Today's teaching is a continuation of what Pastor Ben covered last week....
Jesus begins chapter 23 with addressing "Hypocrisy." He calls out the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribes, the "business people." Jesus was teaching the people to be aware of the hypocritical teachings of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
*Be careful on "spiritual pride. This is what happens when we believe that we have God, The bible, prayer, and everything else figured out. So we think that we are something, which makes us feel that we are better than others. It often leads us to criticism, self focus, and...
*Hypocrite- someone who is God-less, one who wears a mask.
*Christian Atheist- people who claim to believe in God, but live like there is no God.
*Woe- and intense hardship; great sorrow or distress... (sorrow awaits)
In today's teaching, Pastor Ben uncovers eight "woes"...(the ones that Jesus said to the scribes and Pharisees to step on THEIR toes.):
1. "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom oh heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in."
2. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation."
3. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves."
4. (This is the woe of taking oaths) "Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obligated to perform it.'"
5. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone."
6. "Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence."
7. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness."
8. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.'"
Do you know what it means to "follow" Jesus? Due to social media, in today's society, the word "follow" means to simply press a button and "become a fan" of someone. But to "Follow Jesus" means something totally different. "Following Jesus" means to read and study the Word of God, and apply what we learn from the Word of God to our every day lives; to love people in the same manner that Jesus loves people.
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