MATTHEW

Today is Sunday.  I love Sundays.  I have not blogged since Wednesday, and I have been busy and forgotten to blog later in the day.  Today, I am in Matthew and there are a few thoughts to share:

1. KING OF KINGS- Jesus is the KING of Kings because He is the Messiah.  He is GOD in flesh!  But He is also the KING of Kings naturally.  That is, His lineage is the story of the Kings of Israel, and then the Kings of Judah.  You will find the names of those kings all written down in Matthew chapter one.  Here the genealogy of Jesus Christ is written out.  He is the LION of the tribe of JUDAH, and that is the kingly tribe, from which the kings arose, starting with David, the great King of Israel. 

2. EVERY SINGLE SOUL IS IMPORTANT- In Matt. 3:12, it reads:  "Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."  This is a prophetic statement concerning Jesus Christ, made by John the Baptist.  That's right.... Baptist!  Well he made this statement about Jesus.  Here is what it means:  The grain was milled at a mill stone.  The area would have stone floors and a large stone wheel to grind the grain into flour.  Before that, the grain would be sifted to separate the grain from the chaff (or shell).  The shell would be gathered to be burned, and the grain gathered to be milled.  Usually some grain would get caught between the stones and be lost.  But here, the grain represents the souls of men.  So Jesus will throughly sweep the floor for every single grain, because every single soul is precious to Him!  What a loving picture of our Savior's love for our souls.  Now, those who reject Christ... they are the chaff.  They will be burned in unquenchable fire.  The best in the universe cannot compare to the beauty of Heaven, and reversely, the hottest in the universe cannot compare to Hell.  I saw a show about the Sun.  It's surface is over 10,000 degrees hot, but the aurora is millions of degrees hot!  So, Hell must be very, very, hot!  Just as the Sun is unquenchable, so Hell is eternally so as well.  Praise God we are the grain!!

3. PREACH AS YOU GO- Matthew 10:7 reads:  "And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand."  This phrase caught my attention:  "As ye go, preach".  We are to be a going people for Christ.  The first word of the Great Commission, recorded in Matthew 28:19 is "Go...." .  We worry about what to say when we haven't obeyed the commandment to "go".  The words are promised by Jesus to "come", if we "go"!  Let us be concerned about obeying the first part of the commandment and the rest of the commandment will work itself out.  Let us preach as we go!

Hope you have a blessed Sunday.  May God bless you and yours!  Pastor Mike Mutchler