As Matthew closes this first section of his gospel, he highlights the Galilean nature of Jesus’ early ministry. Matthew summarizes Jesus’ early ministry as marked by healing and teaching.
13 Jesus’ Early Ministry (Matthew 4:12-25)
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01 Podcasts
12 3rd Temptation: Bow Down (Matthew 4:8-11)
Satan offers Jesus a shortcut to gaining the blessings God has promised him. But idolatry is looking to someone or something other than God to grant us Life. For each of the temptations, we’ll answer 3 questions: Why is the choice wrong? Why is the choice attractive?...
11 2nd Temptation: Jump from the pinnacle (Matthew 4:5-7)
While the temptation to jump to from the top of a high mountain may not appear very enticing at first glance, it’s a temptation we all face today. When life gets hard or overwhelming, like Jesus, we’re very tempted to believe God has ceased to take care of us and we need to take a “leap of faith” to get back in His good graces.
10 1st Temptation: Stones to bread (Matthew 4:1-4)
In the temptations, Satan wants to disqualify Jesus as the Messiah while God wants to demonstrate that Jesus is worthy to be the Messiah. We’ll look how how Jesus responds when he’s tempted to believe God is no longer taking care of him. For each of the temptations...
09 The Baptism of Jesus (Matthew 3:13-17)
At his baptism, God confirms that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, who will rule on David’s throne forever. We also see what kind of king he is: humble and willing to serve.
Miracles of Elijah & Elisha
A comparison of the miracles of Elijah and Elisha recorded in 1&2 Kings.
08 John the Baptist (Matthew 3:1-12)
John the Baptist was the herald who announced the coming of the King. His message had two parts: repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. The king is coming. It is time to turn back to God and follow his Messiah.
07 A Nazarene (Matthew 2:19-23)
This quotation presents the hardest challenge because no passage in the Old Testament says the Messiah will be called a Nazarene. Instead Matthew is summarizing an idea taught in the prophets. We need both grammar and historical background to understand him.
06 Rachel Weeping (Matthew 2:16-18)
In this third fulfillment passage, Matthew compares the murder of the young boys in Bethlehem to the Rachel weeping in her tomb for the captives about to be deported to Babylon. In both events, all hope seems lost.
05 Out of Egypt (Matthew 2:13-15)
Matthew tells us the life of Jesus “fulfills” something spoken by the prophet Hosea. Yet Hosea is not “predicting” anything; Hosea is looking backward to the Exodus. What is Matthew doing? He’s pointing out the theological connection between Israel as God’s son and the Messiah, God’s son.
04 The Early Life of Jesus (Matthew 2:1-23)
Matthew draws many parallels between the early life of Jesus and the Old Testament to reinforce his main point: Jesus is the Christ, the son of Abraham and son of David, who will fulfill God’s promises.
03 The Birth of Jesus (Matthew 1:18-25)
You would think that a passage covering the birth of Jesus would be easy “Christmas stuff” we’re all familiar with. Don’t be fooled. Matthew’s account raises some interesting theological questions.