tonight in our study. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Now, as I said, we're gonna do something a little bit different. Normally when you come to this Psalm, most often what you would do is you would look at verse number one primarily and you would look at verse number 10 because those are kind of the go-to verses and they're good. They're good verses for us to remember to trust in God and not fret, right? To be still. And there are absolutely times that we just need to stop trying to do things. And as they say, let go and let God and that has its limits. But the idea being that there are absolutely times when the Lord doesn't want us to do anything but to trust him to do something, right? And that's kind of what's being described here, especially in, you'll know once we get through it, you'll see the context especially is true of that principle. And then of course in verse one, we see that God is our refuge and strength, the very present help in trouble. And the best example, recent example of that is when Peter was sinking in the water. Jesus was present, he was not only present, he was very present. And when trouble came and he started to sink, the Lord Jesus was there to help him. And you gotta remember that even in the midst of trouble, that it's not a matter of timing. Like you're in trouble and you're calling out to God, there's not a time delay when the Lord sends help, help's already on the way before you start asking. And there's scripture for that in Daniel in particular. Excuse me. But that's not what I wanna look at tonight because what those things are, are actually applications of verse one and verse 10. Those are actually applications. Like we do with all scripture verses, we look at it and to apply a verse means that we use it. We use it in a practical way. And so we take a verse, we take a truth understood in this particular context and we use it for ourselves to encourage ourselves to understand some truth about the Lord even though that's not directly what it's written about. For instance, as an example, you take something as simple as Noah's Ark. The story of Noah's Ark was not about us, it was about Noah, obviously. But you take the truths in Noah's Ark, they can be related to judgment, they can be related to salvation, they can be related to God's deliverance, all kinds of different truths and you can apply them to yourself. That's the difference between interpreting the Bible, knowing what its meaning, intended meaning is from the author in its context and using it. Because you can use the Bible in all kinds of ways as long as you're faithful to the truth of scripture. What we often do with this psalm though is we use the application of it and we never really understand the interpretation of it. What I wanna look at tonight is the interpretation of it. What I think this psalm means. Now, as I was reading a commentary that I sometimes read with the psalms, what I noticed is there's a strong tendency and a strong pull to just not mention, not ask what is this talking about? It talks about there is a river, what river? What river are we talking about? How many of you have read this psalm and thought what river is this talking about? Yeah, exactly. I know when different times you read parts of the Bible and you just kinda keep reading because you don't even know where to begin to look. It's just, you don't know what the interpretation is exactly talking about. So what do you do? You get what you can and you just keep moving. And that's okay, that's okay. But I wanna look at the interpretation of it. This psalm is divided into three parts. Verses one to three, verses four to seven, and verses eight to 11, each of which ends with the pausing word, say la. Verse one to three say this, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Who is the speaker? The our, God is our refuge and strength. Now I know when you read it, right? I know when you read it as a Christian, and this is perfectly fine, you read it and you see our and you think me, right? And that's good. That's a devotional view of the Bible. And it's okay to do that so long as you don't go off, you know, over the edge in some unscriptural thing, which happens sometimes. But the our in this case is not referring to me and you. In context, it's referring to Israel, right? Because first of all, it's because it's a psalm, but there's several indicators through this. He talks about the tabernacles, the Lord of hosts, the God of Jacob indicating that this is all talking about Israel. All right, with that in mind, let's keep reading. But what I'm trying to present to you is I think this psalm is prophetic in nature. I think it's prophetic. Let's read verses one through three, and I'll show you what I mean. God is our refuge and strength, the very presence of help and trouble. Therefore will not we fear though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Now those are quite the event. Now we can look, I'll be honest with you, we can look at verses two and three and the mountains being removed and the earth trembling and shaking and the waters swelling and all of these things. We can look at that and we can say, devotionally as a Christian, we can say, when there's trouble in my life. Okay, and that's okay. But it's also kind of weak if you consider what it's saying. Because what it's saying is very, very much more significant than we got a flat tire at work or on the way to work or we have a financial need or we're sick or something like that. We're talking about the earth trembling, waves of the ocean, r...

The Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand—The Book of Matthew · Pastor Adam Wood · Matthew 16:6, 12 · October 12, 2025

Transcript:
All right, let's go and return back to Matthew chapter 16. This evening we're gonna look just at two verses as our main text tonight. And I'd like you to also look at Matthew chapter 13 as well. So we're gonna be mostly in Matthew 16, although we're gonna go a few other places as well. But to begin we'll be in Matthew 16 and also we'll take a peek at Matthew 13 as well. So let's go to 16. And we will begin reading verse number six. And we read of course this passage this morning but we're gonna look at something different in the passage. Matthew 16 verse number six. The Bible says this, and then Jesus said unto them, take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. And they reasoned among themselves saying, it is because we have taken no bread, which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, oh ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves because ye have brought no bread? Do ye not yet understand, neither remember, the five loaves of the 5,000 and how many baskets ye took up, neither the seven loaves of the 4,000 and how many baskets ye took up? How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread that ye should be aware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? Verse 12, so we're looking at verse six tonight and verse 12. Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. All right, let's pray together and then we'll look at Matthew 13. Thank you Lord for the opportunity to meet again together and for the assurance that where two or three are gathered together, there you will be in the midst. And Lord, we trust you, though we know that now you are invisible to us. One day you will come, we will see you visibly. But now we trust in your promise that you are here present with us, not only in us but among us, as we meet together as the saints of God. We once again want to commit the time to you where we are studying your word and let it be profitable to us. Help us to grow by it as we look at the scriptures and see what you have spoken in Jesus' name, amen. All right, Matthew 13. The reason I wanna read Matthew 13 is that what we're covering tonight, we covered not too very long ago, actually in, let's see, July 13th. We had an afternoon service. I look back in the record and July 13th, we covered this same passage in the Matthew 13. But I wanna go ahead and read it again because it is actually just one verse. It's in the midst of the parables, of course, and it overlaps a little bit with what we want to talk about tonight, but not entirely. So I wanna kind of build off of what I said in Matthew 13 in verse number 33. Another parable spake he unto them. The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till the whole was leaven. Now you'll remember that when we looked at this verse, we kind of paired it with the parable of the, I just lost my train of thought here, the parable in verse 31 and 32, which is the mustard seed. And the idea here is that the lump, that is the dough, is unleavened because of course that's the picture, that's the symbology from the Old Testament. Of course the Jews had developed or had developed a negative view of leaven due to the fact that during the feast of unleavened bread and Passover, they would have put it out. So it was considered to be, not that they couldn't eat bread that was leavened, but it had a negative connotation as far as in prophecy and things like that and their laws. And so we saw that in this parable, the woman took the leaven and the Bible says she hid it in three measures of meal. And then of course that leaven spread. And we saw how that the leaven represents a certain kind of evil, that it starts small and then it spreads throughout the lump and it corrupts the entire thing, though it starts small. And so we saw that. So go back if you would to Matthew 16 and we're gonna build off of that because we did talk about the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees in July. And we also referenced chapter 16, which is what we're looking at in detail, more detail tonight. So Matthew 13 has the first mention of leaven in the New Testament and the first mention in Matthew. And then what we're looking at tonight is the second mention of leaven in the Bible. So you have this idea of leaven, or rather in Matthew. You have this idea of leaven is symbolic of corruption. And the lump refers to the people of God and the idea is corruption is spreading through the people of God. And we looked at all kinds of references, especially in the epistles where Paul talks about and he foretells that as we approach the coming of the Lord, so Christianity, we saw it in scripture where Christianity will become more and more corrupted with false teachers and false doctrine. And so that's what the Lord tells us is going to happen within the church. I hate that term, but you know what I mean when I say that, within Christendom. And that's actually what we observe happening. And so here though, there's a little bit more detail and I wanna look at a few other verses based upon this. Look at verse number six again. The Bible says, and Jesus said unto them, take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. So notice there are two groups mentioned here. You have the Pharisees, the leaven of the Pharisees, and you also have the leaven of the Sadducees. Then in verse 12, then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. So you got two categories, but when we refer to leaven, we're talking about doctrine. Now don't misunderstand. Doctrine, although it includes the things that are written on a doctrinal statement, that is not the sum total of doctrine. Doctrine includes a body of faith that we believe, truths that we hold as scripturally accurate, yes. But doctrine also includes any kind of teaching. It's just a word that means teaching. It's sometimes translated the same way, teaching and doctrine. The idea is something that someone teaches. And so what you have here is you kinda wanna pull back the Lord is referring to the characteristic elements and features that were taught by the Pharisees and that were taught by the Sadducees. And there's one other group. So I wanna put forth to you that there's three categories of leaven. Now we did cover this in July, but we're gonna dig a little bit deeper. There are three categories of leaven in scripture used in this symbolic way, this corruption, this false or erroneous doctrine. The first one, if you would look at Luke chapter 12, it's already, it's here as well, but Luke 12 gives us a little bit more information. This is a parallel passage to our text here tonight. Luke 12 verse one. Look at Luke 12, if you would, and verse one. The first one we're gonna look at is the leaven of the Pharisees. Verse one says this, in the meantime, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trod one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples, first of all, notice he's speaking to his disciples here and also in Matthew 16. He's speaking to his disciples. At the end, I'm gonna come back to that, okay? But just keep that in mind. Here's what he says, the Lord says, beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees. Now notice, he doesn't mention Sadducees, he doesn't mention anything else. He only mentions Pharisees and he defines it, which is hypocrisy. So when the Lord said, going back to Matthew 16, when the Lord says beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, he's referring to a specific thing about the Pharisees. Here's what you have to understand. The Pharisees on paper were doctrinally sound. They would have checked all the...

The Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand—The Book of Matthew · Pastor Adam Wood · Matthew 15:32–39; 16:5–12 · October 12, 2025

Transcript:
Alright, let's get our Bible, go to the book of Matthew chapter 15. This morning we'll be in Matthew 15 and Matthew 16. We'll start in Matthew 15 verse number 29. Matthew 15 verse 29. Matthew 15 verse number 29. The Bible says this, and Jesus departed from thence and came nigh into the city, the sea of Galilee, and went up into a mountain and sat down there. And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others. And cast them down at Jesus' feet, and he healed them. Notice the word cast. I don't know about you, but when I was reading that I kind of picked up on that word and thought to myself, man, how violent. Because it doesn't say set them down or laid them down, it says cast them down, which is what you do with a rock. Just threw them down at Jesus' feet. Not exactly compassionate, I would say. Verse 31, in so much that the multitude wondered when they saw the dumb to speak and maimed, to behold, the lame to walk and the blind to see, and they glorified the God of Israel. You know yesterday when we were out at the Fall for Greenville, one person, I can't remember who it was, had a conversation with someone, I think it was Ben, if I'm not mistaken, with an atheist type who said that he liked Jesus, and what he meant by that is he liked the humanitarian part of Jesus' ministry, and everybody loves that. Everybody loves the blind to be healed and the lame to walk and the dumb to speak and all of that. Everybody loves that. That's the part, Jesus giving us the things we want to make our life better is the part, and we all enjoy that. I'm not knocking that at all, but really the part that people are not so much interested in is when he starts talking, because that's when there's usually it rubs a little bit. Everybody wants to be healed and everybody wants to be successful and have a bunch of stuff, but when Jesus starts talking is when people start to find other things to do sometimes. Verse 32, And his disciples say unto him, Does that sound familiar to you, to our study in Matthew? Verse 34, And they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets full, and they that did eat were four thousand men beside women and children. And he sent away the multitude and took ship and came into the coast of Magdala. Would you pray with me this morning? And he said unto them, And he sent away the multitude and took ship and came into the coast of Magdala. Would you pray with me this morning? Our Father, we just come to you and want to just once again offer our service to you this morning. Offer the word that we've read here and will read further in just a minute. We just want to offer it to you, Lord, that you would bless even as the bread that was given by the disciples to you, and you blessed it and gave it back. So Lord, we want to offer the bread, the word of God to you. We ask for your blessing as we take it back from your hand that it might help us and bless us, Lord. We need your help and grace this morning. Help us to grow this morning. Help us to know you better. Help us to learn to fellowship and trust you more. As we look at these passages of scripture, Help us, I pray, to see ourselves and our patterns in the disciples that are so clearly spelled out in Matthew here. So Lord, would you guide our study this morning? We pray in Jesus' name, Amen. Now this should sound very familiar to all of us. This is the story of the feeding of the 4,000. And the feeding of the 4,000, it's difficult to pin down exactly how much time had elapsed between the feeding of the 4,000 here and the feeding of the 5,000 in Matthew chapter 14. What we do know, we do know some events that occurred between the two. In Matthew 14, after Jesus fed the 5,000, he crossed the Sea of Galilee, and then he heals a man. And then later he has a conversation with the scribes and Pharisees regarding tradition. We covered that pretty recently in our study. And then after that there was this Canaanite woman that has a daughter who is healed from a devil. And then we just read verse 29 through verse 31 where Jesus healed people, and the time is not clearly given. But what we do know is it hasn't been that long. Well Jesus' ministry was only a few years to begin with. But we're talking by a rough estimate, maybe one month to three months period of time. They crossed the Sea of Galilee a few times, going here, going there, teaching. And some of that time, it takes time to do that kind of thing and to teach and such. And so from one feeding of the 5,000 to the feeding of the 4,000, which has only been a couple of months probably, and the feeding of the 4,000 is when you read verses 33 down to verse number 37, 38, it's almost exactly the same. The words are almost the same. The activity, the process is exactly the same. The difference is there were 5,000 beside women and children. Now there's 4,000 beside women and children. Before there were five loaves and two fish, and they took up 12 baskets full of leftovers. Here there's seven loaves and some fish, and they take up seven baskets full. But the fact that Jesus had them sit on the ground was the same. The fact that he took it from them, gave thanks, break it, and then gave it to the disciples who then gave it to the multitude is the same. They were all filled exactly the same. They didn't let anything go to waste exactly the same. And when I come across passages of Scripture in my own personal Bible study that say the same thing twice, and I know these are two different events, and therefore it's recorded twice, and it's two very significant miracles. But when I see that twice and the Lord just puts the same thing again, it makes me wonder, why did you tell us this again? That's what I ask myself. And I think the reason is found in chapter 16. So let's start in chapter 16, verse number 1. The Pharisees also with the desadducees came, tempting him, desired him that he would show them a sign from heaven. And he answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, it will be fair weather, for the sky is red. And in the morning it will be foul weather, for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, can ye discern the face of the sky, but can ye not discern the signs of the times? A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign be given it but the sign of the prophet, Jonas. This is again another portion that is repeated in Matthew 12, from Matthew chapter 12. And he left them and departed, verse 5. And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed, and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the desadducees. Now the reason he says this in verse number 6 is because they had just come out of a conversation with those two same groups, the Pharisees and the desadducees. So that conversation had just happened, and so that was fresh on their minds. And so when they got back to private, got back private and they got to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, that's when Jesus brought it up. Because he's still thinking about it. He's still thinking about the fact that these Pharisees and desadducees had asked this tempting question, which was a question with poor motives, but we'll look at that later. Verse 7. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread. Which, when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread? Now pause a second. If there is anything that the disciples should understand at this moment, given the recent past, is that lack of bread is not a problem. There were 12 and 7, 19 baskets left over beside the 9,000, not counting women and children, that had eaten the bread and the fish. There were 19 baskets f...

Adult Sunday School: Our Church · Pastor Adam Wood · October 12, 2025

Transcript:
We are going to, we're gonna be looking at, I don't know how far we'll get, I'm hoping maybe we can finish this section on our church regarding our music. So the title of what, this is part six, six weeks, we've been looking at our church's music. And in this section, I'm hoping, as I said, to finish this section, and what we've been trying to do, for those of you that are visiting or are new, we've been going through, kind of methodically, going through different aspects of our church and why the things are the way they are. And we've been looking at different categories or different aspects of our church. And right now we're looking at music. And so last week we talked about Ephesians 519 and Colossians 316, which both are the main go-to verses in the New Testament regarding songs, hymns, and spiritual songs, and we looked at that in some detail. We also examined how those things, the use of music is related to being filled with the Spirit of God. And we also took some time to examine what it means to be a, when a song is a spiritual song. And we saw that a spiritual song is set in contrast to a carnal song. It's not, the Lord is not giving us a genre of music, he's describing a kind of song, which is a spiritual song, which relates back to Galatians chapter five and the fruit of the Spirit versus the works of the flesh. And so that's one way we can judge music. And that's one way that we, in our church, judge our music. So these things kind of overlap, that overlaps with our personal music, as well as the music that we use in our church. So we also examined and looked at our hymn book, and we examined why we use the hymn book, and why we have chosen to use it. And we saw how that hymns in a hymn book are generally speaking, rich in doctrine. And we saw also in Colossians how the songs are supposed to be, include the word of Christ, which is designed to admonish us and to teach us in song. And so that's where the hymns need to be substantial, and they need to affirm our faith and strengthen our faith. Not only that, but we also saw how the hymns, because of, primarily because of their age, provide a vital connection with the past work of God to generations gone by. And that's, I know it was definitely true in my generation, but the generation after me, like my kids' generation, there is definitely an element that seeks to dismiss prior generations and the wisdom, the accumulated wisdom, as if we just came here and everything was, we did it all. Our generation was the first one that ever was born on the earth. And so what the hymn book does is, and this goes along with church history. One of the reasons that church history is so important is because it provides that connection. We did not start this thing called Christianity. We did not start it. It was started by Christ. Well, you can even go further back than that with the Old Testament, but it was started by Christ, and then those who believed carried it on through the generations, and that's why we're here. We're here because of the word of God that was carried to us. So we're not islands. We owe a great debt to those who came before us, and we can't just simply wave our hand to dismiss that. And part of the hymn book is that the hymn book and specifically the songs in it provide that connection. When you can read a song that's 300 years old, or in some cases 500 years old, and it's saying the same thing that you believe from the word of God, that's significant. That's not something that's minor. The other thing we talked about, again, we're just looking at practical matters, is, looks like I got my notes mixed up here. We looked at the practical use of the notes in a hymn book, and why that's important, because it enables the congregation to sing as a congregation in parts with greater skill. That's why we have, that's why the hymn books are written in four-part harmony, that's why. They're designed to be sung as a congregation, and that's why they have them. So that's not something we're gonna get rid of, that's not something we're gonna change. I would like to see us move more in that direction of using that and singing with skill to the Lord as a congregation. And so that leads us to the question of congregational singing, congregational singing. So let's pray, and then I would like you to turn to 1 Chronicles chapter 15. 1 Chronicles chapter 15 is where we're going to begin this morning. Let's pray together. Our Father, we thank you for the opportunity to meet together as your people. Thank you for your people that have gathered here today. Lord, there's beautiful weather outside, crisp mornings and warm in the afternoon, and we're just so thankful for that. And thank you for the opportunity to share the gospel with people yesterday. And all the people that got witnessed to, got tracked, and we were able to speak to, and even just be counted to be present, Lord, but we know it's not by our own goodness or power, we're just weak, but the grace of God is what enabled us to give out the gospel, Lord. And as we go into Sunday School now and our service to follow, where we try to meet together and give you praise, we pray that you would oversee everything that's done, that Lord, we offer this time to you and ask for your guidance and your help. Lord, I ask for that directly from me, that I might be able to help your people, and also for your people, that we all might receive the word of God in great meekness. For we ask in Jesus' name, amen. All right, so while we're talking about hymn books, we're talking about congregational singing, which is the primary purpose of having a hymn book. And so, 1 Chronicles 15, verse number 16, and I could go to a number of passages. I'm not trying to be exhaustive with this, so you know, you could, of course, you can, when you have opportunity, you can look up the different references regarding this, but in the Old Testament, David, being a man who was a musical man, he was a man who was skilled with instruments, so skilled, in fact, that he was actually called to go play music in the king's court. I mean, so he wasn't an average music player. He was skilled in the harp, and so he was a musician himself, and so it's no wonder that once he rose to the throne and was established, those things were in his heart to do, and you know what he did? He established skilled musicians among the Levites to sing praise to God for the people of Israel, and he did it, and I mean, if you think about it, this was, a lot of things that David did were things that came straight out of his heart to God, just this overflow of his love for God, and this is one of them. And so he organized the Levites, because by the time you get to David's reign, about 1,000 years before Christ, by the time you get there, the Levites are, there's many, many Levites. They have courses, because there's so many. They have different jobs they're doing at different times of the year, because they multiply. Same thing with the priests. And so because of that, he organized them into musicians and singers. Look at chapter 15 of First Chronicles, verse number 16. The Bible says, and David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren to be the singers with instruments of music, sultries and harps and cymbals, sounding by lifting up the voice with joy. And so that's what they did. So what I'm trying to establish here is there is a clear precedent in scripture for having skilled musicians, not what I am, but a skilled musician to lead the praise and the singing of God's people. And that's what you have here. There were skilled musicians who were appointed for that purpose. You might say it's a choir. You might say it's an ensemble. However you wanna put it to kinda translate it into our day, but you do see it in scripture. So that is a clear precedent. These were people of skill who could play inst...

The Heart of the Bible—The Book of Psalms · Pastor Adam Wood · Psalm 45 · October 8, 2025

Transcript:
Psalm 45. I just actually want you to hold your place in Psalm 45 and we're gonna just spend a little bit of time this evening in Hebrews chapter 1 as well. So if you'll hold your place here and go to Hebrews chapter 1 and kind of hold both places because I want to read both places together. Okay Hebrews chapter 1 I guess we can go ahead and go to Hebrews chapter 1 first and get a kind of a background. This is a very interesting psalm and by interesting what I mean is that it is different than the other Psalms, the other 44 Psalms, most of the other 44 Psalms that we've studied because the content is just totally different. It's prophetic from start to finish. The psalm is prophetic and so there are parts of the psalm that are not exactly easy to understand if I can put it that way because of the prophetic nature of it but you'll see why I say it's prophetic in just a minute. In Hebrews chapter 1 if you would look at verse number, let's just start in verse number 1 to pick up the context. The Bible says, God who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son whom he hath appointed heir of all things by whom also he made the worlds who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power when he had by himself purged our sins sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. Notice that these are these are characteristics that alone belong to deity, right? The scriptural deity that is he who is God alone that is applied to the Lord Jesus Christ. I can't understand how somebody could read Hebrews chapter 1 honestly and come away thinking that Jesus is anything else than very God. It actually says the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person. You know what that say? Jesus is God. I mean it's it could not you know you can weasel out of it you know linguistically if you want but it is clearly stated and if that was in doubt at all he goes on to say he upholds all things by the word of his power. So those are characteristics of deity the fact that he is the creator. Verse 4 being made so much better than the angels as he had by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they for under which of the angels said he at any time thou art my son this day have have I begotten thee and again I will be to him a father and he shall be to me to me a son and again when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world he saith let all the angels of God worship him so to which of the angels did God ever say that to? None of them none of them. Verse 7 and of the angels he saith who maketh his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire. Okay so that's that's the first part now we pivot to the second but unto the son now let's stop here a second who is the speaker we see so we see who he's talking to but who is the speaker if you would look at the context again but unto the son he Who is the he? Who is the he? Huh? God is verse 1 and you follow God spoke and then you go down to verse 5 you follow the context verse 5 unto which of the angels said he that's God and again when he God bringeth and of the angels he saith that's God of verse 1 then you get to verse 8 we're still talking about the same he God now listen carefully read very carefully what God says to the son but unto the son he God saith thy throne O God is forever and ever a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom thus loved righteousness and hated iniquity therefore God even thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows and this is still God talking to the Sun this is nuts this is God talking to the Sun he goes on and thou Lord in the beginning has laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of that works of thine hands they shall perish but thou son he's still talking to the Sun remainest and they shall all wax old as the garment and as a vesture shall thou fold them up and they shall be changed but thou son art the same and thy years shall not fail again attributing the characteristics of deity to the Sun Jesus but in verse 8 the thing I want you to point out to I want you to point out is when this where this verse says unto the Sun he saith thy throne O God so this is God telling calling the Sun God okay now I want you to put that in your mind as we go back to Psalm 45 Psalm 45 and look at verse starting in verse 1 Psalm 45 verse number 1 it says to the chief musician upon Shoshanim for the sons of Korah my skill a song of this is this is a love song but it's not a love song in the sense of the love of a man and his wife but this is a love song within I hope I don't lose you here within the Godhead this cut this is kind of stuff that they don't mess up your theology all right so in this Psalm you'll see verse number look take a peek at verse 6 ahead of time look at verse 6 ahead thy throne O God is forever and ever a scepter of thy kingdom is a right scepter so what we read in Hebrews 1 was quoted out of Psalm 45 everybody follow that but what do we know from Hebrews that is not initially readily apparent in Psalm 45 is that the speaker is God and he's the person to whom he is speaking is the Son that's what Hebrews tells us Hebrews 1 8 says that the recipient of these words in verse 6 is the Son so what you do is because you know that from the New Testament you take that truth and you if I can say this word extrapolate it and start at the beginning of the psalm knowing that knowing that so we're gonna start at the beginning of the psalm knowing that the person to whom the psalmist is speaking is the Son of God Jesus Christ now let's start with that in mind let's move forward verse 1 my heart is indicting a good matter you know what indict means it means to compose like you're writing something I speak of the things which I have made touching the king my tongue is the pin of a ready writer thou art fairer than the children of men now let's stop this that's where we begin thou you that's second persons second person singular so the writer of the psalm right is the author of the psalm is writing to this person this person is identified in Hebrews as the Son of God in verse 6 thou son of God Jesus Christ art fairer than the children of men grace is poured into thy lips therefore God hath blessed thee forever I'm gonna keep reading I'm gonna come back to verse 2 in just a minute because this is really gonna it's really gonna get crazy here in just a minute gird thy sword Jesus upon thy thigh O most mighty with thy glory and thy and in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness and thy right hand Jesus shall teach thee terrible things thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the King's enemies whereby the people fall under thee thy throne O God is forever and ever the scepter of thy kingdom is a right scepter thou still talking to the Sun Jesus Christ love is righteousness and hate is wickedness therefore God thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows mark that verse or note that verse as well because we're gonna look at that verse with verse 2 in just a minute all thy garments still talking about Jesus smell of myrrh and aloes and cast you out of the ivory palaces whereby they have made thee glad that's where the song comes from out of the ivory palaces into the world of woe and you know what is thoroughly scriptural right Kings daughters were among thy honorable women upon thy right hand did did stand the Queen in gold of offer okay now let's go back to verse 2 for fun all right look at verse 2 thou art fairer than the children of men grace is poured into thy lips therefore God hath blessed thee forever now follow me in verse 2 and also read verse verse while we're here read verse 7 becaus...

The Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand—The Book of Matthew · Pastor Adam Wood · Matthew 15:21–28 · October 5, 2025