Tag: why do
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The Foolishness of Our Faith
Paul is writing to the believers at Corinth to encourage unity through maturity in the faith (v. 10). He is writing with unity as his goal because there are divisions in the church (v. 11-17). Jesus made Paul an apostle and sent him to preach the Gospel, not in cleverness of speech so that the…
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The Truth About Inward Focus
Have you ever heard anyone say that Christ will accept all of those who simply come? In Matthew’s Gospel so far, we have seen a few things about Christ’s teaching that contradict the idea that He is willing to accept all people. Christ’s Sermon on the Mount prefaces all His other teaching in Matthew’s Gospel.…
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How Much Authority Does Satan Actually Have?
In the prelude to Jesus’ public preaching ministry, He has been led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tempted by the devil. Tonight we will observe the third and final wilderness temptation. As we work through the text and consider Matthew’s (and Jesus’) use of the Old Testament, we will ask this…
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How Does Satan Use the Bible?
Last week, we read about the first temptation that Jesus experienced in the wilderness and we saw that the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness for the particular reason of being tempted, which was fitting to fulfill all righteousness (we talked about what this meant two weeks ago). This week, we will read about…
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If God’s Love is Unconditional, why are there so many conditional statements in the Old Testament?
In chapter 3 of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus revealed that before beginning His preaching ministry, it was fitting to fulfill all righteousness. This was done in His baptism by John and it would be done in the Temptations. Tonight, we arrive at the first temptation. We will spend the whole night on this one temptation and…
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Why Did Jesus Receive the Baptism of Repentance From John?
Last week, we started this section of Matthew’s Gospel that we are referring to as the prelude to Jesus’ preaching ministry. John the Baptist taught some very significant things concerning the kingdom of heaven, which was at hand. As he is teaching, Jesus comes to be baptized by him. Matthew 3:13-17 Then Jesus arrived from…
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What is the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord?
In Matthew 3:1-4:11, we find Matthew’s prelude to Jesus’ public preaching ministry. In this prelude, the necessity of the true Gospel will be made evident and Matthew will take the opportunity to, once again, prove that Jesus is the fulfillment of national Israel. Matthew 3:1-12 Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in…
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What is Your Excuse for Unbelief?
Today, we will finish our current study of the second chapter in Matthew’s Gospel and we will conclude the geographical prophecies presented by Matthew. So far, we have read about two explicit geographical prophecies being fulfilled. The Messiah would be born in Bethlehem and would be called out of Egypt. Before we read the Scriptures,…
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Why do God’s people do bad things?
One of the greatest complaints against the church is that people in the church seem to be hateful toward some others, unacceptable, and seem to look down on others. We have all experienced it. Perhaps there was a group in the church that talked about someone behind that person’s back for any number of reasons.…
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If things are not the way you want, CHANGE ‘EM OR LEAVE! What is patient endurance?
There was a young woman who did not really fit in at her school. She wanted to feel beautiful, but no guy ever looked her way. She wanted to have friends, the kind of friends you could share anything with or just show up at their house anytime; but everyone else already had a place…