Fri.’s Devo - Jesus’ Teaching

Read: Genesis 11;1-13:4; Matthew 5:1-26; Psalm 5:1-12; Proverbs 1:24-28
The whole earth had the same language and the same cause which was to build a portal to heaven. Because of their unity, they were going to succeed. This tower was a pyramid that would access the spiritual realm. God confused their languages so they could not finish their tower and scattered them over the earth.
Next we have Shem’s line, Noah’s oldest son. Abram came from Shem’s line and his dad’s name was Terah. Abram’s brother, Haran had a son named Lot, then he died. Abram, his father, his wife (Sarai) and Lot left Ur to go to Canaan. Terah, Abram’s dad died in Haran and God spoke to Abram. He told him to leave his country, his people, and his family to go to the land he would show him. There he would make him into a great nation and bless him. He would be well-known and be a blessing to the earth. So Abram took Lot and went to Canaan. When he got to Shechem, God spoke to him again and told him he would give his offspring this land. This became known as the Promised Land. Abram made an altar here. Jacob would come back and buy this land. He would first rid his family of all their false gods and make a new commitment to the Lord. To seal the promise he would dig a well by an oak. Joshua would come back to this exact place and read the blessings and the curses to the people. They would make a covenant to follow the Lord and let him be their God. Joshua would place a stone by the oak to seal the promise.
This city became a city of refuge where those who had no advocate could run and be safe. This is a place of repentance and salvation.
From here, Abram went to Bethel which means “the house of God”. We have to come to the cross before we can approach God with a clean heart. Then Abram was led into Egypt to be tempted just as Jesus was. Abram didn’t fare so well because he lied about Sarai instead of trusting God to take care of him. Abram did come back to where he started and called out to the Lord.
In Matthew Jesus began teaching the people. The people had been taught Judaism which was a religion that was formed in the time between the Old and New Testament. It was a religion of man-made laws and had very little to do with the law that God gave Moses. Jesus’ teaching went back to the Mosaic law. Everything he taught made the scribes and Pharasee’s mad because it opposed their laws. They taught that it was unlawful to teach the Torah to a woman. Jesus welcomed women and children. They also believed that righteousness was only found in obeying their laws. They made them more and more hard to obtain and tedious. They believed that if you were righteous before God you would be blessed with riches. Jesus came to the poor and thirsty, and taught that they were rich in the kingdom of God. Jesus taught humility and love which was the exact opposite of the hearts of most of the religious leaders. At first, they just sat and listened to his teaching. Our Proverb tells of the end of most of the religious leaders.
Lord, help us to stay humble and let love guide our moves.