Great joy marks the life of the believer. Peter underscores this joy and the eternal security that believers possess, as God protects and preserves them through trials and gives them great assurance of the salvation that awaits them in the future.

Peter reminds us our true identity in Christ as God’s chosen people who are pilgrims in this world, whose home is not here on earth but in heaven where we have an inheritance awaiting us that is far better than anything this world can give us.

Jesus explains the difference between wise hearers of His words vs. foolish hearers of His words. The wise are those who act on His words, who, therefore, who the genuineness of their faith, who stand in the judgment. The foolish are those who are mere hearers, who, therefore, possess a disingenuous faith, who perish in the judgment.

Jesus warns against meaningless professions of faith in Him as Lord (Matthew 7:21-23). He is Lord and we must obey Him as such if we truly know Him and are known by Him.

The Lord warns us regarding false prophets by pointing out that we can identify them by looking at their lifestyle. In the same way that a tree can be known by the fruits it bears, so can someone identify a false prophet by seeing whether they live by Christ’s standard of righteousness or not.

Jesus encourages believers to pray persistently.

Jesus prohibits his disciples from hypocritical criticism of others.

Jesus continues to command his disciples not to worry about the basic needs of food and clothing but rather seek God’s kingdom and righteousness.

In this section, Jesus instructs those who are poor and may be anxious about meeting basic needs. Worrying stems from the same problem as those who hoard: loving money and not trusting God.

Jesus further instructs His disciples to exhibit a righteousness that surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees regarding the topic of wealth.

In our May meeting of Women of the Word, we reviewed all of the passages from Matthew that we had covered thus far.

Jesus continues on the topic of the right motives for religious practices by applying this principle to prayer and fasting, providing a model prayer for his disciples to follow (“Lord’s Prayer”).