Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
August 23 Daily Reading- Read the Bible in 1 Year
0 Plays2 seconds ago
If you would like to download my FREE calendar for keeping track of your commitment to read the Bible every day, you can find that on my site, here: https://www.inthefamilywaycoaching.com/pages/read-the-bible-in-1-year
Monthly memberships to support this event can be purchased on my site, here: https://www.inthefamilywaycoaching.com/offering_packages
In today's reading we will cover Matthew Chapter 5:1-28 and Luke Chapter 6:20-26. Today we will read the Beatitudes and learn about being the salt and light of the world (and why!) We will also read about why we should not entertain sinful thoughts: because thinking about doing things we shouldn't do means we have already done those things in our hearts.
In our discussion for daily application we will talk about how God lives within us with His Holy Spirit. Spending time thinking about and doing things we shouldn't makes the Holy Spirit sad. We call that grieving the Holy Spirit. We are to think about things that good and pleasant and spend time thinking about God's Word, so that we are equipped to make the right decisions in life. When our hearts are right with God, the Beatitudes tell us, God will bring good to people whose hearts are clean and not dirty from sin. Those people will get to SEE God! When others see the good we are doing we are told that they will praise God! Let us be mindful of what we put into our mind- by seeing and hearing and and what we spend time thinking about, so that we may be the light in the world that God has intended us to be! Then, once we get to heaven, Jesus taught us today that God will reward us for loving Him, thirsting and hungering for righteousness, and following His ways.
If you enjoyed today's reading and feel like God has lit YOUR light please click the LIGHT button (it looks like a thumbs up or a heart) and consider subscribing to or following my channel, if you have not done so already.
If you know someone who might be interested in reading the Bible with me this year please SHARE today's reading with them! It's never too late to join in! Let's help this event grow and together we can spread the word about reading God's Word!
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Platforms
00:00:03
Speaker
Hey everybody, today is August 23rd and you are here with Robin at In The Family Way Coaching. Thank you so much for joining me for today's daily Bible reading as we read our entry from the Day by Day Kids Bible written by Karen Henley.
00:00:19
Speaker
Thank you for following along on your podcast or on YouTube or on my site or on Spotify or Amazon Music or Pandora, Apple Music, wherever you are listening or watching. I'm so glad that you are here.
Commitment Calendar for Bible Reading
00:00:35
Speaker
If you are using the commitment calendar, go ahead and get that out and get ready to mark it off for today because you're about to hear the Bible today.
00:00:47
Speaker
We have a lot to learn today. There is so much in today's reading. And since this is just one continuous story, it's going to stop almost right at the middle of of what Jesus is in the middle of talking about. But we will get to that tomorrow.
00:01:05
Speaker
But there is so much good information today. And then we will get to our daily application as well. Even though today's reading only covers a short bit in the Bible, it's just it just rich. It is loaded. Are you ready for a load of learning today from the Gospels?
00:01:26
Speaker
and I love learning from Jesus. He is teaching us how to apply and how to be who God has been trying to get the people to be since he called the people to be his people.
00:01:40
Speaker
And I'm so glad that he did because he is such a gentle leader. He's such a wonderful shepherd. And he just shows us and tells us how to be the best that God wants us to be.
Personal Story and the Beatitudes
00:01:55
Speaker
We are going to be covering Matthew chapter 5 verses 1 through 6 verses 20 through 26. and then lou chapter seven verses twenty through twenty It's not even whole chapters.
00:02:09
Speaker
But there is so much information in there. Oh, my goodness. Today, we're going to be reading what we call the Beatitudes. And I've actually told this story, but maybe if you're newer around here, you may not have heard it.
00:02:22
Speaker
ah One time, ah God had really put it on my heart that to read the Beatitudes. And my standard method for when I want to find something is that I might know a part of the verse, blessed are the...
00:02:36
Speaker
And then it talks about blessed are those who weep, blessed are those who hunger for righteousness. But I didn't know, I'm not good at remembering the address, the location of where it is, but I'm good at remembering bits of scripture.
00:02:51
Speaker
So one day, actually for a period of at least a week, maybe two, God kept putting it on my heart and I just wasn't getting around to doing it I was like, oh, I don't know where that is. i need to read that. Oh, I don't know where that is. i need to look that up.
00:03:05
Speaker
Oh, I need to get that done. Oh, I haven't done this. And finally, I walked into church one day and they were out of bulletins. So I was rummaging around to see if anybody had left their discarded bulletin, because it's often the case that there is more than one service at a larger church. So I was there at the later morning service, not the early morning service.
00:03:30
Speaker
And sure enough, I was able to find one. And when I opened it up, sometimes people have written notes, sometimes they haven't. But I just wanted to know where we were going to be reading and what was ah the general outline and stuff like that. So I wasn't worried about and if people somebody had written on the paper or not.
00:03:50
Speaker
So I opened up the bulletin in the program and inside was written probably Matthew chapter five versus four or Matthew chapter five, verse four or whatever it was. But it included Matthew chapter four.
00:04:08
Speaker
And God made me very curious. So I turned in my Bible, I was sitting in church and I was like, I wonder what this verse is that they wrote down. I opened up my Bible, i turned to it and it was the Beatitudes.
00:04:26
Speaker
Isn't God amazing? He had been telling me to look that up for probably a good week or more. And i wasn't getting it done. So he finally just wrote it down and handed it to me and was like, here, read this.
00:04:43
Speaker
I love God. He has such a great sense of humor. And I love telling that story because God is so intimately involved in our days. And that's just one of the ways in which ah he just was really intimately involved in my day.
00:04:57
Speaker
And you can really tell when when it's God who is teaching you when he does something like that. And this was years ago. ah men before COVID. So it was it was quite some time ago, but I do love that story.
00:05:10
Speaker
So today am reminded of that story because our reading covers the Beatitudes. And if you're familiar with that section of the Bible, there is so much good stuff in there.
00:05:23
Speaker
Like I said, we're only reading a small portion, like verses 1 through 28. That's not even the entire chapter of of Matthew or of Luke. It's just a snippet.
00:05:34
Speaker
But there is, it's just loaded. So here
Different Perspectives: Children's Bible vs Standard Version
00:05:38
Speaker
we go. We are going to get right up into it. And am actually going to ah have do a parallel reading in our Big Bible.
00:05:49
Speaker
So we may be familiar with what it sounds like in the Big Bible. And this version is written so that it can be a little easier to understand. And it's for kids to read.
00:06:02
Speaker
But we know, if you've been around for a while, that it's not just for kids. And I love the way Karen Henley has interpreted and made things easy to understand. Because honestly, some of them, the ways that she puts things really hit home for me.
00:06:19
Speaker
ah And other times, I really like the big version. But it's helpful because I want us to see the parallel of how she is writing and what we may be familiar with so that we can understand it kind of like a translation.
00:06:33
Speaker
like reading the definition of something. Because sometimes the words in the Bible can be kind of big, even though we have all these different translations, sometimes they can still be kind of big and we might not know exactly what that means.
00:06:46
Speaker
And I'm really ah big here on this event as to us understanding what we are reading. So I'm going to be reading out of the Big Bible in parallel and then the the corresponding verse out of our Day by Day Kids Bible.
00:07:02
Speaker
So here we go. Matthew chapter five. Now, some of them are included in Luke, but most of them are here in Matthew.
00:07:12
Speaker
Starting in verse ah three, our big Bible says, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
00:07:25
Speaker
And I'm going to start with our day by day kids Bible too, because there's a little bit before we get to that. So, Jesus saw how many people were coming to hear him.
00:07:36
Speaker
So he went up on the side of the mountain and there he sat down. His followers gathered around him. Then he began to teach them. God will bring good to people who know they need him.
00:07:52
Speaker
The kingdom of heaven belongs to them.
00:07:56
Speaker
Whereas our big version says, blessed are the poor in spirit. And I got to tell I've always had a little trouble understanding being poor in spirit. But I love the way Karen Henley words it as, God will bring good to people who know they need him.
00:08:14
Speaker
I know I need him. The kingdom of heaven belongs to them. God will bring good to people who cry. They will feel better.
00:08:27
Speaker
Our big version says, Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
00:08:35
Speaker
God will bring good to people who think others are more important. The earth will belong to them.
00:08:44
Speaker
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
00:08:51
Speaker
God will bring good to people who are hungry for what's right. They are thirsty for what's right, and they will be filled up.
00:09:03
Speaker
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
00:09:12
Speaker
God will bring good to people who are kind, and God will be kind to them.
00:09:20
Speaker
Our big Bible says, blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy.
00:09:29
Speaker
God will bring good to people whose hearts are clean. These people are not dirty from sin, and they will get to see God.
00:09:41
Speaker
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
00:09:47
Speaker
God will bring good to people who make peace. They will be called God's children.
00:09:55
Speaker
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
00:10:02
Speaker
God will bring good to people who get hurt for doing what's right. The kingdom of heaven belongs to them.
00:10:11
Speaker
Our big Bible says, Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
00:10:22
Speaker
God will bring good when people laugh at you and they might hurt you for doing good. They might lie about you because of me. But God has great gifts for you in heaven.
00:10:33
Speaker
So be happy. People also hurt the prophets who told God's words.
00:10:43
Speaker
Blessed are you when people revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely on account of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great.
00:10:56
Speaker
For in the same way, they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
00:11:03
Speaker
And that's the end of our parallel reading today.
00:11:07
Speaker
Our next section is
Discussion on 'Salt and Light' Teachings
00:11:09
Speaker
entitled Salt and Light. I love this section. Watch out if you are rich, said Jesus. That means you have your gifts already.
00:11:19
Speaker
Watch out if you have plenty of food now. You will go hungry. Watch out if you laugh now. You will end up crying. Watch out when people say good things about you.
00:11:33
Speaker
People said good things about prophets who lied.
00:11:38
Speaker
You are like salt here on the earth, said Jesus. But what if the salt stops being salty? Can it get salty again? No, it's not good for anything.
00:11:48
Speaker
It has to be thrown out, and it's only good for walking on.
00:11:54
Speaker
You are like a light into this world, said Jesus. You're like a city high on a hill. It's up where everyone can see it. And people don't put a lamp under a bowl, said Jesus.
00:12:07
Speaker
Instead, they put it out where it will shine. and it lights up the house. So let your light shine so people can see it.
00:12:19
Speaker
Then they will see the good things that you do. Then they will cheer for God, your father.
00:12:26
Speaker
Don't think I came to get rid of the law. Don't think I came to get rid of what the prophets wrote. I did not come to get rid of these words, said Jesus.
00:12:37
Speaker
I came to make the words come true. Even the smallest law is important. It will be important until everything happens the way God has planned.
00:12:49
Speaker
What if people break the smallest law, Jesus said? They will be the smallest in the kingdom of heaven. What about people who teach others to break God's laws?
00:13:01
Speaker
They will be smallest in the kingdom of heaven too. But people who obey God's laws will be great in heaven. And so will people who teach others to obey.
00:13:15
Speaker
You must be even better than your Jewish leaders. And if you're not, you'll never get into heaven's kingdom.
00:13:22
Speaker
You heard that the law says not to kill, said Jesus. You've heard the people who kill will pay for it. But I say this. Anybody who is angry with another person gets in trouble.
00:13:36
Speaker
And anyone who isn't kind answers to the judge. What if someone says, you fool, he will be in danger of going to hell. Let's say you bring a gift for God to the altar. And there you remember that someone is angry with you, said Jesus.
00:13:54
Speaker
Leave your gift there and go and make peace with the person who is angry with you and then come back and give your gift. Make peace quickly with a person who blames you for something and do it before you get to the judge, said Jesus.
00:14:10
Speaker
If you don't, the judge will give you to the officer and you might even get put in jail and you will stay there until you have paid the last penny.
00:14:21
Speaker
You have heard, do not have sex with someone you are not married to. But I tell you not to even think about it.
00:14:32
Speaker
Do not let your mind think about it. If you think it, you've done it in your heart.
00:14:40
Speaker
And that is the end of today's reading. It is not the end of the session that Jesus was having where he was teaching. We will read more about that tomorrow. But I warned us that it's kind of right in the middle.
00:14:54
Speaker
But there was a lot. we They had to stop somewhere. There was so much that we read today. Don't you think? We could find personal application all throughout today's reading.
00:15:06
Speaker
It was so hard. i had to ask and say, God, what is it that you want this one to be? Because, oh, it's this. Oh, it's that. and And he kept bringing me over and over again to, I tell you not to even let your mind think about it.
00:15:20
Speaker
If you think it, you've done it in your heart. And we've spoken about that all throughout today's reading. Our reading this year, when we've talked about, it's about the heart of the issue.
00:15:32
Speaker
And we have to be careful with our thoughts, because out of our mouth, we will read yeah coming up. comes the overflow of our heart. God is concerned about our hearts. He wants us to love him with all of our heart, with all of our mind, with all of our strength, with all of our soul.
00:15:51
Speaker
And we have to guard what we put into our mind, with our ears, with what we think about, with what we see. we have to be careful because that's where we start making our thoughts.
00:16:04
Speaker
Things we see, We start thinking about those things, things we hear. We start thinking about those things. And when we're angry with somebody, we start having argument with them in our head. And I will tell them if they try to do this, I'm going to say this.
00:16:19
Speaker
And we start going off in our mind all the things that we're going to do in these imaginary arguments if somebody says something about this to us. And then when we're angry about something, we entertain these thoughts of being angry.
00:16:33
Speaker
And the thing is, is that now we have God's spirit with us. We are also one with God. Even before that time, God was aware of our hearts.
00:16:45
Speaker
In the very beginning, when we had Noah, God put a judgment on the earth to wipe everything out with water because he said that the thoughts of man were evil all the time.
00:16:59
Speaker
God knows our thoughts. And we are doing what is called grieving the Holy Spirit. We are making the Holy Spirit sad. Even more so now that we are connected so intimately with God's Spirit being within us.
00:17:16
Speaker
God's presence is with us. And so he doesn't want to have to sit there while we entertain thoughts about and um wishful thinking about somebody else that we're not supposed to be having thoughts about to have an inappropriate relationship.
00:17:32
Speaker
Could be for a man, could be for a woman, goes either way. He doesn't want us to sit and think about being angry with people all the time.
The Importance of Guarding Thoughts
00:17:40
Speaker
And that's why he will eventually tell us, we will get to, he tells us that whatever is good, whatever is lovely, whatever is pure, think of these things.
00:17:50
Speaker
We are to meditate on God's word. There are so many other right and good things that we should be thinking about. When we meditate or think about God's word, we are filling our mind with good things.
00:18:05
Speaker
And God tells us here, Jesus tells us here, that we are not to put away the law. God's rules are still in effect. he Jesus did not come to get rid of those laws.
00:18:19
Speaker
He came to fulfill them, our big Bible says. He came to make them come true. He came so that it would be full and that there would be a connection. God would write his law on our hearts.
00:18:36
Speaker
He can't get rid of it and put it on our hearts at the same time. That would be a contradiction, wouldn't it? God said that in the new covenant, he would come and he would put the law on our hearts.
00:18:47
Speaker
So we're not here to get rid of the law. These things are still in effect. That doesn't mean that just because we have received forgiveness from our sins that we can do whatever we want.
00:18:59
Speaker
Oh, it's fine. um I'm already forgiven. It doesn't matter what I do. That is taking advantage of God's forgiveness through Jesus. That is not being respectful of the sacrifice that Jesus made.
00:19:13
Speaker
He did not come so that we could be sinful and just do whatever we want all of the time. We are supposed to be one with God. And God wants us to worship him in spirit and in truth, not by disobeying and doing whatever we want to do.
00:19:32
Speaker
Jesus told us that the other day, that God is spirit. And the time has come for us to worship him in spirit and in truth. So God doesn't want us to be filling our minds.
00:19:44
Speaker
with with things that we should not be thinking about and entertaining thoughts of being angry with someone and what we're gonna do to get back at somebody and things like that. Because doing so means that we are not being the light of the world.
00:19:59
Speaker
Since everything that's going on inside comes out on the outside, that is how we are the light of the world.
00:20:09
Speaker
It is with our heart. We have to have a right heart. And God told us, Jesus told us today, that those who hunger and thirst for things that are right will be satisfied.
00:20:24
Speaker
That needs to be us as we are the light of the world. And we do that by making sure that we don't even think and entertain the thoughts.
00:20:35
Speaker
It all starts inside. And then everything goes out from there. If we are thinking good and right things, then we will do and say the right things.
00:20:49
Speaker
And God will be pleased with us. And that's what we're supposed to be doing, to be the light of the world.
Connecting Lessons to Personal Application
00:20:57
Speaker
So I hope that you feel that God has lit your light today. Thank you so much for joining me for our reading today.
00:21:03
Speaker
ah There was so much that we can learn. it was It was hard just to pick the one thing, but you see how it's all connected? i love that. It starts with the mind and then if things come out of our mouth and then we are moved to doing good things.
00:21:18
Speaker
And why do we want to do good things and be the light in the world? so that others can see the things that we do and praise our Father in heaven. It all goes back to giving glory to God.
00:21:32
Speaker
It's not for us. It's to give glory to God. i love that. Everything is connected. we we call that, it's it's very affirming. Everything agrees with one another. Everything agrees with with everything else that we are building upon.
00:21:52
Speaker
so that we become this whole complete picture. Make sense? I'm glad. So thank you for being here with me. There's a lot to think about today, whatever day you get around to watching this August 23rd reading.
00:22:08
Speaker
But I hope that you spend the time to meditate on that today and that you enjoyed the the daily reading today. I know I enjoyed it. I went back and read it over and over so many times today.
00:22:20
Speaker
There was just so much. You may have to hit the replay button on this video to hear it all.
00:22:26
Speaker
So if you do feel that God has lit your light today, then please click our light button. That one that looks like a thumbs up or a heart or a subscribe or a follow, a share.
Encouragement to Share and Spread God's Word
00:22:37
Speaker
We want others to know about these things so that they too can know that it starts in the mind. We want people to see the things that are going on and give the glory to God.
00:22:49
Speaker
So I hope you will be encouraged to listen to whoever God is telling you to share this with. And then to click the lights so that we can get it seen by more people. So other people will be attracted to that light and hear God's word.
00:23:03
Speaker
Thank you for heading helping me spread the word about reading God's word. God's word is so useful for teaching and correcting and for reconciliation and equipping us for every good work that God gives us to do.
00:23:18
Speaker
I will be here for everyone again tomorrow. See you then.