John the Baptist is a colorful character in the Scriptures. More importantly, though, we’ve now jumped ahead 30 years from the time of Herod to see how this Prophet is going to handle the authorities of the day. Matthew 3 : 1 – 12 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert […]

While the first chapter of Matthew is dedicated to the long-term fulfillment of God’s mission through Jesus Christ, and the full identity of who the Messiah is, the second chapter deals with the wider expression of God’s character to the gentile world that will have to deal with this king who has been born. Matthew […]

When Matthew begins his Gospel, he starts with the genealogies and moves quickly into the birth of Jesus. And, without the nostalgia glasses on from December and all of the traditions we surround ourselves with (this message was delivered in July), what kind of new questions can we see Matthew answering in these very familiar […]

Hopeland United Methodist Church Sunday Sermons We’re beginning a new series that is examining, verse by verse, the Gospel of Matthew.  The opening of Matthew is almost always associated with the Christmas season, but is that right?  After all, the first words we see when beginning the New Testament are the words of all the […]

(For the context of future listeners, this sermon was delivered during the government’s warnings and mass shutdowns during the COVID-19 Corona Virus pandemic.  Hopeland was closed for Palm Sunday.) Jesus’ march into Jerusalem is a march of a king coming in to claim the capital city and even declaring victory over war.  And, Palm Sunday […]

Herod is most famously known as the man responsible for an event we now call the “Massacre of the Innocents” or “Slaughter of the Innocents.”  But there is so much more implied in Matthew’s narrative, and Matthew is invoking Herod’s name to make a larger point that is going to be a theme throughout his […]

The names that Matthew lists in Jesus’ genealogy at the beginning of his Gospel aren’t at the top of anyone’s list of excitement.  What Matthew is showing, however, through all of the struggles of Israel, is that there was never a time that God wasn’t in control. Matthew 1:1-17 A record of the genealogy of […]

Matthew 27:11-26 Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” “Yes, it is as you say,” Jesus replied. When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing […]