²⁴ After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma temple tax came to Peter and asked, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?” ²⁵ “Yes, he does,” he replied. When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. “What do you think, Simon?” he asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own children or from others?” ²⁶ “From others,” Peter answered. “Then the children are exempt,” Jesus said to him. ²⁷ “But so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.” (Matthew 17:24-27)
According to the Old Testament, every Israelite over the age of 20 must pay a two-drachma tax to the temple every year. But the Lord Jesus is the Lord of the temple, and he does not need to pay the temple tax. So the Lord Jesus said: Others need to pay taxes, but children do not need to pay taxes. But in order not to offend them, the Lord Jesus asked Peter to catch a fish and get a coin from the fish’s mouth to pay the temple tax for the two of them. Here the Lord Jesus performed a wonderful miracle.
¹⁷ Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?” ¹⁸ But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? ¹⁹ Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, ²⁰ and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” ²¹ “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” ²² When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away. (Matthew 22:17-22)
Here we see the Pharisees and Herodians came to test the Lord Jesus and asked him whether he should pay taxes to Caesar. Caesar was the Roman emperor, and at that time Israel was under the rule of Rome. The Lord Jesus asked them to show him a denarius, the denarius was with the image and inscription of Caesar on it. The Lord Jesus said, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” They were amazed to hear the Lord Jesus’ answer, and left him.
Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. (Romans 13:7)
Here Paul says in Romans that give to everyone what you owe them, if you owe taxes, you should pay taxes.
May God bless you and your family!

¹⁴ When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. ¹⁵ “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. ¹⁶ I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.” ¹⁷ “You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” ¹⁸ Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment. ¹⁹ Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” ²⁰ He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” ²¹ (Matthew 17:14-21)
Here we see a man whose son has epilepsy, which is caused by being possessed by a demon. He came to the Lord Jesus’ disciples for healing, but the disciples could not cast out the demon. He came to the Lord Jesus, and the Lord immediately cast out the demon. After that, the disciples asked the Lord Jesus why they could not cast out the demon. The Lord said that they had little faith. The Lord Jesus continued, “if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move” and then He said that this kind of demon can only be cast out through fasting and prayer. The demons mentioned here are evil spirits. The leader of the evil spirits is the devil, also called Satan, who is a fallen angel.
We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. (1 John 5:19)
The evil one mentioned here is the devil, and the whole world is under his control.
There was a couple from China who attended our church. I knew the husband many years ago. Later, they moved to a place which was a bit far away from the church and stopped coming to the church. After that, the wife practiced qigong-a kind of Chinese meditation. After practicing qigong, she was possessed by the evil spirits, then she asked the preacher of our church to cast out the evil spirits. The evil spirits were cast out and came back. Later, the preacher asked her to be baptized and committed her life to the Lord. After she was baptized, she had the Holy Spirit living in her heart, and the evil spirits never came again. Her husband and she were baptized at the same time. Thank God! I hope more people will believe in the Lord and be baptized, receive the Holy Spirit, receive the new life, receive the eternal life, and receive God’s blessing!
May God bless you and your family!

13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” 14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.  (Matthew 16:13-20)
The Lord Jesus asked his disciples:  “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” The Lord Jesus called himself the Son of man, which represents his humanity. From a human perspective, the Lord Jesus is the descendant of David, and he is also the Son of God. He was with the Heavenly Father before the creation of the world. He is the Son of the Trinity God: Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Son of man represents his humanity, and the Son of God represents his divinity. When he asked his disciples, Who do you say that I am? Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” The Lord Jesus did not tell them that he was the Christ. It was the Heavenly Father who revealed it to Peter. Christ means the Anointed One, the Savior. Peter in Greek means rock. To bind means not to allow, and to loose means to allow. There are other scriptures where the Lord Jesus told his disciples: “Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” This is the authority that the Lord Jesus gave to his disciples. The Lord Jesus told his disciples not to tell people that he was the Christ. In the Bible, the Lord Jesus rarely told people that he was the Christ because the timing had not yet come.
May God bless you and your family! 🙏😊

5 When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. 6 “Be careful,” Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” ⁷ They discussed this among themselves and said, “It is because we didn’t bring any bread.”  ⁸ Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, “You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread? ⁹ Do you still not understand? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? ¹⁰ Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? ¹¹ How is it you don’t understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” ¹² Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. (Matthew 16:5-12)
Here we see that the disciples forgot to bring bread when they crossed to the other side of the sea, and the Lord Jesus said to them: Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees. The disciples thought that the Lord Jesus meant the real yeast which leavens the dough, because they did not bring bread. The Lord Jesus then talked about the miracles he had performed earlier, using five loaves to feed five thousand people, and seven loaves to feed four thousand people, and the leaven had nothing to do with them not bringing bread, because even they didn’t bring bread, he could feed them. The disciples then understood that the Lord Jesus wanted them to beware of the teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Earlier we saw that the Pharisees paid attention to the traditions of the ancients and ignored God’s commandments. We have learned the parable of the yeast, it is about the yeast which leavens the whole dough, that refers to sin, wrong teachings that affect the church, and the wrong teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees will also affect people, so the Lord Jesus wants the disciples to beware of their teachings.
May God bless you and your family! 🙏😊

³² Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.” ³³ His disciples answered, “Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?” ³⁴ “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked.  “Seven,” they replied, “and a few small fish.” ³⁵ He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. ³⁶ Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people. ³⁷ They all ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. ³⁸ The number of those who ate was four thousand men, besides women and children. ³⁹ After Jesus had sent the crowd away, he got into the boat and went to the vicinity of Magadan. (Matthew 15:32-39)
It was mentioned earlier that the Lord Jesus performed many miracles, so many people followed him. The Lord Jesus had mercy on the crowd because they had been with him for three days and had nothing to eat. The Lord Jesus used seven loaves and a few small fish, gave thanks, and gave them to the disciples, the disciples gave them to the crowd, and the Lord Jesus fed four thousand people, excluding women and children. Previously, the Lord Jesus used five loaves and two fish to feed five thousand people, and the leftovers filled twelve baskets. Here, the leftovers filled seven baskets. Seven is a perfect number, and twelve is also a special number. The Lord Jesus used seven loaves and a few small fish to feed four thousand people, once again demonstrating his divinity.
May God bless you and your family! 🙏😊

²¹ Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. ²² A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.” ²³ Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” ²⁴ He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” ²⁵ The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said. ²⁶ He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” ²⁷ “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” ²⁸ Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment. (Matthew 15:21-28)
Here we see that the Lord Jesus went to Tire and Sidon. Tire and Sidon were the territories of the Gentiles. A Canaanite woman came to ask Him because her daughter was possessed by a demon. Apparently she had heard about the Lord Jesus. But Jesus ignored her. Because the Lord Jesus came to preach the gospel to the Israelites first, he said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” Israelites are the people of God, the children of God, they considered Gentile as dogs. The Canaanite woman replied, “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” The Canaanite woman replied that the domestic dog belongs to the owner, was also loved by its owner and ate the crumbs that fell from the owner’s table. The Lord Jesus praised her for her great faith and immediately healed her daughter. In the Bible, the Lord Jesus only praised two people for their great faith. The other was a centurion. The centurion believed that the Lord Jesus could heal his servant with just one word. Here we see the persistence of the Canaanite woman and her refusal to give up. At first her request was rejected by the Lord, but she did not give up and continued to ask until the Lord granted her request. There are other passages in the Bible that talk about the need to keep asking in prayer. For example, the parable of the unrighteous judge, it is about a widow who went to the unrighteous judge for justices, she continue asking until her request was granted. The parable of a friend at midnight, it is about a friend who wanted to borrow bread at midnight and knocks on the door until the door is opened. We should ask until we receive, seek until we find, and knock until the door is opened. This includes asking for the Lord’s presence, asking for the Holy Spirit, asking for the Lord’s healing, etc.
May God bless you and your family. 🙏😊