9-20-2025  Ten Commandments

  

The scribes challenged Jesus as to what is the first commandment and Jesus responded: Listen, the Lord our God is one Lord and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and the second is like it – you shall love your neighbor as yourself.  There are no other commandments other than these because all the law and the prophets are based on these (Matt. 22:35-40, Mark 12:28-31). 

EXODUS

Chapter 20

“I am the Lord God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt and out of the house of bondage.

1          You shall have no other Gods before me.

2          You shall make no graven image for yourself, nothing in the likeness of heaven or the earth beneath or that is in the water or under the earth.  You shall neither bow yourselves down to them nor serve them, for I the Lord God, am a jealous God and I visit the iniquities of the fathers unto their children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.  But I show mercy to the thousands who love me and keep My commandments.

3          You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God in vain (a lie or being destructive), for he who takes the Lord’s name in vain shall be held accountable.  

4          Remember the Sabbath Day and to keep it holy (set apart). You shall do all of your work in six days . But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God and you shall do no work on it, neither your sons nor daughters, manservants nor maidservants, not even you cattle nor any stranger in your city . For the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea and all that is in them in six days, then He rested the seventh day.  Therefore the Lord blessed and hallowed the Sabbath day. (a time of rest to celebrate the Lord).

5          Honor your father and your mother so your days may be long upon the land which the Lord has given you.

6          You shall not kill.

7          You shall not commit adultery.

8          You shall not steal.

9          You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

10        You shall not covet your neighbor’s house nor his wife, nor manservant nor maidservant, his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

Okay, so why did God give Moses the 10 commandments?  Read the scriptures. All that the prophet said and did were at our Father’s direction.  They spoke what God told them to speak (Gen. 7:1-5, Moses).  And the prophets did what God told them to do, as exampled when Elijah went to Ahab’s prophets with a challenge to see who served the true God, Baal or Jehovah (the great I AM [Exod. 3:13-14]) (1 Kings 18:25-39).

So let’s take a quick look at the 10 Commandments to see how God fulfilled the description of love.

The first four commandments have to do specifically with our relationship with Father.  God created the heavens and he earth and all that’s in them (Gen. 1-31).  So He is the creative force behind all existence.    We shouldn’t make any graven images, statues or pictures and say this represents our God and then bow down and worship these ‘things’ as if they were God.  God is Spirit and all who worship Him should do so in Spirit, with all our heart and mind and truth (John 4:24).   As necessary, we do come before Father first to cleanse our heart so we can commune with Him with a clean heart.    

Remember that Father honors our requests so we need to be careful for what we ask (Psalm 5:15).  A piece of fruit is better than a candy bar. We need nutrition for our body and spirit.  Just because we get a sudden urge, Father is NOT our manservant to jump every time we bark. He does honor sincere and meaningful requests, especially when we are aligned with His will (1 John 5:14-15).  But also remember Jesus asks us to love our enemies (Matt. 5:44-45) and leave vengeance to God (Rom. 12:19).  So surely, we should never ask Father to send His damnation upon someone. The world wonders about the condition of the world.  One of the world’s favorite expressions is G–D D—n it.  I wonder why there are so many problems?  The world lives in its own mess.  Why should we ask God to make it any worse?  God is love (1 John 4:8) so let’s use His holy name in love – at all times.

And, of course Father asks us to remember the Sabbath.  After creating all that is, Father rested on the seventh day.  Even though He tells us man should work six days in the week, the seventh is a time for rest and commune with the Lord, a time to cease from our own works and rest in God’s works (Heb.4:9-11).  Amen? 

In honoring our parents we find ourselves in a transition period from moving from God to those around us.   Our heavenly Father has shown us love so can now we share that love with those whom we encounter.

When we love someone, we most assuredly won’t kill them.  As I have committed myself to my wife, I will not commit myself to another by committing adultery.  And, by the way, this includes ‘spiritual adultery’, which is worshiping something other than God.  How long can I enter into God’s house, then go into the house of Satan oar even bring Satan into God’s house.   We cannot love two masters.  We will love one and hate the other (Matt. 6:24).  Love means I won’t steal from others nor tell lies against them.  When I consider my neighbor my equal, no better or any worse, I should care enough not to desire anything that is his. That is to say I can desire something like what he has, but not that item  which is in his possession.

We mentioned a couple of examples of hearing God and doing something for Him as an act of love.  We’ve seen examples of how we can show our love for our Father which includes loving our neighbor as ourselves.

Jesus tells us that we can pray “My Father, who is in heaven, Hallowed is your name.  Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Give me his day, my daily bread and forgive me my debts (sins) as I forgive my debtors (those who sin against me).  Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil.  For Yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever.  Amen”.  This simple a prayer but is our ticket for daily living, it meets our daily need. In the same thinking, the Ten Commandments give us a simple definition of God’s love and how to live in it.

I’ve heard many say that the Ten Commandments don’t apply anymore but aren’t they a basic description of how we can show our love for the Lord and others?  Just how do we love if we don’t keep the 10 commandments?

Amen

 

9-6-2025    What has God Done for Us

 

 This is a paraphrased and personalized rendering of Psalm 107, that is reviewing things Father has done for Israel and us or as if He and were talking with each other.

 

Psalm 107

 

I will give thanks to the Lord for His mercy endures forever.  He has redeemed my soul form the hand of my enemy.  He has brought me out from my sinful nature.  (v 1-3)

 

In the past, I wandered in a spiritual wilderness, doing what I felt like doing but found that I had no place for rest.  I was spiritually hungry and my soul was faint.  Then I cried to the lord in my troubles and He delivered my out of my distress.  (v 4-6)

 

He led me by the right way so I could find a place to settle in.  (v 7)

 

Oh, let me praise the Lord for His goodness and for the wonderful works He has done in my life.  He satisfied my empty soul and filled my hunger with His goodness.  (v 8-9)

 

For once I was in darkness, even in the shadow of death bound by those things that weighed heavily on me because I had rebelled against God’s Word and disregarded His council. In those days, I labored heavily for there was no one to help me. (v 10-12)

 

But when I cried unto the Lord in the midst of my trouble, He saved me out my distress.  He brought me out of the darkness and even the shadow of death and He broke off those things which had me bound.

 

Oh let me praise the Lord for His goodness and for the wonderful works He has done unto me.

For He has broken those brass gates and iron bars in two, which held me captive. (v 15-16)

 

I was a fool because of my transgressions because my sins brought on my affliction. For then I hated the food which brought me near the gates of death.  (v 17-18)

 

Then I cried unto the Lord in my trouble and He saved me out of my distress.  He sent his WORD and healed me and delivered me from my destruction.  (v 19-20)

 

Oh, let me praise the Lord for His goodness and for the wonderful works He has done in my life. 

Let me offer my heartfelt thanksgiving and let me rejoice while declaring the works He h done for me. (v 21-22)

 

Father guides and directs success in life.  He can bring me up or He can bring me down.  I can be facing problems that seem so overbearing, but the Lord can bring calm to my soul, my heart and my mind.  He brings me into a haven of peace.  (V 23-30)

Oh let me praise the Lord for His goodness and for the wonderful works He has done unto me.

I will praise Him where people gather as well as in the assembly of the elders. (v31-32)

 

When I get off track my rivers (problems) become a wilderness and my springs of life dry up.  When I wander from His ways, my fruit dries up, my fields are dead because wickedness has settled in. (v 33-34) 

 

But as I am faithful, He turns my wilderness into standing water and my dry ground into a wellspring of life.  He fills my hungry soul that I may live.  The works I put my hands to flourish (v 35-37)

 

He blesses me in the things I do and they are multiplied greatly.  Through whatever I have encountered, my problems have diminished. (v 38-39)

 

My Lord causes those (or that) which stand against me to wander in the wilderness, unable to find their way.  (v 40)

 

Yet because I am poor (in my spirit or humble) He sets me above that which comes against me and my family flourishes. (v 41)

 

The righteous shall see how God blesses me and rejoice and those who would speak ill of me will hold their tongues. (v 42)

 

Those who are wise and observe the goodness of God shall come to understand His lovingkindness.

 

How many of us truly understand how good Father has been to us?  How many of us take time to count the blessings Father has given us this day? How many of us have taken time to take note how many times has given us direction over the past week?  How many of us realize how many situations Father has delivered us from over the past month?

We usually look for the ‘big’ things that God does for us and we give Him praise for those things.    Things like being saved from a potentially fatal crash, being healed from a debilitating or deadly illness, blessing us with a pay raise, on the job which we weren’t expecting?  How many times have we looked into the closet and asked “which outfit should I wear?”  Many of us have been programmed to believe that Father only does the ‘spectacular’ things and we seldom considers that He actually cares about the ‘little’ things in our lives or the decisions we make.  Father is interested all our things in our life, not just the ‘headline grabbers or those things which just don’t seem important to us to us to bother Him with.

We have ‘testimony time’ at our church.  We’ve all expressed our gratitude for Father helping us make ‘minor decisions’.  Yes, sometimes minor decisions can become important moves in our life may impact other things down the road.  Those little things could lead into bigger things.  We seldom know the full details of the decisions we make until the ‘whole picture’ finally unfolds.  I used to chuckle at a lady from several years ago, the first thing out of her mouth was “I thank God for giving me another day!’  I’m not chuckling anymore.  I know what she meant. 

Father want us to share our lives with Him, no matter how significant or insignificant something may seem to be. 

Father knows our heart and our mind.  In speaking to the Pharisees, Jesus told them that He knew their heart and it wasn’t good (Luke16:15).  Father knows everything about us, He can even know the thoughts and intents of our heart (Heb. 4:12).  So Father knows us but how can we know Him?  We have the mind of Christ (1 Corinth. 2:16)!  With Jesus Christ in us, through the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, we have a direct communication with our Lord (John 14:16-17). Jesus tells His disciples (and us) that what He says has come from the Father (John 14:29).  The Holy Ghost will lead us into all truth and show us things we need to know (John 16:13-15).  The BIG question is are we listening?

Reread this again and pick up your bible and read psalm 107.  Ask Father to open your eyes and heart see what you might discover about being thankful and giving Him the praise He deserves for all that He does for us.

Amen