Take 5 - Matthew - Audio

Pastor Jake continued our “Take 5” series which will look at Jesus’ life from 5 different perspectives (takes): Peter, Thomas, Matthew, Pilate, and Paul. The plan is for Pastor Jake to tell each week’s perspective from that person’s point of view. On Sunday (Take 3) he was Matthew. Matthew wasn’t always Matthew. He started out as Levi. He was a tax collector, which was basically the most hated person in Israel at the time. They were considered sellouts, traitors, and thieves since they collected taxes for the Roman Empire and took even more for themselves. Levi was an outcast, ostracized by the masses and ridiculed by the religious elite. He was greedy and downright slimy. But Jesus called him to be His disciple anyway. Levi may have been messed up on the outside, but Jesus saw in him a heart that wanted to change. And change he did! Levi gave up tax-collecting and thieving to follow Jesus whole-heartedly. And Jesus gave him a new name: Matthew. He even ended up writing one of the four Gospels!

http://bible.com/events/392886