Matthew 22 - 11.28.25
Scripture: Matthew 22:34-45
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42 “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”
“The son of David,” they replied.
43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says,
44 “‘The Lord said to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies
under your feet.”’
45 If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” 46 No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions
Observation:
The Pharisees and the Sadducees had questioned Jesus trying to trick Him. They were amazed and astonished at His wise answers. The next question came from someone who was an expert in the law. He asked Him what is the greatest commandment. Jesus didn’t have to think about it. He answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and with all your mind.” He then gave them a bonus, the second greatest commandment to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” All the law and teaching of the prophets hang on these two.
Loving God and others are the key to walking with God. If we do this following the rest will fall into place.
Jesus then turned the tables, He asked them a question and when they answered He proved their answer wrong, it stopped them from asking any more questions.
Application:
It is ok to ask God questions. He says to seek Him. However, the questions in this passage were not coming from open hearts seeking knowledge. Jesus answered their questions anyway, teaching them incredible truths. I want to make sure God is first in my life and I love Him with all my heart, soul and mind. I want to be open, like He was to answer questions and share God’s truth even if the questions are asked with trickery in mind. Loving Him and my neighbor as He described will grow me in relationship with Him. Then, I can answer in ways that amaze people because I am not relying on my insight, but allowing God to flow through me.
Prayer:
Lord,
Thank you for your love and compassion. May I strive to love you with all I am. Please give me patience when a question being asked is to get things off track, complain, or trick. May your strength fill me to answer as you would with a heart to teach and share truth. You are so good. May your goodness flow through me to others.
Amen
- Cindy Howard
Matthew 21 - 11.27.25
SCRIPTURE Matthew 21:1-9 NIV
“As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them,
“Go to the village ahead of you,
and at once you will find a donkey tied there—with her colt by her.
Untie them and bring them to me.
If anyone says anything to you,
say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”
This took place—to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:
“Say to Daughter Zion, ‘SEE, your KING comes to you—
gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’ ”
The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them.
They brought the donkey and the colt and
placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on.
A very large crowd—spread their cloaks on the road,
while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
The crowds that went ahead of HIM—and those that followed—SHOUTED,
“Hosanna—to the Son of David!” “Blessed is HE
who COMES in the NAME of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest heaven!””
OBSERVATION
Matthew 21 records what would begin the final week of Jesus Life.
For three years Jesus had preached the Good News, Taught his disciples and the crowds that followed, about forgiveness- mercy-and-Love.
Jesus cared for, received, and Healed—the broken and rejected—
and performed miracles—unlike the world had EVER—witnessed before.
NOW—over a period of eight days—
Jesus would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey, Be Hailed as the Son of David
with shouts of Hosanna filling the air (Lord Save us).
Jesus would cleanse the Temple, challenge the religious leaders, institute the Lord’s Supper (Communion), get arrested, be Tried for Blasphemy, be Crucified—and THEN—be Raised from the dead!
This was the Moment.
ALL Creation had Been Waiting For THIS ONE MOMENT in Time.
“…The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
And all of this is a gift from God—who brought us back to himself—through Christ.
And God has given us this task of reconciling people to HIM.
For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself,
no longer counting people’s sins against them.
And HE gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.
So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal—through us.
We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”
For God made Christ—who never sinned—to be the offering
for our sin—SO—that we could be made right—with God—through Christ.”
(2 Corinthians 5:17-21 NLT)
APPLICATION
Be Thankful AND—SHARE—The Thanksgiving
Who have you shared Jesus with today or this week?
I found some older DSC Christmas invitation cards and started using them at my local Starbucks drive through. I paid 18.00 for the person behind me a couple days ago. There is a little room to write a small note “Jesus Loves you” “praying for you today”
JESUS gave us the MOST amazing GIFT that has EVER been Given.
May we share that Gift that keeps on giving. May it be an ongoing Lifestyle.
I will never forget the day a woman walked into the store I was working in over 45 years ago. She asked every single person that day:
Do you know who Jesus is
Do you know how much he loves you
Do you know what He did for you
It only occurred to me today that I got saved several months later and she never knew..so I am now wondering IF any of the customers she talked to that day ALSO got saved???
Jesus gave His Perfect sinless self—to be my atonement for all of my sin-and all of your sin—and all of the world’s sin. It is a FREE Gift—SO that no one else can ever boast about their own accomplishment. We can NEVER earn our way into Heaven (Isaiah 64:6). This ONE Perfect GIFT comes from ONE Perfect Savior—Christ Jesus.
His perfect blood—alone—washes me—clean.
“But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to HIM through the blood of Christ. We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord.”
(Ephesians 2:13, 21 NLT)
PRAYER
LORD Jesus,
In John’s Gospel account he writes, ““Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written.”(John 21:25). I join John in saying I could not begin to write down all that YOU have done for me.
Last Sunday as I tried to write a letter it became an impossible task. From the time YOU saved me so many immediate blessings and deliverance occurred. But the longer I walked with YOU I began to look back and realized even through the darkest times when I didn’t know YOU as my Savior and LORD—YOU Knew me.
YOUR eyes were on me. YOU knew the day of my salvation was coming. YOUR Hand was on me. And all through the years of my failings…I can see YOUR Loving Hand of discipline that drew me back into Your safety.
YOUR goodness is far beyond measure and I cannot fathom Your Love. When my own Father had abandoned me, I can remember the day YOU spoke those words “Don’t you KNOW I WILL Always BE Your FATHER”.
Looking back I can surely say that YOU have always guarded, shielded, protected, and even favored me in ways that others saw and even commented on. YOU have surely BEEN My Father. Thank YOU for Loving me.
Thank YOU that YOU are a God who CHOOSES those things that the world disregards or even discards to Bring Yourself glory. Here I am Lord. I will be singing Your Praises until my last breath. My Life is saved because of YOU…I LOVE YOU MORE Than I can ever describe. My life is Yours. In Jesus Name. Amen.
Tina L Kudelka
Matthew 20 - 11.26.25
Scripture
So the last will be first, and the first will be last. (Matthew 20:16)
Observation
The context is the parable of the workers in the vineyard. The owner of the vineyard hired workers for a denarius. He continued to hire people every hour from nine in the morning to five in the evening. When it was the end of day, the people who were hired at nine had put in a full days’ work, and the people who were hired at five, had worked only for an hour. When it was paytime, the master started paying starting with the ones hired last, going on to the first. The first laborers expected to be paid more. However, the master paid everyone the same - one denarius.
Jesus ends this parable by saying that the last wil be the first, and the first will be the last.
The length of time that we served God does not determine our reward. Some people have the privilege of knowing the Lord as a child, and living their whole lives for Him. Some others might have received the Lord just before they died. A typical example is the thief on the cross. The thief believed in Jesus just moments before he died - yet he was received into paradise along with Jesus!
Just because we received the Lord early, it does not put us into a different category to receive more gifts in eternity because we served the Lord for more time.
This verse is repeated 4 times in the Bible, twice in Matthew (Matt 19:30, 20:16), once in Mark (Mark 10:31), and once in Luke (13:30), showing that God’s standards are not like human standards. In all the 4 contexts, it is talking about eternal rewards when we get to heaven, and the Lord reminds us that the last will be the first, and the first will be the last.
Application
Prepare to be surprised when we reach heaven. The people whom God honors in heaven might not be the ones we might expect. We might expect God to reward people depending on the visible size of their earthly ministries, mega churches or other things that we value on earth. Jesus gave the example of prostitutes and tax collectors who had truly repented, entering the kingdom of God ahead of the self-righteous religious leaders (Matt 21:31). People who sacrificed all they had including families, friends and earthly wealth for their faith, and had to suffer persecution will receive a hundred times as much (Matt 19;29; Mark 10:30). Jesus taught them that people whom the Jews considered heathen, will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God (Luke 13:29).
People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart (1 Sam 16:7). We don’t want to miss out on the eternal reward of salvation. Let us make sure that our heart is right before God.
Prayer
Dear Father, I know from your word that not many wise, mighty or noble are called by You (1 Cor 1:26). But Lord, You chose to call me. You made me your child. Thank you for choosing me. Thank you for adopting me into your family. I am yours (Isaiah 43:1). Help me to guard my heart with all diligence as the issues of life spring out of it (Prov 4:23). Help me to set my mind on things above and not things of the earth. Please help me to always set my eyes on You, who are author and finisher of my faith (Heb 12:2). Help me to run the race you have kept before me in a way that I might win the prize (1 Cor 9:24). Help me to be holy as you are holy (1 Peter 1:16). May my life be a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to you (Romans 12:1). In Jesus’s name. Amen.
- Asha Chacko George