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There is so much packed in Chapter 4. At very beginning the devil temps Jesus right after He was baptized, right after a mountain top experience, and the devil does the same thing to us right after a mountain top experience. He also tempted Jesus when He was hungry and weak. The devil always comes around when we are at a low point to try to attack us. This why we need to be ground in the Word so we can quote Scripture back just as Jesus did. Jesus not only quoted the Scripture, but He obeyed it too.
...Jesus grew up searching the heart of His Father...all along preparing Himself for the tests that were to come...He learned His Father's truths, and hung His Fathers' promises, or "gifts" around His heart...when you are given a "gift"...there is an obligation to cherish it...and USE it. In Ecc.12:13, it tells us to "fear" the Giver of the gift. How do we fear? The Godly fear...which is the attitude of gratitude, and reverence; a awe for the love and the power of the Giver of the gift. A "holy fear" for the believers brings you closer to Him - to lovingly and respectfully grow in appreciation and gratitude. In this kind of fear, you will only fear God, and not the world - this fear fills us with a sense of responsibility that compells us, and propells us to ultimately succeed in life.
What Jesus was ultimately saying in verse 10, when He said to Satan..."Away with you, (or Get behind Me!), Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.' "...Jesus was "quoting" the scripture He had read and learned as a youth, from Deuteronomy 6:13, entitled: "A Call For A Wholehearted Committment" or "The Great Commandment", which states: ...You shall fear the Lord your God and serve Him, and shall take oaths in His name."
...we have a responsibility to succeed in life the way God planned for us to...Love
Last edited by Verna Perry; 02-15-2009 at 06:40 PM..
Reason: ...spelling.
First, I saw in the temptations of Christ exactly what we see....
1-IF you are God, prove it! (Turn stones to bread). How many times have we heard something like that?
2-Since the Bible says THIS, then you ought to be able to do that!(Throw yourself off because nothing will happen to you IF the bible is true. So it's a testing, finding fauly/contradiction with the Word. How many times have we heard something like that?
3-You'd be better off throwing this God stuff to the wind and doing what feels good and benefits you in the flesh! (Reject God and worship Satan and he'll give you all the wealth of the world) How many times have we heard something like that?
Very eye opening. Hard to articulate how impacting that was.
I also was struck by Jesus' seemingly simple command to His first disciples to 'follow me!' I say seemingly because these men laid down their nets and walked away from their families to give themselves completely to the cause of Christ. He became THE priority in their lives and everything else took second position. Sorry, that's not that simple!
To be a Christian (a Christ follower) we must sacrifice who we were and what we were to become who He wills us to be. We must 'immediately put down our nets and leave our father' and 'FOLLOW HIM!'
First, I saw in the temptations of Christ exactly what we see....
1-IF you are God, prove it! (Turn stones to bread). How many times have we heard something like that?
2-Since the Bible says THIS, then you ought to be able to do that!(Throw yourself off because nothing will happen to you IF the bible is true. So it's a testing, finding fauly/contradiction with the Word. How many times have we heard something like that?
3-You'd be better off throwing this God stuff to the wind and doing what feels good and benefits you in the flesh! (Reject God and worship Satan and he'll give you all the wealth of the world) How many times have we heard something like that?
Very eye opening. Hard to articulate how impacting that was.
I also was struck by Jesus' seemingly simple command to His first disciples to 'follow me!' I say seemingly because these men laid down their nets and walked away from their families to give themselves completely to the cause of Christ. He became THE priority in their lives and everything else took second position. Sorry, that's not that simple!
To be a Christian (a Christ follower) we must sacrifice who we were and what we were to become who He wills us to be. We must 'immediately put down our nets and leave our father' and 'FOLLOW HIM!'
Hard to crucify that nature....for me.
But not impossible, it must become our greatest desire! To serve the God we love.
I'm looking for that easy, light way as well. Maybe i'm looking to hard, and its at hand.
To be a Christian (a Christ follower) we must sacrifice who we were and what we were to become who He wills us to be. We must 'immediately put down our nets and leave our father' and 'FOLLOW HIM!'
Hard to crucify that nature....for me.
I agree with Alpha...saw pretty much the same things. That not one, but four fishermen left their boats, their nets, their job...to follow Jesus. Maybe it was five who left to follow Jesus...(it's not clear to me if Zebedee left to follow also)
I've been playing "catchup", since I missed the first 3 chapters (which I read tonight). About chapter 2, what impressed me is the fact that these people relied so much on dreams for instruction and warning from God. Three times, that I saw, just in the one chapter. How many of us consider dreams to have any value whatsoever, let alone a means of communication from the living God? Perhaps we ought to think on some of the dreams we have...lest God attempt to speak to us, and we by ignoring do not hear...
Chapter 5 just blew me away! In His first major teaching to us, He tells us how to act, how to react, and how to think as a child of God. Some on this forum had me questioning myself. Was I being too radical? Was I taking the Word too literal? This chapter answered that question - I was not being radical enough.
Some tried to convince me that I was being too much of a legalist. But verses 17-19 blow that line of thinking away.
Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of these commandments, and teaches man so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. MATTHEW 5:17-19
Some have said we should not try to be perfect, but focus on love. Jesus answers that in verse 48.
Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. MATTHEW 5:48
Thanks Alpha for starting this thread. I was close to compromise.
After dealing with network and cable provider issues for two days, I have to catch up. Ugh...
Anyway, I'll comment on Chapter 4 now and catch up on 5 by this evening. Sorry.
Chapter 4
Wow...where to start?
The biggest thing that jumped off the page to me, was I saw an interchange between Jesus and Satan that in these eyes, happens a lot on this forum.
Jesus left Satan speechless with the word of God in verse 4. So the devil reorganized and came back twisting scripture around for himself in verse 6
Oh my, that never happens here! LOL
So again, Jesus used the rightly divided word in verse 7 to put the smack down on his "spin".
Lesson:
KNOW your scripture, trust known teachers to help you, beware of people who twist scripture while ignoring it as a whole to fit their own or cult theology.
That's what jumped out at me.
Secondary was verse 17. "Repent For the kindom of heaven is near".
Lets not forget he didn't say "live 100% blameless lives or your doomed for the kingdom of heaven is near". That's contrary to the whole point of him coming.
Nope. He said "repent". Change your mind from the old way of law and works for redemption.
Forget your mindset of "living in a sinful state" and turn towards the savior for forgiveness and salvation of your soul. Restoration.
But not impossible, it must become our greatest desire! To serve the God we love.
I'm looking for that easy, light way as well. Maybe i'm looking to hard, and its at hand.
godspeed,
freedom
You know...I think you are on to something. I can at least share my own experience - take it for what it's worth.
Everytime I tried to do something on my own and "clean up" by being a "good Christian" etc, I failed. Maybe not 100% of the time...but it was exhausting without good results. Notice the words, *I* are used a lot.
After failing over and over I finally hit a point and said "I am who I am, you have to make me what you want me to because it's obviously I can't do it on my own". I rested. Probably trusted for the first time in my walk. I mean really trusted. I still sin...of course I do.
But when I look back from 10-15 years ago, wow. The Lord has brought me so far...so so far. And if anything, the times I "lagged" it was from my own meddling!
So yes, it's somewhat fearful to let go of our own "righteousness" and "works" and trust totally that you are forgiven, that HE will complete the work. The burden has been much lighter, and improvements in my life much greater when I decided to "let go and let God".
I think it's called living by faith and not sight. Calling what isn't as if it was already.
Hbr 11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
A "epiphany" moment happened many many years ago when I made the statement to a wiser older Christian, that "yea well, remember we'll all be judged for our deeds!" and he replied "yes, but remember it will be the most fair and mercifull judgement you'll ever receive". It stopped me in my tracks and caused me to remember God is not a fallen creature like us and remember his mercy and grace along with his requirements and wrath.
One of the things that stood out to me was...Jesus said that people will hurt, insult and lie about the followers. He tells us to rejoice even more when they do, because we will have the great reward in heaven. What a valuable BUT hard lesson. (in my opinion)
As for the perfect issue...i believe what they are saying is that we should mirror how God is to those who are not believers.
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Matthew, Chapter 4:...."The Test"
LOL
