I learned why the Pharisees and Scribes hated Jesus from your site

Question: I tried to check why the Pharisees and scribes hated Jesus and treated him as their enemy. The truth is in your articles (Jesus and the Pharisees). God will help to share more of the words of life so that everyone will reach the level of understanding of the love of God as well…

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Hypocrites

https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Hypocrites.mp3 Text: James 3:13-18 I.         How often I have been told, “I don’t like going to services. I know that so many of the people there are just hypocrites. They say one thing, but they don’t live it.”             A.        It is true. In religion, hypocrisy is a major problem.             B.        But before we can solve the problem, we…

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The Elder Brother of the Prodigal Son

by Bob Myhan Many people fail to realize that the third parable of Jesus recorded in Luke chapter 15, is nowhere, in the inspired text, called “the Parable of the Prodigal Son.” In fact, the parable is given no name either by Jesus or by Luke. A more accurate designation would be “the Parable of…

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What were the requirements to be a Pharisee?

Questions: Do you happen to know what the “requirements” were to be a Pharisee? Answer: The word “Pharisee” means “a separatist” in the Hebrew language. They arose while Greece was spreading its influence across the world as a group opposing Greece’s Hellenistic influence in Israel. It started as a social movement, became a school of…

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Lacking Compassion

by Jeffrey W. Hamilton I.         Compassion is the deep awareness of the suffering of another and the desire to relieve the suffering.             A.        Jesus illustrated compassion                         1.         Matthew 14:14 – it was compassion that led Jesus to heal the sick                         2.         Matthew 20:30-34 – the healing of two blind men                         3.         Mark 1:40-41 – Jesus was moved with compassion to…

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Religion on Parade

by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Matthew 23:5-12   I.         Jesus condemns the Pharisees many times and in our reading he condemns them for using religion as a way for people to notice them. – Matthew 23:5             A.        What is a phylactery (or some translations say frontlet)?                         1.         It comes from passages like Exodus 13:6-9.                                     a.         The sign or monument…

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Narrow-Minded Beliefs

by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Micah 6:1-8   I.         At times when I study with someone, I’m told that taking a firm stance on certain matters is legalism. People believe that religion is supposed to be about accepting other people, no matter what they believe (well, within reason).             A.        When you insist that only one way is…

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