This Week’s Sermon

Last week, I preached on Matthew 4:12–25, an overview passage to introduce Jesus’ public ministry of word and deed. Here is the introduction from the sermon notes:

When Jesus defeated Satan’s temptations, Jesus bound that strong man in order to begin plundering his house (Matt. 12:29). Satan succeeded in binding Adam and Eve (and all their descendants after them), but Jesus turned the tables to bind Satan. Now that Jesus has been qualified and hailed as king, baptized and anointed as Christ, and established victorious as a conqueror, he begins the public phase of his rescue mission. The second half of Matthew 4 offers a summary of Jesus’ message, mandate, and ministry that is marked by discipleship. Here, we see the blueprints for Jesus’ building of his kingdom. Here, we see the initial overview of how Jesus came to make disciples of all nations.

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Then, here is the sermon in full (transcript here):

Recent Posts

This week, I published an article that I have been working on for a long time about legalism. I have often heard legalism defined as adding to the law, to make it more strict. (I have even used this definition in the past!)

A few months ago, I stumbled on some reading that dramatically altered the way I understood legalism, and I thought it was extremely helpful for thinking about my own life as a Christian, as well as my ministry as a pastor. If you didn’t catch it when I shared it earlier, please check it out now:

Two Pathways | Jacob Gerber

Beware the Leaven of the Pharisees

In every age, the church must be vigilant to avoid legalism. We must never be like the Pharisees, who “tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger” (Matt. 23:24). God tells us that his commandments are not burdensome (1 John 5:3), but to…

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a year ago · Jacob Gerber

Have a blessed Lord’s Day tomorrow!