True Identities

Matthew 5:1-16

Today we continue our series titled “The Kingdom of Jesus”.

But before we begin let’s pray and ask God for wisdom on how to apply His message from Matthew five verses one through sixteen to our life.

The title of Today’s message is “True Identities”. Today’s passage is commonly known as the eight Beatitudes.  The Beatitudes were named from the initial words in the Latin Vulgate Bible (beati sunt, translated in English as “blessed are”). Now the word Beatitude gets it’s meaning from the root of the Latin word beatus, meaning both “happy” and “blessed”.  This is why you will find some Bible translations of this passage have replaced the word blessed with the word happy instead.  This works well except for the second Beatitude (Blessed are those who mourn) because it is difficult to picture or comprehend being happy and grieving at the same time.  So in that case the word blessed may have been more appropriate. 

The Kingdom Has Come Near

Matthew 4:12-25

Welcome back to our series in Matthew. This is my first message of the new year and the new decade that we are now in. Does it still seem new to you or is writing the date correctly already old hat? I am anticipating some changes for me in 2020, though I don’t yet know exactly what God has in store. Do you feel like you are on the verge of something new? Some of you may be graduating this year and moving on to the next stage of your lives. Some of you will experience other types of changes in your life or work or family. Transitions can be a challenge, sometimes exciting and scary at the same time. That’s why it’s important for each of us to live with a sense of God’s purpose and an assurance that he is in control. He is always preparing us for what lies ahead.

Tested and Attended

Matthew 4:1-11

Welcome! Today we continue our series into the book of Matthew, picking up the story in Chapter 4. Last week, we looked at Chapter 3, which focused on the baptism of Jesus. The chapter ended with the following:

As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on Him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.” – Matthew 3:16-17

Heralds of the King

Matthew 3:1-17

Who is familiar with Epiphany?  It is a holiday, a day of commemoration.  We typically do not point it out or celebrate it here in our church.  The word epiphany comes from the Greek and means to show or to reveal.  In western churches that do celebrate Epiphany, it is sometimes called Three Kings’ Day.  In other words, in the western church, Epiphany is often associated with the arrival of the magi to worship the child Jesus as told in Matthew 2.

I did not realize though that the arrival of the magi is only one event which is associated with this holiday on January 6^th or also the first Sunday after New Year’s.  In the Eastern Church, particularly the eastern orthodox churches, Epiphany is rather a commemoration of Jesus’ baptism which we are going to look at today in Matthew 3.