Jill Partis
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Passing Judgement
Matthew 7:1-6 In yet another challenge to our worldly mindset Jesus continues His Sermon on the Mount by saying: “Judge not, that you be not judged.” As we seek to understand what Jesus is saying here it is important to be sure what He meant by the word “judge”. The Greek word, krino, can be…
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Do Not Worry!
Matthew 6:25-33 In today’s reading Jesus makes another of His startling statements: “Do not worry”. You may already be thinking, “If only it was that easy!” The truth is that most people worry. They fret about having enough money to buy the things they need or want. They feel anxious about their family relationships, their…
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Where is your Treasure?
Matthew 6:19-24 In today’s excerpt from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus challenges His listeners to think about what kind of treasure they are storing up for themselves. He gives them two possibilities. The first is the treasure of this world, which consists of such things as big houses and cars, designer clothing, money, jewellery…
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How Should We Pray?
Matthew 6:7-15 Many of us are very familiar with this model prayer that Jesus taught and, in spite of His warning about vain repetitions, we may well have recited it without thought more times than we care to remember. However, this prayer was not given for shallow repetition but to teach us how to pray.…
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Who are you Trying to Please?
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18 In these verses Jesus speaks of three common religious practices – charitable giving, praying and fasting. We can see that He assumed His followers would do these things because He says, “when you do a charitable deed” (v.2), “when you pray” (v.5) and “when you fast” (v.16) rather than “if”. But what…
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Love Your Enemies
Matthew 5:43-48 We come today to the last of the six comparisons Jesus made between the Law of Moses and the standards of His kingdom. The Law required God’s people to love their neighbours as themselves (Leviticus 19:18), but Jesus listeners had been taught, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy”. Over the…
