Welcome to our new project, the Daily Bible Devotional. The goal is to help you understand and apply

scripture as you go through a New Testament Bible read five days a week, Monday through Friday,

as we move from Matthew straight through to Revelation. In under four minutes each morning, we will recap the chapter,

make some application, present thought questions for the day, and offer a prayer together.

I'm excited about exploring God's word with you, so let's get started.

Welcome to our study today from Matthew Chapter 12.

The opposition of the Pharisees has been ramping up throughout Jesus' ministry and takes center stage in this chapter.

Christ disciples eat grainheads on the Sabbath, and the Pharisees take the opportunity to accuse them of sin.

Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath, and the Pharisees

conspire to destroy him. Jesus heals a man of demonic possession, and the Pharisees accuse him

of having a demon. All along Jesus puts them in their place. His disciples violated no law by

eating on the Sabbath, for Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. It is

lawful to do good on the Sabbath, including miraculously healing a lame man. Jesus works with the

spirit, not with the devil, and all who suggests such will be eternally judged for the sin of blasphemy. Let's see if there are some

things we can use from that text today. Jesus goes on to say that speaking against the Spirit is

worthy of eternal punishment. These evil accusations of the Pharisees indicate rotten, jealous, selfish hearts. He also exclaims that

many nations of old repented on less evidence than Jesus was providing, indicating the Pharisees are

far from God. We need to be humble enough to look at the Pharisees and ask, how have I been like them? Jesus is worthy to be

worshipped, honored, and followed. We must love him from the heart. We must love and serve

as disciples as our family in the body of Christ. He defends and loves his saints. We should not be attacking or accusing others. We must be

faithful supporters of one another in Christ. Let's look at our thought questions and see if we can

be challenged in those areas. Number one, what does it mean for Jesus to tell the disciples, quote,

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