Matthew 23 - From Woes to Worship - The Village Chapel

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Matthew 23 - From Woes to Worship

February 5, 2023 • Pastor Jim Thomas • Matthew 23

As we come to study Matthew 23, the context is the Passover week in first century Jerusalem. The hillsides, roads and Temple precincts are jammed with pilgrims who have come to present their sacrifices, and there is mounting tension in the air between the religious leaders of that time and the carpenter turned rabbi and healer, Jesus of Nazareth. We find ourselves drawn in, wondering what will ultimately happen between them.

As we look back through history, sometimes the final public words of a person in a given setting can have the greatest lasting impact. In Matthew 23 Jesus delivers a withering rebuke of the religious leaders for their spiritual corruption and self-aggrandizement.

What was Jesus thinking and what was His purpose in all of this? And what, if anything, of what Jesus had to say to them on that day might also apply to us in our own time, and in our life with God?

Join Pastor Jim as he helps us see the gospel hope placed on offer, even to the hardest hearts, spoken through the sternest words of Jesus on that day.

More from Matthew: The King and His Kingdom

Matthew 28:16-20 - The Great Commission

April 16, 2023 • Pastor Jim Thomas • Matthew 28:16–20

After Jesus died and rose again from the tomb, He gave His disciples what has come to be called the Great Commission. What does that term mean and how does it relate to our role with God’s mission in the world? How does our understanding of God’s mission help define who we are to be as God’s people and Christ’s followers? If Christians have been entrusted with the great news that God in Christ is restoring all of His creation, how should that impact the way we live out the Great Commission in a world bound by the darkness it loves more than the light it so desperately needs? Join Pastor Jim as he helps us learn how to lovingly persuade postmodern hearts and minds, even as they flounder in the quicksands of intellectual confusion and moral relativism, of the biblical claim that Jesus Christ really is “the way, the truth and the life.”

Matthew 28:1-15 - The Resurrection of Jesus Christ

April 9, 2023 • Pastor Jim Thomas • Matthew 28:1–15

Christians all over the world believe in the physical death, burial and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Was the resurrection of Jesus hoax or history? What kinds of evidence exist for the claim that Jesus rose again? What impact does the resurrection have on those who put their trust in Christ? The power of the resurrection is central to the Christian faith and rooted in the faithfulness of God. Followers of Jesus Christ have an inextinguishable hope because Christ has defeated death and the Gospel promises that believers will share in His victory. Join Pastor Jim as he leads us through Matthew’s account of the resurrection of Jesus and the hope that fills us to overflowing with a trembling joy.

Matthew 27:32-66 - The Power of the Cross of Christ

April 2, 2023 • Pastor Jim Thomas • Matthew 27:32–66, 1 John 2:2

John Stott has said, “When we look at the cross, we see the justice, love, wisdom and power of God. It is not easy to decide which is the most luminously revealed.” How is it possible that the death of Christ on the cross reflects all of that? What difference does the death of Jesus 2000 years ago really make? Why did Jesus really die on the cross? What was accomplished through the cross of Christ? And what difference does it make for us so many years later? Join Pastor Jim as he leads us through a study of the crucifixion, death and burial of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in Matthew’s Gospel.