8 In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock at night. David had fed his sheep in those same fields around Bethlehem, and today, 3,000 years later, there are still shepherds feeding ___________ in those fields.  Shepherds typically kept watch over their fields by night from April […]

2 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea The wise men did not arrive until after the birth of Jesus.  But, just how soon after Jesus’ birth their visit occurred is a matter of ______________.  (see Leviticus 12:1-4).  It took a full forty days before her purification would have been completed.  And on the forty-first […]

1 Peter 1:10-12 speaks of God revealing the circumstances of the birth of the Messiah to His _______________.  As Christians, followers of Christ, we are __________________ of all the prophets hoped and prayed for.  It is this hope of the ages, the ____________ of the Messiah, which we celebrate at Christmas.  Prophecy Prophecy isn’t predicting […]

Our King _______________ division of our loyalties.  WE have ________ soul, and we cannot have two master passions of our life.  The interests of God and the other master passion would soon come into ____________, and as Exodus 34:14 says 14 —for you shall not worship any other god, because the Lord, whose name is […]

Matthew 6:24:  No-one can serve two masters  (Part 1) 24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. Last week we talked about how easily we depart from the path of […]

Jesus is drawing the disciples’ attention to the fact that there is more to life than the accumulation of riches and understand the eternal perspective; as Colossians 3:2 says, to “set our minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”  22 “The eye is the lamp of the body; so then, […]

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, Jesus is drawing the disciples’ attention to the fact that there is more to life than the accumulation of riches. He’s trying to get them to understand the eternal perspective, rather than focus all their resources on something that will only last during this life. […]

Jesus’ words on fasting, reveal how God intended this practice to be, and how we, like the Pharisees, can mess it up in our flesh. Jesus looks at sincerity in the conduct of spiritual disciplines, using the example of fasting. 16 “Now whenever you fast, do not make a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, […]

The Lord’s Prayer begins and ends with the worship of God, and His Glory.  In giving God the Glory, we are reminded why we pray – we do it because the kingdom and the power and the glory are God’s, and that’s what gives us the confidence that our prayers are in safe hands. God […]

Matthew 6:13 includes the last two petitions in the Lord’s Prayer.  Do not lead us into temptation. The Greek word here is:  peirasmós and can mean temptation, in the negative sense of being tempted to do evil, or in a positive sense, as in “to test”, in the sense of proving something’s worth or value […]