Matthew Chapter 8

This is another amazing chapter in the Book of Matthew. The chapter starts with a recounting of a leper being healed. In verse 8: 4 Jesus tells the leper not to tell anyone about his healing, but to go show himself to the priest and to take the offering that Moses commanded for a testimony to them.

So, picture this. This man  had been pronounced unclean through a series of examinations done by the very priests he was now going to  visit. Using Lev. 13 as a guide, it could have taken them anywhere from 1 day to 3 weeks to decide if he had leprosy before he was put out of the temple and society as he knew it. He was now going back to those priests with 2 male lambs, a 1 year old ewe, a bushel of fine flour and about a pint of oil. On his first visit to the priests, they would have been required to ... well, in the interest of not making this to wordy... go to Lev. 14 and read what the priests now had to do for him according to the Law written by Moses. This was going to be a long drawn out process for the priests. They were going to have to confront the fact that Jesus had healed this man of leprosy, over and over again. It was going to require a lot of work on their part. It is possible, that Nicodemus (from John 3 and 7), came to faith because of this man showing up in the temple. And, from this man's point of view, he was just 1 short week away from being back in the house with his family. (how amazing for him)

In the next  8 verses we get the story of the centurion coming to ask Jesus to heal his servant.  In verse 8:8, he says "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof but just say the word and my servant will be healed" In verse  8:10, it says Jesus marvels at the statements of this Roman soldier and tells the crowd that He has not encountered such great faith in all Israel. Just a few verses later He calls His disciples, "men of little faith".
I have looked at this verse many times. This is the kind of faith I pray the Lord will give me. We will use this verse as one of the ways to remember this chapter. Verse 8:8 is; Lord I am not worthy to have You come under my roof, but just say the word and my servant will be healed. This will help us to remember that the story of the centurion, is here.
In verse 8 ;14 we see that Jesus heals Peter's mother in law. Before I saw this verse, I heard pastors say that Peter was married. I used to think, how do they know that? Well here is how they know it. If you can remember  where this verse is, you too can sound very impressive.
The next thing I want to point out is verse  8:22. In verse 21 a disciple asks if he can wait to follow Jesus until after he had buried his father.
What makes this interesting is that his father wasn't dead yet. He was asking if he could wait until his dad was dead and gone to follow Jesus. Jesus says to him, "follow me and let the dead bury their own dead". I want to remember this statement by Jesus in this chapter because I want us to remember how Jesus thinks of the unsaved.  He considers them dead. Our unsaved loved ones are dead. We need to see the urgency of bringing them to life in Christ. "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead".

Hannah and her precious little friends at the school talent show

After this, we have the account of Jesus calming the sea for the very afraid disciples. Am I wrong, or does just about everyone in the U.S. know this story? I'm including unbelievers in that question. The assumption that everyone knows this story, has made me think that we should know where it is. So it will also be included in our "remembering" of this chapter .

Lastly, in this chapter, we have the story of Jesus healing the demoniacs and sending the herd of swine  into the sea that He had just calmed. This was the region of the Gadarenes. The 7th son of Jacob was Gad. We read about the Gadites getting this land in the book of Numbers. These people should not have been anywhere near swine. I am sure that is why the whole town came out to ask Jesus to leave their region in verse 34.

So in Chapter 8 we will remember verse 8:8 LORD I AM NOT WORTHY TO HAVE YOU COME UNDER MY ROOF BUT JUST SAY THE WORD AND MY SERVANT WILL BE HEALED
 Peter was married.
FOLLOW ME AND LET THE DEAD BURY THEIR OWN DEAD.
CALMS SEA AND PIGS OVER A CLIFF 
I know that this is a lot for one chapter, but I'm sure we can do it.

Chapter 7 is JUDGING and PROPHET , both 7 letter words
Chapter 6 is PRAYER and WORRY, The Lords prayer is here and Jesus talks about worrying.
Chapter 5 is BLESS your HEART,  The beatitudes are here and this is where Jesus talks about adultery (and other sins) being a condition of the heart.
Chapter 4 is THINK FAST, Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 night, he appointed 4 disciples, Peter , Andrew, James and John
Chapter 3 is H2O, John the baptist, baptizes Jesus and we see the TRINITY  as Jesus come out of the H2O (water)
Chapter 2 is, JESUS TURNS 2, THE WISE MEN COME AND HEROD SLAUGHTERS THE 2 YEAR OLDS
Chapter 1 is, the first 17 verses are genealogy then TURN THE 18 ON IT'S SIDE AND IT LOOKS LIKE A SWADDLED BABY, IT'S THE CHRISTMAS STORY.

Ok, ladies, if you have been practicing,  you already know what is in the first 8 chapters of the Book of Matthew. Keep reading and keep practicing. We are fast approaching Chapter 9. At that point we will be almost a 1/3 of the way through this book. There are only 28 chapters in the book of Matthew. I'm very excited about this. I encourage you to make a list of the things and topics that you can now easily find in the bible when having discussions with other people.
SHORT LIST:
The Christmas Story
The beatitudes (sermon on the mount)
Jesus fasting and the devils temptations
Where you can find the Trinity portrayed in scripture
The plank in the eye verse
and there are more, make your own list. You will be surprised at what you can remember. Start showing your husbands and your kids.  
CAN YOU TELL HOW EXCITED I AM ABOUT THIS?*******
GOD WILL USE IT IN YOUR LIFE TO GIVE YOU CONFIDENCE IN HIS WORD, and  keep you meditating on Him. 
It's all good girls. Keep reading and keep practicing. Start reading Chapter 9 if you haven't already!
God is good.
Love
Nancy