Matthew 17:18-20

Matthew 17:18-20 And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Jesus commissioned his disciples to do His work. After all, one person can only do so much. But the disciples could not cast out the demon that tormented this boy. So Jesus had to rebuke the devil and heal the little boy. I am sure that the disciples were embarrassed that they couldn’t help the boy, and they questioned Jesus as to why they were powerless. Jesus told them that they needed faith. Not a lot of faith, but just a little faith. But the question was, “faith in Whom?” You may really, really believe that you can do something. That is faith in yourself. But you still may not be able to do it. You must have faith in God, and God must want you to do it. In some things, God’s will is clear. The Bible tells us what He wants us to do. But in others, we must pray and ask God for direction. And when God’s Spirit tells us what to do – and we have faith in God – we will be able to do anything! Anything t5hat God wants us to do.

Matthew 16:24-26

Matthew 16:24-26 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Our verses for today are a paradox. A paradox seems to be impossible when you hear it, but after you consider it a little deeper, it makes sense. So, how can you save your life by losing it? Well, if you surrender your life to Jesus Christ, you will gain eternal life in heaven. Put that way, it makes perfect sense. Jim Elliot said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” Jim Eliot was a missionary that was killed by Indians in South America that he was trying to reach with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And Jim is in heaven right now, enjoying eternal life, that he cannot lose! What a great testimony!

Matthew 16:13-17

Matthew 16:13-17 When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. Jesus was questioning the disciples to see what they thought of Him. Did they believe that He was the Messiah like He had been telling them that He was, or did they think that He was just a good man? Some of the disciples had good answers, saying that Jesus was a great prophet, but only Peter nailed it. He said that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God. Good answer, Peter! Way to go!

Matthew 15:22,26-28

Matthew 15:22,26-28 And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. Was Jesus calling this poor lady a dog?! No, I don’t think so! Jesus was just testing her to see if she had faith – real faith. And she did! Years ago, I heard that the measure of a person is what it takes to stop them. And the lady in our story wasn’t stopped by Jesus’ seemingly rude statement. If she would have been miffed and stormed away, her poor daughter would never have been healed. But because of the lady’s determination and concern for her daughter, she thought of a quick come-back when Jesus told her that she was a dog. She quickly asked the Master for just a few crumbs from His table. And Jesus liked her come-back. He bragged on her faith and answered her request. What a story! What faith! We should follow her example.

Matthew 15:10,11

Matthew 15:10,11 And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand: Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. Jesus brought up an interesting point in our verses for today: which is more important? what goes into your mouth, or what comes out of your mouth? Jesus immediately said that what comes out of your mouth is much more important than what goes into your mouth. What you say to others is way more important than what you eat! That doesn’t mean that you can eat or drink anything. You should be careful what you eat and drink. Jesus was just telling the people - and telling us - that what we say is more important. Remember the kids’ song? “Oh, be careful little tongue, what you say. For the Father up above, is looking down in love. So be careful little tongue, what you say.”

Matthew 14:29-32

Matthew 14:29-32 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. When Jesus came to the disciples’ ship walking on the water, their first reaction was one of fear. I can’t blame them, can you?!. Who would ever expect to see someone walking on top of the water? Especially in the middle of a storm! But Peter’s fear quickly turned to excitement and Peter asked if he could walk on the water too! And Jesus said, yes! So Peter boldly got out of the boat and began to walk on the water to Jesus!  Wow!  What faith!  But then the reality of what he was actually doing sank into Peter’s head. He was walking on water in the middle of a storm! Peter’s mind suddenly went from faith to fear, and he began to sink. And in just that moment he cried out to the Savior, “Lord! Save me!” And just that quickly, Jesus reached out and took Peter’s hand. No doubt Peter was grateful! Jesus pulled Peter back on top of the water and they both walked back to the ship together. Which, by the way, was still tossing to and fro in the water and in the middle of the storm! But when Jesus Christ, the Master of Creation, got into the ship, the storm immediately stopped! Jesus rescued the disciples, and He will rescue you in your time of need too! Just as Jesus was there for His disciples, and Jesus will be there for you. He will be right there, with you, in the middle of life’s storms. Make no mistake, Jesus will be there for you!