Matthew 14:34 - 15:39 - Loving God Completely

Highlights:

* We are living in a time when we hardly ever even hear of such miracles (such as those described in Mat. 14:36). But when God raises up a man to do such miracles, that man can turn many people's thoughts toward God. He is a very valuable person.

* Oral Roberts turned more hearts toward God with his gifts of healing and miracles than any man since the apostle Paul. He was a prince in the kingdom of God.

* Jesus and the scribes and Pharisees agreed that the law of Moses was holy, but the scribes and Pharisees considered the traditions of their elders to be equally important and authoritative.

* To Jesus, and to everybody who is like him, whatever God says trumps everything that anybody says - not in contempt of anybody, but just because God is who He is.

* To Jesus, and to everybody who is like him, whatever God does or doesn't do is just wonderful, and whatever God thinks is the only way to think.

* Nobody is far from the kingdom of God who feels like Jesus feels toward God and toward people.

* Please take this in:
(1) We cannot help those we love who are in sin by sinning with them.
(2) We love our family and friends best by loving God more.

* That's the first lesson from Matthew 15, and as Jesus said, it is the most important one we can learn: LOVE GOD COMPLETELY.

* Ministers who are not ministers of God need money to maintain their ministry precisely because their ministry is based on a tradition instead of being of God.

* If a man's ministry depends on money, then money is that man's God.

* Even when Jesus didn't even have a place to lay his head, he still preached the gospel.

* It is the nature of the flesh to turn something alive and holy into a custom, or turn a sincere expression into a mere catch-phrase.

* Just in case we wander out of the right path and can no longer see ourselves rightly - which happens because sin makes us blind - Good has provided wonderful safety nets:

(1) fellowship
(2) pastors
(3) wise elders

* When a body that God has put together communicates to a brother or a sister that fellowship with them is lacking, or when a real pastor tells them something is amiss in their spirit, or when a godly elder or mother in Christ tells them that something does not feel right, a wise child of God humbles himself and makes the adjustments needed to regain lost fellowship with the body and to have things right with God.

* when God gives a new birth to people, He calls them "gods" (with a little "g").

* God wants us to get away from false teachers because their disease will at some point cling to us, and make us worth of their reward.

* The Son of god's sole purpose for coming here was to do the will of his Father. That is the only reason the Son of God came to earth.

* Only God knows what is really true and good, and those who are wise, like Jesus, do not "lean to their own understanding", but trust what God says instead. It may make us look bad to some people, but then, it sometimes made Jesus look bad, too. But though misunderstood and maligned, he kept going.

Scriptures referenced in this video:

Mark 2:29-34
Isaiah 10:3
Jeremiah 5:31
2Corinthians 11:29
1Peter 4:11
Philippians 4:12-13
Isaiah 29:13
James 1:14-15
Job 1:6
Job 2:1
1Corinthians 11:27-29
Psalm 82:6
John 10:34-36
Psalm 82:1
Proverbs 21:2
2Corinthians 13:5
Matthew 18:6-7
Revelation 18:4
Proverbs 14:7
Proverbs 13:20
1Corinthians 15:33
Leviticus 11:43
Luke 12:49-50
Hebrews 10:5, 7
Psalm 74:19