Matthew 5:1-12

We have been given the choice of living our lives in the way of Christ or the way of the world. We choose our path. It is said in Scripture that the least among us will be first and the first last. Suffering brings humility and trust in a powerful God who has our best interest at heart knowing that He controls all. We need to comprehend the meaning of God’s words not just memorize them!

 One way leads to death, the other leads to eternal life in Him.

Jewish literature of the time valued those who worked for peace. For instance, 2 Enoch reads “Blessed is one who gives peace and love” (52:11).Jesus is speaking to His disciples about a radical way of life that reflects the ideals of the kingdom of heaven. He seems to imply that persecution is a result of practicing His teaching and believing in Him. Faithlife Bible.

The mountain, probably a high hill on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, would have served as a natural amphitheater.Jesus had many disciples in addition to the crowds who followed Him and listened to His teaching. From the many disciples, He selected 12 to receive special instruction and power.Jesus had many disciples in addition to the crowds who followed Him and listened to His teaching. From the many disciples, He selected 12 to receive special instruction and power.

In this address, Jesus clarified both the heart of the law and the nature of true religion in God’s kingdom (Mic. 6:8). In a sense, Jesus turned the law, which was mainly negative, inside out to show its positive core. NKJ Bible

blessed (Gk. makarios) (5:3; Luke 6:20–22; Rom. 4:7, 8; James 1:12, 25) Strong’s #3107: This Greek word is derived from the root mak, which means “large” or “lengthy,” and means “fortunate” or “happy.” The Greek word was used in Greek literature, in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the OT), and in the NT to describe the kind of happiness that comes from receiving divine favor. The word can be rendered happy. In the NT it is usually passive; God is the One who is blessing or favoring the person.

Matthew 5:1–12 (NKJV)

5 And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. ² Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:

³ “Blessed are the poor in spirit,

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

⁴ Blessed are those who mourn,

For they shall be comforted.

⁵ Blessed are the meek,

For they shall inherit the earth.

⁶ Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

For they shall be filled.

⁷ Blessed are the merciful,

For they shall obtain mercy.

⁸ Blessed are the pure in heart,

For they shall see God.

⁹ Blessed are the peacemakers,

For they shall be called sons of God.

¹⁰ Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

¹¹ “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. ¹² Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Luke 6:21 (NKJV)

²¹ Blessed are you who hunger now, t

For you shall be filled. 

Blessed are you who weep now,

For you shall laugh.

1 Corinthians 3:1-4

One denomination puts down Catholics, another puts down Protestants and together they put down Methodists, Lutherans and Pilgrim Holiness. We become a hindrance to salvation. 

 We are saved to be a light to all people in all nations.

We are all one under Christ Jesus. He was born, suffered, died and was buried for all those who believe in Him….not in a particular denomination. He died so that all of us could live. Praise be the Messiah, Savior of the World.

It was too small a thing that Jesus die for only the Jews He came to earth to save the world.

 Catholic or Gentile we form the Body of Christ.

One of the main problems facing the first-century Corinthian church was division. When Paul wrote to Corinth, the church was divided into at least four factions, each of them aligned with one of four prominent Christian leaders. 

One group identified itself with the apostle Paul. The members of this faction may have been attracted by Paul’s emphasis on his ministry to the Gentiles.

 A second group identified itself with Apollos, one of Paul’s fellow missionaries. He may have attracted a following because of his eloquent speaking abilities. 

A third group identified itself with Cephas, another name for the apostle Peter. This group may have been mostly of Jewish background. 

A fourth group identified itself specifically with Christ. While on the surface it might seem that this group was the “godly” contingent of the Corinthian church, this may not have been the case. 

Paul does not commend any of the groups, not even the “I am of Christ” faction, suggesting that all of their professed allegiances were causing division and dissension in that church. NKJ Bible

The Corinthian believers demonstrated their immaturity through divisiveness and failure to grasp the significance of Jesus’ death on the cross. Paul asserts that such behavior is inappropriate for those in Christ.

 jealousy and strife are two actions that harm the unity of the Church both are characteristic of sophists.

sophist | ˈsäfəst |

noun

a paid teacher of philosophy and rhetoric in ancient Greece, associated in popular thought with moral skepticism and specious reasoning.

• a person who reasons with clever but fallacious arguments.

An immature Christian naturally lacks many Christian traits, but no one should expect this condition to last. Paul was surprised that the Corinthians had not yet grown into spiritual maturity or become able to distinguish between good and evil. Faithlife Bible.

1 Corinthians 3:1–4 (NKJV)

3 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. ² I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; ³ for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? ⁴ For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal?

Acts 22:9

We can be so afraid of the supernatural that the very idea of witnessing something stops us in our tracks. He has shown me many great and marvelous spiritual realities. He has let me prophesy one of the most earth shattering life events. After the latter I definitely shut down…out of fear and maybe  out of a need to protect my  mental stability. 

 In the measure that we believe and are willing  He can work in and through us.

Paul’s description echoes Dan 10:7, where people around the prophet could not understand the entire event but knew the vision was terrifying. Faithlife Bible.

Acts 22:9 (NKJV)

⁹ “And those who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid, but they did not hear the voice of Him who spoke to me.

Daniel 10:7 (NKJV)

⁷ And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me did not see the vision; but a great terror fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves.

John 2:23-25

Only the Father knows what is in the heart of man. Out of the abundance of the heart our mouth speaks the words of Christ either to life or death. Faith, faith, faith and nothing else… Faith in  JESUS CHRIST not man.

 There are consequences to the actions of man.

The Greek text uses the word pisteuō here. John uses a wordplay here, describing how “many believed” (pisteuō in Greek) in Jesus, but Jesus does not trust or believe (pisteuō) them in return.

These individuals trusted Jesus, but Jesus did not entrust Himself to them. Jesus fully understood the depth of trust of those who were following Him; some would stay, but many would fall away. NKJ Bible.

John 2:23–25 (NKJV)

²³ Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. ²⁴ But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, ²⁵ and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.

Matthew 9:4 (NKJV)

⁴ But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts?

1 Samuel 16:7 (NKJV)

⁷ But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

1 Chronicles 28:9 (NKJV)

⁹ “As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever.

John 13:31-35

The followers of CHRIST must learn to live in harmony with each other. Our political views should not interfere with His  command to love… it is up to us to be doers of His Word. Everything that we do should be filtered by GOD’S agape love for His creation. We  will be judged by the love that we show to others!

“By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Jesus inserts this phrase into the commandment from Leviticus 19:18. The new part of the commandment is that Jesus’ disciples are instructed to love other people the way Jesus loved them—serving them like a slave would, as He does in this scene, even to the point of laying down their lives for others. The indicator of a Christian is the way they treat others. Faithlife Bible.

Jesus would be revealed as the divine Son of God and Savior of the world by His death and resurrection, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. God would be glorified in Him in that God’s love, truth, and righteousness would be revealed in what Jesus was doing.

Unbelievers recognize Jesus’ disciples not by their doctrinal distinctives, nor by dramatic miracles, nor even by their love for the lost. They recognize His disciples by their deeds of love for one another. NKJ Bible.

If ye have love one to another—for My sake, and as one in Me; for to such love men outside the circle of believers know right well they are entire strangers. Alas, how little of it there is even within this circle! Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997).

John 13:31–35 (NKJV)

³¹ So, when he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him. ³² If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him immediately. ³³ Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come,’ so now I say to you. ³⁴ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. ³⁵ By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Leviticus 19:18 (NKJV)

¹⁸ You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

Mark 16:19 (NKJV)

¹⁹ So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.

Romans

 Faith alone pleases God.

His grace and redemption though Jesus Christ is given to all people. It is up to us to accept or reject this ultimate gift of salvation.

 We must learn to live together in harmony.

Romans

All of Paul’s other letters arise from a particular occasion and have a definite purpose. Romans is different; from the content it seems to have a much more general didactic aim. Having said this, it is possible to see at least three purposes Paul had in writing the book.

His first purpose was to prepare the Romans for his planned journey to Rome and later to Spain. His immediate itinerary involved a trip to Jerusalem, but his vision was toward the west. He clearly suggests that he expects assistance from them in his endeavor to carry the gospel to Spain. But if that had been his only purpose, a brief note would have been enough. Obviously Paul had more in mind.

A second purpose involved Paul’s understanding that the believers needed to “be established”. Paul wanted to give them a well-instructed faith. His letter is a kind of syllabus of Paul’s apostolic teaching. Romans is a masterful presentation of God’s plan of salvation for Jews and Gentiles.

The third purpose for the letter was pastoral. Paul wanted to exhort Jewish and Gentile believers to live in harmony. As in most of the early churches, the gospel brought different groups of people together who otherwise would have stayed apart, whether for reasons of nationality, status, or culture. Once they came together under one roof, the challenge was to preserve their oneness in Christ. Thus throughout the letter, Paul deals with problems arising from Jewish and Gentile differences. He emphasizes what everyone shared. 

Since there is only one God, He is the God of both Jew and Gentile. Both groups are under sin (3:9), and both are saved through faith (3:30). This theme of Jew and Gentile living together surfaces most clearly in chapters 14 and 15, where Paul deals with the practical aspects of being together in one body. 

Paul hammers home his central theme: The righteous God justifies and ultimately glorifies both Jew and Gentile by grace through faith.

Acts 23:6-9

Within the Church there can be differences of opinion…both sides believing they are right. We need to allow free communication to flow within the Church as long as it is based on Scripture. Since the beginnings of God’s walk with man…it has been this way. In the end the only word that matters is His Word made flesh.

 What we only see in part now we will see in full in His Kingdom.

It’s clear to see why the Pharisees and the Saducees held so much hatred and distain for our Lord and his disciples who were less educated lower working class commoners compared to the highly educated upper class Pharisees and Sadducees.

 Such is the Kingdom of God: Those who are considered the least by man in self arrogance will be the greatest to God in meekness and grace.

Acts 23:6–9 (NKJV)

⁶ But when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee; concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead I am being judged!”

⁷ And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees; and the assembly was divided. ⁸ For Sadducees say that there is no resurrection—and no angel or spirit; but the Pharisees confess both. ⁹ Then there arose a loud outcry. And the scribes of the Pharisees’ party arose and protested, saying, “We find no evil in this man; but if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him, let us not fight against God.”

The Sadducees were the ruling religious class in Judaea in the first-century ad.

The Pharisees were devoted to the practice and teaching of the law.

The Sadducees rejected the notion of a resurrection of the dead; the Pharisees believed in it. The Pharisees support Paul and condemn the Sadducees at the same time. Faithlife Bible.

The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the dead, miracles, life after death, or the existence of angels. On the other hand, the Pharisees believed in the supernatural and affirmed the very things the Sadducees denied. NKJ Bible.

Though the Pharisees were rivals of the Sadducees, they managed to set aside their differences on one occasion—the trial of Christ. It was at this point that the Sadducees and Pharisees united to put Christ to death (Mark 14:53; 15:1; John 11:48-50).

While the Sadducees ceased to exist after the destruction of Jerusalem, the Pharisees, who were more concerned with religion than politics, continued to exist. In fact, the Pharisees were against the rebellion that brought on Jerusalem's destruction in A.D. 70, and they were the first to make peace with the Romans afterward. The Pharisees were also responsible for the compilation of the Mishnah, an important document with reference to the continuation of Judaism beyond the destruction of the temple.

Both the Pharisees and the Sadducees earned numerous rebukes from Jesus. Perhaps the best lesson we can learn from the Pharisees and Sadducees is to not be like them. Unlike the Sadducees, we are to believe everything the Bible says, including the miraculous and the afterlife. Unlike the Pharisees, we are not to treat traditions as having equal authority as Scripture, and we are not to allow our relationship with God to be reduced to a legalistic list of rules and rituals.

Acts 21:23-25

There are the Jewish believers who believed that Jesus was the Messiah they had been waiting for all of their lives and then there were the Gentile believers. Catholics came into the fold of the Jewish believers as converts to Jewish Christianity. Catholics still follow the principle guidelines of one infallible leader, like Peter, who is visible in the form of the Pope. They still practice circumcision. They have many man made traditions that if not followed result in spiritual death. The teachings of Christ in his mercy and grace are limited by the rules of the Church.They firmly hold to the belief that peter was the rock upon which the church was built.

The Christian leaders were not asking Gentiles to live like Jews; neither did they want to compel Jews to live like Gentiles. The spiritual unity of the body of believers is realized in its diversity, not in its conformity. From our diverse backgrounds and cultures we honor the same Lord. NKJ Bible.

By doing this, Paul will show that he is still sensitive to Jewish culture, which James believes will overturn their fellow Jews’ concerns about Paul. This action demonstrates that Paul is not encouraging Jews to abandon their traditions, cultural identity, or religious identity. Faithlife Bible.

For the sake of showing his Jewish brethren that he had not forsaken the laws of Moses, Paul did what they asked. Reputation was an issue for the apostle, as it is for all believers.

Acts 21:23–25 (NKJV)

²³ Therefore do what we tell you: We have four men who have taken a vow. ²⁴ Take them and be purified with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads, and that all may know that those things of which they were informed concerning you are nothing, but that you yourself also walk orderly and keep the law. ²⁵ But concerning the Gentiles who believe, we have written and decided that they should observe no such thing, except that they should keep themselves from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality.”

Acts 15:19 (NKJV)

¹⁹ Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God,

Ezekiel 17:7-9

 Everything comes from God….every thing. 

Russia is not our friend.

 Without the love of God alive and well in our country we will not survive we will implode.

This allegory is focused around a main point and is followed by an explanation to guide the reader. The great eagle is the king of Babylon; Lebanon symbolizes Canaan, of which Jerusalem is the major city; the highest branch is the king of Jerusalem and Judah; the topmost young twig refers to the nobility of Judah; the land of trade is Babylon; the seed is a member of the royal family; the fertile field is the land where this royal offspring would rule; the other great eagle is the king of Egypt; and the vine is the remnant and ruler left in Judah. This remnant failed to prosper because they made a treaty with the Egyptian pharaoh. As a result, even the remnant was slain and scattered by Babylon’s army.

Ezekiel 17:7–9 (NKJV)

⁷ “But there was another great eagle with large wings and many feathers;

And behold, this vine bent its roots toward him,

And stretched its branches toward him,

From the garden terrace where it had been planted,

That he might water it.

⁸ It was planted in good soil by many waters,

To bring forth branches, bear fruit,

And become a majestic vine.” ’

⁹ “Say, ‘Thus says the Lord God:

“Will it thrive?

Will he not pull up its roots,

Cut off its fruit,

And leave it to wither?

All of its spring leaves will wither,

And no great power or many people

Will be needed to pluck it up by its roots.

Ezekiel 17:15 (NKJV)

¹⁵ But he rebelled against him by sending his ambassadors to Egypt, that they might give him horses and many people. Will he prosper? Will he who does such things escape? Can he break a covenant and still be delivered?

1 Corinthians 5:9-11

This past year I have found it so difficult to support our President. In all areas he has proven himself to be highly immoral. He stands against the poor and the foreigner both groups that Jesus said to take care of and to treat with respect. If he did not call himself a Christian I would find it much easier to handle. 

God help us all when we call evil good and good evil.

We are called to forgive any brother who admits, repents and ask but these are the parameters that guide us.

Paul is not referring to the sexually immoral people of the world (his mission field), but to those who call themselves Christians and participate in sexual immorality. He views such people as dangerous to the overall health of the congregation since they may entice others to follow them in sin. Faithlife Bible.

Eating together is a key part of fellowship and closeness with others. The Corinthians were not to have fellowship with those who claimed to be Christians but whose lives were dominated by sin. NKJ Bible.

1 Corinthians 5:9–11 (NKJV)

⁹ I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. ¹⁰ Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. ¹¹ But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person.

Matthew 18:17 (NKJV)

¹⁷ And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.