SLIDE 2 In 1850, Ignaz Semmelweis saved lives with three words:
Wash Your Hands. I’ve been called a germ phobic. Probably from teaching
school 32 years, it has been a habit to sanitize or wash my hands frequently.
When we cared for my Dad at home after Chemotherapy, sanitizer and signs were placed
everywhere. I appreciate the sanitizer that is conveniently placed in each patient’s
room, at every hospital entrance and elevator. We carry small bottles of
sanitizer wherever we go.
SLIDE 3 Hand washing started out with a commandment from the LORD to
Moses in Exodus 40 instructions for the priests to purify themselves before a
Holy God. “Make a basin of bronze for washing.
Put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it. 20 When they go into the tent of
meeting, or come near the altar to minister, to burn a food offering to the
LORD. Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet so that they
may not die. It shall be a statute
forever to them, throughout their generations."
SLIDE 4 When the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD, the table in a Jewish home came to represent
the Temple altar. The bread placed
on it symbolizes the offerings that were once brought to the Priests. Those
who believed that the Temple and the Priesthood would be restored did not want
the practice of washing hands to be forgotten, and so washing the hands before
a meal was strictly enforced. Today, Orthodox and traditional Jews
still wash their hands before eating bread while saying this blessing.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/
Blessed
are you, L‑rd our G‑d, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with His
commandments, and commanded us concerning the washing of the hands.
SLIDE 5 OPEN YOUR BIBLES Matthew
15: Traditions and God’s Truth
·
Man-made
Tradition
·
Heart
Matters
·
Jesus
Response to Gentiles
Do
you know God’s Truth?
1Then Pharisees and scribes came to
Jesus from Jerusalem and said,2 "Why do your disciples
break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they
eat."
They came to
find fault with Jesus. Jesus did not
debate them on the hand washing
issue. It gave Him a chance to point out
their negligence of the law. Our Lord condemns the Pharisees for their manmade traditions that had contradicted
the fifth commandment.
SLIDE 6 I‘m reading these verses from Mark 7: 8You leave the commandment of God and
hold to the tradition of men." 9And he said to them, "You
have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your
tradition!10 For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother';
and, 'Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.'11 But you
say, 'If a man tells his father or his mother, "Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban"' (that is,
given to God)---12 then you no longer permit him to do anything
for his father or mother,13 thus making void the word of God by your
tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do."
SLIDE 7 Matthew 15:7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:
8"'This people honors me with
their lips, but their heart is far from me;
9in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'"
9in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'"
SLIDE 8 10And he called the people to him and said to them,
"Hear and understand:11 it is not what goes into the mouth that
defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person."
12 Then the disciples came and said to him, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this
saying?"
SLIDE 9 We can see the disciples still have some fear or respect of
the Pharisees. Jesus does not worry about the Pharisees and their man-made
traditions. He makes two statements explaining his thoughts. “Jesus replied, "Every
plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up.” That
which is rooted and grounded in God will last forever. Notice the shallow roots
of this tree. It was easily blown over in a storm. LSUAgcenter.com
SLIDE
10 Jesus added “14
Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind,
both will fall into a pit." This is a common phrase use by even
non believers and it is true. We see this in our society and political arena
today.
God’s
Truth is still relevant in our lives?
Jesus
responded to Peter 17 Do you
not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is
expelled? **If you have had food poisoning you can attest to this. What we
eat does not determine our attitude or our faithfulness to God.
SLIDE 11 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart,
and this defiles a person.19
For out of the heart come evil
thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness,
slander.20 These are what defile a person. But
to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone."
What proceeds out of your mouth? Here are some scriptures concerning
the heart from Warren Wiersbe
WW Create in me a clean heart, O
God Psalm 51:10
·
Believe
in the Heart-Romans 10:9-10
·
Love
from the Heart-Matthew 22:37
·
Sing
from the Heart-Colossians 3:16
·
Obey
from the Heart-Rom.6:17; Eph. 6:6
·
Give
from the Heart-2 Corinthians 9:7
Jesus left
the area of Jerusalem perhaps still searching for a respite from the crowds.
SLIDE 12 The Faith of a
Canaanite Woman- 24And from there he arose and went away to the
region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden.
SLIDE 13 Jesus sometimes
teaches more by what he does than what he says. It made me question why Jesus ignored the Canaanite women
since that what not his nature. Jesus has shown compassion to multitudes of
people who followed Him and now He openly ignores a woman who has fought her
way through the crowds. Was this a test
for the disciples or for her? By her
announcement in verse 22"Have mercy
on me, O Lord, Son of David; my
daughter is severely oppressed by a demon." She demonstrates that she knew who He was and that
he was capable of healing. 23 But he did not answer her a word.
And his disciples came and begged him, saying,
"Send her away, for she is crying
out after us."24 He answered, "I was sent only to the
lost sheep of the house of Israel."
Her faith
and persistence as well as her humble posture is an example to us.
SLIDE 14 25 But she
came and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, help me."
26 And he answered, "It is not right to take the children's bread and
throw it to the dogs." Her knowledge of scripture and custom served her well as she
responded,27 "Yes,
Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters'
table."
*This would be the sweet little pet dog that
sits at the master’s table¸ not the scavenger dogs from 1 Kings 21:24
28 Then Jesus rewarded her by healing
her daughter instantly and honoring her with a phrase we heard only once to the
Roman centurion, "O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you
desire." How
faithful are you to God’s Truth?
SLIDE 15 What a striking contrast from the crowds in Israel. Jesus
was the Messiah, and was being challenged to prove it with a sign. But here in
Gentile territory he met a woman who was convinced
He was the Messiah and would not be discouraged.
What we can learn from the Canaanite
woman:CLICK FOR EACH BULLET
·
Never give up
·
Call upon His name
·
Believe Jesus is the Messiah
·
Don’t let others push you back
·
Put your faith in Jesus
·
Kneel at His feet
Friend, when is the last time you
cried out to God to have mercy upon you?
SLIDE 16 Prayer is not always about asking God for something; prayer is first surrendering yourself completely to God. This is what the Canaanite woman did when she cried Jesus. How are you sharing God’s Truth? This painting is from Greg Olsen who created a beautiful calendar for last year. See how he yearns for solitude.
SLIDE 16 Prayer is not always about asking God for something; prayer is first surrendering yourself completely to God. This is what the Canaanite woman did when she cried Jesus. How are you sharing God’s Truth? This painting is from Greg Olsen who created a beautiful calendar for last year. See how he yearns for solitude.
29Jesus went on from there and walked beside the Sea of Galilee. And he
went up on the mountain and sat down there. But again the
crowds found Him.
SLIDE 17 This map shows location of the first feeding of the
multitudes and the blue arrow show where it is thought the 4000 were fed.
30 And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they
put them at his feet, and he healed them,31 so that the crowd
wondered, when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame
walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel.
SLIDE 18 After teaching the feeding of the 5,000 last week, it was
important for me to take a different angle. Your commentary did a wonderful job
of comparing the two crowds. Please be sure you read the commentary each week.
They are such a blessing.
This chart
is from Warren Wiersbe book BE LOYAL –quickly his are the differences.
Feeding
5,000
|
Feeding
4,000
|
Primarily
Jews
|
Primarily
Gentiles
|
Galilee,
near Bethsaida
|
The
Decapolis
|
5 loaves, 2
fish
|
7 loaves,
“a few fish”
|
12 baskets
left over
|
7 baskets
left over
|
Crowd with
Him 1 day
|
Crowd with
Him 3 days
|
Spring of
year (green grass)
|
Summer
season (ground)
|
Tried to
make Him king
|
Glorified
the God of Israel
|
SLIDE 19 Let’s talk about
leftovers
Some family
or friends would not think of eating food left from the day before. Not me,
lasagna is even better the next day, and that coconut cake just gets better and
better. Our application section asked us to pack a “basketful of leftovers” as
a symbolic reminder of His provision. While I was pondering a symbolic
reminder, I remembered a giving lesson I
taught my children. I don’t give
money to people on the street but I may buy them a fast food meal. There are
many ideas on Pinterest and other organizations. We added to a gallon bag
beanie weenies, bottled water, peanut butter crackers, fruit, cheese sticks
plus napkin plastic spoon and fork. Any nonperishable snack or sack lunch food
would be appreciated. Personal hygiene item were packed separately.
This week
think of a creative way a symbolic
reminder of that provision?
Ask God to give you a tangible way to remember His compassion for you. How does remembering His past faithfulness help you trust Him for tomorrow’s needs and cares?
Ask God to give you a tangible way to remember His compassion for you. How does remembering His past faithfulness help you trust Him for tomorrow’s needs and cares?
SLIDE 20 My very first CBS core leader, Rita Farmer, lost her only
son unexpectedly Tuesday. She asked to be covered in prayer but did not want
visits or phone calls at this time. She needed time to be with her Jesus. I
could not find out the arrangements. Did anyone hear?
January is
appropriate to talk about how we can be purposeful in living for Jesus. A devotional teacher I heard set this quote to
pop-up on her phone every day. It is the last line of a poem by Charles Studd. This poem inspired the song "Only
One Life" written by Lanny Wolfe[6] in 1973.[7]
Only one life 'twill soon be past.
It is true nobody will care what car we drove or how big our house was.
Only what’s done in the name of Jesus will last. Do
you know God’s Truth?
What have you done for His Name’s
sake today? this week? this year?
For that dash
represents all the time
SLIDE 21 Another poem came to mind that has been read at many funerals “The Dash” by Linda Ellis. It refers to the dash between the birthdate and the date of death on a grave stone. Linda speaks of making a difference in the Dash.
SLIDE 21 Another poem came to mind that has been read at many funerals “The Dash” by Linda Ellis. It refers to the dash between the birthdate and the date of death on a grave stone. Linda speaks of making a difference in the Dash.
She has a
Copyright 1996, but I will send a link to her website.
http://www.linda-ellis.com/the-dash-the-dash-poem-by-linda-ellis-.html
SLIDE
22 Are you will to daily live in
God’s Truth/
No comments:
Post a Comment