Dewey Bertolini - The Book of Matthew

The Book of Matthew

The Smart Guide to the Bible Series

Dewey and Rebecca Bertolini

Larry Richards, General Editor

Thomas Nelson

Since 1798

www.ThomasNelson.com

The Book of Matthew

The Smart Guide to the Bible series

2008 by GRQ, Inc.

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Originally published by Starburst Publishers under the title Matthew: Gods Word for the Biblically-Inept. Now revised and updated.

Thomas Nelson, Inc. titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fundraising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com.

Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version ( NKJV ), copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

To the best of its ability, GRQ, Inc., has strived to find the source of all material. If there has been an oversight, please contact us, and we will make any correction deemed necessary in future printings. We also declare that to the best of our knowledge all material (quoted or not) contained herein is accurate, and we shall not be held liable for the same.

General Editor: Larry Richards

Managing Editor: Lila Empson

Scripture Editor: Deborah Wiseman

Assistant Editor: Amy Clark

Design: Diane Whisner

ISBN 10: 1-4185-1006-8

ISBN 13: 978-1-4185-1006-0

Printed in the United States of America

08 09 10 11 RRD 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Chapters at a Glance

Part One: Focus on Israel

One Zinger of a Statement

Four Notorious Women

A Birth Unlike Any Other

The Worshiping Wise Men

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Herod Meets His Maker

John the Baptizer

Preparing the Way

A Brood of Vipers

A Merciful Messiah

This Is My Son

All-Out War

Setting Up Shop

Fishermen or Fishers of Men?

Developing a Be-Attitude Attitude

Cause and Effect

Our Firm Foundation

Righteousness from the Inside Out

Its Whats Inside That Counts

The Lords Prayer

Meals, Money, and Things That Matter

The Grand Finale

Reaching Out

Taking Charge

An Awesome God

Giving Back

Of Sights and Sounds

A Scriptural Snapshot

Jesuss Band of Merry Men

Spiritual Boot Camp

Nothing to Fear but Fear Itself

Part Two: Focus on the World

No Doubt About It

A Tale of Three Cities

Rest for the Weary

Lawbreaker or Lawmaker?

Whats in a Name?

Jesus Tells a Fish Story

Its All in the Family

Have I Got a Story

Of Seeds and Weeds

Losing a Battle While Winning a War

Hide and Seek

Hometown Hero?

Enemy of the State

Like Father, Like Sons

Surprise Party

Man Overboard

Weve Only Just Begun

You Are What You Eat?

A Man with a Mission

A Simple Case of Dj Vu?

A Whale of a Request

Hypocrisy Exposed

A Losing Proposition

The Key Question

Death Watch

Coming Attractions

Shine, Jesus, Shine

A Homesick Savior

Leaving Galilee for Good

Test Question

Threading the Needle

Jerusalem or Bust

The King Is Coming!

Perfectly Angry

Desperate Men Make Desperate Moves

The Weeping Prophet

The Signs of the Times

Keep It Simple

The Great Divide

Conspiracy Theory

The Last Supper

Garden of Glory, Garden of Grief

Trial of the Centuries

Forsaken, Not Forgotten

Sealing His Fate

I Serve a Risen Savior

Welcome to The Book of MatthewThe Smart Guide to the Bible. The moment you picked up this book, you embarked on an incredible journey of discovery. Like a modern-day time traveler, you are about to enter an amazing worldthe land of Israelat a unique time in its storied history, the dawning of the first century AD. As we break the seal on the New Testament, well walk the stony streets and dusty paths that Jesus walked, climb hills, descend into a desert wilderness, sail through a storm on the Sea of Galilee and live to tell about it, encounter many of the people whom Jesus met, watch as angels minister to him and demons flee from him, marvel at his miracles, and listen in rapt attention to his teaching. This study of Matthew certainly changed our lives; we have no doubt that it will change yours as well.

If the key to the value of a piece of property is location, location, location, then the key to the value of good Bible teaching is make it clear, make it clear, make it clear. Thats exactly what weve tried to do in The Book of MatthewThe Smart Guide to the Bible, make the Bible clear.

Someone once lamented, No one has ever reasoned me out of my faith. But Ive nearly been bored out of my faith many times. Know the feeling? Unfortunately, too many people greet the Bible with a yawn. To them, the Bible is nothing more than a drab, dreary, dusty old book that doesnt even begin to relate to the problems and pressures of their everyday lives. How sad. One things for sureyou wont be bored out of your faith reading this book. Quite the contrary: From the very first verse of the first chapter, youll discover a vibrant, living, breathing verbal video of the most amazing man who ever lived. The Book of MatthewThe Smart Guide to the Bible is sure to ignite the flames of your imagination as it touches your life and challenges your thinking in ways that you cannot even begin to anticipate.

Who Wrote Matthew?

Every effort has been made to resuscitate (figuratively, of course) our dear friend Matthew just long enough to plop him down in an easy chair in your living room or position him bedside in your bedroom and allow him to tell you his amazing story. Its a twisting, turning tale of intrigue and inspiration, tender love and volcanic hatred, passionate devotion and brutal betrayal, sky-high hopes and dashed dreams. Its all here for public consumption. Matthew is perfectly positioned to tell it.

Before he met Jesus, Matthew held the despicable position of a turncoat tax collector, considered to be the dregs of that society, lower even than a prostitute. Why? Because as a Jew, Matthew sold out his own people when he decided to hold hands with the Romans, overtax his own countrymen, and pocket the profits for himself. Scum of the earth is too nice to capture what people felt about him. But when Jesus called him to follow Me (Matthew 9:9 NKJV ), Matthew couldnt resist. Right on the spot he gave up everything and never looked back. From that moment on until the day he died, Matthew was a faithful follower of Jesusa disciple, one of twelve apostles who would go on literally to change the world.

Our Qualified Guide!

Through Matthews eyes, we will view vast vistas of landscapethe towering slopes of Mount Hermon where the Transfiguration likely took place (Matthew 17) to the plummeting depths of the Jordan rift valley where Jesus was baptized (Matthew 3). Well go with Jesus from the desert oasis of Jericho, the oldest known, continuously inhabited city (Matthew 20) to the mountaintop grandeur of Jerusalem, the crowned jewel of the Middle East, the place where God chose to touch the earth, where his radiant glory flashed and flamed in the blessed Jewish Temple. It is an epic journey that begins in a cradle and ends (apparently) on a cross.