Bianca

God wants us to love others and care about others not just give a religious ritual. A person can go through all the rituals that may sound good but their heart is still not right. The Pharisees thought themselves to be better then sinners. They felt they were not the sinners but righteous before God but they needed a saviour to. Jesus loved the sinners because that's what he came for and everyone was a sinner and needed a saviour. Just like Jesus love the lost, we to are required to the love the lost. We were once lost to and didn't understand things. So that is something that I definitely need to remember. Jesus was and is the spiritual doctor because he came to cleanse us from our sin. Our souls needed saving and that's what Jesus did.

We shouldn't be like the Jewish priest or the levite. We are called to care about others of a different race and background. God loves everyone and cares about everyone so should we. A neighbor is anyone we see in need of help. Not just our next door neighbor. Anyone The Lord leads us to. I like to help whoever the Lord leads me to help. Sometimes God does ask us to go out of our comfort zones to help others. But that's a good thing. It keeps us from just always doing things in the same way all the time and getting into a routine. Such as for example, I only help this person or do this or that at a specific time. We should always be open minded to however The Lord wants to work.

No being wealthy is not a sin. It's where the person's heart is at with what to do with the money. Being wealthy can be a big blessing to God's kingdom if the money is in the right person's hand with a godly love for wanting to bless others according to how God leads them. The rich man's sin was selfishness and thinking of himself and hoarding. He was rich to himself but not being Rich towards God with his heart and wealth. Greed can come up in different ways. Afraid to give to others and even poor people will hoard and can be afraid to give any money because of fear of having less than what they already have. Hoarding doesn't make things better. I have watch people do this and it still didn't make them have more. Christians being to focus on material things and hoarding money can cause them to lose sight of what it really means to serve Jesus and loving others.

What is in a person's heart the mouth will speak. A person can't keep hiding it. It will come out. Their words will let you know what is really going on with a person. For example If a person is fearful about something they can't hide it to long. It will come out. A true disciple will produce good fruit and right works according to God's word. A false leader will produce poor quality work and lead others astray. It is important in churches so people will know who to trust to keep them from being deceive. This is something good for the pastor to recognize(if their corrupt) in order to protect the congregation. No one is perfect. If a person cannot recognize the difference between a flawed leader and a false prophet, then it can cause the person to falsely accuse someone of things that are not true and can cause Much damage to that person's reputation. There is Always room for improvement in all of us.

It can be fallen human nature to want to be noticed and be first. Sometimes humans feel like they got to exalt themselves before others when it's not time instead of waiting on God to exalt them. God has made it very clear if a person try to exalt themselves before others he will have a way to humble them. Sometimes when a person is exalted to higher position it can cause a person to get lifted up into pride. So Jesus wanted them to guard their hearts and also us to. The danger is we can get out of control and get lifted up into pride and go in the wrong direction and it can end up truly costing us.

The pharisee thought because of his so called good deeds that made him better than others. This same thing happens today. People pick and pull certain sins and say how awful it is but look past other things that seem lesser. Having a prideful behavior. Looking at his own so called righteousness as the standard. The tax collector recognized that he was a sinner and he needed help. Help from God and that nothing he could do could make him righteous before God with his own works. He knew he needed God's mercy. Prideful behavior can cause this in individuals. Always wanting to look the best in front of others not wanting to feel shame or embarrassment. He wanted them to understand that having a prideful behavior doesn't get you anywhere with God. We all need to humble ourselves before God and realize it is because of him we have anything.

It is important to keep us from doing the wrong things. Listening to Jesus and doing as he says will save us unnecessary trouble. Trouble that could be avoided. Things can also happen quicker in our life by being obedient. Plus we want God's best so we need to obey and listen. Acting independently can cause many troubles and confusion. Listening to the wrong voices can cause people to stray. A person wanting to do things in their own way instead of doing it God's way can cause people to stray.

A person has to be very serious about following Jesus and being one of his disciples. They can't put anything else first. You can't keep living an old lifestyle and saying you Love Jesus and doing whatever you want to do. When he calls you now is the time to change. There is only so much time left to let people know about the kingdom of God. We don't know the day when Jesus is coming back and we don't know how much time a person has before it is to late. A person priority has to be what Jesus wants first. Whatever his instructions are to the person they need to follow. They can't put parents or anything else first. Jesus must be first.

The cares of this life. Being too obsessed with things in this life can choke the word and stop it from working as it should. A true follower will do what Jesus says and seek to become more like him. A person holding a belief system like to go by certain rituals and rules to impress men or trying to impress God. We can't get to God in that way. Or they come up with their own so called Christian way of thinking or belief system saying they are serving Jesus when truly in their heart they are not. They still want to do things their own way and live like the world is living. I need to try not to idolize things in this life and make sure things in this life keeps it's place which is after Jesus. Material things can be good but not worth pulling aways from The Lord

These people does not have true root in the word. They may seem happy about it at first but there wasn't a true change to start truly following Jesus and his words. This happens all the time. If trials come along or tests they want to back off of it and go back to the way it was before. We have to be truly serious when we say we want to follow the Lord and must understand that things will not always be easy because just like God is working so is Satan.

It is symbolic to The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is flowing through every believer and is flowing everywhere here on earth. He is always present whether someone gets a physical feeling of something or not. He is unseen but present. The Lord creates the spiritual thirst within people. The promises have been fulfilled with the outpouring of The Holy Spirit on the day of pentecost. The Holy Spirit is constantly manifesting himself through us to be a blessing to others.

We're getting a fresh start a new life. We can't have this unless we have been born again. We been wipe clean of our sins just like a baby getting a new beginning by being born. The wind may go here and there whichever way it pleases so The Holy Spirit does whatever he pleases and goes where he wants to go and does what he wants to do. The Holy Spirit is beyond us and cannot be manipulated.

God is a generous and fair God. It may offend others when he chooses to do this or that for another and they haven't done as much as someone else has done within the kingdom but that's how wonderful of God he is. Just like with salvation we didn't deserve but God did it anyway out of his Great love for us. I believe it's our fallen nature. Because human beings in general like to be recognized for their good deeds. When we see others get things that we feel we put a lot of effort in to earn might feel like they didn't deserve it but we did because of everything we done. We need to do things with a heart of love and faith and know that God hasn't forgotten our works of love. We have to avoid feeling this way because it can turn into pride which God hates a prideful behavior.

There will be a permanent separation between the righteous and unrighteous. There will be a final judgment of the wicked. It encourages us that all of the wickedness in this world will come to an end. That the wicked if they don't change will have to be judge and righteousness will reign forever.

I believe his selfishness and lack of concern for others that were in need which is basically hoarding and being greedy cause him to go hell. Since he didn't have concern for others which was his neighbor Lazarus. He didn't fully realize he was also ignoring God and his commands which was ultimately going to be his permanent downfall. In hell he wants Lazarus to help him but he has to remember that he wasn't kind to him or more than likely others the way he supposed to be. I believe we need to Truly care about others and what God says(his rules) because there are eternal consequences that we will have to deal with if we don't. Giving to others as God instructs me. That can be food money or anything else.

A person has to truly want the life Jesus has for them. They just can't do it passively. We have things to do on our part in order to get to the place we need to be. God will never turn anyone down saved or unsaved that is truly seeking him with the right heart. Not everyone is going to find the narrow gate. God has made that very clear. Many people get caught up in their own world and how the world see things. They care more about what others think and how they personally want to live their life the way they want to then what God has to say about it. The parable encourages people to keep following Jesus no matter what because it matters to God what we do and our choices. It encourages us to continue on the path of righteousness because that pleases God. We can't go with the flow because it will not end up good in the end.

.Following Jesus means more than just listening to his teachings we have to put them into practice. Sometimes people think that Jesus teachings sound good but when it comes down to it they really don't want to follow him all the way. They want to claim to be truly serving Jesus but in their own personal life they are not doing what he says, their only listening. One way is by being a good example that young Christians can look at. When they look at you putting things into practice that can also encourage them to do the same. Also praying about it and getting them involve the right activities that can help them put Jesus teachings into practice.

What comes out of a man's heart make them unclean. Evil starts with entertaining the wrong thoughts and gets into the heart. Jeremiah teaches that we shouldn't be deceived. Deceiving thoughts and ideas starts from the heart and infect others. Trying to please man some people like to give an outward show of holiness to others so they can impress others and please others but still want to continue on in their old ways behind the scenes. We can't change ourselves and make ourselves better on our own. We need God's power to help us. So people need to repent get clean before God and have a clear conscience.

Pharisees and Jewish religious establishment represents the excuse makers. The potential results is opening up the door to things that we would not like. It can cause delays and harm in our own life but it can also effect someone else's life negatively who are involved. So it's very important we fulfill God's plan for our life overall and also the daily walk.

Placing this one under right spot

My Answer: Israel's was to consume with showy religious practices. Caring more about man and appearances than how God truly sees things. Coming up with their own rules. What keeps fruit from producing is being too consumed with worldly things and our hearts not being right towards God. In order to truly mature we have to spend time with God personally and on his word and put action to the things we are studying in his word. What we can learn is that God expects us not to be barren but truly live the right life for him and do his will. We understand we are not save by our works but we still want to do good works for God because we love him and others.

My Answer: Justice - The King being merciful to forgive the servant of the debt. But, if only the unmerciful servant in the end would have decided to be like the king and be merciful to his own servant his punishment could have been avoided. Grace- The king was gracious enough to forgive the servant of a huge amount of money. This also reminds me of how merciful our Heavenly Father is towards us. Greed- The unmerciful servant though forgiven for so much still chose to be greedy and wanted more and refuse to forgive though he was forgiven. We should remember that as we have been forgiven of much we should also forgive others of much.

God heart is Always for the lost. He is very excited over one person turning towards him or returning. It means just that much to him. God places a High value on a soul. If one strays or starts to stray he definitely is going to try to bring them back not just let them go and not even try. That's how loving he is and how deeply he cares about people. God doesn't force people to accept Jesus or do right. He doesn't even force us his own children to do right but he will definitely warn and try in different ways to bring them to Jesus. The older son remain with his Father and honored his Father instead of going out and doing what the younger brother did. The older son lack his Father values because he looked at his works and everything he did for his Father. Instead the brother should have been looking at his younger brother and being thankful that he is alive , that nothing worse came on his younger brother and his brother came to his senses and he is ready to do right. These are the things the older brother should have looked at and focus on. We should not have self righteous ways and looked to our works (which may be good) but still we must realize and remember that it is by God's grace and mercy we are at the place we are at and should remember that when we look at others and not look down on them no matter what they done. God is a good and loving God and he loves us all. We must have his forgiving heart towards others.

My Answer: God cares about every person save and unsaved. It's not just about taking care of our own needs or only what's going on in the church but look outside of that and see what's going on around us. God is always searching and wanting lost souls regardless of what they have done. Just like the Pharisees we can start to look down on the lost. Sometimes we can forget that we to was once lost and was living as part of the world. A disciple can do this by just looking around their community. Praying to God to show them where to start if they are unsure. We could also ask God to give us a deeper heart for the lost and more boldness to go out of our comfort zone.

It's natural to make mistakes. I'm the process of learning anything mistakes happen. We just learn from those mistakes and get better and what we are trying to learn. We are human vessels that God flows through Human beings are in a fallen world and are not perfect so the communication may not come through perfectly all the time. God understands this. So it's something that we have to live with in this life and just get better and better at hearing God's voice.