5/11/12

Getting to know the new neighbors


Imagine living in a glass house!!  Obviously, some portions of the house (like the bathroom or bedroom) should have opaque glass for the sake of modesty, but the rest of the house is see-through; incredible!!!  I wonder what it would be like to live next to these people; to be able to see almost their every move.  It wouldn't take very long to get to know them, for almost everything they do would be apparent. After being neighbors for awhile, you would understand them and the effect of this would be....

Matthew Chapter 7
 1  "“Don’t judge, so that you won’t be judged.  2 For with whatever judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you.  3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but don’t consider the beam that is in your own eye?  4 Or how will you tell your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye;’ and behold, the beam is in your own eye?  5 You hypocrite! First remove the beam out of your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye.

  6 “Don’t give that which is holy to the dogs, neither throw your pearls before the pigs, lest perhaps they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.

  7 “Ask, and it will be given you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened for you.  8 For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. To him who knocks it will be opened.  9 Or who is there among you, who, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, who will give him a serpent?  11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!  12 Therefore whatever you desire for men to do to you, you shall also do to them; for this is the law and the prophets.

People do the things they do for a reason.  Understanding goes a long way to smoothing out any relationship and if your attitude is adjusted properly.  God knows us better than anyone and will treat us better than we do ourselves.  When it comes to God, all of us live in glass houses, because he knows every single thing about us and loves us anyway.  Want to know how to treat others?  Get a mirror, use it and then think of how you will act toward others.  Problem solved!!!!

May 11 Joshua 3, 4


May 11
Joshua 3, 4

Jos 3:1 Joshua rose up early in the morning; and they moved from Shittim, and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel. They lodged there before they passed over.
Jos 3:2 It happened after three days, that the officers went through the midst of the camp;
Jos 3:3 and they commanded the people, saying, "When you see the ark of the covenant of Yahweh your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then you shall move from your place, and follow it.
Jos 3:4 Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Don't come near to it, that you may know the way by which you must go; for you have not passed this way before."
Jos 3:5 Joshua said to the people, "Sanctify yourselves; for tomorrow Yahweh will do wonders among you."
Jos 3:6 Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, "Take up the ark of the covenant, and pass over before the people." They took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people.
Jos 3:7 Yahweh said to Joshua, "Today I will begin to magnify you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.
Jos 3:8 You shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, saying, 'When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.' "
Jos 3:9 Joshua said to the children of Israel, "Come here, and hear the words of Yahweh your God."
Jos 3:10 Joshua said, "Hereby you shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Hivite, and the Perizzite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Jebusite out from before you.
Jos 3:11 Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passes over before you into the Jordan.
Jos 3:12 Now therefore take twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, for every tribe a man.
Jos 3:13 It shall come to pass, when the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of Yahweh, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan will be cut off, even the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand in one heap."
Jos 3:14 It happened, when the people moved from their tents to pass over the Jordan, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant being before the people,
Jos 3:15 and when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark had dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks all the time of harvest),
Jos 3:16 that the waters which came down from above stood, and rose up in one heap, a great way off, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan; and those that went down toward the sea of the Arabah, even the Salt Sea, were wholly cut off. Then the people passed over right against Jericho.
Jos 3:17 The priests who bore the ark of the covenant of Yahweh stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan; and all Israel passed over on dry ground, until all the nation had passed completely over the Jordan.
Jos 4:1 It happened, when all the nation had completely passed over the Jordan, that Yahweh spoke to Joshua, saying,
Jos 4:2 "Take twelve men out of the people, out of every tribe a man,
Jos 4:3 and command them, saying, 'Take from out of the middle of the Jordan, out of the place where the priests' feet stood firm, twelve stones, and carry them over with you, and lay them down in the lodging place, where you will lodge tonight.' "
Jos 4:4 Then Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had prepared of the children of Israel, out of every tribe a man.
Jos 4:5 Joshua said to them, "Pass over before the ark of Yahweh your God into the middle of the Jordan, and each of you pick up a stone and put it on your shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel;
Jos 4:6 that this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask in time to come, saying, 'What do you mean by these stones?'
Jos 4:7 then you shall tell them, 'Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of Yahweh. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever.' "
Jos 4:8 The children of Israel did as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the middle of the Jordan, as Yahweh spoke to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel; and they carried them over with them to the place where they lodged, and laid them down there.
Jos 4:9 Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant stood; and they are there to this day.
Jos 4:10 For the priests who bore the ark stood in the middle of the Jordan, until everything was finished that Yahweh commanded Joshua to speak to the people, according to all that Moses commanded Joshua; and the people hurried and passed over.
Jos 4:11 It happened, when all the people had completely passed over, that the ark of Yahweh passed over, with the priests, in the presence of the people.
Jos 4:12 The children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, passed over armed before the children of Israel, as Moses spoke to them.
Jos 4:13 About forty thousand men, ready and armed for war passed over before Yahweh to battle, to the plains of Jericho.
Jos 4:14 On that day, Yahweh magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they feared Moses, all the days of his life.
Jos 4:15 Yahweh spoke to Joshua, saying,
Jos 4:16 "Command the priests who bear the ark of the testimony, that they come up out of the Jordan."
Jos 4:17 Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, "Come up out of the Jordan!"
Jos 4:18 It happened, when the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of Yahweh had come up out of the middle of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet were lifted up to the dry ground, that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place, and went over all its banks, as before.
Jos 4:19 The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, on the east border of Jericho.
Jos 4:20 Joshua set up those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, in Gilgal.
Jos 4:21 He spoke to the children of Israel, saying, "When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, 'What do these stones mean?'
Jos 4:22 Then you shall let your children know, saying, 'Israel came over this Jordan on dry land.
Jos 4:23 For Yahweh your God dried up the waters of the Jordan from before you, until you had passed over, as Yahweh your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up from before us, until we had passed over;
Jos 4:24 that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of Yahweh, that it is mighty; that you may fear Yahweh your God forever.' "

"THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW" Chapter Twenty-Three by Mark Copeland

 "THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW"

                          Chapter Twenty-Three

With the religious leaders silenced by their inability to entangle Jesus
with their questions, Jesus proceeded to decry the hypocrisy of the
scribes and Pharisees in a series of scorching rebukes (1-36).   Despite
His strong condemnation, His love for them was manifested by His lament
for the people of Jerusalem (37-39).

POINTS TO PONDER

   *  The hypocrisy of the scribes and the Pharisees

   *  Jesus’ grief over the apostasy and fall of Jerusalem

REVIEW QUESTIONS

1) What are the main points of this chapter?
   - Jesus denounces the religious leaders - Mt 23:1-36
   - Jesus laments over Jerusalem - Mt 23:37-39

2) What does Jesus tell people to do in regards to the scribes and
   Pharisees? (3)
   - Do what they say, even though they do not practice what they preach

3) List some things for which Jesus rebuked the scribes and Pharisees
   (3-7)
   - They say, and do not
   - They bind burdens on others they themselves would not bear
   - Their works they do to be seen of men
   - They make their phylacteries broad, enlarge the borders of their
     garments
   - They love the best places at feasts, best seats in the synagogues
   - They love greetings in the marketplaces, to be called "Rabbi"

4) What did Jesus tell His disciples not to do?  Why? (8-11)
   - Not to use religious titles like "Rabbi", "Father", "Teacher"
   - Rather then be esteemed by such titles, they were to be humble
     servants

5) List the reasons for the eight woes expressed by Jesus (13,14,15,16,
   23,25,27,29)
   - Preventing others from entering the kingdom of heaven
   - Devouring widows’ houses and making long, pretentious prayers
   - Making proselytes twice the sons of hell as themselves
   - Making inconsistent distinctions between the swearing of oaths
   - Paying tithes of minute things while neglecting justice, mercy,
     faith
   - Cleaning the outside while neglecting the inside
   - Outwardly appearing righteous while inwardly full of hypocrisy and
     lawlessness
   - Building the tombs of the prophets while persecuting prophets

6) What did Jesus say was the condition of Jerusalem? (38)
   - "See! Your house is left to you desolate"