Week 11, Day 5

Today’s Reading Section: “28When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law. ” – Matthew 7:28-29

Comments/Questions for Reflection:
Now that we have finished reading the sayings of Jesus from His Sermon on the Mount, are we just as amazed as the original crowd? What are we doing with our amazement? Let’s not allow the amazement to paralyze us. We have heard His teaching and according to 7:24, 26, those who truly believe in Jesus will act once they’ve heard from Him. True followers put what He has told us to do into practice. His instructions are the rock solid foundation we base our life on. Let’s spend the last devotional prayerfully asking if what He has instructed us to do in the past 11 weeks is our foundation. Here are questions written by Sam Storms to help us do just that:

· Do we feel a deeper sense of spiritual bankruptcy or are we proud of our obedience?
· Do we grieve more deeply over sin than we used to, or are we flippant and casual about our moral and spiritual failures?
· Are we more meek than we used to be, or does arrogance and self-assertiveness continue to thrive and grow?
· Do we hunger and thirst for righteousness, or are we fat and filled with self-congratulation?
· Do we show more mercy to others, or are we as self-absorbed as ever?
· Is our obedience external only, a mere conformity to rules for convenience sake, or is our passion for purity a matter of the heart’s desire?
· What steps have we taken to preserve and promote peace in the body of Christ and among our companions? How have we responded to occasions in the past two months to reconcile with others or to stop conflict before it emerges?
· Are we more willing now, compared with then, to be used and exploited and even persecuted simply because we live righteously for Christ’s sake?
· How has your relationship with the world changed after hearing what Jesus said about our being salt and light?
· What steps have you taken to deal with the anger in your heart to which you formerly so easily gave in?
· Have you dealt drastically and radically with the sin in your life, or do you continue to toy with it and figure out ways to get away with as much as possible without crossing the moral line?
· Do you have a greater love for and commitment to the truth after hearing Jesus talk about oath-taking and the sneaky ways in which his contemporaries evaded honoring their word?
· How have you treated your enemies in the past few months? Have you happily gone above and beyond the call of duty when they intruded into and caused inconvenience to your life?
· Think about the last few occasions on which you gave money to support the work of the church or contributed to a special missions offering or offering for the poor? How frequently since then have you reminded yourself of how much you gave?
· Has your prayer life changed at all? Is it more theocentric than it used to be?
· What is your attitude toward money? Are you as much in the grip of its power and what it promises to do for you as you used to be?
(Questions were written by Sam Storms, http://www.enjoyinggodministries.com/article/724-29/)

Prayer Points for Today:
· Ask our Heavenly Father to make us like His Son (Romans 8:29, 2 Corinthians 3:18 and 1 John 3:2).

Adam Dawson