Blogging through the Gospels

So I'll be blogging some thoughts about the passage we're reading through in our Gospels Reading Plan. Nothing epic, just some thoughts as I read. I pray that they are helpful to you.
Much of this is "Observation" and questions that should be a part of the Observation process.

July 4 - Matthew 1 - 4

M1 - Genealogy is clearly important. It's important to see the lineage of Jesus and establish who He is. Reading through this, I also thought about the passage in John 8 when Jesus said, "Before Abraham was, I AM." Very cool to think about.

M2 - It's amazing how God orchestrates every little detail of His plan. There was quite a bit of prophecy surrounding the coming of the Messiah and Jesus perfectly fulfilled every single one. We also see the amazing faith of Joseph. It's so clear. He and Mary both. Joseph was clearly a godly man and he simply obeyed God. We should all strive for this level of obedience. God says it. We do it.

M3 - verse 4 - quite the outfit!
verse 10 - we read this in John at camp.
We see the word "repent" repeated. Must be important. Look into it.

M4 - I really need to know Scripture better. I need to be more saturated in Scripture. I need to memorize more Scripture. Jesus answered Scripture when facing temptation. Could it be that one of the reasons that we don't withstand temptation more often is that we're not saturated enough with Scripture? We sing "Lord I want more of You, Living Water rain down on me... We are hungry for more of You.." Perhaps the answer to this question, the thing we should be doing to get "more of You" is reading more Scripture. Memorizing more Scripture. Meditating more on Scripture.
v. 17: Jesus preached repentance. Significant. Study the word.
v. 20: "Immediately" Every time I read this passage I'm impacted by how the disciples just dropped everything and followed Jesus. They were just going through their day, at work, doing their usual thing. Jesus came along, said "follow me" and the passage says "Immediately they left their nets and followed him." I want that kind of obedience in my life.
v. 23: Jesus went acout teaching and proclaiming the Gospel. Simple.
v. 25: We're only in chapter four of 28 chapters in Matthew and already we see that one of the major aspects of the Ministry of Jesus was healing. Meeting people's needs.

Keep reading the Gospels. Stay covered in the dust of your Rabbi Jesus. What a great image they gave us up at Wildwood this year. I love the idea of following so closely that we're literally covered in His dust. We were covered in each other's dust a lot this week with all the hiking through the woods we did. Let that idea translate into following Jesus closely. Stay in the Gospels this month.

Check out the reading plan we're all working on on the HSM Website.

Soli Deo Gloria!
Rob