"YOU HYPOCRITES!!"

Well, look who’s shown up...scribes and Pharisees.  (Matt 15:1-20)           
How far have they come?                                                                  
Maybe 150kms - just to berate Jesus over eating with ‘dirty’ hands!           


What about that other tradition you guys uphold?...                               
...get out of providing for your parents by giving money (to the temple).

Yup, it was just 5 words that helped me realize the cult I grew up in was wrong to teach me to not honour my dad:

“Honour thy father and mother”

So what’s the root of the problem?                                                                     
The sinfulness of Man...                                                      

Mr. Two Faced Hypocrite

murders (Commandment #6), adulteries/fornications (#7), thefts (#8), false witness (#9), blasphemies (#3)

...hang on, we missed one...          
Have you ever had an evil thought? (#10)

"I AM"

Woah! Whatever is happening here? (Matt 14:22- )                                              Jesus has just fed thousands of hungry people with just 5 fishburgers before sending them  on their way.  

Now the real King is praying.  What humility and dependence!

Meanwhile His disciples are trying to row against a Sea of Galilee storm for most of the night, until these grown men cry out in fear, seeing their Master... walking ON the sea!  

Notice what He says...

“Be of good cheer. It is I. Be not afraid”                                              

...in other words: “Take courage, I AM [‘ego eimi’] fear not”

"Why did you doubt?"

What does Matthew remember about this trip?...                                 

Peter lost faith and nearly drowned trying to walk on water but then the ‘I AM’ came aboard to quieten the storm and...                                                       

...all on-board worshipped Jesus as ‘the Son of God’!

This is the only time we hear of Jews collectively prostrating in worship of Jesus as Son of God.

                                                                                            
What is the message for the coming storm of the Tribulation detailed in The Revelation?  

“Fear not”

Did you say TWELVE??

Herod has just executed John the Baptist - on the quiet mind you - so the real King goes public, very public!  (Matt 14:15- )                                                                                                                                                

Have you ever tried feeding maybe 15,000 people with just 5 loaves and 2 fish, without making a fool of yourself?   No wonder the disciples were directing their Master to tell everyone to go feed themselves. Guys: “Give ye them to eat”!           

All four gospel accounts (that’s double witness: 2x2) tell us how Jesus fulfilled this prophetic psalm:                                                                                                                          
‘I will abundantly bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with bread’. 

Crumbs!....‘they did all eat and were FILLED!’                                                  

What about leftovers?

Anyone for seconds?                                                           

Yup, 12 kophinos pleres - small travel baskets FULL! 

What would the 12 disciples have made of that?

Do you think the rightful King could possibly feed all 12 tribes of Israel?...with everyone filled and some left over?  Amazing grace, huh!

NEXT: http://guvsdesk.blogspot.com.au/2017/10/i-am.html

JUST FEEL THE LOVE!

Israel has failed to receive their Messiah as King, so let’s see who is on the throne...

Herod Antipas isn’t content with a quarter of his father’s kingdom – he’s now won his half-brother’s wife too. He’s not going to let some pesky preacher-man get in the way so locks up John the Baptist.  After all...“Love is love!”...aint it??   (Matt 14)                                                                                                               

Salome wows Herod

From all accounts it’s not so simple for Herod though – he dare not execute a prophet but how long can he keep John locked up for?                         

(He listens gladly to John while having to closely guard him from Herodias)                                                       

   

Remember Jesus said: “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence...”                                    

Finally she gets what she wants – John’s head on a platter. 

What a tragic king!...from incestuous, adulterous and ruthless royalty.   

He knows John was a just and holy man so now he’s worried God has raised a beheaded man from the dead!                                                              

How does the rightful King respond to hearing his cousin lost his head?   

Jesus just goes bush and compassionately heals more sick people.               

Is He about to show even more compassion to people under brutal Herod?...NEXT

IS JESUS A REAL PROPHET?

It’s still Sabbath in Matthew 13, but... there’s no rest for the Lord of the Sabbath! 

Let’s see if Jesus is a real prophet - without honour...or is He just a carpenter’s son?                                             

With Israel failing to accept Him as Messiah, He distances Himself from the crowds on the shore...        

Why does He speak to them in parables?     

"...this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing , and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and should understand with their heart..."

The crowds don’t really get it, they’re not really listening or understanding so only get to hear 4 of these 7 parables (Jesus explains only 2 to His disciples)...

• Sower of seed                                     The Word of the Kingdom

...and now 6 more about the Kingdom of Heaven starting with the world view:

• Wheat & tares                                             Christendom
• A tiny seed grows into great tree             Global influence
• The leavened loaf                                       Truth spoiled by heresy

...and now 3 bonuses: God’s own view just for the disciples:

• Treasure in field                              Redemption costing ‘all that He hath’
• One pearl                                         ‘One pearl of great price’: the true Church
• Net of fish                                         Judgment: ‘wicked from among the just’

How’s that for a ‘heads-up’ on the future!

What about you?  “Have ye understood all these things?”                                       

Are you hearing the word of the King, understanding it and bearing fruit for Him?

NEXT... http://guvsdesk.blogspot.com.au/2017/09/just-feel-love.html

SPIRITUAL BATTLE

Matthew hints that Gentiles will get a look in, while Jewish leaders plot to kill Jesus...

What’s so special about this case, Matthew?... Here comes a man - blind, dumb and devil-possessed.  As usual...  ‘Jesus heals him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw”   ch 12:22-                                                                        

The man looks healed but has Jesus forgotten to deal with that devil?... or is this a sign easily missed?                                                          

The people wonder if Jesus is ‘Son of David – the rightful King, but Pharisees claim His power comes from Beelzebub, prince of devils.                                        

No, this Jesus is ‘greater than the temple...greater than Jonas...greater than Solomon’!       

Here we have good versus evil, Satan versus the Holy Ghost... a spiritual battle alright.                                                                         

Make up your minds, folks!   Yup, “...the kingdom of GOD is come unto you”     

“He that is not with Me is against Me...”                                              

They missed the last sign, so...    
“Master, we would see a sign from thee”            

Okay then...    Just like Jonah, “the Son of Man shall be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth”.        

Afterwards, Jonah preached to who??    

GENTILES... just like the Queen of Sheba who came from afar.

As for Israel, since the Babylonian Captivity she has abandoned idols and is now ‘empty, swept and garnished’.    Soon ‘the last state... shall be worse than the first’!

This is a spiritual battle now... so it’s open to ‘whosoever’ to be Christ’s brethren.                                                                                                                                                                                                             

CRUNCH TIME!

Hey, what’s going on here??...                                                                                            
‘The Pharisees held Council against Him, how they might DESTROY Him’                   
So Jesus dives for cover?  NO!    (Matt 12:14-15)                                                                                        
‘...great multitudes followed Him, and HE HEALED THEM ALL!’

Whatever has Jesus done to deserve this?                       
All He had to do was.... push ‘the Sabbath’ button. 
How?...just by letting His hungry disciples eat some ‘corn’, then telling a man: “Stretch out your hand”.

Hang about...                                                                  
There’s nothing in Mosaic Law to say Jews have to go hungry on their day of rest - especially if you are their rightful King!                                                                            

More than that...
This Man is even greater than the temple!                                                                        
He is the Son of Man with universal dominion!                                                                  
He is Lord of the Sabbath!...... “I will have mercy and not sacrifice”                            

So who is showing the mercy here?                             
They’d rescue a sheep out of a hole but rather see a man’s hand stay withered??

Yup, it’s crunch time alright!  Maybe Gentiles will accept the Messiah?

What about you? Do you honour Jesus as Lord and Saviour?


NEXT... http://guvsdesk.blogspot.com.au/2017/09/spiritual-battle.html