A sermon on the Ministry Activities of Jesus in Mathew chapter 4

1. The Ministry Activity of the King Mathew 4:12 to 17

3. 1.) The King Started His Ministry at the right time vs. 12. - vs. 11 to 12 spans 1 year (Record is in John 1:19 to 4:42) - Jesus started his ministry when John went to prison (Luke 3:19)

8. 2.) The King started his ministry at the right place (vs. 13 to 16)

9. “ Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, along the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” - Mathew 4:15 as quoted from the prophecy in Isaiah 9:1,2)

11. Why minister in the Galilee area ? Brief background: - Galilee comes from the Hebrew word “Galil” which means circle - Galilee is very densely populated area (About 204 villages with total population of more than 3 million people) - Galilee is very fertile(Perhaps the most productive land in Israel) - It is a place where the mentality of the people is much less traditional than in Judea where Jerusalem is.

12. Why minister in the Galilee area ? - Called Galilee of the Gentiles because of influx of foreigners (Phoenicians on the west, Samaritans to the South, Syrians on the east) - Roads of the World both North, East, South and West passed through Galilee. - “Way of the Sea” is a famous road from the Syrian capital of Damascus which passes through Galilee down to Africa. (Traffic of the world passed through here unlike Jerusalem) - Galilee is the place where you will least expect a prophet or a religious scholar. (John 7:40,41, 52) Yet they didn’t realize that the greatest prophet came from Galilee as prophesied in Isaiah.

13. A brief prophetical back ground: - The prophecy written in Mathew is written in Isaiah, the background of which is in chapter 8 wherein Israel was living in a very dark time. (Isaiah 8:19 - 9:1 - 6) - Jesus said in John 8:12 that he is the light of the world. The Bible often refers to Jesus as the light. (John 1:5, 7)

14. 3.) The King started his ministry with the right proclamation (vs. 17) - Jesus just like John preached a message of repentance

17. Most of the Notes in this slide are lifted from John MacArthur’s Bible Commentary on the book of Mathew. For Bible study Guide notes, sermon notes and the audio message of this series by John MacArthur visit www.gty.org . Other inputs and revision of outlines and notes by Zigfred Diaz To download other slides that can be used for sermons visit the Master’s Community Fellowship website at www.tmcf.zdiaz.com