Matt. 8:1-3 – Jesus healed a leper. As will be seen later, Jesus could heal anyone of any disease or illness.

Matt. 8:5-13 – Jesus healed a paralyzed person from a distance. Proximity did not matter or even limit Jesus’ ability to heal someone.

Matt. 8:14-17 – Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law. In addition, Jesus healed many demon-possessed people, and He healed all who were sick. There are multiple other passages throughout the gospels, each involving different diseases, possessions, etc.(Matt. 9:35 states that Jesus healed every kind of disease and sickness). However, regardless of the malady, Jesus could cure them. There was no set process. Sometimes He said something; sometimes he touched them. The result was always the same. The person was fully healed, instantly. Jesus healed people. It’s that simple. If you don’t believe that Jesus actually healed sick, suffering, diseased, paralyzed people, you do not believe in the Real Jesus.

Matt. 8:21-22 – When a disciple said that he wanted to follow Jesus, but first he needed to bury his father, Jesus told the disciple to follow Him and to let the dead bury the dead. This might seem cruel, but Jesus was telling this disciple that he needed to put Jesus first in his life, even if that meant ignoring his family. This can be a difficult lesson to learn and to accept, but the Real Jesus is telling people that we need to put Him first in our lives, and there will be times when family/friends, etc. will be ignored.

Matt. 8:23-27 – Jesus was in a boat with His disciples when a storm began to threaten the boat. Jesus was awakened and He rebuked the storm, telling it to be still. And it became calm. If you don’t believe that Jesus had control over the weather to stop a storm simply be telling it to be still, you don’t believe in the Real Jesus.

Matt. 8:28-3 – Jesus healed two people who were possessed by demons. Regardless of this life-changing blessing from Jesus the people of the town asked Jesus to leave. Think about that for a minute. Jesus just cured two people who were possessed by demons, and the townspeople wanted Him to leave(albeit Jesus did allow the demons to enter some pigs who ran into a lake and were drowned). Wouldn’t you want someone like that(Jesus) to stay around? I hope so, but not everyone does. These people did not.

Matt. 9:1-8 – Just before healing a paralyzed man, Jesus told people that He had that He had the authority to forgive sins!

Matt. 9:9-13 – Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners. Jesus had a message to tell people, and He would tell anyone and everyone who would listen. This included people that most people, especially most “religious” people would have considered a lost cause or unworthy

of God’s saving grace. Jesus never met someone who fit that description. Jesus wants everyone to be saved(II Pet. 3:9), so He wants the message to be spread to everyone.

Matt. 9:18-26 – Jesus raised a dead girl back to life. If you don’t think that Jesus had the power to raise someone from the dead AND did raise someone from the dead, you don’t believe in the Real Jesus. He could do that, and He did do that. And more than once.

Matt. 9:33 – After healing a demon-possessed man, the people stated that nothing like this had ever been done before in Israel. No one disputed what Jesus had done, but rather attributed what Jesus had done to the ruler of demons. These were witnesses to what Jesus did. Even though they believed what He did, because they saw it(seeing is believing), they refused to believe in Jesus. Some might think that they could believe if only they saw a miracle. Yet, here were people who saw a miracle(probably more than one) and still refused to believe in Jesus. There are no miracles to observe today, but the good news is that seeing a miracle probably would not have helped you, so not seeing one does not hurt you.

Matt. 10:1-15 – Jesus sent the apostles out to preach the good news that the kingdom of heaven was near(v. 7). He also have them the ability to heal sick and diseased people, as well as to raise the dead and cast out demons. Those were not just things that Jesus had the power to do, but He also had the ability to give that power to others, and He did.

Matt. 10:16-24 – The apostles that Jesus sent out were going to be persecuted. And they were. Most are believed to have been murdered or executed by governments(although James is the only apostle that the Bible states was killed in Act 12:1-2).

Matt. 10:26-33 – Jesus told His apostles not to fear people, but rather to fear God, as He is able to destroy both body(physical ) and soul(spiritual) in hell. It isn’t fun to think about fearing God, but if we are not following Jesus, we should definitely be fearing God, as destruction(eternal) lies ahead of us. Jesus also states in verse 33 that anyone who denies Him before other people, Jesus will deny that same person before His Father in heaven. In other words, if we deny Jesus, if we deny following Jesus, to others, Jesus will not claim us as one of His followers at the time of judgment, and we will spend eternity separated from Him(in hell). The Real Jesus wants you to confess(admit) that you follow Him. Of course, you have to actually follow Him, and not just say you do. But if you do follow Him, but you don’t admit that to other people, it won’t matter. You will be lost forever.

Matt. 10:34-39 – Everyone knows that Jesus came to bring peace, but He told people that He did NOT come to bring peace. Instead, He came to bring a sword(i.e. division). He was going to divide people. He was even going to divide families, because some would believe in Him and some would not. He went on to say that if you love someone(even a family member) more that Him, you are not worthy of Him. This also means that you are lost forever. The Real Jesus requires that we love Him more than anyone else. More than family members. More than friends. More than our spouse or children. This means that what He says is more important than what our loved ones say. If they contradict His teaching, they are wrong. Period. And we acknowledge that(Matt. 10:32-33). We don’t excuse their words or deeds. We don’t try to make excuses for them. We will pick a side. We will either choose Jesus, or not Jesus. There are no other options(Matt. 10:37-38). Later, in Matt. 12:30, Jesus will assert that anyone who is not with Him, is against Him.

The Real Jesus forces us to pick a side. Let’s be sure we are picking Him. The stakes are too high to pick anyone else.