Silence
1. Put on your “brakes” and stop for a moment of silence
2. Wait for God. Breathe deep for God's peace. Exhale your worries.
Praise and Thanksgiving
1. Think through your day, all the times that made you smile
2. Thank God for all those moments, and for all those people3. Open your heart to praise the Lord
The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.
6 The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. Psalm 16:5-6
Confession and repentance
1. Pray for the Holy Spirit to work in you:
“Dear Holy Spirit, shine your light into the places of darkness in my life. Show me my sins, everything that blocks me from encountering God. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”
“Dear Holy Spirit, shine your light into the places of darkness in my life. Show me my sins, everything that blocks me from encountering God. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”
2. Through the Holy Spirit, examine yourself for a short silence and then pray:
"Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for our sins and being victorious over death and sin. I confess my sin to you(pause, to tell Jesus what the Holy Spirit has shown you). Forgive my sins by your blood and help me follow you. Holy Spirit, fill me that I may be able to receive your gift to love God and His people. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen."
"Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for our sins and being victorious over death and sin. I confess my sin to you(pause, to tell Jesus what the Holy Spirit has shown you). Forgive my sins by your blood and help me follow you. Holy Spirit, fill me that I may be able to receive your gift to love God and His people. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen."
The Word
Matthew 5:17-20
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."
Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage of scripture we have just read. Offer this time up to Jesus as you listen to him, while listening to "Gabriel's Oboe"
My Listening
Jesus started a movement which brings people back to the Kingdom of God. In doing so he was doing two things together. He had to show the Jews that this new movement was the fulfilment of what the Israelites had believed and longed for. And, he had to show to those who followed Him that they needed to live in the new way He was about to teach them and not lived in the old rotten way.
It is not what the Pharisees and the teachers of the law taught was wrong. It is just what they were teaching they could not live it out. It is not what the tradition they brought to the Jews is wrong. It is just the tradition has become a "dead" tradition and not a life giving tradition.
It is so easy for a Christian to live in a traditional church keeping everything the same and never change. It is also very easy for a Christian to totally destroy the tradition to build up new things. How can we get the balance to keep those tradition that God commands and change those things in the tradition that God wants us to change is what Jesus wants to teach us today.
I know quite a number of Christians only read New Testament or familiar with New Testament but never read Old Testament. Why? Same reason. A misunderstanding of we as Christians have no need to learn the old things but the new things started with Jesus. This is what Jesus wants to correct in today's passage.
Dear Lord Jesus,
Lead us to be able to fulfil not to destroy and to know what do we have to break and how to build. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Reflect on these questions:
1. What is the danger for some heretical religious organizations to add or take away words from the Bible? What is the problem according to Jesus?
2. What were the problems of those Pharisees? Is it what they taught was wrong? Is it their tradition was wrong? What's really wrong? How can a church or a Christian catch the same "virus"? Have you seen such examples of those who can talk but cannot live out what they talk about? How much destruction would that bring to others?
3. Have you read the whole Bible, New Testament and Old Testament once? What's wrong with reading just part of the Bible? What is your new plan to read the whole Bible now?
4. Have you got the balance to keep those tradition that God commands and change those things in the tradition that God wants us to change?
3. Have you read the whole Bible, New Testament and Old Testament once? What's wrong with reading just part of the Bible? What is your new plan to read the whole Bible now?
4. Have you got the balance to keep those tradition that God commands and change those things in the tradition that God wants us to change?