Sunday Setup – Matthew 9:1-8

Hey Grace Church and welcome to this Sunday setup. This is our time each week that we gather digitally together to pray through the piece of passage that we're going to be studying this week so that we can have our hearts ready to hear God's word and to respond. Uh today we're continuing on in our series through the miracles of Jesus and we're going to be looking at Matthew chapter 9. I'm going to read the first eight verses of this chapter in Matthew chapter 9 and we've seen Jesus rebuke a storm and calm the waves. We've seen Jesus cast out demons and today he comes to a new obstacle and we see the miracle that guides through this passage. And we start here in Matthew chapter 9 starting in verse 1. It says this, "So he, being Jesus, got into a boat. He crossed over and he came to his own town. Just then some men brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher. Seeing their faith, Jesus told the paralytic, 'Have courage, son. Your sins are forgiven.' At this, some of the scribes said to themselves, 'He's blaspheming.' Perceiving their thoughts, Jesus said, 'Why are you thinking evil things in your heart? For which is easier to say, "Your sins are forgiven" or to say, "Get up and walk"?' But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, then he told the paralytic, 'Get up, take your stretcher and go home.' So he got up and went home. When the crowd saw this, they were awestruck and they gave glory to God who had given such authority to men. Man, that's a powerful passage and just in these eight verses that we'll be diving into this week and seeing how this miracle plays across Matthew, Mark, and Luke. But in here and and starting in verse eight, this word this word that just jumps off the page is this as they saw this, they were awestruck. And sometimes I think we can fall into this tendency in our own walk with Christ as we're reading our Bibles, as we're praying to him, as we're going to church, is sometimes we get too comfortable with the mundane. And we don't have the same kind of eyes, the fresh eyes at times that the people did at this time. It says they were awestruck. Their their eyes lit up. They didn't know what they were looking at. They were amazed. They were just drawn in and that kind of leads to our first prayer prompt, a prayer prompt of praise as we think about this. Is God, I am awestruck awestruck by you because God, I am awestruck by you because just finish that phrase and just think of some of the ways that you are awestruck by God. By because of what he has created in the stars and the moon and the planets, that because of the creation we see here on earth and the trees, because of how he performed miracles throughout history, because of what he has done in your life is God, I am awestruck by you because. Finish that prayer. Pray those prayers to our God. >> And God, I'm awestruck by you because you are such a big God. Lord, as we study uh science, we study math, and we study just the things of our world that we can know more about stuff, it just makes our universe bigger and bigger and bigger, and you are the one who created all that. You're the one who sustains all that. And Lord, sometimes we don't take the time to be awestruck by you. But God, we don't take the time to see how we just see your beauty and your glory in the little things in day-to-day life, how you constantly provide, how things may seem coincidental at times, but are the sovereign hand that you uh move throughout history and time throughout to intervene in our lives to point us to you. And Lord, I'm just awestruck by your glory, your revelation, your creation, and the list can go on and on and on, and that you allow us to be a part of it. But God, we praise you. We talk about how awestruck we are by you, but Lord, that then calls us to reflect on our own selves. And in this passage, they are awestruck by him uh because of how holy he is, but Jesus calls them out. One, he forgives the sins of the paralytic man, but he calls out the scribes, and he says, "Why are you thinking these evil things in your heart?" And you think about the paralytic man, we'll dive into he obviously had sin in his life cuz he's broken cuz he's a person. There was sins that he had to deal with just like there sins we have to deal with. The scribes had sin in their life, the disciples had sin in their life. We all have evil within our hearts that we need to be forgiven for. And as we think about the things of how great and glorious and huge our God is, how we should be awestruck by him, we should also be ashamed and ask for forgiveness of the sin and the evil that is in our life. So here's our second prayer prompt. As we have a prayer of worship but a prayer of response and confession to that worship. Is God, please forgive the evil in my heart of And that is personal for you between you and God. God, please forgive the evil in my heart of maybe it's pride, maybe it's jealousy, maybe it's anxiety, maybe it's stress, maybe it's lust, whatever that evil in your heart is. That God, please forgive the evil in my heart of Pray those prayers of response and confession to who God is. You are the God of holiness, the God of perfection, the God of miracles, the God who has authority over everything. And Lord, as we follow you God, we just dive into your word, we read about the stories, the the miraculous things you did, the the questions you asked of what kind of man is this, who is this? You are Jesus, the savior, the Messiah. And Lord, we are awestruck by you. Just being in your presence, us having a personal relationship with we don't deserve it. And we don't deserve it cuz there's evil in our life. But Lord, we are grateful that you are the God who has authority over sin. You are the God who has the authority to forgive our sins. And Lord, we ask that you forgive them. Lord, we thank you and we praise you that you wash us clean and that you present us and use us to spread your word and to be a part of your kingdom. God, thank you for all who are joining together digitally. That you just prepare our hearts, that you bless our lives. You look for opportunities to make you known, opportunities to share the God who has authority over all things. Lord, as we gather this weekend that we can be uplifted, that we can be encouraged, and we can leave this place doing your will. God, I just thank you for this time. Lift all this up in Jesus' name. Amen. Hey, thank you guys for joining us. We can't wait to see you this Sunday as we worship together the God who has all authority. See you soon. >> Mhm.