Verses 1-4
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To get a person started in learning to pray, it's good to use this basic framework.
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When you pray:
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Verse 2. Acknowledge God and His power often, remembering that His will is done. Trust Him!
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Verse 3. Ask Him for your necessities every day, so that you stay trusting in Him as your provider.
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Verse 4a. Continually express forgiveness, from your heart, for anyone that you might otherwise have ill-feelings towards.
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Verse 4b. Pray to be protected from the enemy, and from any unnecessary hardships or temptations.
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Verses 5-13
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Always pray persistently, without giving up (Luke 18:1).
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Any friend of yours would get up in the middle of the night if you were persistent and needed help.
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How much more will our loving Father answer when His children ask for His help? God is a good Father! He will help you!
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Asking, seeking, and knocking are continuous exercises. Jesus is talking about those who persist in prayer.
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Don't just pray once. Pray multiple times! Pray constantly!
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God does need you to ask multiple times before He will act; He's not reluctant by any means. But we must ask and seek continually in order to show that we will be faithful to pray. Persistent prayer grows us!
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Verses 14-22
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See teaching on Matthew 12 and Mark 3 for more details.
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When accused of casting out demons using demonic power, some in the crowds wanted a sign from Jesus, so that He could prove that His power was from God and not the devil. But Jesus didn't need to prove anything. He taught them something that explained it all:
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Satan has a kingdom of his own, and he will never work against himself. All houses and kingdoms must be united if they're going to succeed, and this is true even of Satan.
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Satan's efforts are organized.
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A demon would be a strong man, and to plunder a demon by freeing a person from its oppression would require restricting the demon. Therefore, if Satan were to cast out a demon, he would be restricting himself, and so he would fail.
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But understand that Satan could deceive someone by pretending to cast out a demon (Matthew 7:22-23), so don't believe someone just because they appear to be casting out demons in Jesus' name. Follow the preaching of the full and true gospel only!
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Verse 23
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All people are either for or against God's kingdom. Even believers, if their actions are not guided by the Word, can work against the kingdom.
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Understand that you are either gathering people closer to Jesus in your actions, or you are scattering them away from Him. There is no grey area.
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Do only what will bring people closer to Jesus!
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Verses 24-26
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A demonized person will end up seven times worse, when demons are cast out, if they are not saved afterwards.
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Don't try to cast out demons out of just anyone. Only cast demons out if you have to, or if a person is ready to receive the gospel afterwards.
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See teaching on Mark 9 for details.
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Verses 27-28
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Listening to the Word and obeying it will make you more blessed than Mary herself—who nursed and raised Jesus as His mother.
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We may also say that being obedient to the Word is a greater advantage than if we had Jesus as our own family member!
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Don't underestimate the power of the Word, and be diligent to learn and obey it!
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Verses 29-32
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The Queen of the South (of Sheba) repented at the sight and wisdom of Solomon (1 Kings 10), and the Ninevites repented at the preaching of Jonah (Jonah 3).
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And yet, the Jews in Jesus' day had the privilege of seeing the Son of God Himself—One far greater than Solomon and Jonah, who worked many miracles and even rose from the dead—and yet, they were always asking for one more miracle, for further proof; as if seeing the Son of God and wasn't enough.
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This tells us that the people who think they need to see a miracle don't really need to; and it is evil to tempt God for more miracles.
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Don't demand signs and wonders. Understand that the Word and the resurrection of Christ are all that you need to believe!
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Verses 33-36
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See teaching on Matthew 6 for more details.
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A lamp is meant to shine, to give light to everyone around it. In the same way, a person's eye—what they focus on and understand in the Word—is meant to give light to their body.
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What your eye sees is funneled to your brain and heart, which, powered by your spirit, are affected by either light or darkness (good or evil). If excitement and positivity from the kingdom fill your body, your eye is well controlled or well kept!
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If your body is always filled with negativity, the problem is your eye—you're not careful about what you see.
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But if you are careful to guard your eyes from looking upon anything evil (Isaiah 33:15), your body will have more positivity.
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Verse 36. Have no dark part in your body! Keep your eyes on things that are good and godly—read, watch, look upon things that will edify you, and then you will have no darkness in your body.
Verses 37-54
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Verses 39-44. Here Jesus exposes to the Pharisees that they were so obsessed with looking religiously clean in their outward appearances that they neglected the things that truly matter—sincerely caring for the poor (verse 41), doing what is right, and loving others (verse 42).
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Verses 45-52. Then Jesus convicts the lawyers of burdening people with commandments that they themselves will not keep, approving of the murder of God's prophets, and hindering people from finding the truth of God that they're seeking.
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To avoid being like the Pharisees and lawyers, and to truly please God, love others sincerely, teach others to do only what you yourself are doing, and strive to help others learn and excel in their faith!
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Verses 53-54. The result was that the scribes and Pharisees, who knew that they had been proven guilty of sin, sought to prove Jesus guilty of something. But Jesus had no sin, and they could not succeed.
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If you're going to bring correction to someone for sin, make sure that your conscience is clear! Don't have sin of your own that you're not dealing with!
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