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We have been reading and studying in Matthew Chapter 14, and looking at the corresponding passage in John Chapter 6, and now we are in the middle of the Lake of Galilee, in a storm, and Jesus comes walking on the water, and calls Peter to come to Him having given reassurance as to who it is. We all need reassurance.

In verse 30, we read of what has been called the failure of faith as Peter saw the consequences of the storm. Peter was suddenly assailed by fear and doubt, and fear engulfed him.

Faith has begun to fail, and doubt has begun to choke faith, and Jesus…  ( Click for more )

That evening, following the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 men, the disciples sailed off across the lake, but without Jesus Christ.

Now that is always a dangerous thing to do – to move off and away without Jesus.

It was dark, and on that lake, some 13 miles by 8 miles, a storm arose, and they are in danger of losing their lives.

These tough seasoned fishermen were only three miles or so from the shore – right in the middle of the lake. They are worn out – weary – and getting nowhere – when they see a figure walking on the water…  ( Click for more )

What do we learn here from this miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 men, plus women and children? We are in Matthew Chapter 14, and we have also read John Chapter 6.

We are given an amazing insight into Jesus’ knowledge of people. Jesus knew their needs. Jesus knew they were hungry.

Jesus knows when we are hungry and in need.

He knew His disciples were in danger, when they sailed off on the Lake of Galilee, without Him.

He knows too when we are afraid – or when we are about to fail – or when we are lonely or insecure – or in danger.…  ( Click for more )

This incident where 5,000 men are fed is called a miracle.

Many years ago at a young folks Bible Class we agreed that “A miracle is God at work”. Is that not such an easy description of what happened in Matthew Chapter 14? We do not know how many women and children were present, but they too would receive what Jesus realised they needed to receive, to strengthen them and nourish them on that occasion.

Jesus wanted no-one to leave unfed – unfilled – dissatisfied – ever – not when He is around. Jesus continues to have that concern…  ( Click for more )

We are moving on to Matthew Chapter 14 and verse 13. The setting is after the death of John the Baptist and Jesus continues ministering. Nothing would put Jesus off. It was as if Jesus wanted to get away and be on His own. His cousin had just been beheaded.

It is as if He is being interrupted, but He had compassion upon needy people.

Nevertheless the crowds came. Jesus welcomed them, and spoke to them, healing those who needed healing. Wonderful!

He feeds them with spiritual food, and, when they are hungry He feeds them with physical from what is available…  ( Click for more )

We are in Matthew Chapter 14 and we have been reading the various aspects of this complex passage about John and Jesus Christ and King Herod and his wife Herodias. It is not the passage we might choose as our favourite one on which to preach and teach, but we must be faithful to the whole of the Word of God. People need to be taught and informed from every part of the Word of God.

Share this and preach this and teach this and let these truths from the Word of God be proclaimed and published abroad, because people do need to know the truth and it is our task and…  ( Click for more )

We are in Matthew Chapter 14, and we have been reminded that John the Baptist did not preach a nice comfortable message, and nor would he do so to Herod and Herodias, and he had an extraordinary price to pay for his ministry of the Word of God.

Herod reveals just how weak and how easily influenced a man can be at times. It was his father who arranged that appalling slaughter of the children at the birth of Jesus. It was Herod who handed Jesus over to be crucified.

A weakened will can do such destructive damage.

Herod did have a fear of John and tried to protect…  ( Click for more )

John the Baptist had been beheaded but the living Lord Jesus Christ is now going around preaching and healing and exercising a most powerful ministry and the man who was responsible for the death of John, King Herod, is deeply troubled. Yes, kill a prophetic John and you have a Jesus to reckon with.

Kill a prophet and you have to face the living God.

It is possible to kill a messenger of God, but the Holy Spirit enables the message to live on.

John had lived a selfless and sacrificial life. John had brought the Word of God at a time when the Word of God, coming…  ( Click for more )

We move on to Matthew Chapter 14. Jesus has been teaching about the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God.

One man was not in His Kingdom and did not want to be in His Kingdom, but the ministry of Jesus Christ, and these disciples, made this one man tremble.

Herod heard of all that was being done by Jesus, and now Jesus Christ has a group of men out preaching and healing.

This is an extraordinary story which is so full of tension and drama.

There are great advantages in preaching through the Bible and just making one’s way through passage after passage…  ( Click for more )

In this parable about the dragnet in Matthew Chapter 13 verses 47 to 52, Jesus encourages us to regard these spiritual matters seriously. He certainly did. This parable is about sorting, separating and judgment.

God and sin are incompatible. God and sin do not mix.

There are so many people who know very little about Almighty God, and Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, and heaven and grace and mercy and forgiveness.

Many people have been used and misused and abused and discarded when they are no longer of any use and such people need to know of the God of grace…  ( Click for more )

There is so much to learn from these parables in Matthew Chapter 13 and we move on now to verses 47 to 58. There is such depth of truth in these words of Jesus Christ.

Many of the truths from these previous parables seem to be drawn together in this net. There is such a seriousness attached to this parable.

The Kingdom of God is like a net. Jesus is teaching from a fishing boat by the Sea of Galilee. Jesus is sitting in this fishing boat and as soon as Jesus speaks these words he is very much in the world of the people around him. This is important.

This net…  ( Click for more )

We have been looking at these three verses in Matthew Chapter 13, verses 44,45,46, but let us have one further look at them in the light of preaching from this Parable in a way that might help and encourage in a very simple way someone who may be really struggling.

A farmer was out ploughing. He hit an obstacle and stopped to examine the obstruction. A chest had been hidden in that field, and on opening it, it was discovered to be full of treasure.

He covers it up, goes off, and sells everything he possesses to buy that field.

He does this joyfully because he knows…  ( Click for more )

Do not be surprised by God’s working. We have been reading of that farmer working away in his field and his plough hits something and it is treasure. This man must have been so surprised. Jesus Christ is speaking about a man finding the riches of the kingdom of heaven in these two very brief but profound parables in Matthew Chapter 13 verses 44 to 46.

Imagine that scenario of a farmer ploughing his field and the fields around where Jesus was speaking and teaching were full of black basalt rock stones. This must have been the last thing on his mind, as he stumbles…  ( Click for more )

Jesus Christ will never use us and then discard us. Jesus Christ the King is too gracious and merciful and loving and concerned and compassionate to behave in that manner.

Jesus Christ will never regard you as someone He can lever, just to get something from you, and then finish with you.

It is sore and painful when someone misuses you or abuses you and takes what they can from you and then walks away rejecting you. You may have invested time and energy in that life, but once they have got what they want, off they go!

Jesus Christ will never act in that appalling…  ( Click for more )

Where your treasure is there will your heart be also. Do we not discover that so very few people have their heart and thereby their treasure in the kingdom of God and in the work and service of the kingdom of God? We are reading in Matthew Chapter 13 verses 44 to 46.

Where your treasure is there you will find your heart! Jesus had been teaching this and now He is painting the picture of what is important to us – and what we value – and what we are committed to – and He does it in a very simple but challenging way.

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is…  ( Click for more )

We have been reading in Matthew Chapter 13 of the parable of the sowing of the seed, the mustard seed which appeared so small and insignificant, and the amazing working of the yeast in the dough, invisibly and imperceptibly, yet powerfully and effectively.

These parables of Jesus are packed with relevance, and truth that is profoundly encouraging.

The world is looking for sensations. The world is not for Jesus. Might this be one reason why Jesus speaks about something very ordinary as seed and yeast?

When people taste the power and mercy and love of Jesus Christ,…  ( Click for more )

We are reading in Matthew Chapter 13 where Jesus teaches that Parable of the Mustard Seed. Jesus Christ the king is speaking and teaching about the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven.

We think of the word kingdom as a territory with borders, but Jesus is meaning a kingship where Jesus is King, and where His kingship is acknowledged.

Rejecting Jesus means that you are not in His kingdom.

Isaiah Chapter 9 teaches us and explains that the increase of His kingdom there shall be no end.

The day will come when everyone will acknowledge that Jesus Christ is king…  ( Click for more )

On Jesus goes with another parable – another picture of the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God, as if to say to His disciples, “Now, think of this too”. We are in Matthew Chapter 13 and verses 31 to 35.

One feature has almost been implied, but now it becomes clearer and we have to come to terms with it for our encouragement, as well as to challenge us.

Growth is involved at one stage or another. The kind of growth and type of growth and quality of growth can be very different as it is described in these two parables, but growth is important.…  ( Click for more )

How did evil get into the world, and how do we get rid of it?

We have been reading two of the parable of Jesus in Matthew Chapter 13 and we have discovered in these verses answers to some serious questions. The Bible does have answers for the questions which many people ask us. God has provided answers for most of the questions that do bother people, and the answers are there if only people were willing to accept and embrace them.

In the parable of the sower and the seed, reference is made to the enemy, the evil one, who comes and snatches away the seed that has been…  ( Click for more )

We are in Matthew Chapter 13, and we have been looking at that parable about the wheat and the tares and we have to read on to verse 36 to be given the full significance of what at first sight appears to be a very simple illustration. These stories which we call the parables are just so wonderful and beautiful – are they?

Jesus left the crowd and went into the house and his disciples came to him and asked for a further explanation. Tell us the meaning.

It is always encouraging when someone comes with a question wanting further teaching – wanting to know more.…  ( Click for more )

We are in the wonderful land of the parables, but is it really so wonderful? These are not just nice stories. Jesus is imparting some devastating teaching to his disciples and have we not seen this truth emerge when we spent time studying the parable of the sower and the seed?

We move on to Matthew Chapter 13 and verses 24 to 30 – Tares among the wheat. Jesus Christ is pointing us to the time of the final harvest. What does Jesus Christ have to say about this final event?

For some it will be exciting and thrilling – for others it will mean disastrous…  ( Click for more )

We have read the Parable of the Sower and the Seed in Matthew Chapter 13. It is very simple and very straightforward and the crowds would identify with what Jesus was saying because there were fields and rocks and seed and farmers all around that part of the Galilee. However, the disciples wanted more. They wanted Jesus to go deeper and explain and amplify and that is always a good healthy sign. They ask a question and Jesus is more than willing to provide an answer.

The parable has a two edged effect. It is a parable about the teaching of Jesus.

The parable is…  ( Click for more )

We are in the opening verses of Matthew Chapter 13. One day a large crowd had come together and as if to get a bit of room Jesus got into a boat and Jesus began to speak to the crowd from the boat. This is surely success. Does Jesus preach the encouraging word which everyone would appreciate and which the itching ears would want to hear and for which Jesus would receive adulation? Does Jesus seek to rally the party faithful?

Jesus is really quite shocking and challenging.

Jesus does not give them a comfortable cushion on which to sit! Are you going to follow me…  ( Click for more )

We move on to Matthew Chapter 13 and verses 1 to 23. Jesus has been travelling around the various towns and villages and what does Jesus do everywhere he goes? He proclaims the good news of the kingdom. He moves around physically and geographically. He changes places for preaching and teaching, but he does not change his message.

Luke tells us in Chapter 8 that the twelve were with him. They would be learning so much as they listened, watched, and observed.

There were also some women following Jesus around - some of whom had been healed and delivered from evil…  ( Click for more )