Title: House Rules: God’s Kids and Their Kids

Main Text: Matthew 19:13-15 (ESV) 13 Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, 14 but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” 15 And he laid his hands on them and went away.

Preaching Point: God’s kids must value and welcome children, in part, because their humility and trust display the very qualities God expects from everyone who belongs to His Kingdom.

Teaching Points:

1. Parents: Make Jesus Your Kids’ Number One Priority (V. 13a)
2. Church: Seize Every Opportunity to Teach Our Kids More About Jesus (VV. 13b-15)
3. Grasp The Childlike Nature of Saving Faith (VV. 13b-15)

Application Questions:

1. Write down one observation or application you found helpful from this week’s sermon. 
2. Read Deuteronomy 6:4-9. If you are a parent with kids at home, what practical steps can you take to ensure that, as far as it depends on you, Jesus truly becomes your children’s number-one priority?
3. In what situations might you say that Jesus is your top priority, while your daily decisions and habits reveal that He is not?
4. Read Psalm 78:1-8; 2 Timothy 3:14-15; and Proverbs 22:6. Why must we as a church seize every opportunity to teach our kids more about Jesus? 
5. What wrong attitudes could you adopt toward children that resemble the disciples in Matthew 19:13 rather than Jesus’ attitude in 19:14-15? 
6. Read Matthew 18:1-4 and 1 Corinthians 3:18-19. How does thinking about the nature of children help clarify your understanding of the humility and dependence involved in saving faith?
7. How does being part of a church filled with children help you see aspects of the gospel and saving faith that might be harder to grasp in a congregation without many kids? 

Main Text: Matthew 19:1–12 (ESV) 1 Now when Jesus had finished these sayings, he went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. 2 And large crowds followed him, and he healed them there. 3 And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” 4 He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” 7 They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” 8 He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.” 10 The disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” 11 But he said to them, “Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. 12For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.”

Preaching Point: God’s kids must align their thinking with God’s Word by honoring marriage as a lifelong covenant and confronting the hardheartedness that leads to divorce, while embracing singleness as a valid calling for those who are uniquely gifted for it.

Teaching Points:

1. Focus on Marriage not Divorce (VV. 1-6)
2. Deal with the Hard Heart Surrounding Divorce Talk (VV. 7-9) 
3. Value Singleness as a Valid Biblical Option (VV. 10-12)

Application Questions:

1. Write down one observation or application you found helpful in this week’s sermon. 
2. Read Matthew 19:3-6 What should you take away from Jesus’ tactic to focus on marriage and define it biblically when the Pharisees bring up the topic of “any cause” divorce?
3. What does your commitment toward biblical marriage look like practically in a world that inundates you with the convenience of divorce when marriage gets hard?
4. Read Ezekiel 36:25-27 and Matthew 19:7-9. How can you guard yourself against cultivating a hard heart against your spouse? If you’re not married, how can you guard yourself against cultivating a hard heart against your family? 
5. Why should recognizing that hard hearts are at the bottom of every divorce give genuine hope that as the heart is redeemed so the marriage can be redeemed?
6. Read Ephesians 5:22-33 and 2 Corinthians 11:2-3. What changes in your commitment to the marriage covenant once you recognize that our earthly marriage is designed to reflect Jesus’ permanent love for the church and the church’s eternal commitment and obedience to Jesus?
7. Read Genesis 2:18-25 and Hebrews 13:4. What are some priority shifts you can make to better guard and honor your marriage? If you are single, what are some priority shifts you can make to better guard and honor your future marriage?
8. Read Matthew 19:10-12 and 1 Corinthians 7:32-35. How do Jesus and Paul’s word show you the validity and even the benefit of singleness for the sake of gospel advancement? 

Title: House Rules: Forgiving God’s Kids

Main Text: Matthew 18:21–35 (ESV) 21 Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times. 23 “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27 And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. 28 But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 30 He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. 31 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. 32Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ 34And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. 35So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

Preaching Point: As God’s kids, we must consistently reflect our Heavenly Father’s character by extending the same extravagant forgiveness toward his children that he extends to us.

Teaching Point:

1. Get Serious About Extending Abundant Forgiveness (VV. 21-22)
2. Grasp the Unpayable Debt You Were Released From (VV. 23-27)
3. Confess the Hypocrisy of Your Unforgiveness (VV. 28-30)
4. Fear the Implications of an Unforgiving Heart (VV. 31-35)

Main Text: Matthew 18:15–20 (ESV) 15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

Preaching Point: Prayerfully correcting God’s kids in the prescribed biblical manner is a responsibility we must administer with great care, knowing that God approves of it and Christ is in the midst of it.

Teaching Points:

1. Stick to the Biblical Pattern (VV. 15-17)
2. Grasp the Church’s Divine Responsibility (V. 18)
3. Seek God’s Presence and Approval (VV. 19-20)

Main Text: Galatians 5:16-26 (ESV) 16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

Preaching Point: God’s faithfulness to fulfill all of his promises for us in Christ must propel our own spirit-empowered faithfulness in everyday life. 

Teaching Points:

1. Recall God’s Perfect Faithfulness 
2. Respond to God’s Faithfulness 
3. Exhibit Christlike Reliability 

Main Text: Matthew 18:10-14 10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. 12 What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? 13 And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. 14 So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

Preaching Point: We should reflect God’s heart by showing the same vigilant care for one another that God and his angels show toward us.

Teaching Points:

1. Match Heaven’s Concern for God’s Kids (V. 10)
2. Value Every Single One of God’s Kids (V. 12)
3. Eagerly Welcome Back God’s Wayward Kids (VV. 13-14)

Main Text: Matthew 18:5–9 (ESV) 5 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, 6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. 7 “Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! 8 And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.

Preaching Point: Christians must cherish one another as they cherish Christ by promoting behavior that prevents themselves and others from stumbling.

Teaching Points: 

1. Treat One Another as God’s Kids (V. 5)
2. Prefer Death Over Causing God’s Kids to Stumble (V. 6)
3. Dread the Thought of Causing God’s Kids to Stumble (V. 7) 
4. Do Whatever It Takes to Eliminate Opportunities for Sin (VV. 8-9)

Main text: Matthew 18:1-4 (ESV) 1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them 3 and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Preaching Point: We must remember that in God’s House, the greatest are not ranked by their accolades or how fast they climb the ladder, but by how much they humble themselves in the name of Christ.

Teaching Points:

1. Stop Thinking You’re Better Than the Next Christian (V. 1)
2. Understand the Terms for Joining God’s Household (VV. 2-3)
3. Excel in Displaying Christlike Humility (V. 4)

Main text: Matthew 17:24-27 (ESV) 24 When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax went up to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the tax?” 25 He said, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?” 26 And when he said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free. 27 However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself.”

Preaching Point: Our identities in Christ should empower us to stand up for biblical principles while humbly setting aside our own preferences for the sake of the gospel.

Teaching Points:

1. Recognize Your Privileges in Christ (VV. 24-26)
2. Concede Your Preferences (V. 27)

Main Text: Matthew 17:14–23 (ESV) 14 And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, 15 said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he has seizures and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. 16 And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.” 17 And Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.” 18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 20 He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” 22 As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, 23 and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were greatly distressed.

Preaching Point: We must counter any lack of faith on our part by remembering that even the smallest measure of faith, empowered by God, is sufficient to accomplish anything He wants us to do!

Teaching Points:

1. Stop Downplaying Your Lack of Faith (vv. 14-18)
2. Resolve to Act According to Your Faith in God’s Revealed Will (vv. 19-20)
3. Pray for a Faith that Perseveres (vv. 22-23)

If you notice, I did not dive into textual criticism as much during the podcast as I thought I would, but below you will find more content than you can intake that will be helpful for you through the weeks, months, and years to come! Dive in and enjoy!

Resources on the reliability of scripture and textual criticism:

Video Resources:

1. Can I trust the Bible? - Dr Robert Plummer (6 min)
2. Why do the footnotes in my Bible say, "Some manuscripts say..."? - Dr Robert P. (5 min)
3. Is the Bible we have what the original authors even wrote? - Wes Huff (30 min)

Video/Audio Lectures:

1. Origins of the Bible - Dr. Mike Fabarez (12-part series)

Books:

1. Can We Trust the Gospels? by Peter J Williams (160 pages)
2. Why I Trust the Bible: Answers to Real Questions and Doubts People Have about the Bible by William Mounce (280 pages)
3. Myths and Mistakes in New Testament Textual Criticism edited by Elijah Hixon & Peter Gurry (400 pages)
4. The Question of Canon: Challenging the Status Quo in the New Testament Debate by Michael Kruger (256 pages)
5. The King James Only Controversy: Can You Trust Modern Translations? by James White

Website:

1. The Center for the Study of the New Testament: This website has scans of different manuscripts, including the earliest fragments we have of the New Testament!