Welcome to a Year in the Bible with Daily Grace.

My name is Kristen and my name is Katie, and we want to spend a few minutes a day with you walking through the New Testament, one chapter at a time.

This year we will fix our gaze upon Christ so that we may know Him, not only with our minds, but with our hearts.

Together, we will learn that who Jesus is changes everything.

Welcome back to a year in the Bible with Daily Grace. My name is Kristen Schmucker, and I am so

excited to be with you today as we are working our way through the entire New Testament, and today

we come to Matthew Chapter 12. This has already been such an amazing journey and I am so glad that you're here.

As a reminder, I am using the free Behold reading plan and the Behold study guides from

the Daily Graceco.

We'll link those for you in the show notes.

And it is not too late to join the party.

Today we are diving into who Jesus is as well as looking at his teaching

on the unpardonable sin. So let's dive in to Matthew chapter 12. Every day that we read and

study these chapters, I feel blown away by who Jesus is. And today is no different. I am still

thinking and meditating on what we learned

about Jesus yesterday and then we hit today's reading and I am just in awe. Matthew 12 begins

with some disagreements about the Sabbath. The Pharisees were the religious leaders of Israel

and they had elevated their teaching to the level of scripture. They enforced on the people

not only what scripture said, but added in their own traditions as well. Now I love tradition

and I don't think that tradition is a bad thing. I don't think that is what Jesus is saying here.

I think he is pointing out the heart of the law and the danger of elevating our traditions above loving the Lord and loving our neighbor.

The Pharisees made up their own rules when it came to the Sabbath.

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