Matthew 12 - January 12th, 2024

Well, good morning, and welcome back to our Bread Devotionals.

So grateful that you are joining us this morning and hope your day is off to a great start already and excited about what God might do in our time together as we create some space to meet with Him and encounter Him this morning.

If you're new with us, we're using this acronym of bread to kind of give our time a framework to work through this morning as we experience God together.

And it simply stands for first the B is to breathe, and then R is to read, and then encounter, apply, and lastly devote.

And so that's what our framework will look like for this morning as we lean in.

But uh we'll start as we always do by breathing, and so I just invite you to go ahead and uh get all your things together that you might need: a pen, a pencil, a notepad, a journal, whatever you might need as we journey through the scriptures together, and then uh just create it, find a quiet space, uh, just create some space, and we'll start this morning by centering our hearts and our minds and begin to focus in on God and simply just breathing.

Just plant your feet firmly on the floor.

Maybe open up your palms as just a sign of surrender to the Father this morning, and take a deep breath in, breathe out and breathe in and out.

And if it's helpful, you can come back to a phrase or a word as you focus on your breathing.

Maybe just simply pray, Holy Spirit, come as you breathe in and breathe out, Holy Spirit, come.

Maybe take one more last big deep breath in as you focus your mind and your heart on the Father this morning, and ask him as you breathe out just to speak to you as we turn our attention towards his word this morning.

We'll be in Matthew chapter 12 this morning, and so invite you to go ahead and turn there.

Matthew 12 · chapter mention

Uh, and just a reminder to go ahead and have a highlighter or a pen and pen, pencil handy, um, so that you can jot down some things that you feel like God might be uh saying to you.

Uh highlight a scripture or a verse that pops out or maybe challenges you this morning.

And so uh as you get ready, we'll turn to Matthew chapter 12 and continue our journey through the Gospel of Matthew this morning.

Matthew 12 · chapter mention

Matthew chapter 12.

Matthew 12 · chapter mention

At about that time Jesus was walking through some grain fields on the Sabbath.

His disciples were hungry, so they began breaking off some heads of grain and eating them.

But some Pharisees saw them do it and protested, Look, your disciples are breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath.

And Jesus said to them, Haven't you read in the scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry?

He went into the house of God, and he and his companions broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of the bread that only the priests were allowed to eat.

And haven't you read in the law of Moses that the priest on duty in the temple may work on the Sabbath?

I tell you, there is no one here who is even greater than the temple, but you would not have it condemned my innocent disciples if you knew the meaning of the scripture.

I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices, for the Son of Man is Lord, even Lord over the Sabbath.

And then Jesus went over to their synagogue, where he noticed a man with a deformed hand.

The Pharisees asked Jesus, Does the law permit a person to work by healing on the Sabbath?

They were hoping he would say yes so they could bring charges against him.

And he answered, If you had a sheep that fell into a well on the Sabbath, wouldn't you work to pull it out?

Of course you would.

And how much more valuable is a person than a sheep?

Yes, the law permits a person to do good on the Sabbath.

And then he said to the man, Hold out your hand.

So the man held out his hand and it was restored, just like the other one.

Then the Pharisees called a meeting to plot how to kill Jesus.

But Jesus knew what they were planning, so he left that area and many followed him.

He healed all the sick among them, but he warned them not to reveal who he was.

This fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah concerning him.

Look at my servant whom I have chosen.

He is my beloved who pleases me.

I will put my spirit upon him and he will proclaim justice to the nations.

He will not fight or shout or raise his voice in public, he will not crush the weakest reed or put out a flickering candle.

Finally, he will cause justice to be victorious, and his name will be the hope of all the world.

Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and couldn't speak was brought to Jesus.

He healed the man so that he could both speak and see.

And the crowd was amazed and asked, Could it be that Jesus is the Son of David, the Messiah?

But when the Pharisees heard about the miracle, they said, No wonder he can cast out demons.

He gets his power from Satan, the prince of demons.

Jesus knew their thoughts and replied, Any kingdom divided by civil war is doomed.

A town or family splintered by feuding will fall apart.

And if Satan is casting out Satan, he is divided and fighting against himself, his own kingdom will not survive.

And if I am empowered by Satan, what about your own exorcists?

They cast out demons too, so they will condemn you for what you have said.

But if I am casting out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has arrived among you.

For who is powerful enough to enter the house of a strong man and plunder his goods?

Only someone even stronger, someone who could tie him up and then plunder his house.

Anyone who isn't with me opposes me, and anyone who isn't working with me is actually working against me.

So I tell you, every sin and blasphemy can be forgiven except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which will never be forgiven.

Anyone who speaks against the Son of Man can be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, either in this world or in the world to come.

A tree is identified by its fruit.

If a tree is good, its fruit will be good.

If a tree is bad, its fruit will be bad.

You brood of snakes, how can evil men like you speak what is good and right?

For whatever is in your heart determines what you say.

A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart.

And I tell you this: you must give an account on Judgment Day for every idle word you speak.

The words you say will either acquit you or condemn you.

And one day some teachers of religious law and Pharisees came to Jesus and said, Teacher, we want you to show us a miraculous sign to prove your authority.

But Jesus replied, Only an evil, adulterous generation would condemn a miraculous sign.

But the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah.

For as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.

The people of Nineveh will stand up against this generation on Judgment Day and condemn it.

For they repented of their sins at the preaching of Jonah.

Now someone greater than Jonah is here, but you refuse to repent.

The Queen of Sheba will also stand up against this generation on Judgment Day and condemn it, for she came from a distant land to hear the wisdom of Solomon.

And now someone greater than Solomon is here, but you refuse to listen.

When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert seeking rest but finding none.

And then it says, I will return to the person I came from, so it returns and finds its former home, empty, swept, and in order.

And then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there.

And so that person is worse off than before.

That will be the experience of this evil generation.

As Jesus was speaking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside asking to speak with him.

Someone told Jesus, Your mother and your brothers are standing outside and they want to speak to you.

And Jesus asked, Who is my mother?

Who are my brothers?

And then he pointed to his disciples and said, Look, these are my mother and brothers.

Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.

This is the word of the Lord.

We meditate on it.

Spend a few moments just considering what it is that God might be saying to you this morning.

What stands out?

How does this verse make you feel?

What is it that you think God might be saying to you?

And then maybe take a few moments and write a short reflection on that this morning.

And in this part uh of the morning we'll just take a few moments and turn our focus towards how we can uh practically live out what God is saying to us today.

And so just for a moment, ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom for how you should live this out today.

We close by maybe just writing a simple prayer of devotion to God in response to all that He has spoken to us.

We're believing and praying that God is speaking to you.

We we pray that as you go today, that uh He would give you the confidence and the boldness and the courage to live out all that He is calling you to live by the power of His Spirit.