Matthew 1

[JLG]

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- Get away from this old world of Chaos and prepare for the New World!
- don’t do like the Israelites who stayed in the old world and died!
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looking for Jesus

Matthew 5: When he sees the crowds, he goes up on the mountain; and after he sits down, his disciples come to him. Then he opens his mouth and begins teaching them.

- Jesus never forgets what he is on earth !

- To do his father’s will !

- And thus teaching to people !

- There is nothing more important than that !

- It is easy for men to forget that (as if it was possible to forget such an important mission and the most important one) for secondary jobs !

- Once again, a personal choice !

- But not God’s will !

- And Jesus knows that !

 

[JLG]

looking for Jesus

Matthew 5: “Happy are those conscious of their spiritual need, since the Kingdom of the heavens belongs to them.”

- Jesus connects the fact of being conscious of our spiritual need and the Kingdom of the heavens!

- They are both connected!

- So if we are not conscious of our spiritual need, we can forget God’s kingdom!

- It is as simple as that!

- This society doesn’t care about spiritual need and God’s kingdom!

- It fights against our spiritual need and God’s kingdom!

- It is only interested in developing material need and human society!

- They are opposite visions which have nothing to do together!

- We can’t look for both!

- We can only go after one!

- Once again it is a question of choice!

- It is clear as crystal!

 

[JLG]

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Matthew 5: “Happy are those who mourn, since they will be comforted.

- Jesus speaks about two elements or two parts: mourning and being comforted!

- But each one on time and first comes mourning!

- In this world we can only expect mourning!

- We may view it as a training and a preparation and the possibility to grow stronger!

- Of course, it is not easy!

- We must always remember that it is a man’s world and man is a wolf for man!

- We must remember that Job had to go through pain and suffering!

- Daniel had to adapt to a different country and face jealousy and hostility!

- Samuel and Moses and many prophets had to face the “misbehavior” of the Israelites!

- We have to face the “misbehavior” of men!

- Those who survive will see God’s comfort and God won’t tolerate anymore human “misbehavior” or wolf!

 

[JLG]

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Matthew 5: “Happy are the mild-tempered, since they will inherit the earth.

mildness of disposition, gentleness of spirit, meekness

Meekness toward God is that disposition of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as good, and therefore without disputing or resisting. In the OT, the meek are those wholly relying on God rather than their own strength to defend against injustice. Thus, meekness toward evil people means knowing God is permitting the injuries they inflict, that He is using them to purify His elect, and that He will deliver His elect in His time (Isa 41:17, Luk 18:1-8). Gentleness or meekness is the opposite to self-assertiveness and self-interest. It stems from trust in God's goodness and control over the situation. The gentle person is not occupied with self at all. This is a work of the Holy Spirit, not of the human will (Gal 5:23)

- We must follow Jesus as an example!

- He was always able to defend God’s word!

- He always answers back religious leaders!

- He was angry at the merchants selling animals in the temple!

- He was always ready to teach people about God’s word!

- He shows us the way!

- Everything necessary is written!

- We just have to pay attention to his words!

- he was always ready to cure and help people!

 

[JLG]

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Matthew 5: “Happy are those hungering and thirsting for righteousness, since they will be filled.

- Righteousness doesn’t belong to this world!

- So it is not something natural!

- We have to learn and develop and keep it!

- In fact, there aren’t many people who hunger and thirst for righteousness!

- So there is a lot of work!

- In fact, we have to learn so many things to fit in God’s kingdom!

- We must remember the example of the Israelites who could never respect God’s covenant!

- In fact, it is a warning!

 

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Matthew 5:

- “Happy are the merciful, since they will be shown mercy.

- Compassionate!

- Do you see the duality here!

- First, you are and then you will be shown!

- And it is not the reverse!

- It is always a question of balance!

- When there is a problem between two people, they need to walk to each other to solve the problem!

- The Israelites never understood it!

- They never played their part of the covenant!

- Same for humanity!

- It is not possible to wait only!

- Action is required!

 

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Matthew 5:

- “Happy are the pure in heart, since they will see God.

- Jesus is pure in heart!

- His faithfulness to God is complete!

- He stayed faithful till his death!

- Can we show the same faithfulness!

- Or is it according to this world!

- Partial or incomplete!

 

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Matthew 5:

- “Happy are the peacemakers, since they will be called sons of God.

- We are supposed to tell about God’s word and Jesus’ teaching!

- On time Jesus will come again on earth but this time as a warrior to clean this world!

- It is not our Job but Jesus’!

- In the meantime, we have to do our part!

- We must be active in learning and teaching and not passive!

- Otherwise Jesus will not know us when he comes!

- What do we do for that?

- Anything?

 

[JLG]

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Matthew 5:

“Happy are those who have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake, since the Kingdom of the heavens belongs to them. “Happy are you when people reproach you and persecute you and lying say every sort of wicked thing against you for my sake. Rejoice and be overjoyed, since your reward is great in the heavens, for in that way they persecuted the prophets prior to you.

- Being persecuted and reproached and being spoken badly!

- And at the same time rejoice and be overjoyed!

- It is quite different from being accepted by the world!

- Thus if Christians are accepted by the world, something is wrong!

- Remember when Christianity became the religion of the Roman empire, it was completely corrupted!

- Do you think it has changed through history!

- Think about all the war between religions!

- Do you think that Jesus will accept such a corruption when he comes back?

- Do you remember what he did when he saw the merchants in his Father’s temple!

- When he comes back, he won’t use a whip!

 

[JLG]

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Matthew 5:

- “You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its strength, how will its saltiness be restored? It is no longer usable for anything except to be thrown outside to be trampled on by men.

- Jesus has the responsibility to make God’s will!

- We have the same responsibility!

- We are God’s workers!

- If we are good to nothing, what is our worth?

- Why should God and Jesus remember us?

- Think about a world without salt!

- Whenever you try to dig, you find corruption!

- Everywhere you get man’s tradition vs God’s word!

- Find the mistake!

- The mistake is everywhere!

- No more salt or salt without taste!

- What do you want?

 

[JLG]

Looking for Jesus

Matthew 5:

- “You are the light of the world. A city cannot be hid when located on a mountain. People light a lamp and set it, not under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it shines on all those in the house. Likewise, let your light shine before men, so that they may see your fine works and give glory to your Father who is in the heavens.

- Light!

- Lamp!

- It shines!

- Fine works and give glory to your Father!

- Yes, the best way to give glory to God is by doing fine works like Jesus!

- It doesn’t mean sleeping peacefully!

- We must be active and represent God and Jesus!

- We must speak about God’s word!

- People must know!

- Yes, being a disciple and a hard worker!

- We can’t stay in the dark!

 

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Matthew 5:

- “Do not think I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I came, not to destroy, but to fulfill. Truly I say to you that sooner would heaven and earth pass away than for one smallest letter or one stroke of a letter to pass away from the Law until all things take place. Whoever, therefore, breaks one of these least commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in relation to the Kingdom of the heavens. But whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in relation to the Kingdom of the heavens. For I say to you that if your righteousness does not surpass that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will by no means enter into the Kingdom of the heavens.

- The Law written by Moses showed that the Israelites and the Jews were nor able to follow it!

- It’s like when we remember Jesus speaking about the religious leaders saying something and doing something else!

- Yes, do and teach!

- Yes, the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees was poor!

- And we have to do a lot more then that!

- It must come from the heart!

- Yes, we must breathe God’s word every day!

- It must penetrate every cell of our bodies!

- It must go though all the interconnections of our brain cells!

- Then we will be able to open many doors which we can find in the Bible!

- Yes, our heart must grow and grow!

- Yes, we must learn and tell every day!

- But it doesn’t mean being extremist!

- Simply normal people who have to act and play their part!

 

[JLG]

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Matthew 5:

- “You heard that it was said to those of ancient times: ‘You must not murder, but whoever commits a murder will be accountable to the court of justice.’ However, I say to you that everyone who continues wrathful with his brother will be accountable to the court of justice; and whoever addresses his brother with an unspeakable word of contempt will be accountable to the Supreme Court; whereas whoever says, ‘You despicable fool!’ will be liable to the fiery Gehenna.

- That’s man’s trouble!

- That’s man’s history!

- Man never understands!

- He repeats the same mistakes!

- He repeats the same foolishness!

- That’s why we are where we are!

- It is pure logic!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Jesus

Matthew 5:

- “If, then, you are bringing your gift to the altar and there you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar, and go away. First make your peace with your brother, and then come back and offer your gift.

- The world in which we live is complicated!

- Men are complicated!

- And not only that, everything is getting more complicated!

- As Christians, we should make it easier!

- By avoiding such complications!

- By doing small things to make it easier!

- It is not always easy!

- By having a simple life with simple needs!

- By enjoying our families and our friends and our pets!

- By giving and spending time with them!

- It’s not when it’s too late!

- It’s now!

- We can try to have a healthy life!

- We must protect our mental and physical health!

- We must use our brains and bodies in the best way possible!

- We must regularly think about that!

- And not when we get into trouble!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Jesus

Matthew 5:

“Be quick to settle matters with your legal opponent, while you are with him on the way there, so that somehow the opponent may not turn you over to the judge, and the judge to the court attendant, and you get thrown into prison. I say to you for a fact, you will certainly not come out of there until you have paid over your last small coin.

- We must always be careful!

- If we are in the wrong, we could get into more trouble!

- But we live in a complicated world where it is easy to get into trouble!

- And we need to learn how to defend ourselves!

- But it requires preparation!

- And the more we learn how to defend ourselves the more we prepare ourselves to what may happen!

- If we don’t learn with what we live we will never learn!

- And we must better be quick!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Jesus

Matthew 5:

- “You heard that it was said: ‘You must not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who keeps on looking at a woman so as to have a passion for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

- Man has never enough!

- He always wants more!

- It is in his brain!

- It makes its way inside the brain!

- When you think right, you do right things!

- When you think bad, you do bad things!

- Think about the devil!

- He was jealous of God and he wanted all men to worship him and follow him and go away from God!

- Think about the demons!

- They started to look at women!

- And they ended leaving everything to go down the earth and get married with women!

- And they lost their special relationship with God!

- It was their choice!

- What about us?

 

[JLG]

Looking for Jesus

Matthew 5:

- If, now, your right eye is making you stumble, tear it out and throw it away from you. For it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be pitched into Gehenna. Also, if your right hand is making you stumble, cut it off and throw it away from you. For it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to land in Gehenna.

- To avoid a blood poisoning it is sometimes necessary to cut a limb!

- It is easy to be contaminated or influenced!

- It is a question of choice!

- When we keep thinking about something bad, then nothing can stop us to do it!

- We need to stop thinking about something bad!

- When we are alone, we are nor influenced by others!

- When we are with a group, we can end doing something we would have never done!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Jesus

Matthew 5:

- “Moreover, it was said: ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ However, I say to you that everyone divorcing his wife, except on account of sexual immorality, makes her a subject for adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

- Marriage is sacred according to God!

- But the Israelites made it a piece of paper you could throw away!

- And mankind has kept perpetuating man’s tradition!

- Total corruption!

- Completely away from God’s word!

- After Jesus comes back, he will have a lot to do to put everything in order even if many wrongdoers won’t be there!

- And he won’t tolerate wrongdoers!

- That will change at least!



- Waiting for seeing that!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Jesus

Matthew 5:

- “Again you heard that it was said to those of ancient times: ‘You must not swear without performing, but you must pay your vows to God.’ However, I say to you: Do not swear at all, neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by earth, for it is the footstool of his feet; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Do not swear by your head, since you cannot turn one hair white or black. Just let your word ‘Yes’ mean yes, your ‘No,’ no, for what goes beyond these is from the wicked one.

- When you read these words, it seems they have nothing special!

- But in fact, it is really violent!

- Because it is exactly what they usually do!

- They invent stories!

- They swear!

- But when it is about respecting your word, that’s another story!

- You see politicians, religious leaders and businessmen making speeches and promises but reality is different!

- And many people do the same!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Jesus

Matthew 5:

- “You heard that it was said: ‘Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.’ However, I say to you: Do not resist the one who is wicked, but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other also to him. And if a person wants to take you to court and get possession of your inner garment, let him also have your outer garment; and if someone in authority compels you into service for a mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one asking you, and do not turn away from one who wants to borrow from you.

- We live in a society which is more and more violent!

- When you watch TV, when you listen to the radio, when you read newspapers or your cell phones, when you play video games, violence is everywhere!

- And Jesus tells us to refuse such a general state of mind!

- Of course, it is difficult not to follow the trend!

- But this state of mind is destructive!

- And every time it is worse!

- There is no limit!