Jesus First

It’s a terribly contagious idea that God wants to give you a king just like you, who will defeat your enemies, and make you great. It is, as we have been talking about for some time now, the rule of the schoolyard. Get the biggest bully on your side.Jesus calls that thinking a virus and has plans to build something better.

For centuries, people have been using religious traditions to get them something of personal benefit. Religion can empower selfishness. Jesus, however, calls that evil.If you have ever been tempted to use a religious rule to mask your own selfishness, this lesson is the challenge you need to hear. Oh, I think it will be encouraging too, but the challenge comes first.

If Peter can get out of a boat, you can love your enemy.Matthew 14 gives us three stories of impossible moments leading to the impossible conclusion that Jesus is literally an impossible man with impossible power telling us to do impossible things.

Is Jesus trying to confuse people? Is he telling cryptic stories and saying impossible things on purpose because he's hiding something from us?Yes, yes he is. But he doesn't want you to stay confused. He wants to give you the answers, but he wants you to stick with him through the confusion.

Taking a detour from our lessons in Matthew, this is a full sermon-style message studying Hebrews 7. I've never had the opportunity to teach through Hebrews, so I'm taking the time to address at least this one chapter simply because it's on my heart to do so. Thinking of Jesus as our forever King means so much more than we tend to think.