Matthew 3 - 3.18.25

SCRIPTURE:  Matthew 3:8 “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.”

OBSERVATION: The author of this portion of Scripture, Matthew, told how John the Baptist called people to change their behavior and repent of their sins. He told them to produce fruit in keeping with their repentance.  “The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

APPLICATION:  “Any tree that doesn’t bear fruit will be cut down?  Nope, that’s not what it says!  Only the tree that doesn’t bear GOOD fruit will be cut down and burned in the fire.  The emphasis is on the word, “good” fruit!  Is my life bearing more rotten fruit or good fruit?  Is my faith being activated in obedience or has it gone stagnant?  Am I obeying God and loving people. Am I serving the needs of others. Am I actively looking for ways to share the Good News of Jesus Christ?  Am I following the Great Commission by going and making disciples? Those are all ways to produce good fruit from my life. Genuine Christ-followers are recognized by our love AND by the fruit that is being produced from our lives!  In the Old Testament, a fruitful tree was often used as a symbol of godly living.  “If you remain in Me, and My words remain in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.” Another thing that comes from aligning ourselves with God and fruitful living is the joy of our answered prayers. Jesus declared, “Very truly I tell you, My Father will give you whatever you ask in My name…Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” (John 16:23b,24).

PRAYER:  I pray the roots of my faith will grow deeper as I abide in Jesus, and that as I remain in the Vine, my life will produce MUCH GOOD fruit.

- Robin Orefice

Matthew 2 - 3.17.25

Scripture

Matthew‬ ‭2‬:‭23‬ ‭NIV 

“and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.”

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Observation

This chapter recounts the story of the Wise Men following a shining star in the eastern sky, so they could find the One who would become the king of the Jews. 

Application

Prophecies Fulfilled 

Just like we learned a couple of Sundays ago, Jesus fulfilled over 300 Old Testament prophecies written about Him. There were 4 prophecies fulfilled in this chapter alone! The odds of one person fulfilling just 8 of those prophecies is 1 in 100 million billion! 🤯

Why do I say all this you may ask? To prove to you all that there is a God out there, and that God is backing the name of Jesus. God is giving His prophets prophecies of the Savior to come. God is giving them these prophecies hundreds of years before Jesus was even born! He has given them every detail to look for. From where He will be born, how He will die, and how He will be raised from the dead. It’s like me telling you who will be playing in the Super Bowl for the next hundreds of years to come, giving you the final scores of the games, and giving you the final stat sheet of every player that played in those games. I mean, to get every single detail with 100% accuracy, some may call that…miraculous! But then again, we do serve a God who performs many many miracles. From creation itself, to turning water into wine, to feeding thousands with just 5 loaves of bread & 2 fish, to healing the sick, and to raising the dead. The list goes on and on and it continues to this day! Our God makes the impossible…well, possible. This proves to me that our God is awesome and He is backing the name of Jesus.

Prayer

Father God, thank You for revealing Yourself to me. You opened my eyes and my heart to believing in the name of Jesus. I pray for those who don’t know You yet. I pray that they can see through Your Word, through Biblical and secular history, that Jesus was real; that He did exist and He is who He says He is. I pray that You open their eyes and heart the way You opened mine. May they too come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

-Moses Gaddi

Revelation 21 - 3.14.25

Scripture: Revelation 21:1-4

“Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.  ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

Observation

This is the beginning of Eternity. John the disciple is getting a preview of the believer’s new home.  We would love to get a sneak peek at our new home, but the surprise will be worth the wait. Jesus is not only preparing our new place, he is coming back to get us and show us his work. 

Jesus said in John 14:1-3 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God believe also in me.  My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

Truly all our needs will be met. We will not look back to bring anything from our old life. Everything will be made new.

Now our hope is a reality. We will be with God face-to-face.  God’s dwelling place will be among his people, the redeemed, the saved.  We will not lose any of our loved ones in heaven to death again. There will be no more crying or pain.  We will get to see the New Holy City Jerusalem coming down from heaven. The meaning of the word Jerusalem is “the Lord will provide peace”.

Application

This is our hope. This is part of the Lord’s Prayer we frequently pray in Matthew 6:9-10: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done.” Your “kingdom come” is in the future tense. We want Jesus to come soon but we also want our loved ones as well as others to come to Jesus. This is also why our mission here at DSC to love God, love people and make disciples is so important. We want to give people a chance to have a saving relationship with Jesus so they have a chance to spend eternity with Jesus and all us believers.

Prayer

Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done. Jesus, you have been gone for a couple thousand years to prepare a place for us. It will be perfect. Help us to be bold so we can tell others to come and join us in meeting our Savior. Thank you for your promise of no more death, pain and tears. Thank you for making everything new. Thank you that we will have fellowship with God face to face.   In Jesus name Amen.

- Robert Oberg