HOPEful girl

  Chapter 19-20 Well Easter is upon us. You can tell by all the plastic eggs and chocolates bunnies on display that seen as you walk through the stores now.  As I am further along in my Christian walk, that stuff all seems so silly to me, as its further from the true meaning of Easter.  It seems even more silly than when I see Christmas decorations, but why? Christmas is not in the Bible, and neither are plastic eggs and chocolate bunnies.  Maybe its cause the very core of Christianity hangs on the truth of the resurrection.  But I am getting a head of myself. That doesn’t come until the end of the book of Matthew (spoiler alert) and we still have 9 chapters to go.   This week we’ll be covering chapters 19-20.  Yet,  Jesus does actually give us an Easter egg spoiler alert in 20:17-10 when he predicts his death AND resurrection.  Chapter 19-20 QUESTIONS  Is Jesus forbidding divorced Christians from remarrying? What did Jesus mean when He ...

  CHAPTER 17 I neglected to post last week’s blog since I’ve been so busy moving.  As renters, the owners of our residence decided to sell so we had to be out by 45 days. It has been a whirlwind  of a busy  month to say the least.  So I will cover 2 chapters this week. Actually from here on out until Easter week, I’ll be covering more than just one chapter.  I think its appropriate to take a pause here and reflect why I even started studying the book of Matthew in the first place.   It was after I learned my new method of bible study. It took me over a year to study the gospel of Matthew using that method.  I really wanted to know who this Jesus of the Bible was more. If the Bible is a book about God , then I wanted to learn more about his attributes in Jesus.   Throughout the book of Matthew, there are signs that point to Jesus as the true Messiah King, hence the devotional’s name, ‘all signs point to Jesus. Chapter 17 does a great job of de...

  CHAPTER 16 This week, I’ve placed my short commentary at the end of the answers to the questions. Again, try answering questions on your own before jumping to the answers.  QUESTIONS  Why did Jesus’ enemies demand these spectacular signs when He was healing great multitudes of people right before their eyes? What was the subtle influence Jesus was warning against? Why is this moment of Peter’s confession a high point and pivotal moment in Jesus’ ministry? Why was Jesus so harsh to call Peter “Satan”? Why does taking up our cross and following Jesus require denying ourselves? The Pharisees and Sadducees demand powerful signs of Jesus. Read 16:1–4. © 2019 Concordia Publishing House. Scripture: ESV®. Q 86: A 86: Why did Jesus’ enemies demand these spectacular signs when He was healing great multitudes of people right before their eyes? They were driven by unbelief. They refused to see the miracles all around them. Instead, they demanded to see a spectacular sign in the hea...