Smyrna Fellowship

Matthew 27 : Part 3 Last week, we saw Jesus delivered to Pilate, who gave in to the pressure of the crowd. The people chose to release Barabbas, a guilty criminal; while Jesus willingly accepted the sentence of crucifixion. Now, as we continue through Matthew 27 , we will see what happens as Jesus is…

Matthew 27:11-26 Pilate and Barabbas This passage is a transition in the events leading to Christ's crucifixion. Jesus has been condemned by the Jewish authorities, but He’s now brought before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, where the accusation against Him becomes more political in nature. Jesus…

Matthew 27 : Jesus Delivered to Pilate Matthew 26 ended with Jesus being brought before the Jewish religious authorities. False witnesses had been gathered, Jesus had been condemned as worthy of death, Peter had denied Him three times, and morning has now arrived. In today’s lesson we are going to see…

Matthew Chapter 26 (Fulfillment Around the Corner) Part 5 So remembering where we left off last Sunday, Jesus was brought before the Sanhedrin after being arrested, (the Sanhedrin being the high priest Ciaiphas and the other religous higher ups) They were the same Jewish leaders who were plotting against…

Matthew Chapter 26 (Fulfillment Around the Corner) Part 4 So if we remember from last Sunday, we had left off with a cliff hanger, Jesus took Peter, James, and James’s brother John with Him away from the others in Gethsemane to Pray, and He kept telling them to stay spiritually alert, but they were letting…

Matthew Chapter 26 (Fulfillment Around the Corner) Part 2 So we ended last Sunday with Judas meeting up with the chief priests that were plotting to take out Jesus, and Judas has worked up a deal willingly with them to hand Jesus over for 30 pieces of silver, Judas now is strategically watching and waiting…

Matthew Chapter 26 (Fulfillment Around the Corner) Part 1 James wrapped up Matthew chapter 25 last Sunday which closed out Jesus’s teachings to the disciples on the Mount of Olives from chapters 24 and 25, James did a great job explaining Jesus’s teachings over how we can’t work our way into heaven,…

Matthew 25 : The Sheep and The Goats Matthew 25:31–46 is the conclusion of Christ's Olivet Discourse. The beginning of this section, “When the Son of man shall come in his glory”, connect this passage to His teaching about His return. The discourse began when the disciples asked Jesus: And as he sat…

Matthew 25 : The Parable of the Ten Virgins So what we’ve seen in chapter 24 is that Jesus tells His disciples that the temple will be destroyed and he answers their questions about the future. He warns that before His return there will be deception, wars, disasters, persecution, and a great tribulation,…

Matthew Chapter 24 Part 3 (Be Prepared) Part one of this chapter we saw Jesus explaining to the disciples of what NOT to look for as signs of the end times, Part two we saw what TO look for as signs of the end times, and even the true signs of the second return of the Messiah, The importance is that…

Matthew Chapter 24 Part 2 (The Signs of the End Times) Intro: We are going to be starting off this chapter right where we left off last Sunday, we went over the first part of this chapter with just one section, but in those 8 verses, I wanted us to really build the foundation and understanding of this…

Matthew Chapter 24 Part 1 (The Sorrows of the Time) Intro : We left off chapter 23 with Jesus leaving the temple after confronting the Pharisees as hypocrites, again, that meaning they were stage actors, portraying themselves as something they are not, They looked good on the outside, but inside they…

Matthew 23 : Part 3 - The Final Woes Matthew 23:27–39 concludes Jesus's condemnation of the scribes and Pharisees. He continues to exposes the difference between outward appearance and inward reality. He then mourns over Jerusalem's rejection of God's messengers, and explains that there is a coming judgment…

Matthew 23 Woes To Scribes And Pharisees The section of Matthew 23 that we will be going over today records part of Jesus' final public warning of the scribes and Pharisees during the last week before His crucifixion. In a series of eight "woes," Jesus exposes their religious hypocrisy for all to see.…

Matthew 23 Part 1: Jesus Speaks to the Multitudes So we left off at the end of chapter 22 where Jesus was approached by one of the Pharisees. This man was a "lawyer," meaning he was an expert in the Old Testament and its traditional interpretations. He tests Jesus by asking a simple question that was…

Matthew Chapter 22 Part 2 (The Living Word) We closed the first half of Chapter 22 with Christ preaching the 3rd parable to the Pharisees and the Herodian’s about the wedding banquet and we saw the verse from Christ, “ For many are called, but few are chosen” This is Matthew 22 verse 14, very powerful…

Matthew Chapter 22 (The Called and the Chosen) Intro: We ended a couple of Sunday’s ago with the last half of Matthew Chapter 21, and we saw the Pharisees and the Chief priests of the temple questioning who gave Jesus His authority? They were upset over Jesus taking authority in the temple, but they…

Matthew 21:23-46 (Christ’s Authority) Intro: So we left off in the first half of Matthew chapter 21 with Christ coming into Jerusalem, and lodging in Bethany, We closed with Christ giving the parable of “the barren Fig tree” and we saw how Christ came up to the tree because He was hungered and the tree…

The Need For Rest Rest is not laziness. God created humans with the need for physical, emotional, and spiritual rest. Throughout Scripture we see: God establishing and commanding rest. We see Jesus practicing rest, and God restoring weary people. This study will examine what the Bible says about healthy…

Matthew Chapter 21:1-22 (The Entering into Jerusalem) INTRO: So just to recap of chapter 20, we saw Christ and the disciples headed to Jerusalem, and remember we learned the parable of the vineyard workers, we are starting off with Christ and His disciples furthering their journey to Jerusalem. and in…

Matthew 20 : The Last Shall Be First The Parable of the Vineyard Workers For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. Jesus often uses parables to describe the kingdom of heaven, using everyday experiences…

Matthew Chapter 19 (Everlasting Life Through Christ) Intro: So we are picking back up with the book of Matthew in chapter 19, Remember on our last Bible study lesson, we closed with Christ teaching about the servent who owed an unimaginable debt to the King, and the king forgave it but the servent later…

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…