Guest Speaker Mike Gordon lays the foundation for the rest of Matthew, explaining that he focuses on Jesus as King. Mike uses the passage to show that everything is within God's plan, and draws parallels about how this applies to our life and relationship with God.

Bren takes us through the story of Jesus' 40 days in the desert, focusing specifically on Satan'a three attacks. At first glance the narrative might appear far removed from our everyday lives, but Bren explains that Satan attacks us in these same ways, and that how we respond depends what we know about who Jesus is and who we are in him.

The Holy Spirit leads Jesus into the desert. . .but why? Bren examines this part of the story to discuss the role of the Holy Spirit, both in general and in our individual lives. Ultimately, we'll find out, running away from the hard moments in our lives may not be where the Spirit is leading us.

John the Baptist teaches that Jesus came to raise up the low points in our lives, bring down our points of pride, and straighten out the crooked parts of our heart.  For this to happen in our lives though, we have to accept that we can never do enough good, and repent of our wring.  John goes further into detail about what this means, and how it applies to our lives.

From the cultural viewpoint of Jesus' time period, Bren retells the story of Jesus' birth. Ultimately, the difference in our viewpoint today and the cultural understanding of Jesus' day teaches that no matter how much we know, there are aspects of Jesus we don't know or understand. If we approach Jesus and the written Gospels with this in mind, it just might move us toward and cause us to worship Jesus rather than producing a feeling of indifference about a story and God we already thought we knew.

Bren gives a short message that answers some basic baptism questions. 

You can see the video of each baptism here: http://youtu.be/85XajHsLeEw

For a perfect being, Jesus' genealogy is less than perfect. And that's just the point this week: God's grace is displayed through our failings and sins. This grace shows us that, ultimately, everything is about Jesus and who he is: rightful king of our lives.

In this introduction, Bren explains that Jesus didn't alter Matthew's life; He completely changed it. The same should be true for us, and it's a point Matthew will continue to visit throughout the Gospel: Jesus came to do more than make us better. He makes us into a new creation.

Loving others is not about who you love but rather how you love those around you. Bren points out that opportunities to love (or to choose to look down on someone instead of loving) often come in small, everyday ways. He challenges us to recognize these as opportunities from God to love others, and encourages us to act on them.