Matthew 17 - January 17th, 2024

Good morning and welcome to day 17 of our bread devotionals.

We're so glad that you're here and uh just so expectant that God is gonna meet us in these few moments that we have together.

Um if you're new with us, we every day we are journeying through the gospel of Matthew, uh, really framing it up with this acronym of bread.

So B-R-E-A-D simply stands for breathe, read, encounter, apply, and devote.

And so that's what we'll be doing this morning as we uh dig into Matthew chapter 17.

Matthew 17 · chapter mention

Um just encourage you to find a quiet space, get still before the Lord, and have uh a pen or pencil, notebook, or journal, handy, highlighter, whatever you need to uh stay engaged this morning and to be able to uh jot down anything that you feel like God is saying to you.

And so we'll start this morning, just like we've done every morning, with uh first breathing, centering ourselves on the Lord, and then we'll move into reading our assigned passage today.

So maybe plant your feet firmly on the ground, open up your palms as a sign of surrender, a posture of just openness before the Lord, and take a big deep breath, and then exhale and breathe in and breathe out, just spend a few moments focusing on your breath and beginning to invite the Holy Spirit to come and meet with you this morning.

Now let's turn our attention to the scripture this morning.

As we read our assigned passage for today, we'll be in Matthew chapter 17.

Matthew 17 · chapter mention

So I encourage you to have your notepad or journal handy so that you can jot down anything that you feel like the Lord is saying or maybe highlight a verse that jumps out to you or confronts you this morning.

So Matthew chapter 17.

Matthew 17 · chapter mention

Six days later, Jesus took Peter and the two brothers, James and John, and led them up a high mountain to be alone.

As the men watched, Jesus' appearance was transformed so that his face shone like the sun and his clothes became as white as light.

Suddenly Moses and Elijah appeared and began talking with Jesus.

Peter exclaimed, Lord, it's wonderful for us to be here.

If you want, I'll make three shelters as memorials.

One for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.

But even as he spoke, a bright cloud overshadowed him, and a voice from the cloud said, This is my dearly loved son who brings me great joy.

Listen to him.

The disciples were terrified and fell face down on the ground.

And then Jesus came over and touched them.

Get up, he said, don't be afraid.

And they looked up.

Moses and Elijah were gone, and they saw only Jesus.

As they went back down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, Don't tell anyone what you have seen until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.

When his disciples asked him, why do the teachers of religious law insist that Elijah must return before the Messiah comes?

Jesus replied, Elijah is indeed coming first to get everything ready.

But I tell you, Elijah has already come, but he wasn't recognized, and they chose to abuse him.

And in the same way, they will also make the Son of Man suffer.

Then the disciples realized he was talking about John the Baptist.

At the foot of the mountain, a large crowd was waiting for them.

A man came and knelt before Jesus and said, Lord, have mercy on my son.

He has seizures and suffers terribly.

He often falls into the fire or into the water.

So I brought him to your disciples, but they couldn't heal him.

Jesus said, You faithless and corrupt people, how long must I be with you?

How long must I put up with you?

Bring the boy here to me.

Then Jesus rebuked the demon and the boy, and it left him.

And from that moment, the boy was well.

Afterward, the disciples asked Jesus privately, Why couldn't we cast out the demon?

You don't have enough faith, Jesus told them.

I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, Move from here to there, and it would move.

Nothing would be impossible.

And after they gathered again in Galilee, Jesus told them, The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies.

He will be killed, but on the third day he will be raised from the dead.

And the disciples were filled with grief.

On their arrival in Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax came to Peter and asked him, Doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax?

Yes, he does, Peter replied.

And then he went into the house.

But before he had a chance to speak, Jesus asked him, What do you think, Peter?

Do kings tax their own people or the people they have conquered?

They tax the people they have conquered, Peter replied.

Well then, Jesus said, The citizens are free.

However, we don't want to offend them.

So go down to the lake and throw in a line.

Open the mouth of the first fish you catch, and you will find a large silver coin.

Take it and pay the tax for both of us.

This is the word of the Lord.

So now we'll move into the encounter portion of our morning where we simply just take a few moments and spend some time meditating on a verse that we highlighted or something we jotted down as we were reading this morning's passage, something that we feel like God is saying to us, bringing to our attention.

And uh just maybe write a little reflection on how that makes you feel and what you feel like God is saying to you.

Next, we move to uh apply, and this is where we just seek to really um look outward, begin to think through practically how we can live out this truth that God is telling us today.

And so spend the next few moments just uh asking the Holy Spirit for wisdom and guidance on how you can live this out today.

This is where we just simply, in response to all that God has said to us, maybe write out a prayer of devotion to Him and then just pray that back to Him this morning.

Feel free to just pause this and continue to process with the Lord.

But we do want to say thank you so much, church family, for uh joining us on this journey through the gospel according to Matthew.

Pray that the Lord has met you this morning and that as you go about your day, that he empowers you with the Holy Spirit, fills you with joy, love, and peace uh as you walk with him and commit your day to him.