HEAL - God's Heart for Healing in MatthewSample

H onor God with your commitment of time to study His word. E xamine your heart and pray to invite him into your study. A sk God to reveal his truths in each passage. L isten to what He says and write it down. INTRODUCTION TO MATTHEW As you begin your study in the Gospel of Matthew, it may be helpful to remember that before he was Matthew, the disciple, he had been Levi, the Jewish tax-collector for the Roman Government. He was despised for padding his own purse while serving the enemy . The actual account of Jesus calling Matthew can be read in Matthew 9: 9-12 . Jesus sees Matthew at his tax-collecting booth and tells him: “Follow me,” and Matthew did exactly that. Perhaps the greatest healing miracle in this Gospel must be the transformation of Matthew. From a hated traitor’s shriveled-up soul to the magnanimous Matthew, who wanted everyone to know the goodness and mercy of God for all people. Having personally experienced the heart-and-soul healing power of the Lord Jesus for himself, Matthew was eager to recount what he had personally seen of the results of a faith-response to Jesus. This Gospel is full of his personal eye-witness accounts of the life and health restoring power of God in Christ for every kind of disease and sickness. Questions: 1\. What is it that you hope to gain in this study? 2\. What is the need I have for Jesus as the divine physician? 3\. What does the response of Jesus to the Pharisees tell me about who He has concern or care for?