WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.000
So whatever sin you may be struggling with, whatever prison cell you may feel like your

2
00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:08.720
mind is in, whatever chains you may feel like you're holding, that same promise that God made

3
00:00:08.720 --> 00:00:13.280
to them, he's making to you. Hey, I'm sending one who is a chain breaker. I'm sending one who can

4
00:00:13.280 --> 00:00:18.560
break down prison doors. I'm sending one who can bend the bars to be able to break you out of prison,

5
00:00:18.560 --> 00:00:22.480
to be able to make you a free man and a free woman, and his name is Jesus.

6
00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:33.520
Hey, welcome to the empower you daily devotional. My name is Marcus. Today we're going to be looking

7
00:00:33.520 --> 00:00:39.520
at Matthew chapter one from the ESV. The goal on this chapter is to bring out three key truths

8
00:00:39.520 --> 00:00:45.200
and show how this portion of scripture is still vital for our walk and how we can grow from it.

9
00:00:45.200 --> 00:00:49.280
So if you have your Bibles, Matthew chapter one, starting in verse one, it says this,

10
00:00:49.920 --> 00:00:55.120
the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the

11
00:00:55.120 --> 00:01:00.320
father of Isaac and Isaac, the father of Jacob and Jacob, the father of Judah and his brothers. And

12
00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:06.400
Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar and Perez, the father of Hezron and Hezron, the

13
00:01:06.400 --> 00:01:11.520
father of Ram and Ram, the father of Amenadab and Amenadab, the father of Nashon and Nashon,

14
00:01:11.520 --> 00:01:17.680
the father of Salmon and Salmon, the father of Boaz by Rahab and Boaz, the father of Obed by Ruth

15
00:01:17.680 --> 00:01:23.280
and Obed, the father of Jesse and Jesse, the father of king David. And David was the father

16
00:01:23.280 --> 00:01:28.240
of Solomon by the wife of Uriah and Solomon, the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam, the father of

17
00:01:28.240 --> 00:01:33.360
Abedah and Abedah, the father of Asaph and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat. And Jehoshaphat, the

18
00:01:33.360 --> 00:01:38.960
father of Joram and Joram, the father of Uzziah. And Uzziah the father of Jotham and Jotham, the

19
00:01:38.960 --> 00:01:44.560
father of Ahaz and Ahaz the the father of Hezekiah and Hezekiah, the father of Massa and Massa,

20
00:01:44.560 --> 00:01:50.240
the father of Amos and Amos, the father of Josiah and Josiah, the father of Jeconiah and his

21
00:01:50.240 --> 00:01:55.040
brothers at the time of the deportation of Babylon. And after the deportation of Babylon, Jeconiah

22
00:01:55.040 --> 00:01:58.880
was the father of Shealtiel and Shealtiel, the father of Zerubbabel and Zerubbabel, the phone

23
00:01:58.880 --> 00:02:04.800
of Abiod and Abiad the father of Elechem and Elechim, the father of Azor and Azor the father

24
00:02:04.800 --> 00:02:09.680
of Zadok and Zadok, the father of Achaem and Achum, the father of Eliyid and Eliyad, the father

25
00:02:09.680 --> 00:02:14.800
of Eleazar and Eleazar, the father of Mathan and Mathan, the father of Jacob and Jacob, the father

26
00:02:14.800 --> 00:02:20.160
of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is also called the Christ. So all the

27
00:02:20.160 --> 00:02:25.200
generations from Abraham to David were 14 generations. From David to the deportation of

28
00:02:25.200 --> 00:02:31.360
Babylon, 14 generations. From the deportation of Babylon to the Christ, 14 generations. Now that's

29
00:02:31.360 --> 00:02:35.680
a lot to unpack. Those are a lot of names. I probably butchered a couple of them, but every

30
00:02:35.680 --> 00:02:40.320
single one of those names actually has a really awesome key component to what we're about to

31
00:02:40.320 --> 00:02:45.120
unpack. But I just want to focus on three. But before I do, I just want to share with you a

32
00:02:45.120 --> 00:02:48.960
quote that was given to me by one of my dear friends from Alabama. His name is Pastor Rick

33
00:02:48.960 --> 00:02:55.120
Hagans. He said this, he said, the only person to ever get the opportunity to choose their family

34
00:02:55.120 --> 00:03:01.120
is Jesus Christ. When I heard that early on in my walk, I never really understood just how much

35
00:03:01.120 --> 00:03:05.920
of an impact that quote is. Growing up in my family, looking at all my cousins, and my aunts,

36
00:03:05.920 --> 00:03:10.480
and my uncles, and my grandparents, great-grandparents, all throughout the line, I'm

37
00:03:10.480 --> 00:03:15.600
sure if you put all of us in a room, you'd be able to find one, maybe two people who you were like,

38
00:03:15.600 --> 00:03:22.080
man, that person's kind of crazy. And fun fact for you, I might actually be one of those people.

39
00:03:22.080 --> 00:03:26.160
But if you got all of us in the room, you'd be able to see, hey, there's one person, maybe two

40
00:03:26.160 --> 00:03:30.320
people, maybe three people in this family who's crazy. I don't know about you and your family,

41
00:03:30.320 --> 00:03:34.480
but I'm pretty sure when I say this person's crazy, you might be thinking of a cousin, you

42
00:03:34.480 --> 00:03:39.120
might be thinking of an uncle, you might be thinking of a brother or a sister. And if you

43
00:03:39.120 --> 00:03:44.560
can't think of anybody, then you're the crazy one. But with that, if you look throughout this entire

44
00:03:44.560 --> 00:03:50.560
genealogy, most of these people in this list were either crazy, or they were full of drama,

45
00:03:50.560 --> 00:03:56.480
or there was something about them that maybe society didn't like. I just want to focus on

46
00:03:56.480 --> 00:04:02.320
three, the first one being Abraham. You see, Abraham was a non-believer who lived in the city

47
00:04:02.320 --> 00:04:07.040
of Ur, who God called out and took him on a journey. And throughout that journey, what we

48
00:04:07.040 --> 00:04:15.040
find out through Abraham is this, is that Abraham one time lied about who his wife was to Pharaoh.

49
00:04:15.040 --> 00:04:19.760
We also see time and time again, Abraham had a lot of unbelief. When God told him one thing,

50
00:04:19.760 --> 00:04:25.280
Abraham doubted in his heart. You see, Jesus's family tree is full of messed up people. You

51
00:04:25.280 --> 00:04:30.800
have murderers, you have prostitutes, you have liars, you have adulterers, you have wicked kings,

52
00:04:30.800 --> 00:04:36.480
and you have faithless men, just like Abraham was. The second person we could bring out and focus on

53
00:04:36.480 --> 00:04:42.480
is Rahab. You see, Rahab wasn't only a prostitute, but Rahab was also part of a people who were

54
00:04:42.480 --> 00:04:49.200
actually considered enemies of God. And the crazy thing about this is that Rahab was someone who is

55
00:04:49.200 --> 00:04:55.760
mentioned here. So, in Jesus's lineage, in Jesus's ancestry, you have someone who was

56
00:04:55.760 --> 00:05:00.000
considered an enemy of God, and someone who not only was an enemy of God, but someone

57
00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:05.000
somebody whose entire occupation was something that is perverting what

58
00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:09.480
marriage and sex is in the eyes of God. And yet we see her in Jesus's family

59
00:05:09.480 --> 00:05:13.560
tree. And the third person I want to highlight is King David. Now you see King

60
00:05:13.560 --> 00:05:17.160
David was a shepherd boy who became a king and who was considered a man after

61
00:05:17.160 --> 00:05:23.480
God's own heart. And yet we see with just one affair, one situation that

62
00:05:23.480 --> 00:05:28.280
happened in David's life, we see so many sins that came out of that. You see David

63
00:05:28.280 --> 00:05:32.720
was at home at a time when kings were supposed to be at war so he wasn't doing

64
00:05:32.720 --> 00:05:37.800
his job as a king. And because of that he found himself on the roof at an odd part

65
00:05:37.800 --> 00:05:43.840
of the day and was able to gaze upon Bathsheba as she was bathing. And because

66
00:05:43.840 --> 00:05:49.040
of that David lusted after her. David fell into adultery with her. And then

67
00:05:49.040 --> 00:05:53.560
David tried to cover all this up by bringing Bathsheba's husband Uriah home

68
00:05:53.560 --> 00:05:57.520
to be able to fix it. So he lied to Uriah and tried to manipulate Uriah

69
00:05:57.520 --> 00:06:02.840
to be able to go home to his wife. And when that did not work because Uriah was

70
00:06:02.840 --> 00:06:07.720
a faithful man, David had him murdered. This is King David. This is the one who

71
00:06:07.720 --> 00:06:10.800
if you read the entire book of Psalms wrote majority of those Psalms

72
00:06:10.800 --> 00:06:14.760
worshiping and praising God. Well why do I say this? The reason why I say this is

73
00:06:14.760 --> 00:06:18.040
because every single one of these people that I've mentioned, all three of them,

74
00:06:18.040 --> 00:06:23.880
Jesus rectified. God's love and God's faithfulness rectified them. And not

75
00:06:23.880 --> 00:06:27.800
only rectified them but transformed them from the inside out to where you

76
00:06:27.800 --> 00:06:33.720
have Abraham who is a man who doubted God continually became the father

77
00:06:33.720 --> 00:06:38.040
of our faith. I mean we sing songs all the time, Father Abraham had many sons

78
00:06:38.040 --> 00:06:42.280
and many sons love Father Abraham. I mean he became not only the father of our

79
00:06:42.280 --> 00:06:46.120
faith but the father of many nations. With Rahab what we see with her life is

80
00:06:46.120 --> 00:06:51.560
that God was able to save her from the crumbling walls of Jericho. And the

81
00:06:51.560 --> 00:06:55.460
rest of her people who died and was able to bring her and adopt her into the

82
00:06:55.460 --> 00:07:01.000
people of Israel to where she's able to be a part of the lineage of Jesus. And

83
00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:05.240
not only that but she's able to actually be the great-great-great grandmother of

84
00:07:05.240 --> 00:07:09.280
King David who's considered the greatest king the world has ever seen. And so we've

85
00:07:09.280 --> 00:07:13.480
seen that God has taken this prostitute who was an enemy of God and brought her

86
00:07:13.480 --> 00:07:18.080
in as a friend to the people of God to live amongst them. And lastly we see

87
00:07:18.080 --> 00:07:22.480
again with King David, we see that this man who is a liar, who is an adulterer,

88
00:07:22.480 --> 00:07:28.400
and who is a murderer is considered a man after God's own heart. And so with

89
00:07:28.400 --> 00:07:32.640
all that said the crazy thing is this, this is the second truth. Second truth is

90
00:07:32.640 --> 00:07:38.600
we see that God keeps his promise. How does God keep his promise?

91
00:07:38.600 --> 00:07:43.240
Number one is this, God chooses sinners. We see in Jesus's testimony. And the

92
00:07:43.240 --> 00:07:47.560
second thing is that God transforms sinners. And so with those

93
00:07:47.560 --> 00:07:50.960
people that I mentioned, starting with Abraham, the promise that God kept to

94
00:07:50.960 --> 00:07:55.000
him was this, God promised Abraham that he'll be the father of many nations. I

95
00:07:55.000 --> 00:07:57.960
don't know if you if you've read the Old Testament, I don't know if you've read

96
00:07:57.960 --> 00:08:01.240
the book of Genesis, but you'll see that through Abraham came the Hebrew people.

97
00:08:01.240 --> 00:08:05.440
Through Abraham came the nation of Israel and yet he's considered the

98
00:08:05.440 --> 00:08:10.080
father of many nations. Why? Well because Jesus is the bridge between between Jew

99
00:08:10.080 --> 00:08:14.120
and Gentile. Because Jesus is the bridge for that, Jesus is the answer to

100
00:08:14.160 --> 00:08:18.760
Abraham's promise. We look at King David, the promise that God gave King David was

101
00:08:18.760 --> 00:08:23.840
that his throne would last forever. Well we know that David died, you know, we

102
00:08:23.840 --> 00:08:27.440
read about it in the Old Testament, but yet the promise that God keeps that is

103
00:08:27.440 --> 00:08:31.640
by sending Jesus who was an offspring of David, who was a descendant of David, who

104
00:08:31.640 --> 00:08:35.240
is now sitting at the right hand of God on the throne ruling over all of

105
00:08:35.240 --> 00:08:40.120
creation forever and ever. The third promise God gave that he kept in this is

106
00:08:40.120 --> 00:08:43.919
the promise he gave to Satan. Now you might be thinking, whoa Marcus, like what

107
00:08:43.919 --> 00:08:47.280
do you mean God made a promise to Satan? Well the promise he gave to Satan can

108
00:08:47.280 --> 00:08:51.560
actually be found in Genesis chapter 3. In Genesis chapter 3 it actually says

109
00:08:51.560 --> 00:08:56.040
this, in verse 15, I will put enmity between you and the woman and between

110
00:08:56.040 --> 00:08:59.680
your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head and you shall

111
00:08:59.680 --> 00:09:03.640
bruise his heel. So the promise that God gave Satan is this, hey you may bruise

112
00:09:03.640 --> 00:09:08.660
the heel of the offspring of man, but the offspring of man is gonna be the

113
00:09:08.660 --> 00:09:11.840
one to crush your head. And so we see that when Jesus died on the cross on

114
00:09:11.840 --> 00:09:15.960
Calvary that he defeated sin and he defeated Satan and he defeated the

115
00:09:15.960 --> 00:09:20.320
entire kingdom of evil. And so what we see is this, is that the promise that God

116
00:09:20.320 --> 00:09:25.120
made Satan, we see that fulfillment by sending Jesus. And then the last promise

117
00:09:25.120 --> 00:09:29.000
that God made is the promise that he gave to prisoners and captives. You see

118
00:09:29.000 --> 00:09:32.120
prisoners and captives, if you read throughout Jesus's lineage about these

119
00:09:32.120 --> 00:09:36.760
wicked kings and King Josiah and the deportation of Babylon, the promise that

120
00:09:36.760 --> 00:09:41.040
God gave them was in Jeremiah 29 11 when he says, for I know the plans I have for

121
00:09:41.040 --> 00:09:44.440
you declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give

122
00:09:44.440 --> 00:09:47.800
you hope and a future. God's talking freedom to them. God's reminding

123
00:09:47.800 --> 00:09:51.800
them, hey there's freedom coming. It may not be now but freedom is coming. And so

124
00:09:51.800 --> 00:09:55.720
that very promise that God gave to the captives and the prisoners to them, he's

125
00:09:55.720 --> 00:09:59.520
given the captives and prisoners today. So whatever sin you may be struggling

126
00:09:59.520 --> 00:10:02.000
with, whatever

127
00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:03.800
prison cell, you may feel like your mind is in, whatever chains you may feel like

128
00:10:03.800 --> 00:10:08.160
you're holding, that same promise that God made to them, He's making to you.

129
00:10:08.160 --> 00:10:11.440
Hey, I'm sending one who is a chain breaker. I'm sending one who can break

130
00:10:11.440 --> 00:10:15.480
down prison doors. I'm sending one who can bend the bars to be able to break

131
00:10:15.480 --> 00:10:18.960
you out of prison, to be able to make you a free man and a free woman, and His

132
00:10:18.960 --> 00:10:25.040
name is Jesus. That's the second truth, is that God sends His promise

133
00:10:25.040 --> 00:10:28.880
through Jesus. And lastly, the third and final truth we see is in Matthew

134
00:10:28.880 --> 00:10:31.680
chapter 1, starting in verse 18, it says this,

135
00:10:58.880 --> 00:11:16.320
Now here's the amazing truth on this, is Jesus, His names, Jesus and

136
00:11:16.320 --> 00:11:21.640
Emmanuel, actually represent His mission here on earth. It actually represents

137
00:11:21.640 --> 00:11:26.680
His ministry. So it says here that, that you shall call His name Jesus, for He

138
00:11:26.680 --> 00:11:31.520
will save His people from their sins. Jesus's 33 years on this earth was

139
00:11:31.520 --> 00:11:35.560
that, was to be able to live a perfect life that you and I could not live, was

140
00:11:35.560 --> 00:11:38.920
to be able to fulfill the law that you and I could not keep, and was to be able

141
00:11:38.920 --> 00:11:43.120
to to walk with God in a way that you and I could not walk, to be able to take

142
00:11:43.120 --> 00:11:47.720
a punishment that was meant for you and I, to be able to die on a cross and be

143
00:11:47.720 --> 00:11:50.840
buried and rose again on the third day, to be able to sit at the right hand of

144
00:11:50.840 --> 00:11:55.000
the Father. You see, those entire 33 years that Jesus lived on this earth and

145
00:11:55.000 --> 00:11:59.600
died and resurrected again, was the very thing that Jesus had to do to be able to

146
00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:03.920
save us from our sins. But the very next name that they say is, you shall call His

147
00:12:03.920 --> 00:12:09.360
name Emmanuel, which means God with us. You see, the ministry that Jesus is in

148
00:12:09.360 --> 00:12:14.440
now, is to be able to be the one to send the Holy Spirit to the believers, to be

149
00:12:14.440 --> 00:12:18.600
able to live inside each believer at the day they are saved, to be able to live

150
00:12:18.600 --> 00:12:22.320
inside of us. And so because Jesus's ministry to save people from their sins

151
00:12:22.360 --> 00:12:26.880
has already finished, the fact that Jesus already died and is resurrected, His

152
00:12:26.880 --> 00:12:30.240
ministry now is to live amongst believers, to be able to live inside

153
00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:34.320
believers, to empower them, to let the Holy Spirit use them, to work through

154
00:12:34.320 --> 00:12:39.200
them, to be able to continue the ministry He had 33 years ago. You may be sitting

155
00:12:39.200 --> 00:12:42.840
here and wondering, man, I don't know what I can do for the Lord. Marcus, I don't

156
00:12:42.840 --> 00:12:47.320
feel like I have many gifts. Marcus, I don't feel like there's much I can do in

157
00:12:47.320 --> 00:12:51.240
the kingdom of God. Well, can I say this, that Jesus's ministry is His name

158
00:12:51.240 --> 00:12:55.440
Emmanuel, meaning God with us. If God lives inside of you, if you were, if you

159
00:12:55.440 --> 00:12:59.400
were a sinner who was bought and washed by the blood of Jesus, and you

160
00:12:59.400 --> 00:13:02.920
were a Christian, and you were saved, then God could do so much in you

161
00:13:02.920 --> 00:13:06.560
because you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you. So many times and in so

162
00:13:06.560 --> 00:13:11.000
many days as a youth pastor, I've seen young people who belittle themselves

163
00:13:11.000 --> 00:13:14.920
and turn away from what God has called them to do because they feel that they

164
00:13:14.920 --> 00:13:18.640
have nothing to offer. Well friends, can I say this, you may feel like you have

165
00:13:18.640 --> 00:13:22.680
nothing to offer, but Jesus has everything to offer as He lives inside

166
00:13:22.680 --> 00:13:26.600
of you, as He sends the Holy Spirit to dwell inside of you. Just with those

167
00:13:26.600 --> 00:13:30.520
three truths, I do hope it blesses you. Thank you so much for joining us for

168
00:13:30.520 --> 00:13:35.360
this chapter of Matthew chapter 1, and we'll talk with you guys next time.