Tue Oct 13

Listen up, little ones

Especially for the littles in your household.

Listen for the word follow(ed).

Reading

Matthew 4:18-25—The Kingdom of Compassion

Optional Reading

Luke 5:1-16

Keys for kids

Also for the littles. Young households might choose, after Keys for Kids, to go directly to praise and prayer.

Jesus’s kingdom is one of compassion.
Jesus came to preach the gospel.
Jesus also healed many of their sicknesses.

Questions

(Hebrews 10:39; John 1:12; Isaiah 26:3-4; Philippians 3:9; Galatians 2:16)

What 3 things summarized Jesus’s earthly ministry?
What 2 things did Jesus’s healing ministry demonstrate?
How are you being taught by Jesus today?

Catechism

WSC #86

What is faith in Jesus Christ?

Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace, whereby we receive and rest upon him alone for salvation, as he is offered to us in the gospel.

(Hebrews 10:39; John 1:12; Isaiah 26:3-4; Philippians 3:9; Galatians 2:1

Notes

(See Saturday for authors.)

In verse 23, using three words, Matthew summarizes most of what he will, by the inspiration of God, tell us about Jesus’s public ministry. Teaching. Preaching. Healing.

Jesus went about teaching. At the end of this gospel book, Jesus tells His followers they too would teach—that a significant part of making disciples would be teaching people to follow all of Jesus’s commands. (Matthew 28:18-20)

Closely related to teaching is preaching. Jesus also went about preaching the good news. Good news that the kingdom of God had come and that God had made a way for sinful people to enter that kingdom by faith and repentance.

Thirdly, Matthew tells us, Jesus had compassion on people with all sorts of sickness and healed them. In this world of sin, we get sick. All sickness, and eventually death, come because of sin. Every sickness is not due to a specific sin—but some are. Part of the reason Jesus compassionately healed so many sicknesses was to demonstrate that He was able to forgive sin.

Teaching. Preaching. Healing. And the crowds flocked to Him. Some, we find out later, only wanted temporary blessing from Jesus—what they could benefit from through His miraculous power. Others, by the power of His preaching and the power of His call, followed Him.

Swedish Method questions

See the Sunday notes for meaning of the symbols.

Praise

Psalm 27d, 104a

Prayer

Pray that you will compassionately call others to follow Jesus.
Give thanks for something from last Lord’s Day’s sermons.
Pray for a member of our church, for your family, and for a non-Christian friend/family member.