Matt. 16, 17

When visiting Galilee, you will find that most restaurants have a dish called St Peters fish. This of course refers to the fish that had a coin in his mouth with which Jesus instructed Peter to pay his taxes. It is inconsequential what kind of a fish it was. The most important point is that Jesus provided for Peter to pay his taxes

The Lord wants us to be complicit in tax matters and legal compliance. God gives us Grace to do the right thing always.

Matt. 14, 15

Wherever Jesus went, great crowds followed Him. He had no PR agency or slick advertising campaign to announce His appearances. He simply, yet profoundly displayed the power God had given Him by healing the sick and teaching truth with Heavenly authority. His secret; He spent much time in prayer and communion with His Heavenly Father.

I will never forget a Sunday at Trinity many years ago. My son-in-law, Mark Anthony was preaching and the power went out. As was his practice, he had an effective power-point on the overhead screen. Zap … no power-point. I looked at him and said, “You don’t need power-point when you have the Power.” It humorously made the point … God’s Holy Ghost Power is what we REALLY NEED.

Matt. 12, 13

Sad to say, we cohabit this earth with bad people. Jesus described them as weeds sown among good seed in a field. He also likened them to bad fish which were discarded by fishermen when they collected their nets. Of course, God knows the difference and will pronounce judgement upon evildoers in the end.

And yet, Christ sent us out as sheep among wolves and simply instructed us to love everyone and treat them fairly. When He prepares for His final judgement, He will separate the wheat from the chaff once and for all. His children will enter into eternal life with Him. The others will, sadly, be eternally damned.

It’s good to be SAVED.

Matt. 11

Possibly the greatest description of our loving Shepherd, Christ Jesus, is found at the end of chapter 11. “Come unto Me … I will give you REST.”

You experience rest when the job is done and you are tired. You experience rest when you KNOW you are truly safe. You experience rest when all is right between you and your superiors. You can rest at the end of a race or trial.

Christ IS our rest. He said HE would give true rest to our souls. This is a distinguishing difference between worldly folks and Children of the Kingdom. We are at rest. We are not consumed with our own strivings to be acceptable to God. Through the blood of Christ which did all the heavy lifting, our Heavenly Father sees us as completely righteous.

Matthew 9, 10

When Jesus described events and moods of the last days, He instructed His disciples to “Stand firm to the end.”

There is nothing firmer than the Word of God. When we stand upon His Word, applying it to every portion of our daily living, we are positioned to endure anything. Church affiliations, educational accomplishment, financial independence, political favor … all will fail us, but God’s Word will NEVER FAIL.

Study it EVERYDAY.

Matt. 8

Christ was found asleep in the disciples’ boat when a storm came upon them. They woke Him up, and He merely ended the weather turbulence with His Word. Amazing!

Christ’s Word can be applied to any storm you’re going through. You may think He’s asleep in your boat … He doesn’t get anxious like you do … but He’s THERE, ready to bring His power to whatever challenge you may have.

I have a little storm I’m dealing with. My pulmonary embolism (blood clot in lungs). I didn’t realize how truly serious it was until doing some reading on it. Jesus is in my boat resting. I trust Him to get me to the other side of the lake.

Matt. 5-7

The Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7) is the greatest concentration of Christ’s teachings in the Bible. Because it is, we are wise to read it often. I am making a personal resolution to do so.

HEALTH UPDATE: I’m home from the hospital and ready to get in gear. I’m sorry I missed publishing. I felt “unplugged.”

It was discovered that I am probably inclined to blood clotting for the rest of my life. So, I am on a drug called Eliquis from here out. Also, I have virtually been off sugar, and my eating will change dramatically. More exercise is essential. Pray God’s grace in my life to make these changes.

Matthew 4

I am presently in a bed in the Newnan Piedmont hospital. A CT Scan revealed that I have blood clots in both sides of my lungs. There’s a large one in the left side near the heart. This is dangerous. I’m at peace, because Christ is with me.

if Jesus was here, what would He do? Chapter 4 indicates that He healed all manner of diseases. When they came to him, he healed them.

I can imagine Christ walking through the hospital and stopping at every bed in every room. “What is your affliction?” “Rise and be healed in My name.”

Actually, He is here. His power is in me. I can ask iim His mighty name. I’m believing for some miracles tonight.

Matt. 3

We don’t have record of Christ baptizing anyone in water (like John) but John said Jesus would baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire. What does that entail?

Baptize means to dip, to plunge. Christ’s baptism is more a spiritual one and less a physical one. Jesus always goes for the heart of man. When His Holy Spirit baptizes us, our heart and life are changed. The fire probably refers to the refinement and purification process that God’s Spirit conducts in our lives. Also, cloven tongues of fire appeared on the heads of the seekers on the day of Pentecost.

In Acts 1, Jesus referred to this baptism when He instructed His Disciples to go to Jerusalem and tarry or wait for this special baptism. Wait they did, and received a visitation from God like no other. Peter presided over this outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit. This is known as the Pentecostal experience.

I have experienced it just like Acts 2. I hope you will likewise seek to be baptized in the Holy Ghost. The early Church was empowered to be witnesses of Christ’s Gospel. God’s power will fill your life just as Joel prophesied.

Matthew 2

Some months ago the news told us that the Star of Bethlehem was to make a short appearance in our sky. I took a photo of it which I will share below. Whether or not it was THE star, it was very intriguing and stirred up interest in Matthew’s account of the Wise Men’s journey to find the Baby that was prophesied.

God has at His disposal the entire universe to communicate His Message. We are told of signs in the sun, moon, and stars in the last days. Only God can arrange this phenomena. Gratefully, He explains Himself in His Word.

Of course, Christ Jesus is worthy of such a demonstration of God’s control over the heavens. We can tell our children the story of the Star at Christmas. Show them this picture that Grandpa Dean took of the star.

I BELIEVE! It’s the prominent one just over the left side of my neighbor’s roof.