Matthew 5:33-37 “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.’ But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor...
Author: City of Refuge
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Sermon on the Mount: Lust and Divorce
Matthew 5:31-32 “Furthermore it has been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.” Malachi 2:16 begins with the...
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The book of Mark: 2:23-28 “Lord of the Sabbath”
In our last time together we started to see how each move that Jesus made was being watched, examined and questioned by the scribes and the Pharisees. He touched a leper, a man that was considered unclean due to his illness; He forgave the sins of a paralyzed man rather than just healing him; He...
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Sermon on the Mount: The Severity of Sin and the Greatness of God’s Love
Matthew 5:29-30 “If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cat...
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The book of Mark: 2:13-22 “Breaking With Tradition”
This week our study reveals the “inappropriateness” of Jesus’ actions. He was not sinfully inappropriate but rather societally inappropriate. There were traditions and religious expectations that had been added to the Law of God that were not from His heart or for His glory. Jesus purposefully did works, made statements and chose apostles and friends that...
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Sermon on the Mount: Sexual Purity: From the Eyes to the Heart
Matthew 5:27-28 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” This morning we will continue to study the surpassing righteousness of sexual...
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The book of Mark: 1:40-2:12 “Healing and Forgiveness”
This week in our study of the book of Mark we had a guest leader for our Bible study, Michael Endicott. The study covers Jesus’ compassionate healing of a man with leprosy and His healing and even more miraculous forgiving of the sins of a paralyzed man.
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Sermon on the Mount: Purity in God’s Purpose for Sex
Matthew 5:27-30 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast...
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Sermon on the Mount: The Cure for Anger
Matthew 5:21-26 Last week we began this new section of the Sermon on the Mount in which Jesus clearly defines “surpassing righteousness”. His final statement before this new section was “unless your righteousness surpasses the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. The next...
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The Book of Mark: 1:29-39 “Healing, Praying, Preaching”
We finished our last class by talking about Mark’s record of Jesus’ first preaching in Capernaum followed immediately by the first miracle that Mark records, Jesus’ healing of a demon-possessed man. Both His teaching and the miracle caused the people in Capernaum to be “astonished” at Jesus’ authority. They recognized that He didn’t teach like...