Elwood C O'Dell

Let

I do not feel that Jesus agreed with divorce for just any reason. It seems that he seemed to follow more the idea line of Rabbi Shammai when He said

We are to take lus+ very seriously for indulgence can and will send one to hell. The answer to this is to genuinely love another person as a brother or sister in Christ. To love them as Christ loves them mean that you would not in anyway, shape, form or matter to anything to them that would degrade or defile them.

I feel that Dr. Wilson has shared very pointedly some sound and practical advice as far as the answer to these questions. 1. Call an attraction to pornogr*phy what it is -- adultery of the heart -- a spiritual addiction. 2. Understand something of the nature of the addiction. For example, what is the "love hunger" that pornogr*phy feeds and what are the "triggers" that result in viewing of pornogr*phy? 3. Come to a firm conviction that lus+ is wrong. Deal with each of the rationalizations you have made for your sin. Write them down to look at when you are tempted. 4. Stop feeding your lus+. Get rid of anything in your home that triggers this lus+.

Pornogr*phy lowers or degrades the value that God sets on the relationship between the sexes. It lowers the beauty of a true Godly sexual experience to that of a simple animalistic lustful behavior. Pornogr*phy degrades all those involved in the action, especially the prostitute who offers up their body and the John who takes that which is not rightfully his. All those involved in this action are in some way a victim

A good and Godly sexual desire will find it

Boiled down to it

The overarching theme of Jesus in this passage is loving your neighbor as yourself.

The point of the parable is to reconcile quickly with those one has wronged and not to put it off to a future time. To settle such an account is to work out an agreement or settlement with the offended party. The reason for working it out in this manner is that if it comes to where the situation is settled by

When there is something between us and another brother that thing needs to be cleared up before we can truly approach God in an attitude of worship. If it is left undone it will drain us spiritually and usually will widen the gap between the two parties involved. The appropriate action is for us to first seek God in prayer and then go and try to make it right as soon as we learn or are aware of the offense. We must make and effort to seek forgiveness and bring peace to the situation. We must do all within our power to right the situation so that we can stand before the Lord with a pure heart, a clear mind, and a clear conscience . Even if we cannot resolve the situation we still should make the effort to be Christ-like by making the offer to try and bring peace.

When you insult or demean another person you are inflicting injury or hurt upon them. You are intentionally trying to cause discomfort for them in some way, shape form or matter, you certainly are not loving them as God loves them. It seems to me that this is diametrically opposed to doing unto others as you would have them do unto you. When one treats other person in this manner they are taking from the other person a sense of worth that the Master has given to them. In reality you are in a way destroying a part of God

Christian legalism in the church is found when

He is warning about our spiritual lives becoming dull or fading completely out by being hid from the view of others. He is warning of our witness for Him being ineffective. He is speaking of one being useless to the Kingdom of God because others cannot be guided to Him due to the dullness of their spiritual life.

If we are going to be effective witnesses for the Master, we must realize ahead of time that those of the world will bring persecution to come upon our lives, but we cannot afford to let our light be hidden or burn out. God will bless those who are faithful and consistent in letting their light shine before men. If we hide our light others will not be able to see the glory of God through us. We will be ineffective as witnesses. The receiving of glory is not without a cost being involved. As we endure suffering for his sake, and in the end we are saved, we will receive our final reward of glory. Yes, Jesus Suffering was necessary, for it showed the measure of His commitment to doing the will of the Father. It also gave credibility to how much He really loved mankind. As far as we are concerned we must accept the fact that if they hated and persecuted Him, those who are opposed to Him and His message will persecute His followers also. We are changed by the renewing of our mind, so when the mind of Christ occupies our mind then we can see things as He see them, including suffering for His sake.

We are here to be a shield to help hold back the wrath of God towards the world and to bring about change and healing in today

Q2. (Matthew 5:13) What might be the symptoms of a Christian who has lost his "saltiness"? A lost of appetite for the things of God such as a lessening of ones desire to read the Word, or be in the house of God, or a in one

When we suffer for doing that which we know is right, we have the privilege and joy of knowing we are in the center of God

Only Christ, through His cleansing blood which He shed on Calvary, can make our heart pure. He died for this very reason. Sin in our heart hinders our relationship with God. In fact the one who sins will die. But when we seek Him with all our heart, truly believe on Him and truly desire that He live and reign within, we can through Him have that purity of heart which Christ speaks about. One must come to the place Paul spoke about when he said,

For one to seek true righteousness of heart will put them at odds with the situational ethics we see in our world today. True righteousness of heart holds to the ethical and moral standard set by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. True righteousness holds to the fact there are certain absolutes as set forth in the Word of God such as the 10 commandments. True righteousness is a

The world knows little or nothing of this type of gentleness. The attitude of the world is one which is all out for one

Our awareness of spiritual poverty can become a part of the driving force that causes us to seek Him with all our heart. The mourning which is necessary for a person to become a Christian is that which causes them to have a humbleness of heart and be willing to express Godly sorrow for their sins. As a Christian one mourns over the devastation and injustice that sin causes in the lives of mankind and then gets involved in ways to help those in these situations.

As I look at the Beatitudes, I sense that they deal with certain personal spiritual character traits and the blessing that shall be the result of that trait. I feel Christ used the paradox as a method of teaching for they have a way of grabbing and holding ones attention. They have a way of stopping us in our tracts and making us say

It would appear that the verses mentioned all have to do with the gospel being shared with all of mankind. As far as the relationship of Matthew

The Magi bring gifts because of who He is, the King of all kings. The attitude of their heart is seen in their desire to give to him the best of that which they possessed. The most important gift that we have to bring to Christ is that of our self. The giving of ourselves to him would include all that we possess as far as time, talent and treasure.

Being in the presence of the one and only true King of kings and Lord of lords is such an overwhelming experience that the humbling of oneself is truly the appropriate response. I feel that the Magi realized this when they made their visit to the home of Joseph and Mary. In our world today we can emulate this kind of worship by living as Micah wrote in 6:2,