GRINDIT podcast

Matthew starts off chapter 5 with what we call the “Sermon on the Mount.” Did you know he was talking to his hand-picked disciples and not the crowd? He starts the teachings off with what we call the Beatitudes which start off with “Blessed are those who…” which many translate as “Happy”. When we read the Beatitudes it seems weird that if we do those things Jesus mentions that we would be happy?!?!? But he is teaching them with heaven as the goal because when we get there, all with be well with our soul! Then he tells them they are the salt of the earth. How can twelve ordinary dudes be the salt of the earth when all they know is there little world in Galilee? Listen and find out but I’ll tell you this…we need to be salt, not ordinary.

Jesus starts his ministry and fulfills a prophecy from Isaiah by hanging out in Galilee where a lot of Gentiles lived. The prophecy is interesting because it says the Gentiles, who lived in darkness, saw a great light. Jesus died for both Jews and Gentiles, and we are both invited to be as part of his kingdom. As Jesus goes around Galilee preaching about the kingdom, he meets some brothers who were commercial fishermen. He tells them to leave everything behind and follow him. Without hesitation they give up everything they know! Are we willing to do the same thing?

The devil knows our weaknesses and he knows when to use them against us...in the wilderness. The wilderness is not a fun place to be: there’s a lack of nutrition, it’s lonely, and we have to really practice self-discipline. Right after he was baptized, the Spirit led Jesus to the wilderness where he would be tempted by the devil for a season. The devil used the same three temptations on Jesus as he does with us: he lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. How did Jesus not give into the temptations? He used the word of God to resist them and we must do the same which is why it is so important that we are in the word of God on a daily basis!

John the Baptizer is out in the wilderness preaching the forgiveness of sins, telling people to repent and to be baptized. They were listening and responding to his message as people came from all over. Jhon gets a special visitor one day: Jesus and Jesus tells John to baptize him, not for the forgiveness of sins because Jesus didn’t have any sin, but to kick off his ministry. When Jesus came out of the water, the Spirit descended on him and a voice came from heaven saying, “This is My beloved son whom I am well pleased.” The Father gives affirmation to the son. Dads, affirmation is important to your children, especially your sons! Have you told them you love them today? When is the last time you told your children that you are proud of them and believe in them?

In Matthew 3 we are introduced to a freaky looking dude who lies in the wilderness and for food he eats locusts and wild honey. If he were alive today, John the Baptizer would be considered a homeless man and be an outcast to society. I doubt anyone would listen to his message today! I seriously doubt anyone would travel out of town to listen to him preach! But the time was right and John did exactly what he was born to do—prepare the way for the Messiah and that is what he did. He preached a message of repentance and baptized people who were obedient to the message. The power is not in the person but in the message and that message is Jesus!

Matthew gives us a time frame when Jesus, the Messiah was born and then he introduces his readers to some men called Magi or wise men, who were astrologers and studied the stars. One star in particular has caught their attention and they follow it for about two years. By the time they arrive in Jerusalem, Jesus is a toddler and living in a house in Bethlehem. Herod the Great has a conversation with these wise men and feels threatened after learning there is a new king in town so he has all the male children, two years and younger, in and around Bethlehem killed thinking he would get rid of this threat to his throne. The only thing he didn’t consider was this is God’s son and God would protect him to accomplish His will! An angel warns Joseph several times as to what is going on and hey flee to Egypt then to Nazareth. Can anything good come from Nazareth? You better believe it!

How can this be? There were two people asking that same question seperating by three months. An angel comes to Mary, a virgin, a tells her she was going to have a baby and he would be the Savior of the world. She takes off to visit her relative, Elizabeth, for threee months and during that time, she begins to show. She comes home to see her soon-to-be-husband, Joseph, and he notices some changes in her body because she is showing...AND HE HASN'T HAD SEX WITH HER! "How can this be?" is a question I guarantee you he asked because he was going to divorce her before they were even married! Joseph was crushed. He laid down to get some rest and an angel comes to him in a dream and tells him, "Yo bro...this is God's will...everything is cool." How can this be? Two times, one excitingly asked and one asked with a broken heart. No matter our situation, God is in control and we need to focus on him. We need to keep the faith and trust Him.

Most people skip right over the first part of Matthew 1 because it’s a boring genealogy, however, if one would take a closer look, they would discover that it isn’t boring at all. In fact, it is packed with a lot of great information that can be encouraging to us. For example, look at all the people God used to usher Jesus, the Messiah, into the world. They aren’t perfect at all, in fact, every one of them made bad decisions along the way yet God used those bad decisions for his glory! Women dressed as prostitutes, even a prostitute, men who committed adultery and murder, liars, deceivers, etc were all used by God to bring His Son into the world in order that he could be the sacrifice for our sins! Imagine what God could do through us and our bad choices?!?!

We come to the end of this study on the book of Hebrews. I hope and pray you have been encouraged from it and as we dig into the author’s last words of this letter, I hope they ring loud and clear, “Look to Jesus, stick with Jesus, and continue to follow Jesus no matter what comes your way!” We must remember, whether we realize it or not, we are leaders! Someone is watching our every move to see how we will respond to the situation that we are facing and if we aren’t careful, we could lead them down the wrong path. It then becomes clear, that we should be following Jesus, because if we are following him, then we will lead people to him and not away from him? So, with that in mind, where is your focus? Wherever your focus is, that is where you are walking towards!

The author encourages his readers by telling them we are receiving an unshakable kingdom and since we are receiving this unshakable kingdom, there are some things we need to do. In this episode we cover some of those things he says to do such as: 1) love one another as brothers and sisters in Christ, 2) show hospitality to strangers, 3) remember those in prison, 4) remember those who are being mistreated, 5) give honor to marriage, and 6) Don’t love money. Basically, the author is telling his readers to not be selfish and think about others, which is exactly what we should be doing as Christ followers because that is the example Jesus showed us!