home4ed

This is a different summary in that it is not a guideline of omission of evil as much as it is a all to submission to the righteousness of Christ and a call to proactive faith instead of a passive faith. The difference is so clear to me now.

These verses teach us about God's love for us in comparison to a parent's love for their child. Since God is Holy His love is far superior and rightly demonstrated than ours can be becausde of our sinfulness. This differs from a cynical view of God's love in that it doesn't show Him as one who is unloving or uncaring or harsh discipline. It is important to have this understanding to develope trust in God and His will for us.

The lesson is one of persistance. It is through persistance we get through some of life's difficult situations. It is persistance that developes our character in faith. It reminds me of Rom 5:4 where "perserverance produces character" and it is the character of Christ we are to be being formed to. The parables in Luke give us a picture of what asking, seeking, knocking can look like and what they can result in.

Ask, seek, and knock all indicate an active pursuit of something, God. While "Ask" is a petition showing submission to authority, seeking and knocking requires more action. Pursuing and moving. I think more risk is required of seeking and knocking yet all 3 are a continual practice in a christian's journey.

Dogs and pigs are both scavengers, even today they are. My dog will alway raid the trash can if we leave him and it unattended!Holy food and pearls are both valuable, not to be wasted on scavenger unclean animals. When people's heart have become calloused they are unable to hear, see, and understand the Gospel. The lies of the world are like the scraps and trash and the parls are God's wisdom. But when people have open hearts and are asking for the wisdom of God these are who the Apostles continued to witness to. People hungry for real truth.

It is humorous to think of a plank in one's eye let alone someone with a plank in their eye trying to pull a sliver out of someone elses. It doesn't seem as humorous to think of it as sin because sin doesn't have a physical size but yet how well can we even see others problems/sin when our own is so huge it would obstruct our view and therefore how good could we be at identifying and removing it? When we have sin in our life who would take us seriously when pointing out sin. It's kind of like an overweight person giving diet advice. When you have been overweight and then lost it then you can give advice credibly, likewise when you have dealt with your own sin then you are credible to help someone else with theirs.

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I think the joke is He points out the futility of worry and how little it accomplishes. Like others have replied, it adds nothing and it can be very destructive to our faith as well as is a poor witness to others. To worry is disobedience because He commands us not to.

The command is to seek, go after, God. Seeking God must differ from seeking physical needs because it must be our motivator. It must come first and be our driving force and what we crave and desire and define how our physical needs are met. For me, as I have grown closer to the Lord, I have found that what I consider "necessary" has also changed and diminshed. The promise is that we will be provided for as we are obedient to the Lord.

(Matthew 6:31-32) Why does Jesus mention the "pagans" or "Gentiles" in verse 32? What point is he making? I think Jesus mentions the pagans and gentiles because they live with out consideration of their eternal soul. Their concern is the physical here and now instead of the Father is heaven in whom they can have eternal life through Christ. How should a Christian differ from a Gentile, according to Jesus' teaching in this passage? A Chhrstian would not worry about his/her needs but trusts for God's perfect provision to the faithful who walk in obedience. I too struggle with the homeless and hungry and if they are faithful followers and yet still suffer these things. What emotional and faith effect does the phrase, "your heavenly Father knows that you need them," have in your life? It is a comfort to know God loves me as his child. I was fortunate to have an earthly father who loved me and made sure we always had what was needed. In the same way I can trust God, my heavenly father, to make sure we will be ok. It helps too to have the perspective of eternity that no matter how hard things get there is way more to experience, beyond this earthly existence, with our father. The Pagans and Gentiles don't have this comfort.

In this passage I counted the phrase "do not worry" 3 times. Worry shows a lack of faith in trusting the Lord. It robs us of that perfect peace and causes us to question God. When we get to this place we are tempted to take matters into our own hands to provide our needs and that can mean lying, cheating stealing etc.These are definitely sin. Worry and trust are exact opposites that result in very different behavior.

These parables point to God's faithfulness to provide for his creations. If we are faithful to work(when able) and live by his standards then God provides. Even the birds have to gather(work for) their food. Many times I have considered purchasing clothes for my growing children when money was tight and chose to wait. Almost everytime there would be a large garbage bag of clothing handed to me and all we needed plus some was provided! The analogy with the birds and the lilies to us, His children breaks down somewhat though because they don't have free will to choose to follow and trust the Lord. We do and that is how I try to make sense of the homeless Rochelle. I have yet to meet someone who, by NO fault of their own (adults), has wound up homeless and or hungry. I know plenty of us don't have alot but our needs are provided for. But I think Jesus' real point is that worrying about the material distracts our focus from God and worshipping him.

I really didn't think I was a very material person but about 12 years ago my husband's business took it's first hard financial hit. We were financially wrecked. I was completely without peace. My faith was not in the Lord as I had thought but in the comfort of our ability to make an income. I thought I was somewhat in control and trusted in our abilities. Then things happened totally out of my control and I learned what it really meant to depend on Christ. It was a hard lesson but the Lord saw us through. There are times that coveting things I don't need hit me all the time but I am far more aware of the fact that The Lord is in control and it is Him I serve and He is faithful. It is Him I love and worship

Awesome testimony!!!!!!!! Praise the Lord!

Verses 6:24-32 are summed up in 33 and 34 when the Lord commands us to seek first the kingdom of God "and all these things will be added to you". If we are faithful to obey him we will not be in need; He is faithful to provide. This doesn't mean a life of poverty for all believers but requires a life of faithful service regardless of circumstances. I do think it is literal. Seeking wealth for wealth's sake will cause stumbling in your faith. Seeking the Lord's will in your life will bring financial blessing because it should cause you to be a hard worker knowing the fruit of your labor is a witness to the Lord. In addition, knowing what God thinks about debt should cause you to agressively eliminate it if you have it. Without debt think of all the money saved by not paying interest! Knowing the Lord will provide all your needs and trusting that makes it easier to be content with what you have rather than seeking empty material desires. Often seeking wealth as defined by the world leads to so many more curses than blessings such as more time spent working to cover the purchases made outside one's means or being a "workaholic" to attain early retirement and then dying from stress related heart disease.( Reminds me of the song "Cat's in the Cradle". Serving God brings great peace in knowing it is enough. Being wealthy can be a natural outcome of serving God because it causes you to NOT value the material things, NOT take on debt, and work hard at earning which is rewarded with income. So wealthy people can serve God and do because often they attained their wealth through serving Him first. And for those who came to the Lord after having attained wea;th it is also possible. I think Jesus' point is the heart; and a heart cannot serve two masters: Serving God could bring you closer to money but serving money will not bring you closer to God.

According to the Bible, specifically the sermon on the mount, you "store up treasures in heaven" by: giving to the needy prayer, private and daily forgiving others fasting, privately And all of these done to Glorify, honor, the Father, not ourselves. Naturally the Earthly posessions are temporal and can be gone in an instant. Just watching the news and seeing the destruction from hurricanes and California wild fires demonstrates how quickly these kind of treasures are wiped away. Yet when we sacraficially help others the Lord, who is eternal, remembers. In Matthew 25: 31"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' 37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' 40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' I guess, for me, as I struggle with coveting material earthly things, and breaking that mindset, I don't want the rewards to be my motivation for obeying God as much as I desire my good works to be a natural outpouring of my gratitude and love for the Lord. I would rather not let the rewards be my focus because it probably isn't even what I can imagine.

LOVE THIS RESPONSE! ditto

Q2. (Matthew 6:19) Jesus says, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth...." Is he speaking figuratively? Hyperbolically? Generally? Specifically? Is this a new teaching, or an old one? He is speaking specifically. Treasures are things we value and mean something to us.He is warning us of the temptations of greed and the lie of promised happiness in material things. It is the eternal things that have real value and bring real joy. As we pursue the things of God we see the deceptions in material things. This teaching is not new because in the Old Testament we read about Lot and how his life travels away from God and toward material things and his destruction when the four kings conquered Sodom and Gomorrah. We are also given the example of Job and how he continued in his faith even when all that he had was taken from him. And of course all of the Law is to point us to the Lord and being holy as He is holy.

He condemned him for not being rich toward God because he was storing for himself, not motivated by prudence, but for "taking it easy". I would say verse 21 is the key verse. The context is what motivates a person to "store" greed or wisdom from God.

We continually ask for forgiveness because we are sinners. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1John 1:8,9)Unforgiveness is simple disobedience since we are commanded to forgive. Also we are to follow Christ's example and He forgives all. To be unforgiving though keeps a "wrong" alive. It perpetuates bitterness. To forgive will begin the healing and peace in a relationship and is very loving. If you have ever wronged someone and sought their forgiveness you know the peace it brings you. You know the turmoil in your gut until you ask to be forgiven. If your apology is received and accepted you also know the blessing of knowing the relationship is experiencing healing. Sin always breaks our fellowship with God. To be unforgiving is sin. When we hold onto bitterness His Spirit cannot flow through that to others because we are not allowing it. If we look at all God has forgiven us from we should be inspied to extend the same grace to others that they might feel His love through us.

I think our seeking to be independent of other people and God is our pride of wanting to be in control. It requires some humility to see how we are so incapable of true control in our lives when we look at the character of God and who He is. In our humaness and pride we want to be autonomous. But when we ask Him daily for our needs we are forced to realize how little control we have. But what a blessing and a joy to ask and see the source of all our needs! Our father God! He gives his children good things and desires to bless us and really knows what is truely good for us. I can go out and get a job and work but it is always by God's grace I do whatever it is I set out to do. When I stop and ask Him though, the "work" is so much more a blessing; to me, my family, my employer. Why wouldn't I want to ask Him?

When I pray "Your kingdom come" I am not "asking" for anything but acknowledging who is King and who is in control and that it is for Him that I work. I am not king or queen as in my case, and therefore am not in control. This acknowledgement affects me as I seek perspective for my day and look at my world, my sphere of influence with Christ's perspective who humbled himself for us. If my King can do that so can I.