Day 285: Matthew 7-9

(The previous post covered Jesus' first act of His Ministry (being tempted of the devil) and the beginning of His teaching according to principles.)

Matthew 7

(Chapter 7 concluded the "Sermon on the Mount.")

¹ Judge not, that ye be not judged.
² For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured unto you.

(If you judge, you will be judged and held to the same standard as you hold others to, otherwise Jesus would be condoning hypocrisy. Judging meant to equal out Justice. Jesus stated that we should not equal out Justice on others, otherwise Justice would be equaled out on us.)

(The rest of this chapter was the culmination of Jesus' direct teaching via principles. Everything we have seen focused on causes. This chapter applied the causes and showed that the effect ought to be integrity (soundness) instead of hypocrisy.)

³ And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
⁴ Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me cast out the mote out of thine eye; and lo, the beam is in thine own eye?
⁵ Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

(Consider the "beam" in your own eye before you pull out the "mote" (speck) in someone else's. If you work on yourself first, other's will see and you will qualify to help them. Jesus used the principle of contrastive thinking. We ought to consider ourselves wrong first. Notice, casting out the beam in your own eye does not qualify you to judge others. It qualifies you to help others, with the specific context of verses 3 through 5 being believers. Not removing the beam in your own eye and then judging believers would be hypocrisy. Many people wrongly use the word "judging" in conjunction with verse 5 when Jesus did not use that word after verse 2.)

⁶ Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast your pearls before the swine, lest haply they trample them under their feet, and turn and rend you.

("Swine" referred to unbelievers. Remember, verse 5 spoke of helping a believer. This verse continued the concept of helping with the focus being unbelievers. The verse said to "give not that which is holy" and "neither cast ye your pearls." "Pearls" represented a holy value: help. The point was that unbelievers would not only destroy what you try to give to them when you help, they will also try to destroy you.

The summary for what we've read so far is: "Work on yourself first so that you are able to initiate help towards believers. Don't initiate helping unbelievers because they will only end up worse off." Next, Jesus looked at how God the Father dealt with the issue of helping people.)

⁷ Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
⁸ for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
⁹ Or what man is there of you, who, if his son shall ask him for a loaf, will give him a stone;
¹⁰ or if he shall ask for a fish, will give him a serpent?

(Notice, the last four verses all began with people initiating help from God. Jesus was stating that people ought to ask God for things instead of take things away from other people through judging.)

¹¹ If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
¹² All things therefore whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, even so do ye also unto them: for this is the law and the prophets.

(Verse 12 tied the previous eleven verses together! The first verse said not to judge so that you wouldn't be judged. The next section stated that you ought to help yourself if you want to help others. This final section stated that God would certainly give to you if you asked or sought because you would certainly give to your children if they asked or sought! Notice too, the comparison of parents giving to their children and God giving to His children referred to giving "good gifts." This implied that the parent, and of course God, would give gifts that were a long term benefit to the child. Jesus concluded that the Law and the prophets all pointed to this summary.)

¹³ Enter ye in by the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many are they that enter in thereby.
¹⁴ For narrow is the gate, and straitened the way, that leadeth unto life, and few are they that find it.

(It will take an intentional approach to walk the narrow and straight path. Jesus said that few find the straight and narrow path. This focus on Salvation served as a transition for this chapter. Salvation came to a few that acted differently than people in the world. The first verse of this chapter can now be seen as Jesus encouraging believers to be different than those in the world by not judging.)

¹⁵ Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves.
¹⁶ By their fruits ye shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

(Jesus stated there would be false prophets and that we need to beware of them. Notice, Jesus still didn't say to judge these false prophets, just to "beware." Jesus said that we would know who they were by their fruit: their works and effects. Jesus used Causality to teach this point.)

¹⁷ Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but the corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
¹⁸ A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
¹⁹ Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
²⁰ Therefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

(Jesus concluded this section by stating that those false prophets would produce bad fruit and justly end up in eternal torment. Notice, Jesus said nothing about believers judging false prophets. None of us believers are able to send a false prophet to eternal torment, so why do some people think this passage allowed believers to judge others? Worse: a person who thinks he can judge false prophets based on this passage would be talking and acting as if he believes he is God, because God was the one who "hews down and casts into the fire"!)

²¹ Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven.

(Jesus got more specific about the "narrow gate." Not everyone who says the right thing will make it to heaven. The key to getting into heaven is to do the Will of the Father. From the context of this chapter, this sounded like it was something that few actually did. Those who do the Will of God enter the kingdom of heaven. This usage of the kingdom of heaven referred to the eternal Kingdom with God in heaven. Our actions are what matter because they are an effect of our internal causes. However, Jesus immediately addressed "good" actions from "bad" causes.)

²² Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by thy name, and by thy name cast out demons, and by thy name do many mighty works?
²³ And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

(These people did these works in their own strength, not as an effect of having God flow through them. This introduced two key Doctrine:

1) People are able to have righteousness from themselves. People with Calvinistic beliefs state that people are totally depraved, that people have nothing good within themselves. Actually, people have good in themselves that results in good works, otherwise Jesus was wrong. Jesus was never wrong.)

2) Getting to heaven is an effect of knowing God, of having God operate through you as a cause. This was grace: "the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life." The people Jesus was referring to did good works of themselves, however, they didn't act in grace. They didn't allow God to be the cause of their words and actions.

So, Jesus' comment from earlier in this chapter did create the context for this verse: we will know the person by the fruit they produce over the long term. Even though these people produced what appeared to be good fruit in the short term, at Final Judgment we will find out if this fruit was from God or their own strength. This was consistent with the first verse of this chapter: DON'T JUDGE! What person is able to judge whether these people were doing these miracles in their own strength or by having fellowship with God?)

Worse: A person who uses this passage as support to why he is supposed to judge others would be putting himself in God's place because it was Jesus who will be the one who judges these people. Notice, the last two passages both stated God was the one who would judge these people. Anyone who uses these passages to justify their judging of others is acting as if they are God.)

²⁴ Every one therefore that heareth these words of mine, and doeth them, shall be likened unto a wise man, who built his house upon the rock:

(Hearing and doing the words of Christ will liken you to a wise man with a strong foundation. The rock is the deepest level: the how/why.)

²⁵ and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon the rock.

(Notice, the rains and floods still beat upon this person. Doing Jesus' words didn't prevent trials and persecution, in fact we saw that the highest level of maturity from the beginning of this teaching (Matthew 5) stated that handling these trials and persecutions well were the ultimate proof of spiritual maturity. Here, Jesus said the same thing. The house did not fall even though trials and persecutions came.)

²⁶ And every one that heareth these words of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand:

(Even the foolish man heard the words of Christ but did not do them. The foolish man heard the what, but he did not build deep enough, just on the sand and not deeper to the rock. This man only built his faith on the what and not the how/why. Building your house on the rock is doing the Word of God...doing is the how/why.)

²⁷ and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and smote upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall thereof.

(When bad circumstances occurred to this superficial believer, they were not able to remain profitable and they became unprofitable. Both people heard the Word of God (what) and had bad circumstances. The one who survived the bad circumstances also had the how/why...they did the Word of God. The conclusion was to have integrity (soundness): SAY (what) and DO (how/why) ought to match.)

²⁸ And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these words, the multitudes were astonished at his teaching:
²⁹ for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

(These verses repeated the point of Jesus' parable that ended His teaching. The people were astonished at Jesus' Doctrine: how/why. Jesus had authority. He was a Semikah (authority) Rabbi. The people were used to Rabbi's who only presented the what of the Law.)




Matthew 8
¹ And when he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.

(Great multitudes followed Jesus. Jesus was becoming very popular. Some scholars refer to the chapters 4 through 7 from Matthew's Gospel Account as Jesus' Year of Introduction. This chapter began what some scholars refer to as Jesus' Year of Popularity.)

² And behold, there came to him a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
³ And he stretched forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou made clean. And straightway his leprosy was cleansed.

(Jesus healed a leper. The leper had faith and Jesus stated He was willing. Jesus stated "be thou made clean." There were four guidelines for these supernatural events:
1. A need was presented.
2. Statement with the object ("thou") of healing being the subject.
3. Stating a will (effect: be made clean).
4. Statement was made by faith.)

⁴ And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go, show thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

(Jesus told the healed man to tell no one. Was Jesus becoming too popular too fast?)

(Verses 5-13: the centurion with great faith.)

⁵ And when he was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him,
⁶ and saying, Lord, my servant lieth in the house sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.

(It was against the Roman law for the centurion to call Jesus "Lord." This was proof the centurion understood who Jesus was and the spiritual authority He had.)

⁷ And he saith unto him, I will come and heal him.
⁸ And the centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant shall be healed.

(The centurion understood the importance of words. This was a what.)

⁹ For I also am a man under authority, having under myself soldiers: and I say to this one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.

(The centurion stated the how/why. The centurion understood who Jesus was and that things worked in the spiritual the way they worked in the natural. The centurion had experience with how things worked in the natural. The centurion proved his faith by preventing Jesus from coming to the house.)

¹⁰ And when Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

(The centurion caused Jesus to marvel! The reason was Jesus had not seen greater faith than in this man. Faith is proven in actions. Faith is built on understanding and experience. Jesus marvelled at the centurion's actions and explanation.)

¹¹ And I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven:
¹² but the sons of the kingdom shall be cast forth into the outer darkness: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.
¹³ And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And the servant was healed in that hour.

(The centurion's servant was healed that same hour. Jesus said that as the centurion had believed, so be it done unto thee. Again, faith and a statement of the will making the object of the healing ("it": healing of servant) the subject of the statement.)

¹⁴ And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother lying sick of a fever.
¹⁵ And he touched her hand, and the fever left her; and she arose, and ministered unto him.

(Jesus healed Peter's mother-in-law. Peter was older than the other disciples and was the only one that was married.)

¹⁶ And when even was come, they brought unto him many possessed with demons: and he cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all that were sick:
¹⁷ that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying: Himself took our infirmities, and bare our diseases.

(Jesus healing the sick and casting out devils fulfilled the prophecy in Isaiah 53:4.)

¹⁸ Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandments to depart unto the other side.
¹⁹ And there came a scribe, and said unto him, Teacher, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.
²⁰ And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

(Jesus did not turn the scribe away but He did make sure that the scribe knew that it was an uncomfortable journey.)

²¹ And another of the disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
²² But Jesus saith unto him, Follow me; and leave the dead to bury their own dead.

(Again, Jesus did not turn the disciple away, but He did make it uncomfortable.)

²³ And when he was entered into a boat, his disciples followed him.
²⁴ And behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the boat was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.

(Jesus slept during a great storm.)

²⁵ And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Save, Lord; we perish.
²⁶ And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.

(Jesus performed spiritual warfare against the weather. He also mentioned the disciples were of "little faith." Why? They did not have the actions that resulted in the desired effects.)

²⁷ And the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?
²⁸ And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes, there met him two possessed with demons, coming forth out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man could pass by that way.

(Two possessed with devils approached Jesus.)

²⁹ And behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?

(The devils knew that Jesus was the Son of God. The demons asked two questions. They could not state truth.)

³⁰ Now there was afar off from them a herd of many swine feeding.
³¹ And the demons besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, send us away into the herd of swine.

(The devils asked to go into a herd of swine. Why did they ask and not just go? It seemed as if the devils could not leave the two men without Jesus' help. The devils' nature caused them to inhabit a person. The devils had been judged so they were unable to act apart from their nature.)

³² And he said unto them, Go. And they came out, and went into the swine: and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep into the sea, and perished in the waters.

(Jesus said "Go" and the devils went into the swine and ran into the sea and perished. Later, we will see in Matthew 12:43 Jesus stated the devils sought waterless places. Perhaps the swine knew to put themselves into water to rid themselves of the devils, or the devils knew this.)

³³ And they that fed them fled, and went away into the city, and told everything, and what was befallen to them that were possessed with demons.
³⁴ And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart from their borders.

(After this, those of that city wanted Jesus to leave.)




Matthew 9
¹ And he entered into a boat, and crossed over, and came into his own city.
² And behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be of good cheer; thy sins are forgiven.

(A man with palsy was brought to Jesus and Jesus told him his sins were forgiven.)

³ And behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth.

(Certain scribes thought within themselves that Jesus was blaspheming.)

⁴ And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?

(Jesus knew their thoughts and asked why they thought evil in their hearts.)

⁵ For which is easier, to say, Thy sins are forgiven; or to say, Arise, and walk?
⁶ But that ye may know that the Son of man hath authority on earth to forgive sins (then saith he to the sick of the palsy), Arise, and take up thy bed, and go up unto thy house.

(The reason Jesus gave for doing this miracle was so that the scribes would know Jesus had power on earth to forgive sins. Jesus again made a statement of the will with the subject being the object of the healing.)

⁷ And he arose, and departed to his house.
⁸ But when the multitudes saw it, they were afraid, and glorified God, who had given such authority unto men.

(The man with palsy was healed and the multitudes glorified God.)

⁹ And as Jesus passed by from thence, he saw a man, called Matthew, sitting at the place of toll: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.

(Jesus found Matthew, the tax collector. Notice, this Gospel Account was Matthew's. That would make the chronology of the previous events in this Gospel Account secondhand.)

¹⁰ And it came to pass, as he sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples.

(Jesus ate with Matthew and many publicans and sinners. The tax collector handled Roman money, which had an image of Caesar on it. This caused the Pharisees to declare tax collectors unclean because they participated in "idolatry.")

¹¹ And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Teacher with the publicans and sinners?

(The Pharisees questioned Jesus' disciples as to why Jesus was eating with sinners.)

¹² But when he heard it, he said, They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick.
¹³ But go ye and learn what this meaneth, I desire mercy, and not sacrifice, for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.

(Jesus responded by saying He came to heal the sick and to call sinners to repentance. Jesus also gave them a verse to study: Hosea 6:6. Jesus was showing the Pharisees that He was following the scriptures.)

¹⁴ Then come to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?
¹⁵ And Jesus said unto them, Can the sons of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then will they fast.

(Jesus called Himself the "bridegroom." Jesus was pointing towards eternity and the Doctrine of Marriage. The phrase: "sons of the bridechamber" represented the people who would be present in the bridechamber where the Marriage Covenant was completed. Jesus is the Groom. Believers, together as the Church, are the Bride. The huppah is the bridechamber, the place where Covenantal sexual intercourse occurs to complete the Marriage Covenant.)

¹⁶ And no man putteth a piece of undressed cloth upon an old garment; for that which should fill it up taketh from the garment, and a worse rent is made.
¹⁷ Neither do men put new wine into old wine-skins: else the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins perish: but they put new wine into fresh wine-skins, and both are preserved.

(Jesus could have been quoting Job 32:19. The point was that Jesus was widening Doctrine. The old wineskins were the people who contained the Doctrine of the Dispensation of the Law. The new wineskins were the people who contained the widened Doctrine of the Dispensation of Grace via the Holy Spirit.)

¹⁸ While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.
¹⁹ And Jesus arose, and followed him, and so did his disciples.

(Jesus went with a "ruler" to raise his daughter from the dead.)

²⁰ And behold, a woman, who had an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the border of his garment:

(On the way to the ruler's house, a diseased woman touched the border of Jesus' garment. The border of this garment was the "wings" of the garment. In the wings of the Messiah's garment there would be healing. This was stated in Malachi 4:2.)

²¹ for she said within herself, If I do but touch his garment, I shall be made whole.

(She had faith that touching His garment would heal her because she believed Jesus was the Messiah.)

²² But Jesus turning and seeing her said, Daughter, be of good cheer; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.

(Jesus told her that her faith made her whole. Jesus was always open to healing people, even when He was not conscious someone wanted healing.)

²³ And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the flute-players, and the crowd making a tumult,
²⁴ he said, Give place: for the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn.

(They arrived at the place of the dead girl and Jesus said she was only asleep. The crowd laughed Jesus to scorn, they did not have faith. Jesus may have made this statement to protect the ruler of the synagogue, that is, the crowd could say that she hadn't been dead but was actually sleeping.)

²⁵ But when the crowd was put forth, he entered in, and took her by the hand; and the damsel arose.

(Jesus put the people who lacked faith away from the girl. Then Jesus caused the girl to arise.)

²⁶ And the fame hereof went forth into all that land.

(Jesus' fame spread again.)

²⁷ And as Jesus passed by from thence, two blind men followed him, crying out, and saying, Have mercy on us, thou son of David.

(These two men were confessing Jesus as the Messiah.)

²⁸ And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They say unto him, Yea, Lord.

(Jesus confirmed they had faith.)

²⁹ Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it done unto you.
³⁰ And their eyes were opened. And Jesus strictly charged them, saying, See that no man know it.

(Jesus healed two blind men with a statement that made the object of the healing the subject of the statement.)

³¹ But they went forth, and spread abroad his fame in all that land.
³² And as they went forth, behold, there was brought to him a dumb man possessed with a demon.
³³ And when the demon was cast out, the dumb man spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel.
³⁴ But the Pharisees said, By the prince of the demons casteth he out demons.

(Jesus casted out demons and was accused of casting out demons by the "prince of demons." This was a contradiction.)

³⁵ And Jesus went about all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of disease and all manner of sickness.

(Take a moment and realize everything this verses stated: Jesus healed all manner of disease and all manner of sickness. The KJV used the word "every" in place of "all." Summary: Jesus had done every possible miraculous healing He could have done for these people.)

³⁶ But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were distressed and scattered, as sheep not having a shepherd.

(Jesus was moved with compassion because the people were faint and scattered "as sheep not having a shepherd." Compassion is an action, compassion is shown.)

(Key words in this passage:
-"distressed" ("fainted" in the KJV) was Strong's #1590 eklyo – "to loose, unloose, to set free." The etymology of this word pointed towards: "to stop covenant, to stop agreement, to disassemble." We can see these people were loose from each other. The people were essentially individuals without any connection to each other which prevented agreement and prevented being in one accord.

-"scattered" ("scattered abroad" in the KJV) was Strong's #4496 rhipto – "to cast down, throw." Again, the etymology of this word pointed towards: "harassed in thought, mental dejection, thrown in different directions affecting the ability to focus and concentrate." The people had a bad thought process.)

(The people were physically healed, however, they weren't connected to each other (they were individuals) and they had a bad thought process. This brings up an uncomfortable conclusion:

God and Jesus are unable to miraculously heal a person's thought process or cause people to be in unity.

For the moment, realize Jesus had miraculously healed these people of every physical ailment, yet the people still had a bad thought process and were not in agreement.)

(Now we can see what Jesus meant when He said they were like sheep without a shepherd. What ought a shepherd/pastor do? Two requirements:
1. Help people have a good thought process.
2. Help people come into agreement through Fellowship.)

³⁷ Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest indeed is plenteous, but the laborers are few.

(Jesus said to His Disciples that the harvest was plenteous. Again, a harvest only occurs once there is something to reap. This again pointed to these people being Believers. If these people weren't Believers, they would be "seeds." Many people interpret the word "laborers" as being evangelists. Evangelists are needed to reach Unbelievers. This passage was not speaking about evangelists. Besides, there are plenty of evangelists today and still we don't see the church coming into more agreement through Fellowship. Jesus said the harvest was plenteous, but the laborers were few.

Jesus needed laborers, and this verse came immediately after He stated these people were sheep without a shepherd because they had a bad thought process and were not in agreement. This meant the job of the laborers was:
1. Help people have a good thought process.
2. Help people come into agreement through Fellowship.)

Jesus needed laborers for two reasons:
1. This was not something He could miraculously accomplish.
2. This was something that was going to take daily work. Repairing thought processes and building agreement are both attributes that take work every day.)

(Another key word in this passage:

-"laborer" was Strong's #2040 ergates – "a workman, a laborer." Again, the etymology pointed to this being the same word as was translated as "workman" in 2 Timothy 2:15 –  "Give diligence to present thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, handling aright the word of truth."

"laborer/workman" meant "to toil with works of words as a teacher." Jesus needs people who daily toil with works of words as a teacher in order to improve the thought processes of Believers and help the church come into agreement through Fellowship.)

³⁸ Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth laborers into his harvest.

(Jesus told His Disciples to pray that God would send forth these laborers/workmen into His harvest. Again, not only did this speak about Believers, but Jesus Himself stated that prayer was needed to fulfill this need! If this was something that Jesus could miraculously do, then He would not have us do it, let alone tell us to pray for these people to be sent forth.)
(Notice, Jesus told the Disciples to pray that God sends forth laborers/workmen. Jesus Himself was not only for these laborers/workmen, He told his followers to pray for more of these people. If a person were against people who fix thought processes and help believers have fellowship, that person would be opposing God and His harvest!)

(This post covered Jesus completing His direct teaching through principles in Matthew 7. In the subsequent chapters, Jesus performed spiritual warfare on demons, the weather, and through healing people. His fame grew.)

Day 286