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August 21 Daily Reading- Read the Bible in 1 Year
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If you would like to download my FREE calendar for keeping track of your commitment to read the Bible every day, you can find that on my site, here: https://www.inthefamilywaycoaching.com/pages/read-the-bible-in-1-year
Monthly memberships to support this event can be purchased on my site, here: https://www.inthefamilywaycoaching.com/offering_packages
In today's reading we will cover Matthew Chapter 9:9-15, Mark Chapter 2:13-20, Luke Chapter 5:27-35, and John Chapter 5. Today We will read about Matthew joining Jesus as a follower
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Transcript
00:00:02
Speaker
Hey
Introduction and Excitement for the Day's Reading
00:00:03
Speaker
there, everyone. Today is August 21st. Welcome to our daily reading through the Day by Day Kids Bible written by Karen Henley. I'm super glad that you're here.
00:00:13
Speaker
And we have some very exciting reading today. i know I say that frequently, but whoa, it is awesome.
Significance of Jesus' Teachings
00:00:20
Speaker
We are going to see Jesus really laying it down today.
00:00:24
Speaker
He's going to lay down the word.
00:00:27
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So if you are following along on that commitment calendar, go ahead and get that out and your sticker or whatever you're using to mark off your days. Because guess what? You are about to hear the word today.
00:00:45
Speaker
Today, we have a lot to read. So I am going to get right into it.
Matthew's Identity and Transformation
00:00:52
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Today, our first section is entitled A Party at Matthews.
00:00:57
Speaker
So this is the Matthew. And when we have our gospel books, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, this is Matthew. And this is his witness as to how he became a follower of Jesus.
00:01:11
Speaker
I love this. Now, Matthew also had a Jewish name. Matthew is the Greek translation for Levi. So there's a little bit of tidbit for you today.
00:01:23
Speaker
Matthew's Jewish name was Levi.
Jesus Heals and Forgives: A Controversial Act
00:01:28
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Now, remember, this was also after didn't really talk about it much yesterday as part of our daily application. But yesterday we saw Jesus healing a man who was raised, who was lowered down from the roof on his mat.
00:01:43
Speaker
And he told the man, your sins are forgiven. And then the leaders were all in an uproar about this. Who has the authority to forgive sins except for God? And Jesus told them,
00:01:55
Speaker
What's easier to say, pick up your mat, go and walk, go home now? Or is it easier to say your sins are forgiven? But so that you may know that I have authority to do this, to forgive sins.
00:02:10
Speaker
I said that for your benefit. And then he tell he he told the man, get up, pick up your mat, walk and go home. And then he did so. But he was equating what had happened to this man with it was because of his sins.
00:02:29
Speaker
And today we're going to be seeing the same thing with another man.
00:02:35
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After we read about Matthew.
Dining with Tax Collectors: Mercy vs. Judgment
00:02:39
Speaker
So after this occurred, Jesus walked out by the lake and lots of people came to see him there. So he started teaching them. Then Jesus saw Matthew.
00:02:53
Speaker
Matthew was sitting at his tax table and he was a tax man and he took the tax money that people had to pay. Follow me, Jesus said to Matthew. So Matthew followed Jesus and he even gave a big dinner party for Jesus.
00:03:10
Speaker
It was at his own house. Tax workers and many other people came to his party. Some of the Jewish leaders came to the party too, but they didn't like the tax men.
00:03:22
Speaker
These men took more money than they should. The leaders talked to Jesus' friends about it. Why are you eating and drinking with these tax workers? They are sinning. They are sinners.
00:03:35
Speaker
Now, weren't they also at that same dinner, eating with these tax collectors and sinners? That's kind of what we call the pot calling the kettle black, don't you think? Just thought I'd point that out while we're reading.
00:03:49
Speaker
Jesus heard what the leader said and he responded, people who are well don't need a doctor. Sick people do. So why don't you go and learn what this means?
00:04:01
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I want your kindness, not your gifts. Our big Bible translates that into, i desire mercy, not sacrifice.
00:04:13
Speaker
I didn't come to find people who are doing right. I came to find people who are doing wrong.
00:04:20
Speaker
Then the leaders said, John's followers go without food to worship God, and they do it while they pray. And the followers of the Jewish leaders do it too.
00:04:31
Speaker
But your followers eat and drink. But they got nothing but complaining to do while they're attending a party, don't they? The groom is with his friends, said Jesus.
00:04:44
Speaker
Will his friends stop eating now? One day the groom will be gone and then there will be days when they don't eat.
Healing on Worship Day: Authority and Controversy
00:04:55
Speaker
At the pool is our next section. Now, sometime later, Jesus went to Jerusalem for a Jewish holiday. And now in Jerusalem, there was a gate called the sheep gate.
00:05:08
Speaker
And near the sheep gate, there was a pool and five covered sidewalks led to this pool. Lots of sick people came to the pool and they thought the water could make them well when it bubbled.
00:05:22
Speaker
People who couldn't see came and people who couldn't move would lie down there. And one man had not been able to walk for 38 years. Jesus saw him lying by the pool.
00:05:36
Speaker
So Jesus asked him, do you want to get well? Yes, said the man, but no one will help me into the pool. The water bubbles and then I try to get in but somebody else always gets in first.
00:05:52
Speaker
Then Jesus said, get up, pick up your mat, walk.
00:06:00
Speaker
And right away, the man's legs got strong any his man and he and he walked. Now this happened on a worship day.
00:06:12
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And the Jewish leaders saw the man carrying his mat. And they said, this is a worship day and God's law says not to carry mats on a worship day. A man made me well, he said, and he told me to pick up my mat and walk.
00:06:28
Speaker
And who was this man, asked the leaders, who told you to pick up your mat and walk? The man who had been made well didn't have any idea. he didn't know who had made him well because Jesus had quietly moved away and he had moved away into the crowd who were standing around the pool.
00:06:49
Speaker
Now later on, Jesus saw the man at the worship house and Jesus said to him, you are well now, don't sin anymore. Not being able to walk is bad, but it's not as bad as what could happen if you keep sinning.
00:07:05
Speaker
Then the man went and found the Jewish leaders and he told them that it was Jesus who had made him well. And the Jewish leaders got angry at Jesus and it was all because he had made someone well on a worship day.
00:07:21
Speaker
My father is always at work, said Jesus. He is even working today. So I am working too. The leaders didn't like to hear this, so they tried to find a way to kill Jesus.
00:07:35
Speaker
And they thought he didn't care about the worship day. And what's more, he was calling God his own father. And he was making himself the same as God.
00:07:48
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So Jesus talked about himself.
Unity with God: Authority and Reverence
00:07:51
Speaker
And he said, the son cannot do anything by himself. He only does what he sees his father do.
00:07:59
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And whatever the father does, the son does too. The father loves the son, said Jesus, and he shows the son everything he does.
00:08:10
Speaker
He will surprise you. he will show the son even greater things than you have seen. The father gives life to the dead. And in the same way, the son life too The father does not judge anyone, said Jesus.
00:08:30
Speaker
He lets his son judge. Then everyone will treat the son like he is important. And it's just like making the father important. What if you don't treat the son like he is important?
00:08:44
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Then you are not treating the father like he is important. The father is the one who sent the son. Listen to me, said Jesus.
00:08:56
Speaker
Believe in the one who sent me. Then you will have life forever. You won't be blamed. You have moved out of death and into life.
00:09:09
Speaker
It's time for the dead to hear the son's voice. Everyone who hears will live. Don't be surprised, said Jesus, and someday...
00:09:20
Speaker
All people in their graves will hear the son's voice. They will come out of their graves. People who did good things will get up and live.
00:09:33
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And people who sinned will get up and be blamed. You went to see John, said Jesus, and he told you the truth. John was like a lamp.
00:09:46
Speaker
He gave light for a while and you chose to enjoy his light. but I am able to tell about my father better than John. The father gave me work to finish.
00:10:00
Speaker
That's what I'm doing. My work shows that the father sent to me. The father tells about me, said Jesus. He sent me.
00:10:13
Speaker
You did not hear his voice. You did not see how he looks. His word does not live in you because you do not believe me.
00:10:27
Speaker
You work hard at studying God's word, said Jesus, and you think that that's the way to have life forever. The same words you study tell about me, but you won't come to me to have life.
00:10:42
Speaker
It's not important that people cheer for me, but I know you, said Jesus. I know God's love is not in your hearts. I come to you in my father's name.
00:10:55
Speaker
But you do not believe me. Other people come in their own names and you believe them. and you want other people to cheer for you so But you don't even try to get God to cheer for you.
00:11:10
Speaker
Moses wrote about me, said Jesus. But you don't believe what Moses wrote. So how can you believe what I am telling you?
00:11:21
Speaker
And that is the end of our reading today.
00:11:25
Speaker
Wow. Was that not a lot? and I promised you it would be. We are going to break it down. There was a lot here today. Oh, this was so awesome.
00:11:38
Speaker
So awesome. Let's go back to the beginning and look at the verse that Jesus said and when he was talking ah to the leaders who were at Matthew's house, enjoying his party, but complaining about it all the time.
00:11:55
Speaker
Do you know anybody like that? Somebody who goes to a party and then just complains about everything? Why bother to be there? You didn't have to be there. They didn't have to be there.
00:12:08
Speaker
Jesus told them, go and learn what this means. I want your compassion. I want your kindness, not your gifts. So in our big Bible, I mentioned that this means I desire mercy, not sacrifice.
00:12:23
Speaker
So the leaders were complaining that Jesus was hanging out with people who were sinners. And first of all, Jesus tells us that all have sinned.
00:12:34
Speaker
These people were not perfect. They were sinners too. So by saying this, they were basically saying that they were not sinners. How is that possible?
00:12:48
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That's what we call a hypocrite. We don't want to be hypocrites. That is not good.
00:12:56
Speaker
That's what I meant by the the pot calling the kettle black. It means they're pointing out something in the other person, but they themselves are the same way.
00:13:06
Speaker
Now Jesus said in Matthew chapter 9, verse 13, go and learn what this means. Mercy I desire and not sacrifice. For I did not come to call the righteous, but the sinful.
Mercy over Sacrifice: Old Testament Reflections
00:13:21
Speaker
So Jesus is quoting Hosea and Micah. where God told the people in Hosea chapter 6, verse 6.
00:13:33
Speaker
God said, wants us to know him and love him. wants to... knowledge of god more then burn to offerings god wants us to know him and love him he wants this to Be merciful to others.
00:13:51
Speaker
If God desires mercy more than sacrifice, he himself is the one who is issuing that mercy by choosing to send his only son as the sacrifice for our atonement so that we could have full access to God's spirit and to be one with him.
00:14:10
Speaker
God himself is so merciful. If God himself is merciful and he leads us by example, How much more so do we need to practice mercy?
00:14:22
Speaker
Mercy against who? Against each other. We need to be merciful with one another. I'm also going to read Micah chapter 6, verses 6 8, which says, With what shall I come before the Lord?
00:14:41
Speaker
With what shall I bow myself before God on high? Shall I present him with burnt offerings, with year-old calves? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with hordes of rivers of oil?
00:14:56
Speaker
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my belly for the sin of my soul? He has told you, humanity, what is good and what the Lord is seeking from you, only to practice justice.
00:15:14
Speaker
to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Walk with God. Be merciful. Practice justice.
00:15:27
Speaker
That means to be fair with people and not to treat them unfairly. Does our God treat us unfairly? No, he is very... he he gives us mercy.
00:15:41
Speaker
yeah he's not He's beyond merciful and justice. He does not give us what we deserve, but instead he gives us mercy. And he wants to walk humbly. He wants you to walk humbly with him. He wants me to walk humbly with him, knowing that we are not better than him.
00:16:03
Speaker
And let's look at Jesus's example of this. He told us today in John chapter 5, He says the son can do nothing without the father.
00:16:15
Speaker
If Jesus himself cannot do anything by himself, and he only does what he sees his father doing, and whatever the father does, he does, can we do anything without God or without Jesus?
Centrality of Jesus in Life and Eternal Path
00:16:31
Speaker
No, we are not better than Jesus. We are not greater than him. If Jesus himself only does what he sees God doing, then we also can only do what we see God doing.
00:16:46
Speaker
We are not greater than God. We are not greater than Jesus. We need to follow them And now we say them, not just following God, but Jesus makes it clear here that in the same way that we have learned in our old covenant reading to make God the most important one, now we see and we hear with our own ears that we are to make Jesus also the most important one along with God.
00:17:15
Speaker
And if we make Jesus the most important one, We are not neglecting God. We are not substituting. Because if we are worshiping Jesus and making him the most important one in our lives, Jesus tells us that it is the same as when we make God the most important one in our lives.
00:17:35
Speaker
Do we need to hear that again?
00:17:39
Speaker
It's just like, um let's see, we'll go back one line. Everyone will treat the son like he is important. It's just like making the father important.
00:17:52
Speaker
What if you do not treat the son like he is important? Then you are not treating the father like he is important. The father is the one who sent the son.
00:18:04
Speaker
We are expected to. It is not a choice to choose God over Jesus. Jesus has told us that we must make him as important as God.
00:18:16
Speaker
Otherwise, we will not have eternal life. We must believe in the Son because the Father sent the Son.
00:18:28
Speaker
And Jesus tells us that then we will have life forever and we will not be blamed for our sins. Now, you may be a little bit confused because in here, Jesus tells us that he will be the one judging, yet he did not come to judge the world. He came to save the world.
00:18:44
Speaker
Right now, we are in the time where Jesus is saving. But Jesus has told us here that there will come a day
00:18:56
Speaker
that the dead will rise. And when the dead rise, those who have done right will be saved by Jesus. We call that, I believe the word for that is reciprocity.
00:19:10
Speaker
Jesus died and his sin atonement covered the people who were already dead. For those who chose to follow God and to follow his ways.
00:19:22
Speaker
For those who did not choose to follow God, they will not be forgiven. They will raise to judgment. But for those who followed God, they will rise to forgiveness and to eternal life.
00:19:37
Speaker
We are already having the opportunity to believe in Jesus. So we have the opportunity now, whereas people before did not.
00:19:51
Speaker
But Jesus will also atone for their sins so that they also may join in eternal life.
00:20:00
Speaker
I wanted to read, ah ah tell us about Moses. It says, Moses wrote about me, but you don't believe what Moses wrote. So how can you believe what I am telling you? So in John chapter 5, Jesus is telling us this.
00:20:16
Speaker
And
00:20:20
Speaker
in Deuteronomy chapter 18, verses 15 through 19, this is where Moses told the people, The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your midst, from your brothers.
00:20:35
Speaker
To him you must listen. This is just what you asked of the Lord, your God, and Horheb on the day of the assembly when saying, I cannot continue to hear the voice of the Lord, my God, or see this great fire anymore or I will die.
00:20:56
Speaker
so i lost my place. Sorry about that.
00:21:01
Speaker
So the Lord said to me, they have done well in what they have spoken. Lord was happy with their response. And he said, I will raise up a prophet like you, meaning Moses, from among their brothers.
00:21:17
Speaker
I will put my words in his mouth and he will speak to them all that I command him. Now, whoever does not listen to my words that this prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account.
00:21:36
Speaker
So Jesus says, you were already well aware that this was coming, and yet you study the scriptures looking for life. So how is it that you don't know that this is me?
00:21:49
Speaker
And so we know that the scriptures were also fulfilled where the people, the leaders, they did not want to obey. They did not want to acknowledge him because they wanted the people to be following them And this is what Jesus is telling them, is that they were looking for people's pick praise.
00:22:09
Speaker
They were not even looking for God's acceptance and praise. Jesus was looking for God's acceptance and praise by following God.
00:22:19
Speaker
So what is our daily application for today?
Applying Jesus' Teachings: Humility and Light
00:22:24
Speaker
that we need to follow and obey Jesus and make him the most important one in our lives every day. That doing so is what brings us the eternal life that he has promised us.
00:22:36
Speaker
he will ah He's already forgiven us. And we need to be sure that we are following his teachings, that we are honoring him.
00:22:47
Speaker
We are doing what he taught us about today. We need to make sure that we are not looking for people to look to us and say, wow, look how fabulous we are. Because it is not us that we should be pointing the way to, but it is to God. and is to Jesus.
00:23:04
Speaker
We are the light of the world because we are to point the way for Jesus, just like John the Baptist did. He came and he was a light and he pointed the way to Jesus, not to himself.
00:23:15
Speaker
And we talked about that as our daily application when we were reading about him. So that is what we need to do today. We need to remember that we are not greater than the one who came to show us life.
00:23:28
Speaker
And he will tell us that in our readings here um as we get through it, that we need to abide in him because none of us are greater. We can't do anything without him.
00:23:40
Speaker
We can't do things of our own volition, of our own will. We can't just say, I'm going to decide to be a good person and then just do it because it'll fizzle out. We can say, I have difficulty being angry.
00:23:51
Speaker
We can say, I have difficulty with not being peaceful, but those are fruits of the spirit. So if we find that we are lacking fruits of the spirit, patience, we are lacking patience, peace, kindness, that we need to look to the one who who gives us these gifts through the Holy Spirit.
00:24:09
Speaker
And it's because we've stepped back away from him. We are not remaining close. We are not walking humbly with our God, with our Jesus. So like we need to examine ourselves.
00:24:22
Speaker
So that's part of our daily application today. all of these things fit together as we are walking humbly with our God and with Jesus. So thank you for joining me today.
00:24:33
Speaker
i hope that you have a lot to think about today for our daily reading, that you ah are looking to make Jesus the most important one in your life today and every day, and that you are remembering to walk humbly with him and to abide with him.
00:24:52
Speaker
And remember to be that light up on a hill and point people to Jesus. I hope you have a fantastic rest of your day. Please remember to click that light button so we can draw people to him.
00:25:04
Speaker
Not for me, but for Jesus, because we want people to hear God's word. We want to spread the word about reading God's word so that people may hear this message and know that Jesus is the son of God. And it is only through him that we receive eternal life.
00:25:21
Speaker
that we need to make him the most important one in our lives because it is the same as making God. It doesn't go the other way. Just acknowledging God and not Jesus. That's not the order of operations here.
00:25:33
Speaker
The order of operations is to believe in the one who was sent, the son. And then by making him the most important one, we know that we are then making God the most important one because Jesus himself points us to God.
00:25:49
Speaker
So thank you for being with me. I hope you enjoyed today's reading and I hope you have a fantastic rest of your day, whatever day you are getting around to hearing this August 21st daily reading.
00:26:01
Speaker
See you tomorrow.