dW 02.25.11

scripture

 

John 8:42-47

Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”

 

 

En Espanol, Juan 8:42-47

 

quote

 

Church attendance is as vital to a disciple as a transfusion of rich, healthy blood to a sick man.
Dwight L. Moody

dW 02.24.11

scripture

 

Matthew 5:43-48

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

 

En Espanol, Mateo 5:43-48

 

quote

 

We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

dW 02.22.11

scripture

Mark 10:23-25

Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!” The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

En Espanol, Marcos 10:23-25

thought

Some people believe that Jesus is referring to a sowing needle. Others believe He is referring to holes in the outer wall of a city, which were called eyes of a needle because of their shape. For a camel to enter through one of these holes, its owner had to remove the load off it’s back and have the camel crouch down to get through the hole. Once through the eye of the needle, the owner would then put the load back onto the camel’s back. Either way, it is commonly understood that riches, more often than not, are a hindrance of righteousness.

quote

Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread.

King Solomon (Proverbs 30:8)

online

What does the website offer?

1. Archive (left), posts (middle), and resource links (right).

2. Discussion à Below each post is a link to comment. Click the link and go to a page where you can enter questions or comments to that post.

3. Search à Located in the upper left is a field where you can enter keyword(s) to find within the archive. For example, if you want to see emails that mention “forgiveness”, then enter it in the search field and hit enter. You will be directed to the post(s) that contain that keyword(s).

4. Sharing à Send a post to a friend by clicking on the white envelope at the bottom of the post.

dW 02.18.11

thought

In case you haven’t noticed, I have chosen to do a series of the hard teachings of our Lord. Let’s use today to consider yesterday’s dW a bit more in depth. May you be blessed as I have been blessed to put this together.

Kyle

scripture

Matthew 5:27-30

Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.”

En Espanol, Mateo 5:27-30

teaching

Theologians like to call what Jesus did here, as He did in other teachings also, Torah Intensification. Torah is the Hebrew Bible (also known as the Old Testament), which includes teachings, prophets, writings. Jesus here in Matthew 5:27-30 is referring to the Law of Moses, which is recorded for us in Torah.

Background

1- Exodus 20:14 says, “You shall not commit adultery”.

2- Within the Mosaic Law are also laws describing retribution. For example, Exodus 21:23-25 says, “But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.” This “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” concept was not new. This concept likely originated from Hammurabi, the sixth king of Babylon. He wrote 282 laws which have been termed Hammurabi’s Code. This code dates back to 1700 BC. Here are two examples, “If a man puts out the eye of an equal, his eye shall be put out. If a man knocks the teeth out of another man, his own teeth will be knocked out.” Laws of retribution were made to keep people from seeking revenge for the injury of another by killing the one who caused the injury. Basically, the punishment should fit the crime.

What is the key attribute of God? I would submit to you that this attribute is Holiness, which is the essence of all His other attributes. God says in Leviticus 11:44, “be holy, because I am holy”. Therefore, since God is holy, His chief concern with His creation is for it to be holy.

Jesus asked his disciples, “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them” (Matthew 15:16-20).

Lust = Heart Adultery

Is it then enough that we do not commit physical sin? No, it is not. Why? Because God is concerned with our full holiness. If lust fills our heart, then we are still filled with sin. Have you ever tried to remove a rosebush from your yard? If you don’t get every last root out of the ground, then that stinking rosebush will come back. We cannot simply remove what is above ground, ie adultery, while neglecting to take care of what is below the surface, ie lust.

Sin is Serious

The reason I chose a quote from Origen to be paired with Matthew 5:27-30 is because Origen understood how heinous sin is to a Holy God and how it jettisons His creation from His presence. Jesus said, “It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell”. Origen took this literally and chose to castrate himself rather than to continue in sin. Origen later wrote extensively about the mistake he made. Even though he had removed the “offending member”, doing so did not remove the problem because the problem was within his heart. Jesus used this illustration to convey the point that sin is serious and we must take great care to guard our hearts.

comments

I’d love for there to be continued discussion on this post or any other you’d like to engage with. If you are interested in posting a comment or question on today’s dW, then go to the blog (www.the-daily-Word.blogspot.com), find the post you wish to comment on, then…

1) At the bottom of the chosen post, click Comment.

2) Type your comment in the text field.

3) Choose Name or Anonymous.

4) Click Publish Your Comment.

Once this is done, you can go back to see what others have to say and continue the dialogue.

dW 02.17.10

dW

 

scripture

 

Matthew 5:27-30

Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.”

 

En Espanol, Mateo 5:27-30

 

quote

 

For whatever be the knowledge which we are able to obtain of God, either by perception or reflection, we must of necessity believe that He is by many degrees far better than what we perceive Him to be.
Origen

dW 02.11.11

dW

 

note

 

Oops!  This morning I learned that some dW recipients are getting little boxes where their text characters should be.  If this has been happening to you, please go to http://the-daily-word.blogspot.com/ to catch up.  I will keep the message as a standard font style so as to avoid this issue in the future.

 

scripture

 

Luke 10:27

He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

 

En Espanol, Lucas 10:27

 

quote

 

The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you.

John E. Southard

 

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http://the-daily-word.blogspot.com/

dW 02.10.11

dW

 

scripture

 

Luke 14:26-33

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’ Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.”

 

En Espanol, Lucas 14:26-33

 

quote

 

To endure the cross is not tragedy; it is the suffering which is the fruit of an exclusive allegiance to Jesus Christ.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

 

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www.the-daily-Word.blogspot.com

dW 02.09.11

dW

 

scripture

 

Matthew 19:23-24

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

 

En Espanol, Mateo 19:23-24

 

quote

 

There is nothing wrong with men possessing riches. The wrong comes when riches possess men.
Billy Graham

dW 02.08.11

dW

 

scripture

 

Matthew 6:14-15

For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

 

En Espanol, Mateo 6:14-15

 

quote

 

When a person forgives another, he is promising to do three things about the intended wrongdoing: not to use it against the wrongdoer in the future; not to talk about it to others; and not to dwell on it himself.

Jay Adams

dW 02.07.11

dW

 

note

 

   Jesus was “meek and mild” but He was not a wimp.  He was radical.  He had no problem, when it was within the Father’s will, to upset the apple cart.   He challenged the teachings of the religious elite.  Often Jesus would practice Torah intensification, which shattered the common understandings thereof to teach the true meaning of God’s Law.  This is a quick blurb to set us up for a series of dW emails that are going to focus on the tough sayings of Jesus. 

   A particular dW recipient will, at times, respond to a “hard hitting” dW with “<krunch> That was the sound of my toes getting smashed”.  When I shared the idea of doing this series he said, “We could call this the Smashed Toes Ministry”.  Ready or not, here they come!

 

scripture

 

Matthew 10:32-39

“Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven. Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law— a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’ Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.”

 

quote

 

Some people will say God is number 1, family is number 2, ministry is number 3.  No, no, no!  God is not to be a number on your list.  He is the list.  Either He comes in to take over and He doesn’t come in at all.

Brad Buser, For God so Loved the World (sermon)