Smyrna Fellowship

Matthew 18 : A Heart of Forgiveness In the last chapter (17) we saw Jesus’ divine glory revealed through the Transfiguration, where Peter, James, and John see Him with Moses and Elijah and hear the Heavenly Father affirm Him as His Son. Coming down the mountain, Jesus heals a demon-possessed boy and…

Matthew Chapter 17 (Jesus’s divine authority) Intro: We ended chapter 16 in Matthew last week with Christ teaching about taking up your cross to the disciples. Giving up your worldly desires and working for Christ. James did a great job explaining your works aren't what give you salvation, your salvation…

Matthew 16 : Following Jesus On HIS Terms In the last half of chapter 15 we see that Christ withdraws from Israel with His disciples and heads into the Gentile district of Tyre and Sidon. This is the same region Jesus once mentioned while shaming Israel for stubbornness ( Matthew 11:20–24 ). A Canaanite…

Matthew Chapter 15 (The Disciples understanding) Intro: Just to recap from the previous chapter, John the Baptist was beheaded, we learned about Herod the tetrarch and all of his family mess, We also saw Christ, break the bread and fish and feed the multitudes with what little supply, and also Peter…

Matthew 14 Matthew begins this chapter by telling the story of the death of John the Baptist. Herod confuses Jesus and John, it seems that he believes they are one and the same, not two separate people; and Matthew provides background to the the story here. At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the…

Matthew Chapter 13 (part 2 Christ’s Parables) Intro: Just to recap, we studied the first half of this chapter, and Jesus’s parables in teaching the people in a way they could remember and it would stick with them, We saw how these parables were fit for the way we should live, but also some would be depictions…

Matthew 13 Part 1 The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side. With this verse saying “the same day” that connects us back to chapter 12 showing that this happens at the same time. The sea referenced here is the Sea of Galilee. And notice that He came out of the house, showing that…

Matthew Chapter 12 (A House Divided) Intro: We saw in the first half of chapter 12 how the Pharisees were so caught up in the law that they completely are missing the fact that God in the flesh, Christ is right in front of them. I thought James did an awesome explanation on why it’s important at not…

OPENING PRAYER BY BROTHER TIM DIXON “Rescue Story” by Zach Williams The Ordination of Zachary Earl Cox As many of you know, over the past year Zach has been regularly teaching in our church, he has been helping to run our bible study and discussion group, and has been stepping up to assist with whatever…

Matthew 12 Part 1 At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat. The Sabbath—called shabbat in Hebrew—is the seventh day of the week, designated as the day God rested in the Genesis. Israelites were prohibited…

Matthew Chapter 11 (Christ’s Affirmation) Intro James covered at the end of last chapter Christ giving His disciples the great mission, the mission we should still hold too to this day. Pay attention to the title of this lesson. There are 2 different meanings of the word affirm. 1. To state as a fact;…

Matthew 10 So last week we saw Jesus call the 12 disciples to Him and grant them the power and authority to cast out demons and to heal sickness. This was the beginning of the great commission that is still the objective the church has to this day. Now in the first part of chapter 10, the disciples were…

Matthew Chapter 10 (The disciples mission) Intro: We left off last Sunday, James wrapped up chapter 9 here in Matthew, and we saw Jesus and His disciples further spreading the Gospel and Christ performing miracles that could only be described as the powers of God, but yet Pharisees said , “ He casteth…

Matthew 9 And he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city. When this says “his own city” it is referring to Capernaum on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the…

Matthew Chapter 8 (The Living Word) Intro: We’ve been reading through the last couple of chapters in Matthew, studying and learning about Jesus’s sermon on the mount, As James wrapped up our study in chapter 7 last Sunday we saw the importance of the golden rule. Treat others how you want to be treated,…

Matthew 7 : Ask, Seek, Knock So far in the Sermon on the Mount, the themes have been more about the spiritual life (attitudes in giving, prayer, fasting, materialism, and anxiety over material things). Now we will see Jesus touch on the way we should treat others. Remember that Jesus called for a righteousness…

Matthew Chapter 6 (Necessities from God) Intro: A couple of Sunday’s ago James went over the 1st half of Matthew Chapter 6, and we saw the Sermon of Jesus on the Mount, and how Christ was teaching us the instructions on prayer, and fasting and how to approach them, This morning, going over the last half…

Christmas: Christ Is The Ultimate Gift The Gift of GOD’s Presence Jesus Is GOD With Us God did not send an angel or prophet to bridge the gap between heaven and earth; He crossed it Himself. God desires to be near His people. He came not only to rescue us but to restore His relationship with us. Christmas…

Matthew 6 : Instructions on Giving, Prayer, and Fasting Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Alms means charitable deeds or righteousness. Jesus tells us to not do righteous things for the sake of display or…

Matthew Chapter 5 (Expansion of the Law) Intro: James covered a couple Sunday’s ago verses 1-20 here in Matthew chapter 5, and we saw how we should always strive to follow the law by the very best of our ability and understanding, but also we WILL fall short, and that is why repentance is so important,…

Matthew 5 : The Beatitudes And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: And seeing the multitudes : The previous chapter mentioned that great multitudes followed Him , coming from many different regions ( Matthew 4:25 ). In response to this,…

Matthew Chapter 4 (The trials of Christ) Intro: We saw last Sunday in Chapter 3 of Matthew John, and John living in the wilderness around the Jordan River, eating on locusts and wild honey, preaching to the people. Different groups from all around gathered toward John to hear him preach the true gospel…

Matthew Chapter 3 (John the Baptist) Intro: We studied in the last chapter, Matthew Chapter 2, Christ being born, and the wise men coming to meet him, and how king Herod naturally was angry because they were referring to Christ as king of the Jews, James went over how the star appeared and God divinely…

Matthew 2 Matthew continues his narrative of Jesus’ birth by introducing the wise men from the east and their appearance in Jerusalem. Upon hearing about their arrival, Herod questions them to get information about the Christ child. Now when Jesus was born in Beth-lehem of Judaea in the days of Herod…

Matthew Chapter 1 (The Generations of Christ from Joseph) Intro Last Sunday we wrapped up the book of Genesis. The first book of the bible. The first book of the Old Testament Now we are starting the book of Matthew. The first book of the New Testament. In Matthew we are going to see the beginning and…

Genesis 50 : The Passing of Jacob and Joseph It has taken us since the last week of December to reach this point, but finally, we’ve arrived at Genesis chapter 50 — the last chapter in the book of Genesis, the end of the book of beginnings. Here we see the conclusion of the story of the Patriarchs. The…

Genesis Chapter 49 (The Blessings of Jacob) Intro : We saw last chapter Jacob passing his blessings to Ephraim and Manasseh, Remember Ephraim, and Manasseh were the grandsons of Jacob, The sons of Joseph and how Ephraim would become the more noteworthy of the two tribe and inherit the birthright and…

Genesis 48 And it came to pass after these things, that one told Joseph, Behold, thy father is sick: and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. Ephraim (e’-fra-im) = Two fold increase; very fruitful Manasseh (ma-nas’-seh) = One who causes to forget; forgetting; forgetfulness And one told…

Genesis Chapter 47 (Jacob Settles in Goshen) Intro: We ended chapter 46 with Jacob and their family entering Goshen in Egypt. We saw in the early part the lineages of Israel or Jacob, and how God let him know not to fear going into Egypt, that it was God’s plan for this to all take place. Then Joseph…

Genesis 46 : The Journey To Egypt In Chapter 45 we saw that Joseph could no longer hold back his emotions. Moved by Judah’s plea for Benjamin’s release and for the life of his father Jacob, Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers. Joseph embraced them—particularly Benjamin—and explained that God…

Genesis Chapter 45 (Joseph’s Reveal) Intro: Joseph’s brothers have came back unto Egypt to get more grain during the famine, and this time they have come with Benjamin, Josephs full brother by Rachel. And as James went over last chapter, These brothers show great example of repentance and willing to…

Genesis 44 : Benjamin and the Silver Cup Remember that the brothers still think that Joseph is an Egyptian official, they don’t recognize him still. Benjamin, the youngest brother, Joseph’s full blood brother from Rachel; joins the brothers on this second trip to Egypt to secure more supplies. We are…

Genesis Chapter 43 (Benjamin Sent to Egypt) Intro: Were picking back up where we left off last Sunday, Genesis Chapter 43, And as we read last week, the famine that God gave Pharaoh in a divine dream has come true, Joseph is leading Egypt during this time, and his brothers come and have gotten their…

Genesis 42 : Joseph’s Brethren Because the famine is widespread throughout the Mediterranean world, starving people from impoverished countries must travel to Egypt to buy food. This sets the stage for Joseph’s reunion with his family. Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, Jacob said unto…

Genesis Chapter 41 (The Seven Year Prophecies) Intro: As James went over last Sunday, we went over Genesis Chapter 40 and we saw the two dreams one from the Chief butler and one from the Chief Baker. Joseph, having that divine gift of interpretation, and being able to rightfully divide and illustrate…

Genesis 40 : The Butler and The Baker And it came to pass after these things, that the butler of the king of Egypt and his baker had offended their lord the king of Egypt. The phrase “after these things” show us that some time has passed, although it’s not specific here. By putting together a few pieces…

Genesis Chapter 39 (Joseph is imprisoned) Intro: Last week, James went over Genesis 38 which covered Judah and Tamar, and as we will see later on, Christ actually comes from the lineage of Judah. Also looking at how we can ground our faith by being able to take it back and trace these lineages to modern…

Genesis 38 And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brethren, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. The phrase “at that time” is showing us that this is taking place around the same time as the selling of Joseph into slavery. Judah meets with Hirah, whose…

Genesis Chapter 37 (Joseph’s Vision) Intro: James ended us last Sunday in Genesis 35 which covered the death of Rachel, Jacob excepting his blessing and finally taking the name Israel from God, and ended around the death of Isaac. We are going to be skipping over chapter 36 this morning. Chapter 36 goes…

Genesis 35 : Jacob’s Return To Bethel And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Beth-el, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother. Bethel means “House of God”. This is the place where Jacob used the stone “pillow”,…

Genesis 34 : (The Defiling of Dinah) Intro: James ended us on chapter 33 with Jacob and Esau kind of reuniting after over 2 decades, and showing how there was forgiveness between the two from all the strife in their past, all in all that was one of the main factors that kicked off Jacob leaving his homeland…

Genesis 33 And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men. And he divided the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids. We saw the messengers warn Jacob that Esau was coming with 400 men back in verse 6 of chapter 32. At that time…

Genesis Chapter 32 (Jacob sends a message to Esau) We finished out chapter 31 with Jacob and Laban making a covenant of peace together with God as their witness. Jacob is now continuing his instruction from God to go back to the land of Isaac or his hometown. And Jacob went on his way, and the angels…

The Flight from Laban As James left us off in Genesis chapter 30, Jacob basically manipulated the flocks to increase his wages. So lets pick back here in Genesis 31 starting at verse 1 and it reads; And he heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, Jacob hath taken away all that was our father’s; and of…

Genesis 30 Jacob’s Family & Wealth And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die. The maternal relation confers a high degree of honour in the East, and the want of that status is felt as a stigma, and deplored as a…

Genesis 29 Jacob’s Wives Then Jacob went on his journey, and came into the land of the people of the east. Went on his journey = A Hebrew Idiom that says “lifted up his feet”. An idiom is a peculiar usage of words and phrases peculiar to one nation or tribe. We need to understand the nuances of the language…

Jacobs Dream Intro: To bring us back up to speed where we left off, Rebekah warns Jacob to leave and go find her brother Laban in Haran. She warns him because Esau is mad at Jacob for “stealing” his inheritance when we know Esau gave it up himself. Rebekah tells Isaac that the reason Jacob is going away…

Mother’s Day: How A Mother’s Love Is A Reflection of God As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; And ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem. God showing the example of a mother’s love and comfort for how He loves and comforts us. Jerusalem = the place of the Throne, ie. the presence of…

Jacob’s Blessing Just to catch us back up to speed to where we left off, Chapter 25 covered Esau and Jacob being born and Esau giving up his birthright in their earlier years for a bowl of stew. Showing he wasn’t taking his relationship with God seriously. Chapter 26 that James covered last week covered…

Genesis 26 Isaac’s Journey To Gerar And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar. The famine accounts for Esau’s failure hunting and willingness to sell his birthright, with this famine being…