DAY 45 - The Opposite of The Beatitudes Are The Eight Woes

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Today's Reading: Matthew 23

Please read Matthew 23 and listen to what the Lord Jesus Christ would like to tell you before reading my Spiritual Journal below. If you would like to learn a simple and good way of Daily Devotion method you may click this link directly for the method: Subject Shifting Devotion.pdf.

Please click this link to worship with us - Blessed Be Your Name

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Qp11X6LKYY&feature=related

Please click this link to read Matthew 23:

• Chinese: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew 23&version=CUV


• NIV: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew 23&version=NIV


• ESV: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew 23&version=ESV


• Message: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew 23&version=MSG

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to." Matthew 23: 13

If you compare this chapter with Matthew 5, then you will find out the opposite of the Beatitudes; here are the eight woes. Eight blessings versus eight woes:

1. Poor in spirit (Mt. 5:3) versus Rejection (Mt. 23: 13)

2. Mourning for own sins (Mt. 5:4) versus Self-righteousness (Mt. 23: 14)

3. The meek who inherit the earth (Mt.5:5)versus the hypocrites who become sons of hell(Mt.23:15)

4. Hunger and thirst for the standard of God (Mt.5:6) versus hunger and thirst for gold(Mt.23:16-22)

5. Merciful (Mt.5:7) versus merciless (Mt.23:23-24)

6. Pure in heart (Mt.5:8) versus dirty in heart (Mt.23:25-26)

7. Peacemakers (Mt.5:9) versus wicked hypocrites (Mt.23:27-28)

8. Being persecuted (Mt.5:10-11) versus murderers (Mt.23: 29-32)

That's actually the lifestyle of Christlikeness versus the lifestyle of 'worldliness and Satanic'.

Which side are you in? Which side do you want to choose? Choose wisely!

Dear Lord Jesus,

Help us to choose wisely that we can live out a lifestyle of Christlikeness. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Please click this link to worship with us - My Life Is in You Lord

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0M0NALW7EM&feature=related

I am going to put up the link to an important and paradigm changing talk of Bishop Chuck Murphy, our Chairman bishop, in our first Regional Conference at Richmond Emmanuel Church last October for you to watch hoping and praying that you will become a generous servant of God and that you will be transformed from a "Two-Kingdom Bondage to One-Kingdom Freedom"(Chapter 2 in Part 1 of Gary's book The Sower). You can not serve God and money. Jesus is Lord!

Bishop Chuck Murphy teaching on Theology of Stewardship (This link will stay until Easter Sunday)

1. Why Bishop Chuck Murphy avoided Tithing

2. When I Write the Check, it Stings

3. Tithing

4. In the Garden of Eden

5. A new willing heart is needed

6. Stewardship insights on Abraham

7. Joseph's Dreamcoat Stewardship

8. Jesus' Kingdom insights on stewardship

9. Stewardship insights on Joseph & Moses

10. Stewardship through Jesus' Parables

11. Prayer on getting out of the boat financially

Welcome! The purpose of this blog is to encourage those who join our Disciplers 123 to have a place to start their daily devotion - a wonderful and intimate time with Jesus. There are three reasons for you to use this blog as your daily devotion:

1. A healthy spiritual diet - One chapter of the Bible daily. We really need at least one chapter of Bible daily so that we are well fed.


2. A good example of Spiritual Journaling - What I have committed for 1,189 days(the Bible has 1,189 chapters) to write this daily post is not for teaching purposes but this is my daily spiritual journal - I write down what I hear from Jesus and how I experience His intimate relationship with me each day. I have launched a wide-spectrum research on daily devotion and have found out that there are less than 10% of Christians that are having daily devotion. Out of that 10%, many having daily devotion are doing so because of guilt (they know that they are Christians and need to have daily devotion and feel guilty if they don’t do that), duty (they need to fulfill their duty as a Christian) or study(lots of Christians primarily use their daily devotion as a time to study the Bible). I do pray and hope that you will make up your mind to have a relational daily devotion so that you can have an intimate time with Jesus. I pray that you will write your own spiritual journal as well.


3. An online discipler – One of the reasons that so many Christians do not have daily devotion is because they do not have a discipler. A discipler can help them build up this basic element of discipleship when they first become Christians. The best way for you is to have a discipler to walk with you for a certain period of time so that daily devotion become a good habit. Or, you may have a small group of two to three people to encourage and be accountable to each other so that you won’t stop your daily devotion. I offer myself as your online discipler to walk with you daily to enrich your spiritual journey. So, shall we start this journey with Jesus Christ our Lord now!