Matthew 8 - LOTS That We Can Learn!

SF Stagecoach, NV

Dear Brothers, Sisters, Prodigals and Unsaved,

    Starting with Matthew Chapter 8:1-34 today with many lessons to learn.  Since, 30% is in red lettering, it's still Jesus talking to us often.  He's telling us about our blessings available concerning; Jesus cleanses a Leper, Centurion's Faith, Peter's Mother in-law Healed, plus many others and How the Discipleship was Tested. .  So hang in there, there is much for us to see, learn and apply in our lives.

Verse  NOTE: ALL meanings are from Strong's Concordance.

8:1-4   JESUS CLEANSES A LEAPER

·       [Matthew 8:1-4 NKJV] 1 "When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him. 2 And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean." 3 Then Jesus put out [His] hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed." Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 4 And Jesus said to him, "See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."

o      A leper would live, in a Leper colony, separate from others.  Because he was out of the colony, he took a chance at being stoned to death.  But what's really important here, is he asked Jesus IF YOU ARE, YOU CAN and Jesus' response was "I AM" and just spoke a few words "BE CLEANSED! and immediately he was.

o      Notice, that Jesus told him "tell no one"?  WHY?  The people would have given Jesus the Glory - and only Abba [God] should receive the glory.  And [Matthew 6:4 NKJV] "That your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly."  So what is better, a reward from man, or from Abba?

o      Wherever Jesus went, many would follow Him, until later on, He had so many pressing into Him, He would go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee to find some peace and quiet to meditate [speak to Abba [God]].  [Mark 4:35-36 NKJV] 35 On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, "Let us cross over to the other side." 36 Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. 

5-10     THE CENTURION'S FAITH

• [Matthew 8:5-10 NKJV] 5 "Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, 6 saying, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented." 7 And Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him." 8 The centurion answered and said, "Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof.  But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. 9 "For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this [one], 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does [it]." 10 When Jesus heard [it], He marveled, and said to those who followed, "Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!"
• That must have shocked the people of Israel - for Jesus saying to a ROMAN Centurion who had more faith than they did - It wasn't that the Israelite's didn't know the Word [Tanach], but they didn't understand the principals of it.  Which is what I hope thru these teaching, you will understand more of.
• The Centurion new he wasn't an Israelite, but was so worried about his SERVANT, that he went to Jesus and HOPING Jesus would heal him - I'm sure he'd been hearing about Jesus and the healings He was doing.  [Romans 10:17 NKJV] "So then faith [comes] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."  When you read the Word, does your mind speak the Words you hear?  Or possibly, you hear of another being healed - so you went to that person and asked for healing.  That's when Faith came by hearing, and because you heard by the Word of God - You Hoped for healing too.  That's why we're told in [Revelation 12:11 NKJV] "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death."  This is what we need to focus on - yes, we're not Jesus, but we're in His Body so this is our answer, tell others how Jesus healed you, spirit, soul or body - and by you telling them, they hear, and their faith builds, both about healing and the blood of Jesus and they will probably accept Jesus after being healed.  My mother [57] and Grandmother [72] did. After hearing that my sister, her son and I were all healed of allergies.

11-13     SALVATION DOES NOT COVER WHOLE FAMILIES

•  [Matthew 8:11-13 NKJV] 11 ".And I [Jesus] say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 "But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." 13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go your way; and as you have believed, [so] let it be done for you." And his servant was healed that same hour."
• Have you every wondered why the Bible always refers of the earth, from east to west?  WHY?  Because there is NO END, IT KEEPS GOING AROUND AND AROUND.  North-South have ends, but Abba NEVER DOES.
• Some people think, that because a grandparent, parent were saved - they are, or someone asks Jesus to be their Savior just to shut a person up - THAT THEY ARE SAVED - NO WAY, they will not go to Heaven, but to the fires and brimstone, and this Scripture confirms that.  This requires  an individual acceptance that must be made, and is dependent upon YOUR HEART FELT WORDS because Abba searches the your heart.  Just saying the words won't do it, nor being raise in a church, especially IF you've never asked Jesus into your life.  We'll run into other examples as we go on in the study.  [Matthew 21:22 NKJV] "And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."  Again, many need to focus in on this principal.  Asking is good, but it must be with Believing that He is Able.  Notice to, the Scripture doesn't say that you must be perfect to do this, just believe HE WILL - like the Centurion.

14-17   PETER'S MOTHER IN-LAW HEALED

•  [Matthew 8:14-15 NKJV] 14 "Now when Jesus had come into Peter's house, He saw his wife's mother lying sick with a fever. 15 So He touched her hand, and the fever left her. And she arose and served them."
• Notice, all it took to eliminate a fever was for Jesus to touch her hand.  I'll bet He thought FEVER BE GONE, the twerp may not read minds, but ABBA does. I wish the Scripture would have said that...
• What does the Bible say about darkness, that it cannot stay in the light - Jesus is pure light - no sin and just like the morning removes darkness, so Jesus removes the evil.  Therefore wherever He went the twerps [satan] work had to leave.  [John 8:12 NKJV] "Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."

• [Matthew 8:16-17 NKJV] 16 When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, 17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: "He Himself took our infirmities And bore [our] sicknesses."
• That was Isaiah 53:4 if you're interested.  Jesus BORE our infirmities - so WE WOULDN'T have to.  Notice, it was important that this Scripture was fulfilled by Jesus, meaning it's for us too, not just the Israelite's in the OT.

18-22   WHAT'S IMPORTANT TO GOD - IS NOT TO MAN

• [Matthew 8:18-22 NKJV] 18 "And when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave a command to depart to the other side. 19 Then a certain scribe came and said to Him, "Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go." 20 And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air [have] nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay [His] head." 21 Then another of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." 22 But Jesus said to him, "Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead."
• What was Jesus saying to this possible disciple?  1) Know that following Me, will not be easy - can you truly go where I go? 
• The other one wanted to fulfill his earthly responsibility first.  But Jesus said; "let the dead bury the dead".  Did Jesus mean he no longer had to worry about obeying what society deems fit?  NO, Jesus meant that those who are not saved - they will obey the rules of society.  It's more important to follow Him, then worry about the rules of society.  In our every day life, Following Jesus - IS ALWAYS more IMPORTANT then what the world wants you to do!
• You'll never be ready to follow Jesus, if you're always worried about what has to be done before you can.  WHY?  Because the twerp will always make something that will need to be done before you can - he knows what will keep you away from Jesus or His Word and he'll continue to use it on you.

23-27   DISCIPLESHIP TESTED

• [Matthew 8:23-27 NKJV] 23 "Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. 24 And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. 25 Then His disciples came to [Him] and awoke Him, saying, "Lord, save us! We are perishing!" 26 But He said to them, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?" Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. 27 So the men marveled, saying, "Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?"
• Testing can be scary, but Jesus never said it would be easy, just that He'd be with us.  In fact He said the trials we go through are to test our knowledge to strengthen us for the times ahead.  They make us search out our answers, of what Jesus did in any situation and that's our answer, because "storms" are "TRIALS".  So speak PEACE and STILLNESS to them.
• In this case, Jesus knew that Abba had angels watching over him.  Didn't they show up after His 40 day fast?  Didn't Jesus say; that He only said and did, what the Father told and showed Jesus to do each day?  Why do you think Jesus prayed often from 3 AM - 6 AM? 
• We on the other hand, need sleep which is GOOD - [Job 33:14-16 NKJV] 14 "For God may speak in one way, or in another, [Yet man] does not perceive it. 15 In a dream, in a vision of the night, When deep sleep falls upon men, While slumbering on their beds, 16 Then He opens the ears of men, And seals their instruction."  FIRST, THANK GOD we've never been tested as Job was!  Abba is always trying to give us our instructions while we SLEEP!  That I can handle, I just wish I could remember all my dreams.  Can you tell, He's not done with me yet!
• It's true, we only FEAR what we don't know.  In most cases, we don't know enough about the Father, Son or Holy Spirit.  Whose fault is that?  OURS!  He's kept His Word available to us for over 6,000 years.  He's given us the Holy Spirit to interpret it to us.  And I understand it's presently in 123 different languages.
• My question to you is... Have you seen any of the manifestations Abba has promised in your life?  It's through your answered prayers, that you learn God is REAL and to trust Him [Proverbs 3:5-7].  It will also remove any doubt you may have, and build your FAITH in the process.  What's the saying, TRY IT, YOU'LL LIKE IT!

• SPECIAL NOTE:  I wrote a book called "GOD'S POWER AVAILABLE TO US" and in 2017, Google removed the blogs from 8/2011 - 7/2017.   My blogs are in Ezra 7:10.  So I replaced 4 different chapters from the book, Read these blogs, if you haven't, might help you in your trials - as they did mine.

• 1/4/18 Insert you Key: Door #1 Authority, 
• 1/7/18 Insert you Key: Door #2 Knowledge, 
• 1/11/18 Insert you Key: Door #3 Death & Hades and finally, 
• 1/14/18 Overcoming By His Blood and our Testimony 

28-34   GREAT MULTITUDES PRESS INTO JESUS FOR HELP & TO OVERCOME EVIL

• [Matthew 8:28-33 NKJV] 28 "When He had come to the other side, to the country of the Gergesenes, there met Him two demon-possessed [men], coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no one could pass that way. 29 And suddenly they cried out, saying, "What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?" 30 Now a good way off from them there was a herd of many swine feeding. 31 So the demons begged Him, saying, "If You cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of swine." 32 And He said to them, "Go." So when they had come out, they went into the herd of swine. And suddenly the whole herd of swine ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and perished in the water. 33 Then those who kept [them-swine] fled; and they went away into the city and told everything, including what [had happened] to the demon-possessed [men]."
• You don't need to fear what the twerp [satan] will do, IF you know, believe and speak the Word, WHY? [1 John 4:4 NKJV] "You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world." 
• Notice in verse 29, that they thought; maybe Jesus who had the power & authority to make them go back into the "Pit" leaving the bodies they were in - that day.  Because of this, I firmly believe we have the authority to bind any evil spirit and command them into the Pit - IJN [In Jesus' Name].
• How have we "overcome them?  "By the POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN YOU!  [Matthew 18:18 NKJV] "Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."  So you can see, it's if you know this Scripture, IF you believe it and IF you speak it - in Jesus' Name. They MUST FLEE!  Fair warning, they will leave, but can return, so you may have to do it a couple of times before they stop their attacks - unless you put them in the Pit and command them to stay there the first time, NEVER to return.
• Yes, the swine perished - but not the demons.  When we leave our body, either good or evil, we don't die, just our bodies stop functioning, Because the electricity in body, which holds our spirit,  soul and body together at birth - lives on.  That's why an eternity in Hell is so painful.  Read the story in [Luke 16:19–31]  How could the rich man ask Abraham to send the poor man to wet his lips with water, if he was dead.  The Bible refers to the dead in Job, as just "sleeping" till the day of judgment or resurrection.
• ALL MANKIND ARE BORN with a SPIRIT.  Just as ALL Christians, receive the Holy Spirit when they accept Christ as their Savior.  The Holy Spirit's voice can get softer and softer as you ignore Him.  Only repenting and receiving His forgiveness, can restore you from your rebelling against the Holy Spirit's teachings, protection, and blessings to hear the Holy Spirit's voice again.

    As usual, I'll close with this prayer 4 U:  Father, in Jesus' Name I'm asking You to reveal, to Your Children, how to think from Heaven's perspective, so we can release Heavenly solutions to others and help us NOT TO LEAD with our head, but with the heart of JESUS!  -  In Jesus' Name - AMEN! and AMEN!

Blessing to ALL,

Sandy - The Lord's Servant