Prayer A to Z

This is our twenty-second study. Please click HERE for an intro to this study.

Luke 5:17-26

17 One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick. 18 Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. 19 When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.

20 When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

21 The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who…

This is our twenty-first study. Please click HERE for an intro to this study.

Matthew 27:62-64

62 The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. 63 “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ 64 So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”

Observations

The Pharisees called Jesus “that deceiver”. They regarded Him as an evil deceiver—like the antichrist will be. They had it all backwards. They were calling what is good evil and what is evil good. And they asked Pilot to place guards around the tomb. I wonder if…

I’ll start telling you about my writing. My life these days is mostly about my writing. It seems like as soon as I finish one book, I am raring to go start another one. I’m writing now a book about the Tribulation. I’m liking it so far. It is blessing me to see how everything is fitting together. And it is true that those who read and study the book of Revelation will be blessed! I think that when I get about half way through I will start blogging the book—a little at a time, to let everyone see it. I’m getting to the point in my writing that not much editing, or rewriting is needed. So, I just keep moving on. I like it better that way. No need to keep trying to perfect it.

I’ve changed churches. It’s a bigger church and it is much more according to…

This is our twentieth study. Please click HERE for an intro to this study.

Matthew 23:29-31

29 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. 30 And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.

Observations

By decorating the graves of the prophets, that indicates to me that they were trying to put on a show of self-righteousness, and even trying to cover up their own sins. And when they said, ‘If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets,’ they were…

This is our nineteenth study. Please click HERE for an intro to this study.

Matthew 23:27-28

27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

Observations

The explanation of Jesus is quite clear. The Pharisees worked to make themselves look good and righteous, but inside their heart they were spiritually dead, and therefore all their attempts to make themselves look righteous were wicked and hypocritical. They were phonies, people in masks. People who could not be trusted, unreliable.

Application

We ought always to watch out for these types of people. We should do what we can to test…

No wind on this day, making it perfect for reflections.

This is our eighteenth study. Please click HERE for an intro to this study.

Matthew 23:25-26

25 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

Observations

The Pharisees lived as if external appearances were more important than what was inside of the life. They cared more about appearances than about the heart. They cared more about the body than the soul. Of course, they cared nothing about the soul because they were not converted; they had no spiritual life in them. All they knew to do was to clean up what they could see and what other could see. They were blind to God. They had no spiritual eyes.