By Bob Schneiter on 10/25/2009

Matthew 5:23-26 

        The teaching of Christ that we are looking at today needs to be considered within the context in which it was given. Christ is speaking to people who know nothing of a relationship with God but only of religion. And there is no way they can ever keep the whole law and feel like God loves them and accepts them. They are always in the deficit with no hope of ever getting back on top. Add to this the fact that they are under the terrible yoke of the Roman Empire with taxes to pay that are totally unfair and exorbitant. It is breaking their backs. They are hated by the...

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By Bob Schneiter on 10/18/2009

Romans 5:20

          Why did God give the Jews the law? And are we still under the law? I’m not sure this most pressing question from today’s passage has been answered to our satisfaction. The quick answer is this…God gave them the law so that they would see their sinfulness and realize that they needed Him in their lives. The answer as to whether or not we are still under the law is this…The written law was meant to be followed until the Holy Spirit was poured out and until God would write His law on our hearts. Now God judges us not by the external law but by what is in our hearts and...

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By Bob Schneiter on 10/18/2009

Mt. 5:13-20 

            As Jesus taught the people out on the hillside above the lake, He realized that they had lost their ability to think God’s thoughts. They had been steeped in years of trying to outthink the output of men’s view of life. Let me explain. When God gave the law to Moses, it was given simply as a means of showing mankind how God views life. It was meant to help man find the best way to live life…how to discover happiness and health and the meaning to life. But within a very short period of time, the Jewish people began to take the law and codify it and expand it until...

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