Matthew 22:1-14 (NIV) 22 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2  “The kingdom of heaven is

Matthew 7:15-20 (NIV) 15  “Watch out for false prophets.

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 (NIV) 24  Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like 28  “ ‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.

Matthew 16:13-20 (NIV) 13  When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples Listen to passage & devotional: Belgic Confession of Faith, Article 28: The Obligations of Church Members

One short daily prayer can alleviate so much of your stress & anxiety. Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 125 Q. What does the fourth request mean? A. “Give us today our daily bread” means, Do take care of all our physical needs so that we come to know that you are the only source of everything good, and that neither our work and worry nor your gifts can do us any good without your blessing. And so help us to give up our trust in creatures and to put trust in you alone. Summary The opening word to today's teaching from Jesus functions like a big STOP sign. When you see the word therefore, you have to stop and ask, what is it there for? In this case, Jesus is saying that because you should be focused on building up treasure in heaven rather than on earth, which is what He says in the preceding passage, therefore do not worry about your physical needs in this life. If even the birds of the air and the flowers of the field thrive by simply relying upon what your Father provides for them, you can too, since you're much more valuable than they are, says Jesus. But don't jump too far ahead here. Jesus isn't calling you to take a life long vacation as you count on your daily bread getting shipped down from heaven each day. His command here is to not worry, not to not work hard. Think of how busy the birds keep from dawn to dusk and how the flower is doing what it was created to do whenever the sun is shining. You don't need to look far - perhaps even within your own life - to see the awful result of running after all sorts of worldly stuff like the pagans do. They might gain a bunch of things, but they have no rest, no peace and no certainty that whatever they've accumulated today will be here tomorrow. In short, they're often drowning in anxiety. Instead, Jesus calls you to seek first His kingdom and righteousness, and He makes an extraordinary promise to those who do: all these things you need will be given to you as well. Dig Deeper Jesus here is telling you to make a shift in attitude more so than a change in your daily activities. If you're at the point in life where you're part of the workforce, don't quit your job. When you're at your job, keep your head down and be productive. Remember, working is one of the primary ways God calls us to worship Him! But do some quick mental math and tally up how many hours a day you spend productively working versus how many hours a day you spend worrying, stressing, and fretting about the gulf between what you have and what you want. How different would things look for you if you had focused your resources on seeking the kingdom rather than worrying about stuff? That's the brilliance of the short line that Jesus commanded you to pray: "give me each day the bread I need today." He goes on here to tell you to not worry about the other things in life, or even about what will happen tomorrow. It's not that other stuff or planning for the future isn't important, it's just not worth worrying about when you can be absolutely certain your Father will provide. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who created the birds and flowers, and provides for all His creatures' needs; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will seek first the Kingdom and that you'll be able to trust that your Father will give you the things you need; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Revelation 8

Matthew 18:15-18 (NIV) 15  “If your brother or sister sins [against you], go and point out their fault you have won them over. 16  But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter who would follow Him would often wander away (which is what the parable right before this passage in Matthew But as Jesus explains the process here in Matthew 18, notice who the primary active agent is.

Matthew record of Peter's confession comes in chapter 16, and as soon as Peter exclaims that Jesus "is the whole church, but even as few as a couple of representatives of it - comes into agreement on a matter of discipline, the matter is as settled (bound) in heaven as it is in the Church.

Christ teaches us this in summary in Matthew 22— Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with Simply put, anyone who loves God and their neighbor the way Jesus teaches will not be lacking in matters

we need to know now: that when people say things we instinctively know is wrong, it probably is, no matter

The key to being able to follow Jesus' command comes in the verse that precedes this passage: Matthew