Tag: Sermon on the Mount

The Christian Torah in A Nutshell ~ A Wrap-up

On By Donald N. NorrisIn Christian TorahLeave a comment

Since December 9, 2015, other than during the Jewish feasts and festivals, most of my teachings have concentrated on sitting at the feet of Yeshua and listening to Him as He taught His talmidim.  Our source document has been the Gospel of Matthew (Mattityahu).  The “Word in Life Study Bible” calls the Gospel of Matthew the “Christian Torah.”

It’s time for us to move on from here and dive deeper into God’s Word.  However, since we have several new followers who haven’t been here from the beginning of this study and for those of us who may have forgotten what we learned, I want to take this opportunity to summarize where we’ve been.

Needless to say, this post will be rather lengthy given that I will be summarizing almost 80 posts.  So, here is the link to the PDF version.

I started my defining what a Biblical talmid is:

  1. One who is following the Messiah – has made Yeshua the Lord of their life. (Luke 9:3; John 8:31)
  2. One who is being changed by the Messiah – is becoming like the Messiah in attitude and action. (John 15:8; Romans 8:29, Galatians 4:19; 5:22-23; John 13:35)
  3. One who is committed to the Mission of the Messiah.  (Messiah’s mission is to save a lost world by installing a ministry of reconciliation and service to others.) (John 15:8; Matthew 4:19; 2 Corinthians 5:19-20)

Continue reading “The Christian Torah in A Nutshell ~ A Wrap-up” →

It’s Dangerous to Be a Judge ~ Part 1

On By Donald N. NorrisIn Christian Torah1 Comment

Sitting at the Feet of Yeshua

In this post, we will continue our study of the Sermon on the Mount by turning to Matthew 7.  Yeshua closes the Sermon on the Mount with a discussion on judgment.  In it, He discusses three different judgments:  our judgment of ourselves; our judgment of others; and, finally God’s judgment of us.

In His teaching, Yeshua gives us the characteristics of the true Believer and contrasts them with the hypocrisy of the religious people.  Throughout this sermon, the P’rushim were used as examples of religious hypocrisy.  They had established a righteousness of works.  People who judge the most are those who feel superior on the basis of their self-righteousness.  Continue reading “It’s Dangerous to Be a Judge ~ Part 1” →

What, Me Worry?

On By Donald N. NorrisIn Christian Torah8 Comments

Sitting at the Feet of Yeshua

 This blog is longer than normal.  You may want to click here for PDF version.

In this post, we will conclude our study of Matthew 6.  In my last post, Yeshua was discussing material possessions.  I closed that teaching by asking, “where is your wealth?  Have you put your faith and trust in your material possessions?  Or, have you laid up your wealth in heaven?  Do you sow your seeds in fertile ground that will lead to a harvest of souls?  Or, have you squandered what God has given you for your own pleasures?  We will not go wrong; if we use our possessions to see how much happiness we can bring to others.”

In this post, Yeshua continues to teach on material possessions, but His emphasis is no longer on where our wealth is; He now tells us not to worry about where our material possessions will come from.

How many of you remember Alfred E. Newman and MAD Magazine?  I used to love to read that as a teen.  In honor of Alfred E., I’ve entitled my message this post, “What, Me Worry?”
Continue reading “What, Me Worry?” →

Vision and Money

On By Donald N. NorrisIn Christian Torah2 Comments

Sitting at the Feet of Yeshua

We continue exploring the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 6.  Yeshua now continues with instructions on vision and money.

“The eye is the lamp of the body. So if you have a ‘good eye’ [that is, if you are generous] your whole body will be full of light; but if you and an ‘evil eye’ [if you are stingy] your whole body will be full of darkness. If, then the light in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23)

The idea behind this passage is one of childlike simplicity.  The eye is regarded as the window by which the light gets into the whole body.  The state of a window decides what light gets into a room.  If the window is clear, clean and undistorted, the light will come flooding into the room, and will illuminate every corner of it.  If the window is colored or frosted, distorted, dirty, or obscure, the light will be hindered, and the room will not be lit up.  Yeshua says that the light, which gets into any man’s heart and soul, depends on the spiritual state of the eye through which it has to pass.

The view we take of people depends on the kind of eye we have.  There are certain obvious things, which can blind our eyes and distort our vision. Continue reading “Vision and Money” →