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Matthew 6

There are so many good lessons in this chapter! This chapter teaches us to do for others because it is the right thing to do, not in order to receive praise from other people. We also learn to pray privately and we will be rewarded. Our Father knows our needs before we even ask him.

Verses 9-13 are well known as “The Lord’s Prayer”. This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

We are taught that we are to forgive others if we expect to be forgiven by God. If we fast it shoukd alao be done privately as a way to get closer to God, not openly to be praised by men.

Lots of familiar verses appear at the end of this chapter.

Verses 19-21: Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Verse 24: No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Verses 31-34: So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matthew 7

It’s so easy to criticise others and see the things they do that we would do differently. But, we need to remember that we aren’t perfect either. Verses 1 & 2: Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

Verses 7 & 8 are probably familiar to most of us: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” So we as Christians should remember that when we have a need we can bring it to Jesus and we should have faith that he hears us and will help us.

This entire chapter focuses on how we are to behave and how we should be treating each other. Verse 13: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Verse 21: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

Matthew 8

In this chapter Jesus comes down from teaching on the mountain and is followed by multitudes of people. He traveled around curing many people from various diseases and expelled evil spirits.

When evening came he and his disciples boarded a boat to cross to the other side of the lake. Jesus was sleeping when a storm arose and his disciples were frightened and woke him. To this he relplied: “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm (vs. 8). They were all amazed that even wind and water obeyed him.

When they got to the other side of the lake they were met by two violent, devil-possessed men. Verse 32 is the well-known verse that describes how Jesus sent the evil spirits into a nearby heard of pigs who stampeded down the cliff into the lake and were drowned.

Matthew 9

Jesus went on to Galilee where he healed a paralytic in verses 2-8. The crowds were amazed and praised him. Jesus left there and as he passed Matthew, a tax-collector, he called on him to be a disciple. Later, he was eating with many tax-collectors and other disreputable people. The Pharisees condemned him for eating with them. Verses 12 & 13 capture Jesus’ response to them: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Then the Pharisees asked Jesus why they (the Pharisees) observed the fast but his disciples did not. Jesus replied, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.”

Beginning in verse 18 and continuing through the end of this chapter Jesus continues to heal people. Among these were an official’s young daughter, a woman who had been bleeding for many years, two blind men, and a man possessed by devils. The Pharisees did not like this and accused Jesus of being able to do these things because he was in with the devil himself. But Jesus felt pity for the needs of the people becuase “they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” (Vs.36)

Matthew 10

The names of Jesus’s 12 disciples were:

• Simon, called Peter
• Andrew
• James
• John
• Philip
• Bartholomew
• Thomas
• Matthew
• James
• Thaddaeus
• Simon the Patriot
• Judas Iscariot (the traitor)

Jesus gave these 12 the power to expel evil spirits and healtall kinds of diseases. Jesus gave them directions as to where to go and not go, and what they could do. They were instructed not to take anything with them, to stay with someone respected when they entered a town, and if that house deserved it, to give it a blessing. “If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet. (vs. 14)

He warns them that there will be trouble but not to worry about what they will do or say because when the time came the Spirit would be speaking through them. Jesus goes on to say that they should not fear men, only God. Verses 34-42 finish this chapter with warnings and instructions. “Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it. “(vs. 38 & 39) “And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.” (vs. 42)

Stay safe. Mask up!