 Okay, good morning everyone. Just before we begin, would someone open us in prayer please? I'll pray. Yes, please go ahead. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your grace and mercy. Thank you for bringing us together. Thank you for instilling that desire to study and to learn your Word and to know more about you and your Kingdom Lord. Lord, we ask you to bless this time. We ask you to anoint our teacher that she will relay exactly what you have told her to relay to us and we ask you to give us the ability to retain the information that you're giving us this morning. We ask you to bless this time with us in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you. So we want to do a full recap of everything we covered on Monday just because we need to try and cover a little more today. We'll go back to the beginning of Matthew. We were going over an outline of the book of Matthew and this outline is based on looking at how Matthew presents Jesus as King. How does that presentation of Jesus as King change through the whole book? What are the different aspects of Jesus as King that Matthew looks at? So that's what we began with on Monday. We'll just go back to the beginning to do a quick look at some of the chapters we covered already. Again, if y'all can keep your Bibles open, keep it at Matthew so that as we're looking at the outlines, if we want to look at specific stories, we can do that and one of you can read. Okay, so beginning at Matthew 1-1. So it begins with the presentation of the King. So Matthew begins with a genealogy telling us about how Christ, so Jesus is lineage, right? Beginning right from Abraham, so showing Jesus as very much Jew, right? The descendant of Abraham and then right up to Joseph, so he presents Jesus as born in the lineage of David. So that was the proof of the fact that he was the Messiah because the Messiah would come from the line of David. From there we go into the birth of Jesus. So there's a birth narrative and then the visit of the wise men to King Herod. Jesus, I mean the family's flight into Egypt. Herod killing the children. Now again here we see that similarity between Moses's birth and the killing of the Jewish children or the Hebrew children when Moses was born and here when Jesus is born, there's again the killing of all male children below the age of two. And then Jesus returns to Nazareth once King Herod dies. We then have the announcer of the King. So that's where John the Baptist comes in. We have an introduction to John and an introduction to his ministry that points to Jesus's coming and the establishment of the Kingdom of Heaven and that's how Matthew refers to the Kingdom of God. He refers to it as the Kingdom of Heaven. Then from John the Baptist it moves to Jesus himself coming in and that section is summarized as the approval of the King. So we have the baptism of Jesus, the temptation of Jesus and then we come into the second section of Matthew which is the proclamation of the King. Here is where we see one of those five sermons that we talked about. So there's the introduction to the sermon and then the actual sermon on the mount. Part three is the power of the King. Here we see some of Jesus's miracles and then a little bit about discipleship. So what it means to be a disciple and what Jesus is asking of those who follow him. And then Jesus sending out the disciples to do the same ministry that he's been doing. He sends them out to continue that ministry. So the sending of the 12th. In part four I think we just came to the beginning of this section. So this is where from seeing Jesus being presented by John the Baptist, Jesus being approved by the Father, Jesus beginning to teach, we start to see how people respond to Jesus's ministry. And we see that there is a progressive rejection. So there are different groups of people who start to reject Jesus as the King. And so here we see John the Baptist who questions whether Jesus truly the Messiah when he's in prison. And then there are different other groups of people that we look at and it ends with Jesus inviting those who are weary to come to him. So we continue from there in chapter 12, Matthew chapter 12. Let's just start with Matthew 12. And here we see where the Pharisees themselves, which right through the Gospels, we see the Pharisees have never accepted Jesus's ministry. And so this section is focusing on the rejection of Christ by the Pharisees. So beginning with some of their laws that Jesus and his disciples are not following, which is working on the Sabbath, healing on the Sabbath. And then their response to Jesus and what he says when they question him. Let's just look at that chapter 12 verse 13. So the Pharisees ask in chapter 12 verse 10, does the law permit a person to work by healing on the Sabbath? They were hoping he would say yes, so they could bring charges against him. And then Jesus of course heals this person. And then in verse 14 it says the Pharisees called a meeting to plot how to kill Jesus. So Jesus not following the rules that the Pharisees had laid out as essential to the Jewish faith, brought in their anger, their plan to kill Jesus or to have him taken out of the picture. So from 14 to 21, there is a plan to destroy Jesus. Then 20 to 30 is where they blaspheme the Holy Spirit. They question Jesus's ministry as whether it is a ministry that truly is by the Spirit of God or whether he is casting out demons by the Spirit of Beelzebub. And so that is their blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. And then 31 to 37 is where they come with the unpardonable sin. This is where Jesus talks about blaspheming against the Holy Spirit and says that that is a sin that will not be forgiven. The Pharisees then demand a sign for Jesus to prove that he is the Messiah. And then Jesus talks about who his true family is in the end of chapter 12. So we continue to see, okay, I think this title here is wrong. Or okay, I think it's the right title. We continue this progressive rejection of the king in chapter 13 where Jesus begins to speak in parables and he talks about what is the result of rejecting him and what will be the consequences for those who reject him. And so this is one of the big sermons in Matthew as well. And so here Jesus speaks the multitude. He speaks to his disciples. And then we see this last section of part four where he's rejected by his own people, right in Nazareth where he's from. He's rejected by Herod. He's rejected by the scribes and Pharisees and finally by the Pharisees and Sadducees. So let's just look a little closer at chapter 16. Okay, so we see the Pharisees and Sadducees in chapter 16 are asking for a sign for Jesus to show a sign to prove his authority. And Jesus replies that the only sign that will be given is the sign of Jonah. And then after this is where he says to beware of the Pharisees and Sadducees. So he's telling his disciples to beware of the Pharisees and Sadducees. We see Peter declaring Jesus as the Son of God. And then Jesus talking about his death, telling them that he will die at the hands of the Jewish leaders. So even in all of this, like we talked about earlier that the Gospel of Matthew is written to Jewish Christians, right? So when Matthew is talking specifically about the Pharisees, he is basically saying that these are the Jewish leaders or were the Jewish leaders during Jesus' time of ministry and they didn't recognize Jesus as the Messiah. They rejected Jesus as the Messiah. So even as you are being rejected by the Jewish community, right? The Jews who believed in Jesus were rejected by the rest of the Jews who had rejected Jesus. They also rejected the disciples of Jesus, all those who began to follow him. And so this, when we are looking at this outline and looking at Matthew's presentation of the Jewish leaders, it's an encouragement to these Jewish Christians to say this is to be expected. If they rejected Jesus, they are going to reject you. And he ends finally in Matthew 24 with that final judgment on the temple itself, right? So where God himself is going to judge these Jewish leaders and the Jewish establishment for their rejection of Jesus. So Matthew is through all of this. He's presenting to the Jewish Christians the truth of the fact that they are going to experience rejection, but Jesus also experienced rejection. And so they can be encouraged that whatever they have believed is true and they can continue to walk in it. And they can depend on Jesus just as Jesus overcame, they can also overcome through Jesus. So from there we go to the fifth section of Matthew. This is the preparation of the disciples, chapter 16 to chapter 20. So that's what we talked about, where Peter declares Jesus as king and Jesus as the Son of God. And then Jesus affirms what Peter has said, but then goes on to talk about his suffering. And then from there we see that there are certain instructions that Jesus gives to the disciples to prepare them because they are going to be living without him anymore, right? They are going to continue to live out this faith. They're going to continue this ministry and Jesus will not be there in their midst. And so he teaches them about faith. He talks about his own death. He talks about taxes, humility, forgiveness, divorce, different things about how to continue to walk in obedience to him and what it means to be a disciple. So part six of this book is where Jesus comes for public judgment, right? Where his sentence is officially given. It begins with Jesus healing the blind man and the blind man coming to faith. And we see here a contrast between a physically blind person who is healed and recognizes who Jesus is versus the Jewish leaders who claim to have their eyes open spiritually. But in truth, they are blind spiritually and they are not able to see Jesus as the Messiah. So it begins with that and showing their spiritual blindness then continues into how they respond to Jesus and finally condemn him to death. So Jesus comes into Jerusalem. So we see the time for entry. We see the cleansing of the temple. We see how Israel as a nation rejects Jesus. So the cursing of the fig tree, the conflict with the priests and elders, conflict with the Pharisees, conflict with the Sadducees and continued conflict with the Pharisees here. In response, Jesus then, Jesus pronounces judgment over the nation. So he talks about the Pharisees. He condemns them and he then laments over Jerusalem itself. So maybe if someone can just read those last two verses, Matthew 23, 37 to 39. Gospel of Matthew chapter 23 was 37. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to eat. How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings? And you would not see your houses left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Thank you. So we see here Jesus's final pronouncement of judgment over Jerusalem. And then it goes into talking about the end times beginning with the destruction of the temple. Right, we know that the temple was destroyed in AD 70. And so that was seen as a fulfillment of what was said here. Now, because we don't know the exact date of Matthew's writing, we don't know if he wrote post the destruction of the temple or before the destruction of the temple. But we see that what Jesus had said about the temple actually happened here. And then Jesus begins to answer some of the questions of the disciples and they want to know what is what's going to happen at the end times when it's going to happen. So he starts to tell them more about what to expect at the end. Then we go into the fashion narrative in chapters 26 to 27, the plot to kill Jesus, Mary anointing Jesus, that is with the jar of alabaster, Judas agreeing to betray Jesus, the celebration of the Passover, Jesus being arrested, Jesus's trial, his crucifixion and burial. And then we come to the last chapter in Matthew, which is where Jesus is proved to be the king that Matthew has presented throughout the Gospel, starting with the empty tomb, the appearance of Jesus to the women, the bribery of the soldiers, the appearance of Jesus to the disciples and finally the great commission to take this Gospel to the ends of the earth. So while that Gospel is presented to the Jews during Jesus's ministry and even by this Gospel, the reminder that this Gospel is then to be taken to the Gentiles as well. So with that we come to the end of the outline on the book of Matthew. Is there anything you all wanted to bring up on anything we covered during this outline? Any questions or any thoughts? Okay, we'll continue from here and I just want to encourage you as we are covering all of these books to try and do a quick reading through the book so that as we are, as we're talking about different points in the book, you have fresh in your memory what the book talks about. So we cannot go into detail into the content of each book. So if you are reading it on your own time, then when we come here, we can just summarize it and you'll be able to connect the dots between the summary and what what you have read. Okay, so we're going to just look at some of the things that are talked about in Matthew and then some of the things that the whole New Testament talks about that is also mentioned in the book of Matthew. So Matthew talks about the virgin birth. This is something that is sometimes questioned, especially from the perspective of science or just natural thinking. How can a virgin give birth to a baby? Like how is that even possible? We see Matthew and Luke very clearly talk about the fact that Mary is a virgin that when she is promised that she will have a baby, she responds saying, I'm a virgin. How will I have this child? So that word for virgin is clearly referring to the fact that she has not engaged in any sexual intercourse. That's not to mean that she's unmarried right because of the context in which it's said. So let's just turn quickly to Matthew 18 to 23 and we'll read that if someone can read that for us. The Gospel of Matthew chapter 1 was 18. Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Thank you. You can go on to verse 23. 19. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. You can go on to verse 23 things. She will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. 23. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. Thank you. So we see here clearly mention of the fact that Mary was still a virgin. She hadn't yet married Joseph. And also that this is a fulfillment of a prophecy that was spoken in the Old Testament, that's in Isaiah 740, that the virgin will conceive and will give birth to a son. We'll also look at Luke 1, 31 to 35, if someone can read that. Luke 1, 31 to 35. And behold, you will conceive in your room and bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the highest, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. Then Mary said to the angel, how can this be, since I do not know a man? And the angel answered and said to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the highest will overshadow you, therefore also that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Thank you. So yes, in Matthew and Luke, we see clearly pointing to the virgin birth and we see in Isaiah 714 and then 967, the prophecy is about 714, the prophecy of Jesus being born by a virgin or the Messiah being born by a virgin, and 967, that child that is given will be a divine child. So we see the description as he will be called everlasting father, the Prince of Peace, and his kingdom will have no end. So if we can quickly turn to Isaiah chapter 9 verses 6 and 7, if someone can read that for us. Isaiah 9, chapters 6 to 7, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end. Upon the throne of David and over his kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice. From that time forward, even forever, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. Thank you. So in these two verses we see a child will be born, it will be a son, he will be given authority, that he will be divine, he will be called Mighty God, Everlasting Father, that he will be from the line of David, and that his kingdom will be eternal. So a lot of very specific descriptions of this child that is to be born and we see all of that being spoken about Jesus before his birth, and fulfilled through his birth. So that is the first thing where the virgin birth is clearly spoken about in scripture and fulfilled, the prophecy is fulfilled in the New Testament. The second thing is repentance. So just when Matthew talks about repentance, when we see that called repentance, if someone can read Matthew 3.8 for us. Matthew 3.8, therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance. Yes, so we see both John the Baptist and Jesus calling people to repentance. So repentance was not simply feeling sorry for your sin. It was to see a complete change in your heart and a change in the way you were living. So what we saw in verse 8 here that the way you live should be a way that is in line with God's will. And so you've turned from sin and you've turned to live a life in obedience to God. Ezekiel 18.21 also gives us a very clear description of what repentance looks like. If someone can read that for us. Ezekiel 18.21, but if a wicked person turns away from all his sins, that he has committed and keeps all my status and does what is just and right. He shall surely live. He shall not die. Thank you. So this is a very clear description. So when we say repent and turn to God, when that was the message that was being preached, this is what repentance is. What Ezekiel 18.21 talks about. It is to turn away from your sins, to obey God, to do his will, to do what is just and right. And that is proof of true repentance. Then we see in Matthew preaching on the kingdom of heaven. So Matthew talks about the kingdom of heaven versus the kingdom of God that is used in the other gospels. Now there's no difference between those two. The kingdom of heaven is the kingdom of God. He just uses different language and again because of his Jewish audience, the kingdom of heaven would resonate with them. Now Jews knew that God ruled over the universe in the present. They knew that he was in control. But they were also praying for a day when the whole world would turn to follow God, that they would turn away from idolatry, they would turn away from disobedience and come to know the one true God. And so when they were looking forward to the coming of the Messiah like we read in Isaiah, that that rulership was going to be eternal and it was not going to be limited to Israel. So they were looking forward to the coming of the Messiah for that. So when the kingdom of heaven is being proclaimed here, that is the idea within the minds of the Jews. While there is also a sense of political breaking free when they think of the Messiah, they had this picture of the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God as a fulfillment of that promise that God himself would rule and all people would be under his rule. So that coming kingdom was what they were looking forward to. So if we can just look at these two passages that are mentioned here Acts 1 6 and Ephesians 1 21 23. Can I read sister Acts 1 6? Yes please. Therefore when they had come together they asked him saying, Lord will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? Thank you. So here we see that this was the mindset that the kingdom would be where Israel was freed from foreign rule and they would once again be able to have their own people ruling over them. So that was one view of the kingdom that they had. So we can just read Ephesians 1 21 to 23. Ephesians 1 21 to 23. Yeah please go ahead. No please go ahead sister. Thank you. For above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named not only in this age but also in the one to come and he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church which is his body the fullness of him who fills all in all. Thank you. So Ephesians gives us a picture of what that kingdom is while while the Jews were looking forward to that physical that political restoration. Ephesians talks about this rulership that is present like Christ reigns right now over all creation and to eternity right. And so as a as people who belong to the kingdom of God this is the blessing that we are invited to that. We reign with Christ and that the benefits of Christ ruling over all things are as to experience even now. So what does it mean to be in the kingdom of God to be in the kingdom of heaven? It means that we are experiencing the presence of Jesus. We're walking in relationship with him. We're walking in obedience to his rule personally and then we are living out what it means to be his children in the way we live our daily lives. So we are establishing that reign of Jesus in the things that we are doing. So we are living with his justice, his righteousness, his will being the guiding principle in all the things that we are doing. And so we experience his kingdom here and now while we look forward to his final coming back where that kingdom will be fully established and realized at his second coming. So with that we go into another aspect, another thing that Matthew talks about which is the Lord's Prayer. Now we are looking at the Lord's Prayer and then what it means on the other side is what it means in the kingdom of God. So the Lord's Prayer begins with our Father that means we have a personal relationship with God as people who are in his kingdom, our Father in heaven. So recognizing that he rules overall, that he is the king and all power belongs to him like we read in Ephesians. Hallowed be your name. So we honor him as one who is reigning and is powerful and continues to have control over all of creation. Your kingdom come. So we are surrendering ourselves submitting situations or circumstances to his rule. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So just a continuation of that. So submitting our will to him as we live on this earth that we live in obedience to his will. Give us this day our daily bread, recognizing that God supplies all our needs, our daily needs. Forgive us our debts as we also forgive. So we are people who have been forgiven and we are people who live forgiving lives. So lives that express the forgiveness that we ourselves have received. And then lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. So even as we are continuing to walk in this kingdom of God and continuing to be people who seek to establish God's kingdom in the world around us, we recognize that we are facing spiritual battles. And so we are praying that God would protect us in those battles that we would be delivered from all evil. And we ourselves would not fall into temptation as we are establishing his kingdom. So just to look at this prayer in line with Matthew's theme of the kingdom of heaven. So what does that prayer mean for how we live as kingdom people? So with that we come to the end of some of the specific things that Matthew talks about. But here we're looking at what does Matthew talk about that also the rest of the New Testament continues to build on. So we'll talk about a few of these things. One is the miracles in the New Testament. We see the miracles mentioned especially in the Gospels but also in the early church. There were two purposes to those miracles. One was that it proved that Jesus had come from God. So when Jesus was ministering, he was able to prove his power and authority through the miracles he was doing. So whatever he was saying could be taken seriously because the power and his power and authority were being seen in the miracles that he was doing. At the same time we see in Moses's ministry when Moses was sent to the Hebrew people, God enabled him to do certain miracles to prove that he had been sent by God himself. So that same idea here with Jesus when he comes in that the miracles prove who he is, prove that God himself is sent him. The second purpose of the miracles is that it reveals God's will for people. So didactic means that it is meant to teach people something about something that God wanted to teach them. And in this case the miracles wanted was to prove that God cares about the state of all creation but specifically about people, like the suffering of people. So we see a lot of miracles that are related to nature but the majority of the miracles that are seen in the Gospels are related to people. So to see people freed from demonic oppression, to see people freed from sickness, from suffering, one kind or another. So to show that God really cares about the suffering of people and he seeks to free people, he desires to free people from the suffering that they are experiencing. So what does that mean for us today? When we look at the miracles in the New Testament, we see these two purposes in the miracles that were being presented but what does it mean for us today as Kingdom people? One is while miracles do prove the power of Jesus' name, we don't have to only use miracles to prove that. Miracles can also teach people, miracles continue to be things that we experience because God continues to be one who cares about the sufferings of people. Like we see in the New Testament, he cared about suffering people that was not just in the New Testament, he continues to be a God who wants to see people delivered and healed and redeemed. And because we are part of the church, we no longer need miracles to prove to us that Jesus is who he says he is. Because we can go to his word, we have already experienced him personally. So miracles are not required as proof of who Jesus is. We can just examine his word and see what he desires, what he wills and see whether things are in line with his word. But we can continue to experience healing because God is still a God who cares about our present day sufferings, the things that we carry, the burdens that we carry. And so that is how we can continue to see miracles being experienced in the church and in our lives today. On demons in the New Testament, so the Greek term actually doesn't have a very specific meaning, the Greek word daemon. It is used for all kinds of spirits, so different kinds of spirits. But on the other hand, the Jews who were not so influenced by Greek thought, they viewed demons as spirits that were not submitted to God. So spirits other than angels that were not submitted to God. So they were hostile to God's people. We'll read these passages that are mentioned here. If we have the time, we have a few minutes. But that's how it was understood as by the Jews, it was understood as spirits that were not submitted to God and were hostile to God's people. In Mesopotamian culture, they were viewed as spirits that lived in a dark world and were causing human misfortune. So when we see Jesus' ministry and specifically Jesus freeing people from demonic oppression, we see Jesus coming directly against these spiritual powers that were already known in that culture. But in Jesus' ministry, it's especially highlighted. So let's just read Matthew 12, 27 to 29. If someone can read that for us. Matthew 12, 27 to 29. And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man and then he will plunder his house? Thank you. So the exorcists at that time, they used different kinds of magical formulas. They used things like a lot of witchcraft, those kinds of things. So there were things like stinky roots that they would use. They would use things like that to free people from demons. But here Jesus is talking about the kingdom of God coming. And where the kingdom of God has come, there is no place for anything that is not in submission to this thing. And so there must be everything that is not in submission being removed. And so he says, he talks about how he has come to take hold of free people from Satan. So he says, if I'm casting out, then the kingdom of God is right among you, verse 29, who is powerful enough to enter the house of a strong man like Satan. So to say that until now Satan had control over you all over this region. But now I've come in the kingdom of God has come here and so Satan no longer can have a hold here. So someone greater has come in. And so that is the relevance for us today to say that Jesus is greater. So even if and when we come across demonic powers, there is no reason to be afraid. There's no reason to wonder are we in danger if there is any demonic power around us. Because Jesus has already overcome and we share in his kingdom. We are his children. We share his authority. We also can overcome and we can go against demonic powers with that confidence that Jesus is stronger like verse 29 says, for who is powerful enough to enter the house of a strong man like Satan and plunder his goods. Only someone even stronger, someone who could tie him up and then plunder his house. So we'll close with that for today. I think we are out of time. If we have any questions, we can start on Monday's class with those questions. Thank you all for joining today's class. I did have an assignment for you all actually. I don't know if that's in the next section. Yes. Okay, I'll just post this on Google Classroom because I didn't want to cover this in class. I just wanted all to read through the parables in Matthew 13 to look at what were the expectations of people regarding the kingdom versus what Jesus taught about the kingdom. And then we'll discuss that in class on Monday. That's on February 5th. Okay, so I'll post this on Google Classroom as well just for your reference. Thank you all. Thank you, sister. Bye.