The Benefits of Fellowship - Matthew 8:28 - 9:3

Highlights:

* Nobody in heaven or earth knew that God had had a Son since before the foundation of the world, through whom God had created all things. Why, then, did demons call Jesus the Son of God?

* When we read the story of Jesus casting the demons out, who then went into a herd of swine, what stands out to us is the deliverance of two men possessed by many demons and people not being able to use that road, but afterwards, they could. But the people of the city wanted Jesus to go away - because the one who brought them the report were the pig farmers, not the healed man or the people who had to go out of their way instead of using that road. Be careful who brings you the report, and don't let their attitude become yours.

* Regarding the paralytic man to whom Jesus said, "Your sins are forgiven":
The fact that no one had ever possessed authority to forgive sins was something the religious leaders knew from the Bible. But they assumed that no one would ever possess authority to forgive sins. Deciding what God will do, based on what God has never done, is risky. And one of the astonishing things about this New Covenant is that Jesus said he would share this authority with his servants!

* Godly commandments are needed in the body of Christ, but they never rise to the level of the eternal doctrines of God. The error of the religious leaders of Jesus' time was that they had elevated their commandments to the level of God's commandments in the law, and that made their service to God unacceptable.

* The judgment of a righteous body of saints is never wrong, and the standards that they agree on for their time and place have authority over the soul of an individual in that body for that time and place.

* The benefits of our fellowship in Christ are worth everything we have.

Scriptures referenced in this video:

Luke 1:30​-33
Matthew 26:63-67
John 20:23​
Matthew 18:18​-20
2Corinthians 2:10​
Matthew 15:7-9
1Corinthians 11:31​-32
Psalm 133:1-3
Philippians 1:27​
Philippians 2:1-2