Matthew // Pastor Gene Pensiero: Recent Episodes
Calvary Hanford
Verse by verse studies through books of the Bible with Pastor Gene Pensiero of Calvary Hanford. In this series titled "The King's Ransom" we learn about the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and His extravagant love for His people.
An angel’s urgent warning saves the newborn Jesus from King Herod’s murderous plot, revealing Christ as the prophesied Deliverer who overcame evil.
Matthew 2:13-23
Christmas 2025
Gene Pensiero Jr
Home
Find us on Substack
https://calvaryhanford.substack.com/
Find us on Apple TV
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/calvary-hanford/id1101428480
Find us on Roku
https://my.roku.com/account/add?channel=CALVARYHANFORD
Find us on Amazon Fire TV
Special Delivery (Matthew 2:13-23) | Understanding the Messiah in Crisis
Join us for this deep dive into Matthew 2:13-23, where we unpack one of the most dramatic and revealing episodes in the early life of Jesus. In a world full of daily deliveries and the risk of stolen packages, we explore the ultimate “Special Delivery” from heaven—Jesus Christ—and the desperate plot of a wicked king, Herod, to steal His life. This message is critical for anyone interested in Bible study, understanding Christianity, and seeking the truth about Jesus.
The narrative begins with an urgent, life-saving warning: an angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream, commanding him to take the child and Mary and flee to Egypt because Herod intends to kill the newborn King. We consider the challenging, 150-mile journey Joseph and Mary faced, moving from the comfort of their home to becoming refugees in the dark of night. Their circumstances highlight a beautiful theological truth: despite the danger, they were never outside the constant, loving watch of God. Just as Psalm 33 confirms, the Lord’s eye is always on those who fear and depend on Him. This is a powerful reminder for every believer facing uncertainty.
This episode is more than a thrilling escape; it is a profound fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. Joseph’s move to Egypt and subsequent return upon Herod’s death fulfills the words of Hosea 11:1: “Out of Egypt I called my Son.” As we explore this passage, we see Jesus presented as the ultimate Deliverer, even greater than Moses, whose life was similarly threatened in infancy. This powerful pattern confirms Jesus’s identity as the long-awaited Messiah, the Christ, who alone fits the prophetic description.
Herod’s jealous, selfish rage—fueled by a desire to cling to power and leading to the horrifying massacre of the innocents in Bethlehem—stands in stark contrast to the life and salvation offered by Jesus. The true King extends life, while Herod constantly reached for death. This wickedness, spoken of by the prophet Jeremiah, exposes the deep-seated evil that lives in the human heart and underscores why divine intervention was absolutely necessary to save humanity.
Following Herod’s gruesome end, Joseph is guided once again by an angel to return to the land of Israel. His decision to settle in the despised region of Galilee, in the tiny town of Nazareth, was not a choice of convenience but an act of immediate, costly obedience and a further confirmation of prophecy. Matthew reveals that being called a Nazarene fulfilled the prophetic theme that the Messiah would be reviled, rejected, and despised (Psalm 22, Isaiah 53). Yet, the name “Nazareth” itself—meaning “a sprout” or “a branch”—also points to the righteous reign of The Branch foretold in Isaiah 11:1.
The powers of darkness could not stop this delivery then, and they cannot stop the work of Christ in your life now. The Deliverer has been delivered to you. This teaching from Calvary Chapel emphasizes that God is watching over you, guiding you by His Holy Spirit. Our part is to choose to receive this Gift and to walk in the newness of life that He offers. If you are looking for solid Bible teaching that connects the Old and New Testaments, this study on Matthew chapter 2 will strengthen your faith and deepen your worship. Don’t miss this compelling look at the early life of our Savior.
When wise men from the east notify evil King Herod about the birth of the new King, God providentially saves Jesus while also bringing the Gentiles to see the Savior.
Matthew 2:1-12
Christmas 2024
Gene Pensiero Jr
Find audio, video, and text of hundreds of other studies through the Bible at https://calvaryhanford.com/
Follow us on YouTube at https://youtube.com/calvaryhanford
Joseph faces the choice of either breaking off his engagement with Mary or taking on a life very different than the one he must have planned.
Matthew 1:18-25
Christmas 2023
Gene Pensiero Jr
Matthew ends his Gospel with Jesus giving His followers what has been called the Great Commission throughout the church age (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Matthew tells us that when Jesus was crucified graves were opened and afterward many bodies of the saints were raised (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus chooses to give His life on the Cross out of obedience to His Father and love for us (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Pontius Pilate is stunned when the Jews demand he release to them the notorious criminal bar-Abbas instead of Jesus (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
The chief priests and elders of Israel refuse to help Judas while themselves betraying Jesus to His death (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
In order to convict Jesus the Jewish authorities produce a number of false witnesses (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus uses the occasion of Peter cutting-off a man’s ear with his sword to show the superiority of the Word of God (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus lets us know He is determined to go to the Cross in perfect submission to the will of His Father (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus shares the Passover dinner with His disciples as the final lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus praises a woman whom the disciples accuse of wasting a precious resource (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
At His Second Coming Jesus will separate all nonbelievers for eternal punishment (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus proclaims that He will return “on the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory” (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus warns the Jews in the Great Tribulation to not be fooled into coming out of hiding by reports He has returned prematurely (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus sends a shockwave through His disciples when He informs them that the Jewish Temple is doomed to be destroyed (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus decries the hypocrisy of the Pharisees by pronouncing a series of “Woes!” against them (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus answers a series of loaded questions put to Him by hypocrites hiding their sinister motives (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus tells a parable in which He compares the earthly kingdom God promised the Jews to a wedding banquet (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus tells two parables that remind the Jews God provided all they needed to be His fruitful vineyard (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
The disciples marvel that Jesus causes a fruitless fig tree to wither (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus makes His triumphal entry into Jerusalem as King riding on a donkey (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus describes His ministry to us as that of a slave serving His Master (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus tells a parable in which the owner of a vineyard purposely pays the day laborers he hired in reverse order to reveal his generosity (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus emphasizes the difference between human goodness and His saving grace in His call to the rich young ruler to follow Him (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus rebukes His disciples for trying to prevent children from being brought to Him to be blessed (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus puts the brakes on the Jewish practice of divorce for any reason (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus stuns His disciples by telling them that they must forgive others “up to seventy times seven times” (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus instructs His followers how to go after a brother who sins in the hope of restoring him to fellowship (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus instructs us to remain childlike while waiting for Him to return for us (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus continues to prepare His disciples for the wait between His two comings (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus tells His disciples whoever loses his life for His sake will find it (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus calls Peter a rock, then tells him that believers are the living rocks with which The Lord is building His church in His absence (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus warns His disciples that the Pharisees and Sadducees are like yeast corrupting the pure Word of God (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus surprises everyone by referring to a Canaanite woman who has come to Him for help as a dog (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
In a parable, Jesus says it’s not what goes into the mouth that defiles you, but what comes out of it (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
In this study, at first thinking it is a ghost walking on the water, the disciples trust it is Jesus when He speaks to them (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
In this study, Jesus withdraws when He hears that John the Baptist was executed after Herodias had her daughter dance for Herod and ask for John’s head on a platter (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
In this study, Jesus informs us that as we are sowing the good seed of the Word of God, our enemy will be at work sowing weeds (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
When the nation of Israel rejected Jesus, He told the Parable of the Sower to explain to His disciples God’s new program for spreading the Gospel (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus tells Israel’s leaders they will get no further sign from Him until His resurrection from the dead (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus’ exorcisms proved He had the power and the authority to bind Satan and hold him captive (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus says hurting people are like bruised reeds whom we should seek out to serve (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
The Pharisees twice try to trip up Jesus by accusing Him of breaking Sabbath laws (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Your life is compared to a field that is being plowed by you and Jesus as if you were yoked together (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus tells His disciples they will suffer violence from human and demonic foes who oppose the Gospel (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Your love for Jesus overcomes the fear you might have of losing your life by sharing Him with people who want the truth of the Gospel to remain hidden (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus sends out His twelve apostles on a mission to cast out demons and to heal all manner of sickness and disease (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus encourages us to pray that laborers would be sent out into the spiritual harvest (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Matthew throws a feast for Jesus and while others are critical of his guests, The Lord defends their celebrating salvation (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Seeing the faith of a paralytic and his friends, Jesus forgives his sins, heals him, and tells him to take up his bed and go home (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus casts a legion of demons out of two men and they go into a herd of two thousand swine which then hurtle themselves over a cliff to their deaths (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus and His disciples encounter a violent storm as they attempt to cross over the Sea of Galilee (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus heals multitudes, including Peter’s mother-in-law of her fever after returning from the synagogue on the Sabbath (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus tells us how we should act in the world if we are seeking first the kingdom of God (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus gives us a model for prayer that reminds us to daily depend upon God to care for us as our Father (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus describes a person who wants to appear spiritual in order to receive the approval of other men as an actor playing a role behind a mask (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus describes the efforts of the scribes and the Pharisees to do right as being deadly to the spirit of God’s Law (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus lets us know our real vocation in life is to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world so that as the city set on a hill in this kingdom of darkness we will attract nonbelievers to Him (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus retreated from the multitudes, went up on a mountain and taught His closest disciples the virtues of the kingdom (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
The devil fights Jesus in the Judean wilderness and is soundly defeated (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jesus travels from Nazareth 60 miles south to the Jordan River where John at first tries to prevent Him from being baptized (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
Jews from all over the region flock to the desert to hear a person who calls himself the voice of one crying in the wilderness (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
King Herod orders the murder of all the boys two years old and under in Bethlehem (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
The magi from the East follow an unusual star to find He who was born the King of the Jews (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
We see the outstanding character of Joseph as he submits to the Lord by marrying Mary and becoming the legal father of Jesus (Pastor Gene Pensiero)
The Gospel of Matthew opens the New Testament with the genealogy of Jesus, the son of Abraham, the son of David (Pastor Gene Pensiero)