Saturday, December 1, 2012

DAY 236 - They Do Not Practice What They Preach! (請按此處收聼廣東話Cantonese podcast click here)


Today's Reading: Matthew 23: 1-12

**For a simple and good way of Daily Devotion method please click this link: Subject Shifting Devotion.pdf.
Please click this link to read Matthew 23: 1-12

Bible Study

     This chapter leads us to the last part of Jesus five blocks of teaching.
     N.T. Wright says:
     With this chapter we are launched into the last of the five great blocks of teaching which Matthew has constructed as the backbone of his gospel.  The Sermon on the Mount came first in chapters 5-7.  Then the commissioning of the disciples in chapter 10.  then the parables of the kingdom in chapter 13.  Then the material on living as a community in obedience to Jesus' teaching, in chapter 18.  and now another long, final block of teaching, balancing the Sermon on the Mount;  chapters 23-25, looking ahead to the future and warning of what is to come.

     To start this last block of teaching Jesus points to those teachers of the law and the Pharisees who could talk the talk but not walk the walk. They wanted to be honored by all people but didn't care if they could honor God. In short, Jesus says, "They do not practice what they preach."

     It's funny that I have seen too much of this kind of Christians!
     Are you one of them? Don't be one of them!
     But, how do you know you are not one of them?

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"




Spiritual Journal


     What I heard from Jesus today is: They do not practice what they preach!

     What I got from Jesus is a mirror for us to see how we have been doing lately. Are we one of those who do not practice what they preach?  Are we those Christians who put masks on their faces but deep down in their soul they are rotten. They like to point fingers to other people but they do not even know how bad they are! 

     You will never know whether you belongs to that group of people unless you ask the Holy Spirit to reveal your true self to you.  The past few week the Holy Spirit reminds me of how bad a father I was twenty years ago. The purpose of the revelation is for me to help more fathers to be a better loving father.

     Could you ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you now who you really are? Are you one of those who do not practice what they preach? 

Dear Holy Spirit,
Shine your light on us that we can see who we really are and be able to repent, to change and to be transformed by you to be more Christlike. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.



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