Our paragraph topic is: (Woe to the Scribes and Pharisees) Part 9.
How do you reach a lost soul? How can you show them the error of their ways? How is it possible to shock them back to a sense of justice that they might be able to see the mistakes that they made? We all are human. We all make mistakes. We all are subject to the influences of evil. In the time when Christ came, evil was rampant. Evil was with men. Evil was within the hearts of men and they had forgotten the God of their forefathers.
And this is why Christ called out the leaders, the Scribes and the Pharisees. They were the ones who set the rules. They were the ones who enforced the laws. They were the ones who taught the people how to follow the laws of their forefathers, because they had the books written by the prophets. They could enforce the laws the way that they saw fit and understood. Christ called the hypocrites. He told them: "Because you traverse sea and land to make one convert; and when he has become one, you make him twofold more a son of hell than yourselves."
He called them hypocrites. They were masquerading as religious men but underneath the masks they were creating evil in the hearts of men. They were creating sons of hell, doing the work of the devil, not the work of God.
How appropriate is this message for us today. We go out and evangelize to bring others into the church so that they may be saved. The church is something new for them in that there are guidelines that we live by to help us follow the life that God wants us to live. These may be difficult for a new comer to follow or even comprehend if they see others who do not follow the same guidelines.
God our father gave us basic commands to follow to keep us away from harm, out of the way of evil. He loves us and does not want us to be harmed, just as we love our own children. We would tell our own children not to put their hands in the fire because it will burn them. God wants to do the same for us. We can not base our experience upon that which we see others do. It is up to each one of us though, to seek a personal relationship with our Father so that we know in our hearts what his will is for us. His love for us is the key.
Christ is our Lord and Savior. It is through his passion that we were reborn into a new life. He came down from his thrown in heaven to be with us, to walk with us and talk with us to leave a legacy that we might know that he is with us. It is through him and with him that we have a spokesperson to the Father. He knows our faults and failures. He knows our pains and our sorrows. He knows our hopes and our fears. He is with us and in us, if we open ourselves to him through the Holy Spirit. His love is endless. His love is boundless. His love is fulfilling. He is the be all and the end all of all our needs. To be with him is to be at rest for all eternity.
Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage nd then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ . The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.
How do you reach a lost soul? How can you show them the error of their ways? How is it possible to shock them back to a sense of justice that they might be able to see the mistakes that they made? We all are human. We all make mistakes. We all are subject to the influences of evil. In the time when Christ came, evil was rampant. Evil was with men. Evil was within the hearts of men and they had forgotten the God of their forefathers.
And this is why Christ called out the leaders, the Scribes and the Pharisees. They were the ones who set the rules. They were the ones who enforced the laws. They were the ones who taught the people how to follow the laws of their forefathers, because they had the books written by the prophets. They could enforce the laws the way that they saw fit and understood. Christ called the hypocrites. He told them: "Because you traverse sea and land to make one convert; and when he has become one, you make him twofold more a son of hell than yourselves."
He called them hypocrites. They were masquerading as religious men but underneath the masks they were creating evil in the hearts of men. They were creating sons of hell, doing the work of the devil, not the work of God.
How appropriate is this message for us today. We go out and evangelize to bring others into the church so that they may be saved. The church is something new for them in that there are guidelines that we live by to help us follow the life that God wants us to live. These may be difficult for a new comer to follow or even comprehend if they see others who do not follow the same guidelines.
God our father gave us basic commands to follow to keep us away from harm, out of the way of evil. He loves us and does not want us to be harmed, just as we love our own children. We would tell our own children not to put their hands in the fire because it will burn them. God wants to do the same for us. We can not base our experience upon that which we see others do. It is up to each one of us though, to seek a personal relationship with our Father so that we know in our hearts what his will is for us. His love for us is the key.
Christ is our Lord and Savior. It is through his passion that we were reborn into a new life. He came down from his thrown in heaven to be with us, to walk with us and talk with us to leave a legacy that we might know that he is with us. It is through him and with him that we have a spokesperson to the Father. He knows our faults and failures. He knows our pains and our sorrows. He knows our hopes and our fears. He is with us and in us, if we open ourselves to him through the Holy Spirit. His love is endless. His love is boundless. His love is fulfilling. He is the be all and the end all of all our needs. To be with him is to be at rest for all eternity.
Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage nd then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ . The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.
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