Here are my thoughts and highlights from Matthew as I continue my journey through the Bible:

  • Emmanuel means "God is with us."
  • John the Baptist dressed in a camel-hair habit tied at the waist by a leather strap. John should have shopped at the Buckle.
  • The moment Jesus started teaching, he encouraged us to "Change your life." That’s what ministry is all about. Helping people experience life change through a relationship with Jesus.
  • "You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are–no more, no less." Is it possible that spiritual growth is about recognizing who God is but also recognizing who I am?
  • "The simple moral fact is that words kill." My words matter.
  • Lust can be damaging to my heart.
  • God knows better than I know what I need.
  • Wherever I put my money, that’s the place I will most want to be. If I invest money in ministry and helping others, that’s where I will most want to be.
  • "Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes." It’s as if God knows who I am.
  • Jesus spent time with "disreputable characters"–the "crooks and riff-raff." My life is too sheltered.
  • When people learned about what Jesus was doing, "The news was soon out, and traveled throughout the region." That’s buzz.
  • "Don’t begin by traveling to some far-off place to convert unbelievers. And don’t try to be dramatic by tackling some public enemy. Go to the lost, confused people right here in the neighborhood."
  • Jesus told us we should "be as cunning as a snake" and "inoffensive as a dove." Do you ever get the feeling that Christians and the Church are doing the opposite of both? We often times aren’t strategic in our execution and we tend to be very offensive.
  • "If your first concern is look after yourself, you’ll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you’ll find both yourself and me." Again, it looks like spiritual maturity is finding God and finding the unique me.
  • "Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly." I have more freedom in Christ than I did before I became a Christ-follower. That’s the difference between Jesus and religion. In religion, you lose freedom. With Jesus, you gain freedom.
  • "Jesus left the house and sat on the beach." I knew there was something I liked about Jesus. He must have liked palm trees as well.
  • Jesus told stories "to create readiness" in people’s hearts and minds and "to nudge the people toward receptive insight." In fact, there were days when all Jesus did was tell stories. Our teaching in our services should be filled with storytelling as well. In fact, I would argue that the entire service should tell a story.
  • Jesus said, "I’ve got my hands full dealing with the lost sheep of Israel." Jesus focused his ministry on reaching people outside the faith? The Church tends to focus its ministry on those inside the faith. How would the Church be different if we started focusing on lost sheep?
  • The two most important things I can do are love God and love others.
  • "Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant. If you puff yourself up, you’ll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you’re content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty."
  • "That’s a terrible way to live! It’s criminal to live cautiously like that!" Isn’t it interesting that God gives more to those who risk the most?
  • "I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age." He is still Emmanuel.

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