After laying out the details of Jesus’ family tree from the human side in the beginning of the chapter, Matthew now points out that Jesus is the very Son of God using the virgin birth as proof of his divine origin.
Matthew presents irrefutable proof of Jesus’ legal right to be King, on his way to be King of kings and Lord of lords.
The Lord’s Prayer is Jesus's blueprint giving us direction for effective praying. The first half teaches us to submit to him in everything and the second half to depend on him for everything.
It’s easy to recite the Lord’s Prayer, but what happens when we ask that God’s will be done, yet our will gets in the way?
Prayer is essential to the life of believer. We begin to delve into the what, why and how’s of prayer as we move towards becoming a church devoted to prayer.
Standing firm on what God has already told us is absolutely essential. We must not rationalize and tolerate wrong, but rather take responsibility and stand firm in our faith.
God has given us his word for a reason. When he asks us to do something for him, he expects obedience out of love for him. Obeying him reaps abundant blessings. Disobedience reaps consequences.
In order for us to have true victory, we need to admit and deal with our weaknesses. No matter how far we’ve wandered from the Lord, he’s always there when we turn back to him.
The story of Jonah shows us God’s amazing grace. Even in the midst of our rebellion, we can call out to God and he will answer and give us another chance.
If there is “sin in the camp,” God cannot bless. God expects us to deal with our sin, then come to him in repentance. His arms will always be open.