LOST SHEEP OF ISRAEL

Imagine this happening in your country...                                                             
Jesus has been visiting ‘all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, healing every sickness and every disease among the people.’  Wow!

Now it’s graduation day in Matthew 10 for those disciples of His as they become apostolos – apostles or ambassadors -  even Judas Iscariot!                                
Notice that there are 12 chosen, matching the 12 tribes of Israel.                    

Jesus bestows on them the power to not only preach the kingdom of heaven, but...     “heal the sick, cleanse lepers, raise the dead (!), cast out devils...”  

Double wow!!

By the way, who are they looking out for?    Gentiles? Samaritans?  No...     

“The lost sheep of the house of Israel”

Make no mistake – Matthew is presenting the Messiah to Israel:

• Jesus Christ is son of David, son of Abraham (1:1)                                           

• He is born King of the Jews (2:2) – in Bethlehem as prophesied (2:6)               
• He takes refuge in Egypt just as the patriarchs did (2:14)                               
• He came to fulfil the Law & the prophets (5:17)                                               
• He claims Jerusalem as city of the great King (5:35)                                             
• Now He is sending His ambassadors to every city and village of Israel – again! ...and there’s more to come

If you don’t receive these apostles, they will just shake the dust off their feet and move on.                                                              

Remember what happened to Sodom and Gomorrha?                                              

Be warned folks!  Your King means business.


NEXT... http://guvsdesk.blogspot.com.au/2017/08/whats-cost.html

 

THE NEW DOC IN TOWN

Welcome to Capernaum!... now Jesus’ hometown and maybe not such a ‘village of comfort’ by the sea after all. (Matt 9)                                                                      

Who will we meet here?  There’s a quadriplegic man....a bleeding woman....a ruler hoping his dead daughter will come alive again – plenty of incurables among men, women and children.  Yup, this place has the lot - blind, dumb and demon-possessed too!

There’s a new Doc in town though, who can heal every sickness and every disease! - calls Himself: ‘Son of Man’ .                                                                             
There’s no need for an appointment or a referral.  House calls?? Not a problem! 

Many see Jesus as just a famous, powerful man but... there sure is faith here and it sure gets rewarded.  He wants to see new life: ‘new wine go into new bottles’.

“It was never so seen in Israel”                                                   

Jesus is gladly using gracious power to help this sick nation, but the scribes say He’s a blasphemer; the Pharisees even claim He is empowered by ‘the prince of the devils’!

Matthew (Mattityahu)

Where would you fit in the picture?           
Perhaps you can see yourself as Matthew, receiving custom for the Romans?       

What a cushy job that would be!                   


Would you give up your lucrative career to immediately follow this humble ‘Son of David’ who sees the people as scattered sheep?                                                

What about taking Him home to dinner with the local riff-raff?                              

This new Doc will visit all the cities and villages!...teaching, preaching and healing, so you can forget that retirement plan too.

"EVEN THE WINDS & SEA OBEY HIM!"

Just who is this Man?                                                                              
Why, ‘He heals all’ and even ‘casts out the spirits with His word’!

A scribe sees Jesus as a teacher, while a disciple expects the show to wait while he goes off to a funeral...(Matt 8)

So Jesus tells them who He is – the Son of Man.
What a claim! The King of the universe? with an everlasting dominion, an indestructible kingdom?        
No wonder He can sleep thru a storm...while His disciples ‘of little faith’ panic!...                                                                              

‘Even the winds and the sea obey Him!’

Finally a whole city begs Him to leave – they would rather have their pigs and demons!                             
Even the guys living in the cemetery know: “Jesus thou Son of God”.  

 

So who was it again who had ‘so great faith, not found in Israel’?  A hated Roman soldier.

How great is your faith?


NEXT: http://guvsdesk.blogspot.com.au/2017/07/the-new-doc-in-town.html

JESUS: The ISAIAH 53 Man

Of all the people healed by Jesus, these 3 have been selected by Matthew... (ch8)

• A Jewish leper worships Jesus, respecting His will and power.   How had Jesus healed him?  By TOUCHING... a leper!
• A Roman centurion honours this Jewish carpenter-rabbi as Lord!...then begs Him to heal his servant...just by giving the WORD!
• Without being asked, Jesus takes away a Jewish woman’s fever just with a hand touch.

...three of the most unlikely people in those days – a Jewish leper, a hated Roman soldier and an older Jewish woman.  But why??                                                                 

Notice that Jesus upholds Moses’ commandments... but the response from the priesthood??  Silence.  No wonder Jesus warns that ‘children of the kingdom’ will miss out, in favour of strangers.

Matthew sees this Man as fulfilling Isaiah 53: “Surely he hath born our griefs, and carried our sorrows...”   In fact he adds!... “He cast out the spirits with His word, and healed all that were sick”

Isaiah 53 is taboo for Jews to read.  But why??

Jesus came and found much of Israel leprous and demonic while Gentiles in faith will honour Him... even in His absence!                                                                                          
One day soon He WILL enter the house of Israel with healing, then all that are sick will be healed.

Wow! How popular would Jesus be today with the medical profession?


NEXT: http://guvsdesk.blogspot.com.au/2017/07/even-winds-sea-obey-him.html

WISE WORDS

How can we wrap up this ‘Sermon on the Mount’?... (Matt 7)

Let’s just remind ourselves of those wise words....      

• What’s sacred and precious – keep them that way                                                
• The Father is the source of generosity, so don’t forget to ask, seek, knock....   
• The Golden Rule – ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’    
• Stay on the straight and narrow, guys             
• Watch out for those fakes!             
• Don’t build on sand – build on rock. How?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

“hear these sayings [of Jesus]... then do them!”

Were these wise words just for some disciples? No!...

Many others have shown up...‘the people were astonished at His doctrine: for He taught them as One having authority...’

Notice how this evil world borrows the wise words of Jesus... but rejects Him!

"JUDGE NOT...

...that ye be not judged!”

Who is Jesus saying this to?...the Church??   
No-one has even heard of the Church yet.           
No, this is said to His Jewish disciples while Pharisees were critically scrutinising what everyone else did.

So, whatever does Jesus mean by this?    
(Matt 7:1-5)                                             
Isn’t he saying?... “Don’t go around picking fault with other people - deal with your own faults first."

Now then... let’s see if today’s pastors are right in applying this to the Church, as many do...

Obviously the Christians in Thessalonica needed this reminder:
“...do your own business, and to
work with your own hands”. Yup, mind your own business, guys - which agrees with: ‘judge not’.

However...the early Church was also taught to maintain discipline: “put away from among yourselves that wicked person”. There was even instruction to ‘have no company’ with those who were idle ‘busy-bodies’.

So where does that leave pastors who use Christ’s ‘Sermon on the Mount’ to skip Church discipline so as to keep their congregation full? 
“Church discipline?...what’s that??”                                                        
Are they undermining our Lord's instructions thru apostle Paul to the Church? Is it any wonder that apostasy is rampant in the Church and increasing?

The early Church was not a free-for-all like today – oh no!...                   

“...of the rest [of the people] durst no man join himself to them; but the people magnified them.”

Church discipline was respected by all – even unbelievers!!

AUDIENCE of ONE

Up on a mountain, Jesus is teaching His disciples...(Matt 6)                                          

What a light-bulb moment this should have been for them!...to learn that God in heaven is their Father: vitally interested in how they give, how they pray and even how they fast!

The audience of One: the Father

So how much will they trust their heavenly Father to provide for them?                        

Jesus sees them as: ‘O ye of little faith’

Guys, don’t you realize?... Just as:

• The birds...your heavenly Father feedeth them
• God so clothes the grass of the field”, so also...
• “The Father shall reward thee openly...

Does the Almighty God of the universe have the resources?                                      

“For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever!”                            

(Compare the reverence of the Lord’s Prayer with today’s ‘worship bands’)

Let’s not forget... Ye cannot serve God and mammon! (wealth)                       

(Compare this with the money-making schemes of today’s churches)

What about you and I?... are we seeking first the kingdom of God?

Remember...
“Without faith it is impossible to please... God”  

Oh and by the way... did you know?... some modern translations leave out fasting wherever possible. What a disaster if we miss a feed!

NEXT: 
http://guvsdesk.blogspot.com.au/2017/06/judge-not.html