Opening Prayer - Heavenly Father we thank You for the opportunity to learn about Your Word. We pray that you will help us to understand these verses in Matthew so we can fulfill our purpose in life. May everyone who tunes in this evening receive a blessing and learn from your Word and be able to apply what we have learned in our daily lives. We're eternally thankful for this ministry, and we pray that we can share these websites with others and many people can begin to have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Worship music - Please click the links and sing along if you know the words (You can also click skip ad to go straight to the songs) -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLxyrD8m3KQ&index=45&list=RDkIEEz9yaukA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3TpEeIgAM8&list=RDkIEEz9yaukA&index=33
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePPOaX6HTPI&index=42&list=RDkIEEz9yaukA
For Wednesday evening services, the Lord has lead me to do a Bible study for practical Bible verses in Matthew. Please come back to these Bible lessons in order to review them and learn them. Whenever we have learned the meaning of Bible verses and think about them throughout each day, we will be in perfect peace (Isaiah 26:3). Not only that, but when we are in a situation in our daily lives and are tempted to sin, we can think back to what we have learned from the Bible and say to ourselves, "The Bible says to not do what I am tempted to say, think, do, and/or desire right now, so I am going to refuse to give in to this temptation." This is what Romans 12:2 means, and it says, "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." This is also the pattern that Jesus used when the devil tempted Him to sin in Matthew 4:1-11.
Chapter 8
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW
Matthew 8:28-34
28And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. 29And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time? 30And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding. 31So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. 32And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters. 33And they that kept them fled, and went their ways into the city, and told every thing, and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils. 34And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts.
The people who kept the herd of swine should have been very glad and thankful to Jesus for casting the demons out of the two people, but they were angry with Jesus because the demons went into their herd of swine and caused them to drown in the sea. The thing that was most important to them was their job and finances, instead of the Lord. Also, notice that these people wanted Jesus to leave (Matthew 8:34), and He left. This was their oppertunity to become Christians. Tragically, they refused, and Jesus never came back to their city. When the Holy Spirit urges people to get saved, He may not urge them to get saved again. This is what Genesis 6:3 means. Also, someone can only become a Christian when the Holy Spirit is urging them to get saved. This is what John 6:65 teaches, and it says, "And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father." For example, the Holy Spirit may urge and give someone thoughts that they need to become a Christian a total of ten times their whole life. If they decide that they do not want to get saved after the tenth time, they will never have another oppertunity to become a Christian. This is why it is very important that someone makes a decision to become a Christian whenever the Holy Spirit urges and gives them thoughts to do that because they may not have another oppertunity to get saved. This is what 2 Corinthians 6:2 means, and it says, "(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)
(If you have not prayed or made a decision to become a Christian, and you would like to do that, you must be willing to follow (imitate and obey) Jesus "from this moment on and for the rest of your life" before you pray or make a decision to become a Christian (explained in these websites - http://chriswaug5.wix.com/theanswer and http://chriswaug5.wix.com/nocontridiction). If you are willing to live this way, please follow this website - http://chriswaug5.wix.com/howtogotoheaven This could be your last oppertunity.)
(If you have prayed or made a decision to become a Christian, but these things - (your job, family, friends, appearance, personal safety (Matthew 10:28), collecting finances, buying material things for entertainment and/or to impress others, spending your time watching and/or listening to things that don't involve God (explained in this website - http://chriswaug5.wix.com/tvandmusic), and/or being entertained by things that don't involve God - getting drunk, doing drugs, lusting, having sex before you're married, etc.) are more important to you and/or you enjoy them more than witnessing to and/or helping others, and when you aren't doing that, thinking about the things of God, please follow this website - http://chriswaug5.wix.com/makingsure)
(If you have prayed or made a decision to become a Christian, but you are not sure that you are really a Christian (Hebrews 11:6, Matthew 21:18-22, 1 John 5:14, and Hebrews 11:1), you need to be sure - please follow this website - http://chriswaug5.wix.com/howtogotoheaven)