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.

Let's continue our journey through Matthew today by settling into chapter 9.

This chapter furthers Matthew's mission of demonstrating the glory of Christ through miracles.

Like the previous chapter, he lists quite a few of them.

Jesus heals the paralytic.

He heals the woman with 12 years of blood flow.

He raises a young lady from the dead, heals two blind men,

and casts out demons. The purpose of these miracles is to demonstrate some wonderful things about

Jesus. First, he is compassionate. He feels for people and seeks to help them. Second, he has the

power to cleanse souls of sin. The physical miracles

prove his miraculous power to do all things. Third, this chapter continues to prove that there are no

limits to Jesus authority. He controls the body and soul, life and death, and the physical and spiritual

realm. Let's look at what that may mean for you and me.

Jesus is the most wonderful gift the world has ever known, but some religious leaders refused to accept

him. They questioned his ability to forgive sins. They questioned why he dined with sinners. They even

attribute his healing power to demons.

They were jealous and selfish and refused to trust in Jesus

and give him the control he deserves.

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