God's original design for authority is good, but it's so often abused. So how do we exercise our authority justly in the midst of a fallen world where so many are oppressed? This great royal Psalm from David and Solomon will give us practical instruction, and real hope!
This series is based loosely on the book, Authority by Jonathan Leeman.
What did you expect? In this week's passage, we see God's heart for the nations and for outsiders. Through a curious interaction between Jesus and a desperate mother and a repeated feeding miracle, we'll see that great faith can reside in unexpected places, and people.
It seems that our nation is more divided than ever. It has become second nature to vilify those who are different from us or in disagreement with us. But in Sunday's passage recording Jesus' feeding of the five thousand, we see the Lord show a supernatural compassion for an undeserving people. And one group of the undeserving is the disciples themselves! We'll learn how we're not just objects of Christ's compassion but also instruments of it, too, for others.
Part 3 of the Gospel of Matthew is heavily combative, particularly between Jesus and the Pharisees, but there is a break in the action in Sunday's passage. It shows us ultimately that Jesus' ministry isn't primarily a boxing match. It's a servant ministry, a quiet ministry, a ministry to bruised reeds and smoldering wicks. And this, of course, has massive implications for our own church's ministry, too.
In today's passage, we see that religion enslaves just as much as irreligion. It's not about what you do or don't do; it's about who you know (and who knows you). And we'll see from the Apostle Paul's example that this truth shouldn't just impact our own lives personally, but also the way we serve and minister to other Christians and non-Christians around us.
