Matthew 12:22-50, Luke 11

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I am going to jump down to scripture we already talked about (I posted a video on it the other day).

³¹ And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. ³² Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

EVERY sin can be forgiven.  You can be mad at the Lord and even say something at that moment in anger.  He WILL forgive you.  HOWEVER, to not acknowledge that God works through Jesus by the Holy Spirit is not forgivable.   If you deny the ‘power’ of Christ– as Lord- it cannot be forgiven.  Many many great people of this world do not believe in the healing and saving power of the Lord.

The Pharisees denied this so strongly that they went as far as saying the power is from the Devil.  Oh no you di’nt!!

Have you ever panicked and thought…” what if I am missing something…what if on the day of my death I THOUGHT I was going to Heaven and was wrong??”  When I became a Christian this was a HUGE concern.  I still sometimes think those thoughts.   BUT The Lord is quick to tell me “Don’t question it…even though you are still a hot mess!  There is proof”.

^{Verse 33} “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. ³⁴ You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. ³⁵ A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. ³⁶ But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. ³⁷ For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”

I just need to examine my fruit (not works).  If the Lord changed the tree so that it can bear fruit-it will!   (If you don’t see fruit…well….)  So here is my proof: There were SIGNIFICANT changes in me that were not there when I was a fruitless tree.  Your proof is the fruit that HE grows…   (so that I cannot boast about it!)

Galatians 5 ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness,es and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. ²⁶ Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

I am often in a situation where I feel or see something “different” because I am seeing it differently, I immediately will say out loud “Well, that’s evidence in my Salvation, the “old” me would have handled that very differently”.  FRUIT!

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The sign of Jonah!

³⁸ Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”

What in Sam Hill??  He JUST healed a demon-possessed blind mute man!  So Jesus responds to this generation of people- ⁴⁰ For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

This is the FIRST reference Jesus makes to his death and burial that is to come.  He will be buried for 3 days- when that happens they will think back to this parable and KNOW that the sign was given.

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Luke 11-

Look at verse 5, then 9, then 11.

5 : a parable about the father who does not want to get out of bed to give them bread.  This is not a comparison parable this is a contrast parable.  Is this our view of prayer? A Father that does not want to help us? So he says:

7: “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

11: So after reading verse 7 there is the comparison parable.  A father that wants to respond to our prayer.  This is how we should see our requests.  He is a father that wants to bless up…why would He give us less?

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Verse 37 (my favorite part)

Woes to the Pharisees and to the Scribes.

•  You look good on the outside but are a mess inside!
•  You ritualistically gave your tithe BUT you neglected justice
•  You are prideful and love the praise of looking so “religious”
•  An unmarked grave- They always painted graves so that people wouldn’t touch them and become unclean.  THEY are the unmarked graves and actually corrupting the people near them.
• They made laws about the laws…no one could follow.
• Their ancestors rejected prophets….this generation will reject THE prophet…Jesus.
• Verse 52 was the one I focused on
  • ⁵² “Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”
  • The Word of God:  Changing/watering down/tweaking/adding to it/taking parts away….Changing the Bible in any way changes a lot and could absolutely hinder someone else’s Salvation.
  • We hear friends, family, bible study leaders, Pastors change the Bible all the time in the “slightest way”.  I think we need to remember that Satan did that in the Wilderness.