TwentyEight - Day 1

In Matthew 16:24 Jesus says, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and FOLLOW me.” In a world where our students are pulled in so many directions to FOLLOW this or to FOLLOW that, FOLLOWING Christ can be difficult. Our theme this year for TwentyEight is “FOLLOW”.

“TwentyEight” represents the 28 days of February, during which we will be encouraging our students to read one chapter of Matthew and pray every day. 28 Chapters. 28 Days. There will be daily blog messages to encourage this, students will be encouraged to memorize a weekly memory verse and attend all of our youth services. All of the youth messages in February will center around the book of Matthew, and we’ll be conducting a special “Underground” Bible study each week in Sunday School. We’re also partnering with other youth ministries in our section, and on Sunday night, February 28, we will be having a final celebratory Youth Service in South Sioux City, NE.

Now, Day 1. Read Matthew 1. I know, a list of names. Not the most exciting reading you've ever done, I'm sure. Don't skip over it! While Mark's Gospel was written for the Romans and Luke's Gospel for Theophilus and other Gentiles, Matthew's Gospel was written specifically for the Jewish believers. Therefore, it was very important for him to link Jesus to the prophecies of the coming Messiah in the Old Testament. Although Joseph was not Jesus' biological father, he was his legal father, and God had promised that the Messiah would be a decendant of Abraham and King David. By tracing Jesus' legal ancestry back to those two men, Matthew demonstrates to the Jews that Jesus had the proper family history to qualify as the Messiah. In the first three and a half chapters of Matthew, the phrase, "that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet," or some similar expression, occurs no less than five times!

Also note the types of people mentioned in Jesus' family line. Judah. Rahab. David. Manasseh. Several have major failures in their past, yet they represent the broad range of people who put their faith in God and become part of His family. They also serve as examples of how God can work his highest purposes through anyone - regardless of their background and failures - who ultimately submits to FOLLOWING Him.