Four Points Church

Matthew shows us that Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit.  It shouldn’t surprise us that God’s will includes wilderness experiences.  Many people teach that if you’re really following God in faith then you wont have difficult encounters.  This couldn’t be further from the truth.  God’s will can be dangerous.  Like Israel being freed from Egypt to wander in the desert, now we find Jesus in similar fashion.  The Spirit leads and Satan tries to deceive.  Where Israel failed… Jesus will succeed!

John has been preaching about the coming of the Messiah. He says the one coming after him is greater than he is. You can imagine the surprise of John when Jesus shows up and asks to be baptized.

A transfer of power is taking place. There was an old kingdom that will be no more. Jesus is the new king who is bringing His new kingdom. In the ancient world, every king would have a herald go before him to prepare his way and make his path clear. God had promised His people that His Messiah would follow this same pattern. The herald of Jesus was none other than John the Baptist.

It may be hard to admit, but there is more tradition involved in our Christmas nativity scenes than actual Biblical data. While much can be discussed about these three kings, Matthew includes their story in the birth narrative of Jesus for a singular purpose.

Matthew is clear from the beginning of his genealogy that Jesus is the son of David, and the son of Abraham.  Yet when we get to verse 16 we realize that Joseph is only the surrogate father of Jesus.  Does this really make Jesus from the line of David?

Matthew knew that for any Jew to take a Messianic claim seriously, he would first have to prove that Christ was from the right stock.

This week we begin a new series in the book of Matthew called fulfilled. Join us as we begin our series with an introduction to the book of Matthew this week at Four Points Church.

Part 4 of a four-week series regarding our 2018 vision and leadership at Four Points Church.

Part 2 of a four-week series regarding our 2018 vision and leadership at Four Points Church.

Part 3 of a four-week series regarding our 2018 vision and leadership at Four Points Church.