Matthew 16:8   The lack of faith on the part of the disciples is easy to pounce on from our vantage point. However, this kind of thing happens all the time. The disciples were not stupid. They were not simply hard of hearing or blind. They were distracted. This is the great enemy of faith. Many are they…

Matthew 16:7    Many times we find the disciples discussing things among themselves. They had a tendency to do this. It seems that they never seemed to think Jesus knew what they were thinking. Even up to the last few days before his death, the disciples still had conversations among themselves that they did not share…

Matthew 16:6    Jesus makes it clear in his teachings that there are few who teach the truth. Lies are common, and false teachers abound. Thus, there will be many in this world who, like the Pharisees and Sadducees, come into condemnation for leading men in the wrong way.   The influence of their teachings is like…

Matthew 16:5    It is easy to miss a very important concept in this verse. The disciples had forgotten something that would generally be quite important. They made a mistake. They acted in a less that wise way. They did something they though was kind of dumb. The fact of their forgetfulness is here mentioned because…

Matthew 16:4    The Jewish leaders took a calculated risk in this case. They felt fairly certain that Jesus would not grant their request for a sign. However, if he had, they would have been silenced. They felt it worth the risk because they were spurred on by the evil one. Indeed, they probably felt that…

Matthew 16:3   These men were supposed to be the masters of Israel. They were the religious experts. They were the leaders that should minister to the souls of men. And yet, in their conceit, they new more of the weather and other insignificant things, than they did of the state of things in God’s plan.…

Matthew 16:2    One of the most well-known oft-repeated jokes is the accuracy of the weather man. Sometimes he gets it right, sometimes he doesn’t, and sometimes we’re not exactly sure what he said anyway. Yet, we all generally listen to the weather man in some form or fashion. He may not be right, but if he…

Matthew 16:1    Given the fact that Jesus had done so many miracles, one might well wonder, why not make a sign in the heavens for these unbelieving Pharisees? The answer is quite simple. Prophecy was the evidence for the Messiah. All that had been prophesied concerning Christ was fulfilled as intended for his first coming…

Matthew 15:39   Image, if you will, how it felt to go home after such a day in the presence of the Lord Jesus. Healings began the events of the day, teaching was interspersed throughout to be sure, and the miraculous feeding cam towards the end. This would be a day you would long remember fondly.…

Matthew 15:38   Conservative estimates for the total number of persons involved in this feeding would be somewhere around ten to twelve thousand. Let us assume ten thousand persons. Indeed, if every man had a wife and one child with him, there would have been twelve thousand. So, we can be quite positive that there were…