Jesus was approached by a delegation of scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem, who observed that Jesus’ disciples hadn’t washed their hands before eating food. This gave Jesus the opportunity to show the difference between ritualistic religion that has to do with outer things, and the true religion or the way God intends people to worship Him, from a changed heart! Jesus finished off this section by speaking of the source of all real spiritual defilement. It doesn’t come so much from the outside as it does from within, from the heart! We......

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Just as we reach and finish the halfway point of Matthew’s Gospel, before going into Matt.15, we are told of what happened when Jesus and the disciples aboard the boat arrived at the other side of the lake. They were met by men who recognized Him, and who sent out word to all those in the surrounding region of Gennesaret, letting them know that Jesus was there. They brought all those they could find who were sick to bring them to Jesus. But, whereas on other occasions Jesus may have spoken the word......

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Here is an incident recorded in Matthew 14 where Jesus walked on water to go to His disciples in the middle of the sea. We know from Job 9:7-8 that the LORD treads on the waves, and so this incident confirms the deity of Christ. This is made doubly clear with Jesus’ words to His disciples, “Be of good cheer! IT IS I; do not be afraid!” We don’t catch that in the English as well as would have if we saw it in the Greek text. There in the Greek we would read ἐγώ εἰμι which are two ways......

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In this part of Matthew 14 we see that Jesus and His disciples took themselves away for a time of R&R which didn’t exactly materialize. But it did turn out to be an opportunity for Jesus to feed over 5000 men, besides women and children, in a supernatural act in which Jesus multiplied a boy’s lunch  of 5 loaves and 2 fish, to such an extent that all present were more than abundantly supplied and satisfied and there were even 12 baskets of leftovers that no doubt would be used for a later meal. Jesus would not have been working this miracle just......

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At the beginning of this chapter we are given a little flashback to an event that had happened, concerning John the Baptist! The reason for bringing this to our attention now, is that Jesus was back in His own region of Galilee which was under the jurisdiction of Herod Antipas, who had previously had John the Baptist beheaded. Herod was now of the opinion that John must have been raised from the dead because there was someone going around working miracles, and Herod, troubled by his conscience was of the persuasion that the only......

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This is as close to the 31st Oct we are going to get this year, as we commemorate the events of The Reformation 31 Oct, 1517. But rather than focus on The Five Solas, like we did last year, this year we looked at the 5 Petals of The TULIP, which we truths held by The Reformers, and which normally come under the category of : T  For Total Depravity (although Radical Corruption might be a better term to use). U For Unconditional Election (on what basis did God Elect or Choose someone to receive mercy, leading to Salvation?). L For Limited Atonement (which could better be termed Definite Atonement, as in God......

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What is the connection between the seven parables of this chapter, and the last remaining verses? Well, we are about the see these parables played out in real life, as people become more and more divided over who Jesus is. Some will believe and the rest wont. It begins in Nazareth, but we will see in the following chapter how people live out the things that Jesus taught in these parables and how they respond to the Gospel. For the full video of this service, including a special song at the end, click on this......

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What are God’s purposes, and how do we fit into them? If God’s long-range goal and His ultimate purpose is for His own Glory to be revealed, then His plans start with Glory and end with Glory going to God Alone. Soli Deo Gloria! In this sermon, our guest speaker Mark Anderson, from Armagh, and from Lisnadill Full Gospel Church, takes us through the Scriptures, starting from 2 Cor.3:18 and from Genesis to Revelation shows us how is outworking or working out His plans in the lives of believers, and how we are being changed into His likeness! You......

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We nearly got finished the whole of Matthew 13 today. There is one last section about Jesus’ reception or rejection at His home town of Nazareth, still to go. But today we finished the last 3 of the 7 parables (or are there really 8 ?). You’ll notice some similarities between Parables #5 and #6, because the person described goes and sells all that they have in order to buy a treasure of some sort. And there is a similarity between Parable #7 and Parable #2 (The parable of the wheat and the tares), and Parable #7 (the parable of the dragnet), each ending with almost word-for-word sayings......

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The next two parables in this series of 7 parables in this chapter are not explained by Jesus. Therefore, none of us can be dogmatic about their meaning. However, since we do have the whole of the Bible to glean from, it may be possible to see some parallels with these two parables in other places. Then, before He continues with parables #5-7, Matthew tells us how Jesus was actually fulfilling prophesy by speaking in parables. We already saw in Matthew 13:10-17 the reason Jesus spoke in parables, but here Jesus is seen like one of the......

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