HOW DOES THE FIRST COMMANDMENT RELATE TO YOU?

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HOW DOES THE FIRST COMMANDMENT RELATE TO YOU?
MATTHEW 22: 35 - 38
(PAGE 1446 COME ALIVE BIBLE)
JESUS CHRIST wants to help you get first things first in your
life. By virtue of serving our Lord as a pastor, I am privileged
to be allowed into the hearts and minds of many people. Though I
would not betray a personal confidence, I do feel free to share
a summary thought. These confidences often reveal complex and
confused lives. The reason: they have misplaced priorities.
Jesus has defined for us one of our greatest opportunities for
joy, gladness, and extreme delight. He did it in a most
distinctive manner under incriminating circumstances. A
religious leader who was a lawyer shaped a question in such a
complex manner that, according to the standards of that day, it
could not be answered without incurring the wrath of some group.
He entreated him: "Teacher, what is the great commandment of the
law?".
Here is the dilemma. The religious scribes recorded 613 laws:
248 affirmative and 365 prohibitions. Various little groups
chose what they considered the most important one and defended
it like modern Americans do their favorite athletic team.
Some extremists supported almost every one of the 613
commandments. There was even one radical group that insisted
thecommandment regarding wearing a fringe on a garment was the
most important.
Jesus reached back in the Old Testament and pulled out a passage
known as the Shema from Deut. 6:5. This was a familiar passage
because every Jew was required to quote it twice a day. However,
for the first time He made the passage ...

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