9-1 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth...--9-41 Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin- but now ye say, We see- therefore your sin remaineth.

We are so obsessed with external appearance and external behavior we think that-s what matters most. Do people think I-m happy- Do people think I-m successful- Do people think I have it all together- That-s really what this text is about. The religious leaders of Jesus- day were focused on the wrong thing. They were focused on the external. They were focused on behavior. And they were wrong.

The Protestant Reformation centered on one important truth, the doctrine of sola scriptura-scripture alone. The Reformers wanted to return to the authority of Scripture alone for faith and practice. They were not trying to break away from the Roman Catholic Church. They wanted to reform the Church. They wanted to bring the Church back to the authority of scripture alone. Since the time of Christ the Church has often debated the relationship between scripture and traditions. Which one has more weight- And where does each find its place in the life of the church- Listen as Hexon J. Maldonado explains.

What is faith- What does it look like- Is it tangible- Is it something we can touch and feel- Is it something we possess inside of us- What does it mean to possess faith and to have faith in Christ- What is the faith that God desires to see in us-the faith that glorifies God- Listen as Hexon Maldonado explains.

What do we do when we find ourselves be assailed by the storms of life- How should we respond- Why does God even allow us to suffer through life's storms- Why not simply cause the storms to move around us- These are all questions that we struggle with from time to time. The answers to which can be found in the story of Jesus walking on water.

Like the Old Testament is real as they wandered in the wilderness, the Jews during the time of Jesus are still wandering in a spiritually desolate place, and God the Father has sent Jesus the true bread from heaven to provide for their physical needs, as well as their physical needs. From this story we learn what to do when we find ourselves in those dark desolate places of life.

Pride can be an obstacle to people seeing the truth. This is the point of this story and the previous story. In the previous story, Jesus was rejected by his home town because of pride. Here the message of John the Baptist is rejected because of pride. The point that Matthew is trying to communicate to his Jewish audience is obvious-don-t let pride get in the way of seeing the truth. Don-t let Jewish pride get in the way of seeing Jesus for who he truly is.

The only way the Great Commission is ever going to be carried out effectively and precisely is if Christians are willing to think through the difficult teachings of Christ, if Christians are willing to do the hard work of doing theology, to become like a scribe-a trained expert in the proper interpretation of God-s word-who has been trained by the study of God-s word for the kingdom of heaven-that is, to do kingdom work-so that we can bring out of our storehouses what is new and what is old.

In these two parables Jesus is teaching his disciples that the treasure God offers in Christ is far better and is worth far more than anything this world has to offer. The reason most people are not willing to forsake all for the sake of pursing Christ is because they do not realize the treasure that can be found in Christ.

The Parable of the Weeds is-to some extent-a sequel to the Parable of the Sower. Whereas you might think that once these seeds fall into the good soil and begin to grow and bear fruit that everything is smooth sailing from then on, what Jesus will essentially teach us is that God-s kingdom advances and his Church grows in the midst of struggle and toil.