This past Sunday, May 30, my message at Brooklife was entitled "Paralyzed," drawing from the story of Jesus healing the paralytic in Matthew 9:1-8. While much could be said from this passage, I wanted to focus in first on the authority Jesus has, which is a theme in the Gospel of Matthew, especially from the …
Listen – Leave – Follow
Reading through the Gospel of Matthew, I came across a familiar story where Jesus calls His first followers: Peter and Andrew, James and John. I was struck by the responsiveness these men had to Jesus' call. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed Him. (Matthew 4:22) I have …
The Cross…What It Demands of Me
While I am a little belated in posting this, you can listen to the message I gave at Brooklife Church on March 28th (Palm Sunday) entitled "The Cross...What It Demands of Me." This was the third of four messages in a series at Brooklife called "The Cross." I was speaking from Luke 9:23-26, where Jesus …
Facing the Tomb
This past weekend I was reading through the story of Abraham sacrificing Isaac on Mount Moriah. It’s one of those stories that throws me for a loop every time I read it. God tells Abraham to kill his son who was a tangible promise of God’s goodness and blessing. Why would God do that? It …
Fasting: A View from the New Testament
Here is an unedited list of references to fasting from the New Testament with brief comments about what we can learn about fasting from these references. This list is a companion to my earlier list from the Old Testament found here. Matthew 4:1-3 – “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to …
Matthew Erickson 