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 friends. We are diving into the entire New Testament one chapter a day this year.

My name is Kristen Schmucker and today we are in Matthew 15. It is such a joy to study scripture with you.

This is the last day of week three and I am so proud of you. It is so much fun to do this

together. As always I am using the free Behold

reading plan and the Behold study guides from the Daily Grace Co and we'll link

those for you in the show notes. The end of chapter 14 shows us that Jesus continued healing

the sick. It tells us that people only needed to touch his robe to be healed. As we

open chapter 15 we are going to see some of the conversation and events that took place as Jesus continued his ministry.

The chapter starts with accusations from the Pharisees.

They spoke to Jesus with accusations against the disciples.

They tried to see if they could point out the most minute things that did not live up to their standards.

It is helpful for us to understand how detailed the laws and

traditions of the Pharisees were. These traditions were all about appearances, but God's law is all about the heart. They made rules that seem to be enforcing God's law, but really

they were creating workarounds that showcased man's sinful nature. Azil for rules is not a good indicator of someone having a heart for God.

In fact, rules without a heart for the Lord simply leads to legalism.

Legalism and hypocrisy were key markers of the religious leaders of Jesus' day.

Legalism gives only the appearance of spiritual maturity.

It has no power to change hearts.

Only the Lord can do that. We should be people that pursue

...