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We are asking for God's kingdom to come at the end of time and for it to come in this present time, through Christians who spread the gospel. God knows what is best, so we pray for his will to be done. We need to be open to God working through us, watching for opportunities that God has placed in our path though out the day. One bible study calls this, "Kingdom Living".

Living our lives in a way that is pleasing to God, watching ourselves and the way we talk hallows his name. When we take our focus off of God and begin to see things through our worldly eyes we fall away or backslide. People who aren

God wants to spend time with us, to draw closer in a more personal relationship. He wants us to come before him with all our prayers and petitions, to recognize him as God.

We should pray in private so that we can be alone with God, with no distractions or temptations, then he will hear us. It would be contrary to these verses if we are not praying in one accord and for all people including those over us. There would be no spiritual growth in us if we are praying for others to hear instead of God.

These verses teach me that it's important to give to the needy and to not draw attention to the fact I when I do. This has made me stop and think about who we give to. It's hard to want to help someone who's not willing to help themselves. Yet this isn't fair to those who are unable to work for a living.

When we give, help or pray we are to do it so the Lord will see it, not to impress others. The antidote for pride is to spend time alone with the Lord. When people are urged to donate to receive a plaque in their honor or for people to recognize them is encouraging pride.

Verse 48 means we are to strive or press on to be perfect. Perfection isn't being taught, but maturation. When we strive to learn and grow in the Lord we are doing what we can to mature. Only Jesus could attain "sinless perfection". Verses 48 relates to 45 by telling us we are to be like God and treat people equally.

Yes we have the right to use the force necessary to defend ourselves according to the situation. Should a person be prosecuted for the wrongful death of a loved one or should we take revenge into our own hands? We are to pray for those who persecute us and let the justice system deal with the guilty. Love your enemies? As I understand it, there's different types of love. Sometimes, not to let our lives be ruled by hate for someone is to love them.

Live a life of peace.

What is in common in these verses is the explanation of the standard we are to live by, to love our enemies. No, I don't think we would be abetting evil, we would be resisting the temptation to lower ourselves to the enemy's standards. We are to take these examples as a standard of how to live our lives.

This regulation was to control the retaliation of those who had been wronged. It was used by the courts and judges in the justice system.

Jesus is telling us here to be straight forward, not twist our words or swear on anything. Less confusion, misunderstandings and hurt feelings would be the result of obeying this command.

All sin is to be taken seriously. Our key verse today was, "whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me". We all need to remember this and make it a habit.

If a person is serious about changing their life they need to sincerely repent and ask for forgiveness and ask God to help them. But God expects us to not allow ourselves to get into situations where we will be tempted, to have willpower and learn to use it, find other activities that are interesting and good for us.

The problem with these habits is that when you open the door to the devil in one area of your life he comes in and doesn't stop there. The consequences are far reaching, not only for this generation but for the next also.

By the fruit it produces.

They have the same starting point - the heart. The difference would be one is action, the other thought. It breaks the Tenth Commandment by desiring something that belong to another.

The theme of Jesus' teaching would be to love and get along with one another so that nothing will come between us and God.

The parable is telling us to settle or come to an agreement with our accuser before we get to court because when we get there we'll not only pay back every penny but be thrown into prison. God wants us to live in peace as much as we can and not make things any harder on ourselves and others than they have to be.

What is wrong is that we're not obeying God if we worship him with a grievance on our hearts. God wants repentance and for us to be reconciled. The most important thing is to start with a humble heart and ask God to lead the way. When we've sincerely done all that we can do it's up to the other person.

Because words can kill the spirit. I have never thought of it in that way before, but apparently words are as bad as murder. In James 3:6 it say, "It (the tongue) corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell." We would manage our mouths alot more carefully if we believed God viewed what we said as murder.

If a preacher isn't preaching from the Old Testament it isn't being taught and therefore being abolished. I wonder, is this type of preaching being taught in seminaries? This seems impossible since the New Testament refers back to the Old Testament. "Christian" legalism in a church would be one that strictly followed the rules, but one without God's spirit in it, one with blind eyes to the needs or concerns of the people. With no moral standards and no obedience in a church it would be a anything goes rule.

The type of person that verses 13-16 describes is that person in 10-12. The person who is the salt of the earth and a light of the world will be persecuted because of it. To hide our light is to hide God's glory. If we live to give glory to God we have to turn away from the ways of this world. Just as Jesus had to suffer, so must God's saints. We're in this world but not of this world. "If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." (John 15:19)

The danger would be that other people wouldn't come to know Jesus if we who have the light in us, didn't let it shine for them to see and receive. It's a wonderfull thing that we have Jesus in our hearts, but as disiples who love our neighbors as ourselves, we want others to receive Jesus (the light) as we have.

Someone who has lost their saltiness will overlook things that they know are sin but for the sake of keeping the peace or convenience, they let it slide. A perfect example of saltiness is a story a friend of mine just told me. Her grandson and the woman he is living with and is having a baby with were at her home over Christmas. Come bedtime she told him, "they may be living together and having a baby together but they were not sleeping together under her roof, not as long as they weren't married". For the sake of peace she could have not said anything, but as she said, "It was a sin when she was 15 years old and it was still a sin." She still has plenty of salt, God bless her. Yes, I think a person could tell if they had become desaltified, but they would have to be listening for the holy spirit to convict them of it. The world would notice if a desaltified Christian because they wouldn't be much of a Christian. Anything and everything might go with them. Other Christians would notice that you weren't very close to God anymore, that you were more worldly.