Great Plains Daily Devotional for Saturday, 22 February 2014
Today please be in prayer for:
1. Cheryl Bell
Leawood: Church of the Resurrection UMC
Kansas City District
2. Kelvin Heitmann
Satanta
Dodge City District
3. Lee Wigert
Holstein Grace UMC
Kenesaw UMC
Prairie Rivers District
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This Week's Lectionary:
6th Sunday after the Epiphany - Green
Deuteronomy 30: 15 Behold, I have set before you today life and
prosperity, and death and evil. 16 For I command you today to love Yahweh your
God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his
ordinances, that you may live and multiply, and that Yahweh your God may bless
you in the land where you go in to possess it. 17 But if your heart turns away,
and you will not hear, but are drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve
them; 18 I denounce to you today, that you will surely perish. You will not
prolong your days in the land where you pass over the Jordan to go in to
possess it. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I
have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore
choose life, that you may live, you and your descendants; 20 to love Yahweh
your God, to obey his voice, and to cling to him; for he is your life, and the
length of your days; that you may dwell in the land which Yahweh swore to your
fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
Psalm 119: ALEPH
1 Blessed are those whose ways are blameless,
who walk according to
Yahweh’s law.
2 Blessed are those who keep his statutes,
who seek him with
their whole heart.
3 Yes, they do nothing wrong.
They walk in his ways.
4 You have commanded your precepts,
that we should fully
obey them.
5 Oh that my ways were steadfast
to obey your statutes!
6 Then I wouldn’t be disappointed,
when I consider all of
your commandments.
7 I will give thanks to you with uprightness of heart,
when I learn your
righteous judgments.
8 I will observe your statutes.
Don’t utterly forsake
me.
1 Corinthians 3:1 Brothers, I couldn’t speak to you as
to spiritual, but as to fleshly, as to babies in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk,
not with meat; for you weren’t yet ready. Indeed, not even now are you ready, 3
for you are still fleshly. For insofar as there is jealousy, strife, and
factions among you, aren’t you fleshly, and don’t you walk in the ways of men?
4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” aren’t
you fleshly? 5 Who then is Apollos, and who is Paul, but servants through whom
you believed; and each as the Lord gave to him? 6 I planted. Apollos watered.
But God gave the increase. 7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he
who waters, but God who gives the increase. 8 Now he who plants and he who
waters are the same, but each will receive his own reward according to his own
labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s farming, God’s building.
Matthew 5: 21 “You have heard that it was said to the ancient
ones, ‘You shall not murder;’[a] and ‘Whoever murders will be in danger of the
judgment.’ 22 But I tell you, that everyone who is angry with his brother
without a cause [b] will be in danger of the judgment; and whoever says to his
brother, ‘Raca!’[c] will be in danger of the council; and whoever says, ‘You
fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of Gehenna. [d]
23 “If therefore you are offering your gift at the altar, and
there remember that your brother has anything against you, 24 leave your gift
there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother,
and then come and offer your gift. 25 Agree with your adversary quickly, while
you are with him on the way; lest perhaps the prosecutor deliver you to the
judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and you be cast into prison.
26 Most certainly I tell you, you shall by no means get out of there, until you
have paid the last penny.[e]
27 “You have heard that it was said,[f] ‘You shall not commit
adultery;’[g] 28 but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust
after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart. 29 If your
right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away from you. For it
is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for
your whole body to be cast into Gehenna.[h] 30 If your right hand causes you to
stumble, cut it off, and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for
you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast
into Gehenna.[i]
31 “It was also said, ‘Whoever shall put away his wife, let him
give her a writing of divorce,’[j] 32 but I tell you that whoever puts away his
wife, except for the cause of sexual immorality, makes her an adulteress; and
whoever marries her when she is put away commits adultery.
33 “Again you have heard that it was said to them of old time,
‘You shall not make false vows, but shall perform to the Lord your vows,’ 34
but I tell you, don’t swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is the throne of
God; 35 nor by the earth, for it is the footstool of his feet; nor by
Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 Neither shall you swear by
your head, for you can’t make one hair white or black. 37 But let your ‘Yes’ be
‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ be ‘No.’ Whatever is more than these is of the evil one.
Footnotes:
a. Matthew 5:21 Exodus 20:13
b. Matthew 5:22 NU omits “without a cause”.
c. Matthew 5:22 “Raca” is an Aramaic insult, related to the word
for “empty” and conveying the idea of empty-headedness.
d. Matthew 5:22 or, Hell
e. Matthew 5:26 literally, kodrantes. A kodrantes was a small
copper coin worth about 2 lepta (widow’s mites)—not enough to buy very much of
anything.
f. Matthew 5:27 TR adds “to the ancients”.
g. Matthew 5:27 Exodus 20:14
h. Matthew 5:29 or, Hell
i. Matthew 5:30 or, Hell
j. Matthew 5:31 Deuteronomy 24:1
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John Wesley’s Notes/Commentary
Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Verse 19. Chuse life - They shall have life that chuse it: they
that chuse the favour of God, and communion with him, shall have what they
chuse. They that come short of life and happiness, must thank themselves only.
They had had them, if they had chosen them, when they were put to their choice:
but they die, because they will die.
Verse 20. That thou mayest love the Lord thy God - Here he shews
them in short, what their duty is; To love God as the Lord, a being most
amiable, and as their God, a God in covenant with them: as an evidence of their
love, to obey his voice in every thing, and by constancy in this love and
obedience, to cleave to him all their days. And what encouragement had they to
do this? For he is thy life and the length of thy days - He gives life,
preserves life, restores life, and prolongs it, by his power, tho' it be a
frail life, and by his presence, tho' it be a forfeited life. He sweetens life
by his comforts, and compleats all in life everlasting.
Psalm 119:1-8
PS 119 Because this psalm was very large, and the matter of it
of the greatest importance, the psalmist thought fit to divide it into two and
twenty several parts, according to the number of the Hebrew letters, that he
might both prevent tediousness, and fix it in the memory. Each part consists of
eight verses. All the verses of the first part beginning with Aleph, all the
verses of the second with Beth, and so on. It is observable, that the word of
God is here called by the names of law, statutes, precepts or commandments,
judgments, ordinances, righteousness, testimonies, way and word. By which
variety, he designed to express the nature and perfection of God's word. It is
called his word, as revealed by him to us; his way, as prescribed by him for us
to walk in; his law, as binding us to obedience; his statutes, as declaring his
authority of giving us laws; his precepts as directing our duty; his
ordinances, as ordained by him; his righteousness, as exactly agreeable to
God's righteous nature and will; his judgments, as proceeding from the great
judge of the world, and being his judicial sentence to which all men must
submit; and his testimonies, as it contains the witness of God's will, and of
man's duty. And there is but one of these one hundred and seventy six verses,
in which one or other of these titles is not found. The general scope and
design of this psalm is, to magnify the law and make it honourable: to shew the
excellency and usefulness of divine Revelation, and recommend it to us, by the
psalmist's own example, who speaks by experience of the benefits of it, for
which he praises God, and earnestly prays for the continuance of God's grace,
to direct and quicken him in his way.
Verse 6. Respect - A due respect, which implies hearty
affection, diligent study, and constant practice. To all - So as not to allow
myself in any known sin, or in the neglect of any known duty.
Verse 7. When - When by thy good spirit I shall he more fitly
instructed in the meaning of thy word.
Verse 8. Forsake me not - For then I shall fall into the foulest
sins.
1 Corinthians 3:1-9
Verse 1. And I, brethren - He spoke before, ver. 1, of his
entrance, now of his progress, among them. Could not speak to you as unto
spiritual - Adult, experienced Christians. But as unto men who were still in
great measure carnal, as unto babes in Christ - Still weak in grace, though
eminent in gifts, chap. i, 5.
Verse 2. I fed you, as babes, with milk - The first and plainest
truths of the gospel. So should every preacher suit his doctrine to his
hearers.
Verse 3. For while there is among you emulation in your hearts,
strife in your words, and actual divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk
according to men - As mere men; not as Christians, according to God.
Verse 4. I am of Apollos - St. Paul named himself and Apollos,
to show that he would condemn any division among them, even though it were in
favour of himself, or the dearest friend he had in the world. Are ye not carnal
- For the Spirit of God allows no party zeal.
Verse 5. Ministers - Or servants. By whom ye believed, as the
Lord, the Master of those servants, gave to every man.
Verse 7. God that giveth the increase - Is all in all: without
him neither planting nor watering avails.
Verse 8. But he that planteth and he that watereth are one -
Which is another argument against division. Though their labours are different.
they are all employed in one general work, - the saving souls. Hence he takes
occasion to speak of the reward of them that labour faithfully, and the awful account
to be given by all. Every man shall receive his own peculiar reward according
to his own peculiar labour - Not according to his success; but he who labours
much, though with small success, shall have a great reward. Has not all this
reasoning the same force still? The ministers are still surely instruments in
God's hand, and depend as entirely as ever on his blessing, to give the
increase to their labours. Without this, they are nothing: with it, their part
is so small, that they hardly deserve to be mentioned. May their hearts and
hands be more united; and, retaining a due sense of the honour God doeth them
in employing them, may they faithfully labour, not as for themselves, but for
the great Proprietor of all, till the day come when he will reward them in full
proportion to their fidelity and diligence!
Verse 9. For we are all fellowlabourers - God's labourers, and
fellowlabourers with each other. Ye are God's husbandry - This is the sum of
what went before: it is a comprehensive word, taking in both a field, a garden,
and a vineyard. Ye are God's building - This is the sum of what follows.
Matthew 5:21-37
Verse 21. Ye have heard - From the scribes reciting the law;
Thou shalt do no murder - And they interpreted this, as all the other
commandments, barely of the outward act. The judgement - The Jews had in every
city a court of twenty-three men, who could sentence a criminal to be
strangled. But the sanhedrim only (the great council which sat at Jerusalem,
consisting of seventy-two men, ) could sentence to the more terrible death of
stoning. That was called the judgment, this the council. Exod. xx, 13.
Verse 22. But I say unto you - Which of the prophets ever spake
thus? Their language is, Thus saith the Lord. Who hath authority to use this
language, but the one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Whosoever
is angry with his brother - Some copies add, without a cause - But this is
utterly foreign to the whole scope and tenor of our Lord's discourse. If he had
only forbidden the being angry without a cause, there was no manner of need of
that solemn declaration, I say unto you; for the scribes and Pharisees
themselves said as much as this. Even they taught, men ought not to be angry
without a cause. So that this righteousness does not exceed theirs. But Christ
teaches, that we ought not, for any cause, to be so angry as to call any man
Raca, or fool. We ought not, for any cause, to be angry at the person of the
sinner, but at his sins only. Happy world, were this plain and necessary
distinction thoroughly understood, remembered, practiced! Raca means, a silly
man, a trifler. Whosoever shall say, Thou fool - Shall revile, or seriously
reproach any man. Our Lord specified three degrees of murder, each liable to a
sorer punishment than the other: not indeed from men, but from God. Hell fire -
In the valley of Hinnom (whence the word in the original is taken) the children
were used to be burnt alive to Moloch. It was afterward made a receptacle for
the filth of the city, where continual fires were kept to consume it. And it is
probable, if any criminals were burnt alive, it was in this accursed and
horrible place. Therefore both as to its former and latter state, it was a fit
emblem of hell. It must here signify a degree of future punishment, as much more
dreadful than those incurred in the two former cases, as burning alive is more
dreadful than either strangling or stoning.
Verse 23. Thy brother hath aught against thee - On any of the
preceding accounts: for any unkind thought or word: any that did not spring
from love.
Verse 24. Leaving thy gift, go - For neither thy gift nor thy
prayer will atone for thy want of love: but this will make them both an
abomination before God.
Verse 25. Agree with thine adversary - With any against whom
thou hast thus offended: while thou art in the way - Instantly, on the spot;
before you part. Lest the adversary deliver thee to the judge - Lest he commit
his cause to God. Luke xii, 58.
Verse 26. Till thou hast paid the last farthing - That is, for
ever, since thou canst never do this. What has been hitherto said refers to
meekness: what follows, to purity of heart.
Verse 27. Thou shalt not commit adultery - And this, as well as
the sixth commandment, the scribes and Pharisees interpreted barely of the
outward act. Exod. xx, 14.
29, 30. If a person as dear as a right eye, or as useful as a
right hand, cause thee thus to offend, though but in heart. Perhaps here may be
an instance of a kind of transposition which is frequently found in the sacred
writings: so that the 29th verse may refer to 27, 28; and the 30th to ver. 21,
22. As if he had said, Part with any thing, however dear to you, or otherwise
useful, if you cannot avoid sin while you keep it. Even cut off your right
hand, if you are of so passionate a temper, that you cannot otherwise be
restrained from hurting your brother. Pull out your eyes, if you can no
otherwise be restrained from lusting after women. Chap. xviii, 8; Mark ix, 43.
Verse 31. Let him give her a writing of divorce - Which the
scribes and Pharisees allowed men to do on any trifling occasion. Deut. xxiv,
1; Matt. xix, 7; Mark x, 2; Luke xvi, 18.
Verse 32. Causeth her to commit adultery - If she marry again.
Verse 33. Our Lord here refers to the promise made to the pure
in heart of seeing God in all things, and points out a false doctrine of the
scribes, which arose from their not thus seeing God. What he forbids is, the
swearing at all, 1, by any creature, 2, in our ordinary conversation: both of
which the scribes and Pharisees taught to be perfectly innocent. Exod. xx, 7.
Verse 36. For thou canst not make one hair white or black -
Whereby it appears, that this also is not thine but God's.
Verse 37. Let your conversation be yea, yea; nay, nay - That is,
in your common discourse, barely affirm or deny.
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Today's Devotional
Psalm 18: For the Chief Musician. By David the servant of
Yahweh, who spoke to Yahweh the words of this song in the day that Yahweh
delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He
said,
1 I love you, Yahweh, my strength.
2 Yahweh is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer;
my God, my rock, in
whom I take refuge;
my shield, and the
horn of my salvation, my high tower.
3 I call on Yahweh, who is worthy to be praised;
and I am saved from my
enemies.
4 The cords of death surrounded me.
The floods of
ungodliness made me afraid.
5 The cords of Sheol[a] were around me.
The snares of death
came on me.
6 In my distress I called on Yahweh,
and cried to my God.
He heard my voice out of his temple.
My cry before him came
into his ears.
Footnotes:
a. Psalm 18:5 Sheol is the place of the dead.
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Contact Information
Great Plains Episcopal Office
9440 E Boston, Suite 160
Wichita KS 67207
316-686-0600
800-745-2350
info@greatplainsumc.org
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