Shows
Trinity FellowshipMatthew 28:16-20 - "The Dominion Mandate 2.0"Matthew's gospel retells the story of Israel. Jesus has played the role of Moses, of Joshua, of Solomon, of Elisha, and of Jeremiah. He has been through exodus and conquest. He has preached wisdom and repentance. He has predicted the destruction of Jerusalem and the fall of the temple. He has walked from the humiliation of the cross to the exaltation of the resurrection. He has gone from being forsaken by the Father to sitting at His right hand. He found His creation growing old and corrupted by sin and has started to make all things new. He was killed...2025-07-2057 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 28:1-15 - "New Life"The end of Matthew's gospel reaches not just back to the beginning of the gospel story, but to the beginning of all beginnings, back to the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth. Jesus rises on the day after the Sabbath, but that is also the beginning of a new Sabbath, the first day of a new creation. This is not just a return to the old creation, but an improvement on it. According to Matthew, the story of Jesus is about heaven coming to earth, heaven invading earth, heaven renewing earth. When heaven invades earth, the powers...2025-07-1357 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 26:36-46 - "The Cup You Shall Drink"Christ suffered under the wrath of both God and man, was raised upon a cross, and died a sinners death though he was pure and innocent. His death is truly the only sacrifice that is acceptable to the God who either calls us justified or condemned. in light of this truth we must never run to any other than the one who has bled for us and died for us, his sacrifice must be our only hope.2025-04-2755 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 26:26-35 - "The Lord's Supper"Christ continues to advance redemptive history as He transforms the Passover meal into the Lord's Supper, a sacrament which continues to connect His people to both the past and the future. Christ feeds His people to prepare them for the night of testing, that they may prevail not because of their ability but because of His provision. In the story God tells, the way to life is through death. The way to day is through the night. The way to gathering is through scattering. There is no way for us to navigate this on our own; we will invariably lose...2025-04-1349 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 26:17-25 - "The Passover Meal"In the Passover meal, we see the building anticipation, the layering, and the rhyming of redemptive history. Passover reminded the people of God that they must be covered in the blood of the Lamb if they are to escape judgment, and that the old leaven must be purged so a fresh start can be made. Getting Israel out of Egypt proved to be much faster than getting Egypt out of Israel and so often this remains the case today. We too must be killed by God's law and brought to life by His gospel every Lord's Day. We have the...2025-04-0639 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 26:1-16 - "The Worth of Jesus Christ"Like us, no one in today's passage is exempt from having an evaluation of the worth of Christ. The Jewish leaders not only saw him as unworthy of their respect but worthy to be crucified. Judas tried to put a dollar amount on his worth. The disciples, while meaning well, still hadn't truly caught on to His worthiness as the one to usher in the new covenant. It is only the woman who saw him worthy and deserving of all her worship and adoration. We must also confess him as our only Saviour and King. Yet, His worth does not...2025-03-3049 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 25:31-46 - "The Final Judgment"The highly charged controversy between Christ and the religious leaders on Tuesday of Holy Week is coming to a close at the end of Matthew 25. Jesus has used symbols, parables, and prophecy to outline the condemnation of the city for rejecting the Messiah, and now He is projecting His righteous judgment out to the end of history. Destruction still falls on those who reject the Saviour. The terms of life and death, heaven and hell, have been clearly laid out. Those who come to Jesus for pardon will be renewed with a living, fruitful faith that loves Christ and His...2025-03-2353 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 25:14-30 - "The Parable of the Talents"The parable of the talents reminds us of the importance of hard work and fruitfulness while we wait for the return of Christ. God placed man in the garden as His viceregent to utilize, steward, and expand the elements of creation. He has likewise placed us in His kingdom for the same work, and it is fitting with His purposes that He would allocate His gifts according to how they are being managed most diligently. We are not to envy or wish we had the gifts of another, but rather, are charged with being thankful for the gifts God has...2025-03-1648 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 25:1-13 - "The Parable of the Ten Virgins"The parable of the Ten Virgins reminds us that things are not always what they seem at the beginning. Testing and time have a way of revealing the substance of a person. Those who make no preparation to meet God and those who think that they can push it off for a later day are like the foolish virgins who wake up to find that it is too late. The door of God's mercy will be closed before they expect. Those who prepare early, who have their fill of the Spirit, and who persevere through the night will be ushered...2025-03-0954 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 24:45-51 - "Two Kinds of Servants"The kingdom of God has an "already" and a "not yet fully" component to it. Already it has broken into this age with the coming of Christ, and yet we wait for its full expression at His Second Coming. That is to say, His kingdom is inaugurated but not yet consummated. While we labour in this age, we are to live ready for the age to come. We do this by working consistently with the trajectory that Christ has set in motion. Already at His Ascension He has taken all power and dominion and authority (status) and yet we see...2025-02-1653 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 24:32-44 - "As the Days of Noah"Jesus is beginning to lengthen the time horizon of His teaching. The fig tree is signaling that summer is near. A new day is dawning, which follows the patterns of the past. God is starting over with the righteous, after removing the unrighteous. Just like in past ages, Christ will return at the end of this age as well. The final "Day of the Lord" to come is like the "Days of the Lord" in the past; the Lord will come yet again to remove the unrighteous and vindicate His saints with eternal peace. We know neither the day nor...2025-02-0952 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 24:29-31 - "Sun, Moon, & Stars"The fall of Jerusalem proves that Jesus is a true prophet, since His prophecy about the fall of the city came true. It demonstrates that He has power to avenge Himself against the powers that oppose Him. In Daniel the phrase "Son of Man" also has a corporate meaning (cf. Dan. 7:13-14, 18, 22). The Son of Man is identical to, or linked with, the saints of the most high, who also receive authority and dominion. If the fall of Jerusalem is a vindication of Jesus, it is also a vindication of His people. It is proof that Jesus is enthroned; and...2025-02-0240 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 24:15-28 - "The Abomination of Desolation"Jeremiah closes his ministry by warning Jerusalem of her idolatry and abominable worship. Forty years later, the Babylonians came in and destroyed the city and the temple. The Greater Jeremiah closes His ministry by warning Jerusalem of her idolatry, abominable worship, and the way she spills the blood of God's holy messengers. Forty years later, the Romans came in and destroyed the city and the temple. This terminal destruction of Jerusalem is the manifestation of the Son of Man (v.27). By destroying Jerusalem, Jesus proves that He is the rightful heir to God's vineyard, and that He is eager to...2025-01-2658 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 24:9-14 - "Love Growing Cold"Familiarity with Scripture reveals many rhythms and patterns. We see it when Christ retraces the steps of Israel. We see it when the prayers of the prophets go up to heaven, and heaven answers by throwing calamity back down to the earth. We see it when one world is destroyed, and another takes its place. We see it when empires rise up and are torn back down. We see it when God uses His enemies as a rod of discipline against His own people, and we see it whenever a great shaking comes to sort, purify, and redirect the people...2025-01-1950 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 24:5-8 - "The Destruction of Jerusalem (Pt. 2)"Prophecy, history, and the heart of man are all in the hands of God's meticulous providence. We can see, together with many early Christians, how the redemptive history of Scripture, the decisions of the world's most powerful men, and the historical record are seamlessly woven together. Our Lord is in the heavens, and does all that He pleases (Psalm 115:3). Even when God vindicates the blood of the innocents by hurling calamity down to the earth, His hand of protection is over His children. When He shakes the earth, He does so to remove the temporary things, and to make way...2025-01-1259 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 24:1-4 - "The Destruction of Jerusalem (Pt.1)"There is a uniqueness to the time that Jesus Christ spent on earth. His life very literally the hinge of world history. As His earthly ministry draws to a close on Tuesday of Holy Week, the border between one age and another is becoming very thin. The generation that killed Jesus is going to continue carrying out their bloodlust on His messengers until their chalice is full. When their iniquity is complete, judgment from heaven is visited on that generation. These days of vengeance (Luke 21:22) mark the vindication of Christ's ministry, the destruction of His accusers, and the glorious sunrise...2025-01-0542 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 23:29-39 - "Woe To You (Pt. 3)"Do you want to share in the blood of the prophets? Do you want their blood coursing through your veins, and spilling out in self-sacrifice? Every man, woman, and child must somehow partake in this martyr's blood, either as the sons of the prophets, or as the sons of their murderers. We will be implicated in the blood of the prophets one way or another. We either join as sons whose fathers shed the blood of the prophets, or we become sons of the prophets themselves, but it is blood either way. The one path continues to lead to destruction...2024-12-151h 00Trinity FellowshipMatthew 23:23-28 - "Woe to You (Pt. 2)"C.S. Lewis has noted, in agreement with today's text, that "Of all bad men, religious bad men are the worst. Of all created beings the wickedest is one who originally stood in the immediate presence of God. There seems no way out of this." The scribes and Pharisees sit in the seat of Moses, but neither understand nor love the law that God gave through him. They are blind guides, clenching tightly to the outward forms but despising the substance to which they point. The long line of servants have offered the choice of life or death; blessing or...2024-12-0849 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 23:13-22 - "Woe to You (Pt.1)"Mountain top sermons bookend the preaching ministry of Christ. Like Moses before Him, Jesus offers the way of blessing and the way of cursing; beatitudes and woes. The negative and parasitic nature of sin is set alongside the positive and life-giving nature of righteousness. In the case of the scribes and the Pharisees, time had run out. The Father sent His last messenger, His own Son, and He was murdered by these wicked tenants, just like the long line of messengers before Him. The murder of Jesus is the final event which seals the fate of these religious leaders as...2024-12-0142 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 23:1-12 - "Religious Theatre"God gave His law to water the garden of Israel. The Pharisees turned this law into a blunt instrument with which to beat people, into a whip with which to scourge them, and into poison which turned the garden into a waterless desert. Moses came to bring Sabbath, to break the yoke of burden, and to let the slaves go free. Jesus likewise has come to the weary and heavy laden to offer rest, while the Pharisees and scribes act as second-rate Pharaohs, forcing the people to make bricks without straw. Because Jesus' life is a re-enactment of Israel's history...2024-11-2457 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 22:41-46 - "The Son and Lord of David"After several rounds of questioning, Christ now assumes the role of prosecutor. It is time for the Pharisees to dress for action and to give an answer. Their many attacks have been easily answered by Christ, and now He silences them with a single question. Their answer shows that there is a profound difference between being familiar with the content of the Bible and encountering God in the Bible. While the Pharisees are content with surface obedience and surface answers, Christ is zealous to push the wisdom of Scripture into the corners. He has shown from the Psalms that He...2024-11-1049 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 22:34-40 - "The Greatest Command"The Pharisees were so consumed with arcane debates over the law that they lost focus of what the law is meant to show. Generation after generation had missed the point that Moses so clearly explained to them in the Shema (Deut. 6:4-9); that God is one and that we ought to obey Him with every part of our being. Rather than helping them obey God's law from the heart, their customs had become a thick layer of dust which now covered Moses' tablets. Christ wants us to see that all law and all obedience must flow out of a love...2024-10-2749 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 22:23-33 - "The Resurrection"In today's text, the Sadducees attempt to show that levirate marriage makes the idea of resurrection absurd. Christ's opposition to their argument is both abrupt and insightful. The very provision of levirate marriage points to the resurrection itself. If God gave a law which provided hope that life could indeed continue for a dying, childless man, hope that his name would live on, does that not itself demonstrate that God is a God of resurrection, a God of the living and not of the dead? When God binds Himself to Moses, He says that He remains bound to Abraham, Isaac...2024-10-2058 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 22:15-22 - "Caesar & God"Matthew is committed to showing his readers the significance of Christ's final week in Jerusalem. Everything has come to a boiling point over who Jesus is. While the priests, elders, Pharisees and Herodians link arms in their opposition, Christ has set His face like flint on this city. Christ's claims to authority are total claims. He is not only Lord over Jerusalem; He is Lord over all. Christ is Lord over occupying nations, coinage, taxation, even over Caesar himself. Civil government is a gift from God, with legitimate yet limited authority. When the Herodians and the Pharisees are both content...2024-10-1347 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 22:1-14 - "The Parable of the Wedding Feast"It is a great joy for a father to host a feast in honour of his son. The Father sent Jesus Christ to save the world. The reunification of heaven and earth should be cause for the most joyous banquet, yet the people who were to receive their Messiah were too busy with their trivial day-to-day affairs, too caught up in themselves, and too impressed with their self-sufficiency to show up. Others became so indignant that their autonomy was being threatened that they killed the messengers who were inviting them. The city that murdered God's messengers is about to be...2024-10-0640 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 21:33-46 - "The Parable of the Tenants"The vineyard in today's parable is the kingdom of God; everywhere that God's rule and reign is acknowledged. Christ has shown us that He is the legitimate heir to this kingdom, and that all who oppose Him will be cast out and put to a miserable death. These wicked tenants will be replaced by those who see that both their work and the fruit of their work are given by grace, and who cheerfully return this abundance to the rightful Master. This is another way of talking about what David saw – a valuable cornerstone that was hidden in plain sight, on...2024-09-2954 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 21:23-32 - "The Authority of Jesus"In today's text, an encounter that starts as a challenge to Christ's authority ends not only with His complete vindication, but also with the humiliation of His opponents. Jesus does not evade or change subjects, but simply assumes the authority He has been challenged on, and uses it so wisely that His opponents condemn themselves. Jesus's authority comes from heaven, and this is revealed in a public manner after His baptism by John. John's baptism initiated the sorting process that Jesus intensifies. The preaching of repentance drives some to the Saviour and others to their own self-sufficiency. This message of...2024-09-2242 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 21:18-22 - "The Cursed Fig Tree"Christ has entered Jerusalem in the final week of His life. The city that should stand ready to receive her Messiah has proven to be His most stubborn opponent. The curse on the fig tree serves as a lasting memorial to what happens to all those who are likewise all show and no substance. Those who profess Christ but do not possess Christ are headed to a similar outcome. Christ is committed to removing sin and unbelief, and He starts with something as mundane as cursing a fig tree. After He explains what He has done, He instructs all of...2024-09-1552 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 21:12-17 - "Cleansing the Temple"By inspecting the house of God at both the beginning and now at the end of His public ministry, Jesus reenacts the priestly duties of Leviticus. Jesus has measured the temple worship and found it wanting. The priests have neglected their duties. They have made compromises with the state and with the spirit of their age. Glory and gravitas have been replaced with convenience and commerce. The unfaithful priests are so intrigued by ease and innovation that God's design has been largely eclipsed. By coming to the temple in the manner He does, Jesus picks up many storylines from the...2024-06-231h 27Trinity FellowshipMatthew 21:1-11 - "The Triumphal Entry"In the Triumphal Entry, the greater Jeshua makes His way from Jericho to Jerusalem in victory. The Great High Priest has assumed the glory that was waiting for Him on the Mount of Olives, and He is coming to inspect His household. He comes riding a donkey, standing in an ancient line of judges and kings who ruled from this city many years ago. Like Jehu before Him, Christ's donkey rides on the cloaks of the people, foreshadowing the coming destruction of false religion and idolatry. And in all of this, Christ is demonstrating a remarkable humility and lowliness. He...2024-06-1648 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 20:29-34 - "Healing of the Blind Men"The natural state of affairs is for us to be blind to the things of the Lord. The blindness leaves us idle, unproductive, and unable to help ourselves. While we are all brought into the world in this condition, many never see their need, and end up moving into deeper and deeper levels of self-deception and self-destruction. To come to terms with the reality is itself a gift from God. The Church Father Augustine once noted that "man does not obtain grace by freedom, but obtains freedom by grace". Like the blind men, we must come to the Son of...2024-06-0941 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 20:17-28 - "Servant of All"Christ has illustrated again that in the kingdom He has established, the first will be last and the last will be first. The way up is down, and the way to be great is to become a servant of all. Jesus has now made clear for the third time in this gospel that the road to glorification winds through the valley of suffering and death. Would we expect any different for ourselves if we are united to Christ? Since we are to be raised with Christ, we are charged with being willing to share in His cup of suffering as...2024-06-0239 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 19:30-20:16 - "The Labourers in the Vineyard"If there is any sentiment that has no place in the Christian's heart, it is the sentiment that God owes us something. He owes us nothing. The only title we own free and clear is to our sin. Yet in His sovereign grace, God freely gives us title to the kingdom. So the charge is this; whether God has called you in the morning, or whether He has called you at the eleventh hour, meditate on the fact that the calling itself is an undeserved mercy. In the power of the Holy Spirit, turn thoughts of envy into joy that...2024-05-2655 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 19:16-29 - "The Rich Young Ruler"The Puritan Cotton Mather, seeing how the sincere faith of previous generations had turned into complacency and indifference in his time, remarked that "Faithfulness begat prosperity, and the daughter devoured the mother". Wealth can rightly be interpreted as a blessing from God, but so often it corrupts through its false sense of pride and self-sufficiency. Christ has been pressing the point that the kingdom is not for the wealthy and the powerful, but for little children who trust and desire to live for the glory of Another. The Lord has shown that when His law is correctly understood, it does...2024-05-0549 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 19:13-15 - "Let the Little Children Come"In His all-wise providence, Christ extends His teaching on creation, maleness, femaleness, marriage, and the one-flesh union into its natural end – the goodness and blessing of children. The Lord Jesus's teaching is pro-creational in every sense. Children are a blessing. Children are an inheritance. Children are the fruitful crown of the woman's womb, and the continuation of a man's dominion after his strength is gone. When others see a nuisance, Christ sees a blessed hope. Jesus, the unmarried man, is here surrounded by His children, blessing them like Jacob before He departs in death. The blessing of these children is no...2024-04-281h 26Trinity FellowshipMatthew 19:1-12 - "Marriage & Divorce"Like Jeremiah, Jesus is warning the people of Judea about divorce. In the time of Christ, this is an exceptionally charged issue due both to the controversy between Herod and John the Baptist and to the different schools of thought among the Jewish leaders. Jesus is not content to merely answer the question as asked, but takes the opportunity to go back to the Bible, back to God's original plan at creation and affirm the beauty, truth, and goodness of a lifelong one-man, one-woman, one-flesh bond. Marriage is under attack again, being assailed by the lies of feminism, sexual freedom...2024-04-211h 28Trinity FellowshipMatthew 18:21-35 - "Forgiven Means Forgiving"Forgiveness is "A commitment by the offended to pardon graciously the repentant from moral liability, and to be reconciled to that person." When we are reminded of the overwhelming, impossible, and infinite debt that God has pardoned for us, the only fitting response is for us to stand ready to forgive others and be reconciled to them when they repent of their sins against us. Even if they don't come, and reconciliation isn't possible, we must still put aside all bitterness. Hanging on to bitterness, demanding justice for others after we have been shown mercy, and refusing to take back...2024-04-141h 24Trinity FellowshipMatthew 18:15-20 - "Church Discipline"Christ has been preaching about His concern for the little ones in Matthew 18. He has just told us how the Shepherd is so concerned for one straying sheep that He will leave the ninety-nine to go pursue it. That is what church discipline is – the Shepherd's heart to correct and restore the straying one. God's way of achieving restoration runs contrary to the sentimental and therapeutic sensibilities of our age. But it is Christ, not man, who is building His church, so we must follow the instructions we are given instead of presume to create our own. We have seen a...2024-04-0849 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 18:10-14 - "The Lost Sheep"We've been reminded today that we are all little ones in God's pasture. We are all there by grace and not by merit. There is no room for pride or vanity among the people of God, as even the angels and their mission remind us. The sheep may struggle and go astray, which is why shepherds are given to pursue and bring back. Part of their work involves temporarily leaving the ninety nine to pursue the one, but the mission is always rescue and restoration. We are all sheep in God's pasture, and many of us are also shepherds in...2024-03-2441 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 18:7-9 - "Be Killing Sin or Sin Will be Killing You"Christ has forced us to face the woe of a fallen world, weighed down by the curse of sin. He pronounces woe not just to the world generally, but to each individual who refuses to fight temptation. We are better off having eyes, hands, and feet cut off than being thrown into the eternal fire of hell. The old covenant cutting ceremonies pointed God's people to this reality, and the new covenant fulfillment delivers the substance to us. If we are in Christ, the old members have been cut off. If we are in Christ, we are a new creation...2024-03-1748 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 18:1-6 - "Like A Child"The kingdom of God is here already, but not yet fully. Christ has given more instruction on how His kingdom is to be made increasingly visible in the lives of His people. In His kingdom, the way to dominion is through suffering, the way up is down, and the way to greatness is through humility. We must become like children to live in this kingdom – trusting, dependant, filled with awe and wonder, teachable, and humble. These traits are the fruits of repentance that demonstrate that we have bent the knee to the King and are fit to live in His ki...2024-03-1052 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 17:22-27 - "The Supremacy of the Son"The gospel writers were inspired to reveal to us the Son of Man that was prophesied in Daniel 7. This morning's passage is a reminder that while He took on flesh and became a man, He retained His divinity and supremacy over all things. No earthly power has authority over Him. Yet, for the sake of the coming kingdom, He was slow to cause unnecessary stumbling blocks as neither should we. Most importantly we must remember the gospel as our foundation. Just as He paid the debt for Peter that He did not owe, His shed blood has paid the ransom...2024-03-0334 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 17:14-21 - "The Demon-Possessed Boy"In the story of the demon-possessed boy, we see the results of the fall coming into contact with the ministry of Christ's disciples. This is an early encounter in the long war for the cosmos. This war continues today, and so we can no doubt relate to the experience of these men as they encountered failure. Our faith is likewise too weak, too distracted, too misguided, too subject to doubts and to the accusations of those who oppose us. We remain a people in desperate need of the headship of Christ. Rather than humiliating us, He takes our failures and...2024-02-2543 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 16:28-17:13 - "The Transfiguration"Peter, James, and John receive the honour of being eyewitnesses to one of the most glorious events in human history. Together, with Moses and Elijah, they have the profound and long anticipated blessing of seeing God the Son as He truly is, with unveiled faces, in all His refulgent glory. Towards the end of his life, Peter looks back to this day and tells us that what we have now is even better than that eyewitness experience was (2 Peter 1:16-21). The dissonance and tension and waiting of the ancients has found its resolution in Jesus Christ. He uses this mountain...2024-02-1859 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 16:21-28 - "The High Cost of Winning""But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, "Yet...2024-02-1142 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 16:13-20 - "I Will Build My Church"We have found ourselves in a time where the consequences of ideas are reaching their logical conclusions. The God-forsaken unbelieving philosophies of the 1920s, 1940s, and 1960s are no longer constrained by outwardly Christian customs. This means our age is lost. Unbelieving ideas are attempting to create a chaotic hellscape on earth. Our age is looking for a compelling story to explain history and fill it with meaning. There are thousands of idolatrous stories, and one true one. We have a God-Man who came to overcome and redeem. He came to repair the ruins, to restore paradise, to remarry heaven...2024-01-281h 00Trinity FellowshipMatthew 16:5-12 - "Beware of the Leaven"Christ's warning of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees gives us a clear picture of the dangers of false teaching. Like leaven that permeates and transforms a loaf, so too false doctrine can infiltrate and destroy the faith of those who lose their focus on Christ and his Word. The religious leaders in Jesus' day had done just that, allowing their own ideas and fleshly desires to blind them to the true meaning of the Scriptures. There was good news coming! Yet their hard hearts blinded their eyes to it. In contrast to the Pharisees and Sadducees whose focus...2024-01-2145 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 16:1-4 - "The Sign of Jonah Repeated"Every detail of Christ's activity, miracles, and teaching are interwoven so as to tell one big story. The story of the old covenant terminates into Christ, and this is the story that the Pharisees and Sadducees are unable to see, no matter how close it gets to them. The Pharisees were so consumed with reading sentences that they missed the plot. The Sadducees were so consumed with neglecting sentences that they missed the plot. But our God is a story telling God, and so our charge as His people is to learn how stories work. God, in Christ is rebuilding...2024-01-1451 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 15:29-39 - "The Feeding of the Four Thousand"Christ is the head of a new humanity. He is knitting together a kingdom of priests from all the corners of the earth. When the scribes and Pharisees reject what Christ is offering, He goes to the obscure corners to bring outsiders in. What started as a single Canaanite woman happy like a dog for crumbs has become a small city being fed a full meal, equal to that of the children. Christ starts with the lost sheep of Israel, but now He is bringing in outsiders as well. There is no end to Christ's mercy, so the charge is...2024-01-0740 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 15:21-28 - "The Faith of the Canaanite Woman"The Canaanite woman is a glorious example of what humility and perseverance look like when they are both present in the same person. This woman has been blessed with the insight to see past the physical display of Christ's miracles and into their meaning. She sees that flour and oil and bread and crumbs have to do with God's abundant provision and Fatherly care for those who are His. This Fatherly providence is so detailed that it is even concerned with placing this woman at the feet of Jesus in the same place where another woman was placed at the...2023-12-3147 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 15:1-20 - "Scripture & Tradition"What starts as an aggressive examination of Jesus quickly turns into a trial of the emptiness of man-made religion. Not only has Jesus easily acquitted Himself of all wrong, but He has turned the tables and concluded a devastating case against the Pharisees. The standard of righteousness is not our own rules and ideas, no matter how new and exciting and compelling they seem, but the unchanging Word of God. The actual Law of God has weighed the human heart and found it wanting. The excrement that comes out of our hearts if far more putrid than the excrement produced...2023-12-1754 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 14:22-36 - "Peter Walks on Water"God's people have had to walk through many struggles. In today's text we've seen another retelling of a familiar story in which God gives His people rest and bread, then sends them away before their enemies get to them. It has been said that you know who someone's God is by seeing who they cry out to when life gets hard. The one you expect to deliver you in your day of testing is your god – for some this is their bank account. For others it is the government. For others it is their intelligence. It could be a friend or...2023-12-1046 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 14:13-21 - "The Feeding of the Five Thousand"Providence is the word we use to describe how God governs, attends to, watches over, and cares for His creation. When Jesus sees that the shepherds have left the sheep to fend for themselves, He has pity and compassion on them. He finds us lost, vulnerable, and hungry, but sees to it that we are gathered in, protected, and well-fed. He calls and equips under-shepherds to carry out His work, but everything ultimately comes from His hand. When we are fed by Jesus, our supply never runs out. In His ministry as the great shepherd, Christ shows us that He...2023-12-0339 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 14:1-12 - "Church, State, and a Clean Conscience"The account of John the Baptist's beheading lays out the most obvious of contrasts. John is right with God and as a result has a peace and a confidence that allows him to be bold and clear even when calling the most powerful men to repentance. Herod and his household are not right with God and as a result, they have an unstable and double-minded spirit that leads to cowardice and panic. God made both church and state to function alongside and in harmony with each other, both under His sovereign authority. In order for us to enjoy the blessing...2023-11-2656 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 13:44-58 - "The Kingdom's Worth"Today we conclude the third extended teaching section in the gospel of Matthew. Jesus teaches in parables in order to conceal truth to those who have not been given understanding, but to reveal truth to those who have. In our text today Jesus delivers four short parables in private to his disciples. From the first two we learn of the exceedingly great worth of the kingdom, the pursuit of which is indeed worth every sacrifice. This is supplemented with a view towards the final judgment, when the righteous and the wicked will be separated. And having been given this understanding...2023-11-1949 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 13:31-35 - "The Parables of the Mustard Seed & The Leaven"The Christian cannot be satisfied so long as any human activity is either opposed to Christianity or out of all connection with Christianity. Christianity must pervade not merely all nations, but also all of human thought. The Christian cannot therefore be indifferent to any branch of earnest human endeavor. It must all be brought into some relation to the gospel. It must be studied either in order to be demonstrated false or else in order to be made useful to the kingdom of God. The kingdom must be advanced not merely extensively, but also intensively. The church must not only...2023-11-1254 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 13:24-30; 36-43 - "The Parable of the Weeds"Christ's kingdom parables frequently encourage us to both patience in adversity and confidence over it. The patience and the confidence are both the fruit of trusting in Christ's settled victory over all things and all history. Imposters, false teachers, ungodly people, the spiritually indifferent, and antichrist ideas are all growing alongside and among the crop of God's kingdom. We must ever be on guard, honing our discernment according to the Word of God so that we will tell the true from the false in due time. As we wait for the fruit to give evidence of the root, we have...2023-11-0542 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 13:1-23 - "The Parable of the Sower"The parables not only illustrate, but perform. They are a prophetic comment on the state of affairs, and this Parable of the Sower actively brings about the very things of which it speaks. Parables make the truth memorable for those with spiritual ears, and they harden and confuse and conceal for those who remain in their sin. Parables sort the wheat from the chaff; the sheep from the goats, and this is exactly what Christ says they are meant to do. The preaching of the gospel sorts people out as it is designed to do. Because God is sovereign in...2023-10-2958 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 12:43-50 - "The Parable of the Empty House"We have been shown clearly that moral reform apart from Christ sets us up for a dangerous deception that makes us worse off than we started. External change leaves us empty and vulnerable to the enemy. The only way to achieve victory in the long war on sin is to expel it with the superior power of affection for Christ. Christian, if Christ has touched you, then you have eyes to see and a mouth to speak. The glory of the Lord has filled you to overflowing and you are able to see sin for the irrational corruption that it...2023-10-2248 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 12:38-42 - "The Sign of Jonah"Christ's ongoing conflict with the Pharisees keeps inching towards its climax. Christ refuses to turn His miracles into a circus act, and so rather than respond to the request for yet another sign, He turns and exposes their unbelief. These men are the guardians of the Scriptures and yet they refuse to see the Christ of those Scriptures. Jesus points to Himself in the account of Jonah and Solomon, and contrasts the high handed unbelief of these insider Pharisees with the repentant faith of those outsider converts. So today it is for us – Christless conservatism cannot save. Trying to be ma...2023-10-1550 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 12:33-37 - "Root and Fruit"Christ's words this morning present a strong challenge to those who would separate root and fruit, or head and heart. Christ is not the least bit interested in treating the wounds of His people lightly, or of pretending like there is peace when there is no peace. Jesus Christ is interested in the whole man, and this means that His gospel brings peace to the whole man. In contrast to the Pharisees who concern themselves with externals and empty words, Christ starts at the core. Christ conquers from inside out. By addressing the root, the fruit is able to come...2023-10-0853 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 12:22-32 - "Gathering or Scattering"In today's text we have seen the intrusion of Christ's kingdom into history. Christ is working in the power of the Spirit and is confronting us with a very clear choice. There are only two ways of living. Either, we join Christ's mission of plundering Satan's goods and gathering the remnants of his kingdom into Christ's, or we actively oppose Christ by scattering and wasting. The way we relate to Christ echoes into eternity. Right now counts forever. We either enter into His everlasting rest or we are confined to an eternity of futility where we will toil in agony...2023-10-0144 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 12:15-21 - "All According to Plan"In our text today, Matthew strategically places a passage from Isaiah 42:1-4 in between opposition and rejection. The opposition Jesus faced and his impending rejection as Messiah by the Jewish leadership runs counter to the expectations most Jews had of the Messiah and his ministry. But Matthew wants to make clear to his primarily Jewish audience that this is all according to plan. Isaiah had prophesied centuries earlier, describing what the Servant of the Lord would be like and what he would do. He would not be quarrelsome or forcefully assert himself, instead he would care for the broken and...2023-09-241h 01Trinity FellowshipMatthew 12:1-14 - "Entering Sabbath Rest"From the beginning, the Sabbath has been a marker to separate one week from another. God performs His creative work for six days and then enters into His rest, and this sets up the pattern for all of human history afterwards. In the days of promise under the old covenant, the people of God toiled in anticipation of future rest. In the new covenant, Christ becomes the new Adam in the new garden and initiates the new creation with His resurrection on the first day of the week. The day has moved but so far from destroying the old principles...2023-09-1755 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 11:20-30 - "Wrath & Grace"Everyone here is in earshot of the gospel. Many of us have grown up around it, and have the tremendous blessing of having learned it over a lifetime. Whether this morning is the first time you've heard an invitation from Christ, or whether this is just another occasion over 70 years, His offer stands. He is offering rest for those who come to Him in empty-handed faith. To hear this and walk away, or to hear this and not care, or to hear this and try to sit it alongside your unbelief, or to hear it and treat it as just...2023-06-1839 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 11:1-19 - "The Rejected Messenger"2023-06-1151 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 10:34-42 - "Ultimate Allegiance"Sin and rebellion have thrown this world into a great darkness and confusion. The world is dark and confused because it is populated by people who have chosen darkness and confusion. When our first parents kicked at the rule of God, everyone in this room was there with them. There is only one way back, and that is through the Lord Jesus Christ. He has shone His light into the world, and while our natural reaction to Him is violent, we know that the light must overcome the darkness. When we live our lives to the glory of God, we...2023-06-0454 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 10:26-33 - "The Fear of God"Fear makes men weak. Godless men resort to violence and intimidation not because of their strength, but because of their weakness. They can't help being made in the image of God, and this means they know their dark deeds will be exposed. Their fear makes sense. Fear is what drives them to persecute the godly, and this is precisely why Christians are not to give in to the fear. Our sins have been forgiven. Fear and shame have been driven far away, and so we are to stand strong and confidently. We know that God brings all things to light...2023-05-1439 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 10:16-25 - "Wise as Serpents, Innocent as Doves"Knowing that His is going to be a life of persecution and martyrdom, Christ warns the Twelve that they are going to face the same outcome as their Master. If they are going to proclaim law and gospel, wrath and grace, and the Lordship of Christ, they can expect to be hauled before councils, kings, and governors. They will be tempted to switch to self-preservation mode and avoid trouble by betraying others, and yet this would be proof that they do not have communion with Christ, as Judas' betrayal is going to prove. Endurance across the finish line is the...2023-05-0740 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 10:16-25 - "Wise as Serpents, Innocent as Doves"2023-05-0755 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 10:1-15 - "Commissioned For The Kingdom"2023-04-2355 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 9:27-38 - "Messianic Credentials"2023-04-161h 07Trinity FellowshipMatthew 9:14-26 - "The Time of New Wine"2023-04-021h 02Trinity FellowshipMatthew 9:9-13 - "Christ Calls Matthew"2023-03-2647 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 9:1-8 - "The Greater Miracle"2023-03-1950 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 8:23-34 - "The Holiness of Christ"2023-03-1237 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 8:18-22 - "Follow Me"2023-03-0542 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 8:1-17 - "Cleaning the Unclean"2023-02-2648 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 7:24-29 - "Foundational Wisdom"2023-02-1939 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 7:21-23 - "True and False Assurance"2023-02-1252 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 7:12-20 - "Two Paths"2023-02-0542 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 7:7-11 - "Ask, Seek, Knock"2023-01-2937 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 7:1-6 - "Don't Judge Me"2023-01-2255 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 6:25-34 - "Using Providence to Overcome Anxiety"2023-01-1549 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 6:16-24 - "Better Rewards"2023-01-0852 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 6:1-15 - "The Lord's Prayer"2023-01-011h 02
The Creative Middle RiotIllustrator Matthew PlettOn this episode of The Creative Middle Riot , we catch up with Muralist/Freelance/Artist/Designer/Letterer/Illustrator Matthew Plett who completed for his very first SOLO art show at The Garden Fort Wayne in January 2022 - It's ok. It's ok? It's ok! Matt shares his journey so far of being an artist in Fort Wayne. His work reveals how much he has going on in his heart and head. Plett's vibrant collection of work makes viewers feel seen, inspired and valued.The Creative Middle Riot podcast is dedicated to creative pioneers in the middle of the m...2022-12-311h 07Trinity FellowshipMatthew 5:33-48 - "Loving Your Enemies"2022-12-1844 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 5:31-37 - "Divorce & Oaths"2022-12-0437 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 5:21-30 - "The Law Reveals Our Need For Righteousness"2022-11-2743 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 5:13-20 - "Salt and Light, Law and Prophets"2022-11-2041 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 5:1-12 - "The Beatitudes"2022-11-1342 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 4:12-25 - "Jesus Begins His Ministry"2022-11-0635 minTrinity FellowshipMatthew 4:1-11 - "The Temptation of Jesus"2022-10-2348 min