Category: Kingdom Perspectives
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Get Behind Me, Satan: How the Rebuke of Jesus Sets Us Free
Merry Christmas, all! Thanks for your companionship on the journey this past year. May we know the truth of Emmanuel, God with us, more and more clearly with each passing day! And He gave the disciples orders to tell no one that He was the Messiah. From then on Jesus began to point out to…
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The Place Where Truth Is Found: Binding and Loosing in the Kingdom of God
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth is already bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth is already loosed in heaven. (Matthew 16:19) Since the time of Moses, (the days of Yahweh’s Old Covenant ekklesia), the people of God had possessed both the…
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The Gates of Hell Shall Not Prevail: The Victory of Christ and the Final Defeat of Death
Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18b (KJV) At the foot of Mount Hermon, in the face of pagan altars and a deep grotto that was thought literally to lead down to Hades, Jesus declared that he would gather a people to…
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I Will Build My Church: Jesus, Ekklesia, and the People of God
And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the forces of Hades will not overpower it. (Matthew 16:18) From the moment of his advent in public ministry, Jesus proclaimed the impending arrival of the kingdom of God. But it was here, in his…
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“You Are the Christ, the Son of the Living God”: The Christian Confession and the Rock of the Church
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!” And Jesus responded, “Simon son of Jonah, you are blessed because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father in heaven.” (Matthew 16:16–17) “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” So now, Peter’s answer. From…
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“Who Do You Say That I Am?”: Jesus’s Question and the Hinge of Our Faith
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But you,” He asked them, “who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:22–33)…
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A World Waiting for Food: How the Feeding of the Four Thousand Foreshadows the Healing of the Nations
Now Jesus summoned His disciples and said, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they’ve already stayed with Me three days and have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry; otherwise they might collapse on the way.” The disciples said to Him, “Where could we get enough bread in this desolate…
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Jesus and the Conquering of Canaan: The Syro-Phoenician Woman and the Floodgates of Grace
When Jesus left there, He withdrew to the area of Tyre and Sidon. Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came and kept crying out, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is cruelly tormented by a demon.” Yet He did not say a word to her. So His disciples approached…
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What Makes Us Clean: Jesus and the Question of Purity
Summoning the crowd, He told them, “Listen and understand: It’s not what goes into the mouth that defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.” Then the disciples came up and told Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard this statement?” He replied, “Every…
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Matters of the Heart: The Commands of God and the Traditions of Men
Then Pharisees and scribes came from Jerusalem to Jesus and asked, “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their hands when they eat!” He answered them, “And why do you break God’s commandment because of your tradition? For God said: Honor your father and your mother; and, The…