Podcasts about shema israel

Consta no Shema Israel: "velo taturu acharei levavchem veacharei enechem" Não seguireis atrás de vosso coração e atrás de vossos olhos, pelos quais vos desviais.... FAÇA UM PIX RABINOELIPIX@GMAIL.COM E NOS AJUDE A DARMOS SEQUÊNCIA! #mistica #judaismo #fe #almajudaica #D'us #Deus #Kedusha #tzadik #Tsadik #hashem #emuna #teshuvah #emunah #judaismo #chassidut #mistica #leijudaica #rambam #maimonides #halacha #ahava #amor #torah #rebe #rebbe #respeito #midot

Consta no Shema Israel: "velo taturu acharei levavchem veacharei enechem"Não seguireis atrás de vosso coração e atrás de vossos olhos, pelos quais vos desviais....FAÇA UM PIX RABINOELIPIX@GMAIL.COM E NOS AJUDE A DARMOS SEQUÊNCIA!#mistica #judaismo #fe #almajudaica #D'us #Deus #Kedusha #tzadik #Tsadik #hashem #emuna #teshuvah #emunah #judaismo #chassidut #mistica #leijudaica #rambam #maimonides #halacha #ahava #amor #torah #rebe #rebbe #respeito #midot

Quelle est l'origine du Shema Israël, la plus célèbre prière juive ? Que révèle cette parole transmise par Moïse au peuple hébreu ? Qu'est-ce qu'une « mezouzah » ? Pourquoi Dieu dit-il d' « écouter » ?Réponse le dessin animé Le Prince d'Égypte, le groupe jamaïcin The Congos et des interprétations vibrantes du Shema Israël en VO en hébreu !Ouvrez grand vos oreilles, bonne écoute !Hébergé par Ausha. Visitez ausha.co/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

RAB RAUL ASKENAZI- LA POSICION AL DECIR EL SHEMA ISRAEL A LA MITA by TALMUD TORA MONTE SINAI

RAB SALLY ZAED- EL SHEMA ISRAEL - SIGNIFICADO Y PROFUNDIDAD-01 by TALMUD TORA MONTE SINAI

No final da vida do Patriarca Yacov, antes de seu falecimento, no Egito, chamou seus filhos e nesse momento falaram a frase e reza básica do judaismo: SHEMA ISRAEL AD. ELOKENU AD. ECHAD... PARASHA VAYIECHI, VAIECHI Curtiu a aula? Faça um pix RABINOELIPIX@GMAIL.COM e nos ajude a darmos sequência neste projeto! #chassidut #mistica #judaismo #kabala #cabala #tora #torah #kabalah #Parasha #Torá #yaakov #yossef #jose #farao #bereshit #shiur #shiurim #vaiechi #vayiechi #iacov #jaco

Fr Chris de Rosario says that God must reign over every aspect of our lives, not just in select moments or on Sundays. Drawing from the Shema Israel, it reminds us to love and honour God with our whole being—heart, soul, mind, and strength—making Him the centre of all we do, every day

Having received his Ph.D. in mathematical logic at Brandeis University, Rabbi Dr. Dovid Gottlieb went on to become Professor of Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University. Today he is a senior faculty member at Ohr Somayach in Jerusalem. An accomplished author and lecturer, Rabbi Gottlieb has electrified audiences with his stimulating and energetic presentations on ethical and philosophical issues. In Jewish Philosophy with Rabbi Dr. Gottlieb, we are invited to explore the most fascinating and elemental concepts of Jewish Philosophy. https://podcasts.ohr.edu/ podcasts@ohr.edu

Having received his Ph.D. in mathematical logic at Brandeis University, Rabbi Dr. Dovid Gottlieb went on to become Professor of Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University. Today he is a senior faculty member at Ohr Somayach in Jerusalem. An accomplished author and lecturer, Rabbi Gottlieb has electrified audiences with his stimulating and energetic presentations on ethical and philosophical issues. In Jewish Philosophy with Rabbi Dr. Gottlieb, we are invited to explore the most fascinating and elemental concepts of Jewish Philosophy. https://podcasts.ohr.edu/ podcasts@ohr.edu

Having received his Ph.D. in mathematical logic at Brandeis University, Rabbi Dr. Dovid Gottlieb went on to become Professor of Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University. Today he is a senior faculty member at Ohr Somayach in Jerusalem. An accomplished author and lecturer, Rabbi Gottlieb has electrified audiences with his stimulating and energetic presentations on ethical and philosophical issues. In Jewish Philosophy with Rabbi Dr. Gottlieb, we are invited to explore the most fascinating and elemental concepts of Jewish Philosophy. https://podcasts.ohr.edu/ podcasts@ohr.edu

Having received his Ph.D. in mathematical logic at Brandeis University, Rabbi Dr. Dovid Gottlieb went on to become Professor of Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University. Today he is a senior faculty member at Ohr Somayach in Jerusalem. An accomplished author and lecturer, Rabbi Gottlieb has electrified audiences with his stimulating and energetic presentations on ethical and philosophical issues. In Jewish Philosophy with Rabbi Dr. Gottlieb, we are invited to explore the most fascinating and elemental concepts of Jewish Philosophy. https://podcasts.ohr.edu/ podcasts@ohr.edu

Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary TimeThe famous expression, "We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak,” resonates well with all three readings this Sunday. Shema Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The word Shema is Hebrew for listen. Having attuned ourselves to God and others via active listening, we are open to receiving God's revelation, further revealing the kingdom of God.  Scripture Reading for November 3, 2024Deuteronomy 6:2-6Psalm 18:2-4, 47, 51Hebrews 7:23-28Mark 12:28-34 

Welcome to Seeking Truth with Sharon Doran. Sharon has a passion for scripture that will motivate and challenge you to immerse yourself in God's Word and apply His message to your everyday life. Visit SeekingTruth.net to learn more about bringing Seeking Truth to your parish or to become an online learner. Today it's part two of the Gospel of Mark, chapter 1, verses 1 through 15. And now, Seeking Truth with Sharon Doran. Jesus, the anointed one. And when they were all waiting for the anointed one to come, and who was the anointed one? The Messiah. So God saves is what Jesus means. God saves. They're waiting for an anointed one. God saves anointed one. Jesus Christ, God's anointed one. The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, then we get his identity. Son of capital G God. That's a bold proclamation. To the emperor of Rome, who is calling himself little g God, and he has a son too. So the son of God. Now, this is a striking title, a striking, bold proclamation of faith, because the world did not know that God had a son, because God had not revealed that yet. Even the Jews did not know God had a son, because they said every morning and every night, the Shema prayer, hear, O Israel, the Lord, our God is one Lord. All they knew was God was one. And they would pray at morning, night, morning, night, and they still do. From Deuteronomy chapter 6, the Shema Israel, hear, O Israel, the Lord, the Lord our God is one. They don't know God has a son. They don't know that he's one, two, and three, and one. They don't know anything about that yet. God has to reveal that through his God spell, through his gospel. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might. And these words, which I command you this day, shall be upon your heart, and you will teach them diligently to your children, and you shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. These are pretty important words. And you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand. And so the Jews would bind them on their hands. And they shall be in the frontlets of your eyes, and they would put them in the frontlets of their eyes. These are tefillin or phylacteries, they're called. Tefillin or phylacteries, they're little small leather boxes, and they contain leather straps and scrolls of parchment inside with all the verses of the Shema prayer from Deuteronomy 6 in Torah. Bind it to your head, bind it on your hands, bind it on your arms, teach it to your children, and put it on the, write it on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. So if you have any Jewish friends, they have a mezuzah on their door and inside the mezuzah. And when we bought our house from the Katzes and it had a mezuzah in the door and we kept it because inside the little brass thing is a little scroll with the Shema on it. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your might. It's called a mezuzah on your doorpost to this day. So they didn't know that God had a son. They thought God was one. So this is a bold proclamation of identity, that God Almighty, our one God, has a son. So he is already in this short line. We've seen two people of the Trinity, God the Father and God the Son. And we're going to see the Spirit before these 15 verses are over. So he's going to reveal the whole Trinity in the first 15 verses. They didn't know anything about it. But they did know Isaiah the prophet had said that, behold, I send a messenger before thy face that shall prepare the way. The voice of one crying out in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. They knew Isaiah well. And since Genesis 3, 15 and the fall of Adam and Eve, they had been waiting for a Messiah, one who would bring them back into communion with God because they had lost that when they got expelled from the garden. So they're waiting. Everyone's waiting for a Messiah. And this one's going to come before him who's going to prepare the way. So no one's going to miss this because one's going to come before him to prepare the way. Isaiah said it. I will send my messenger before thy face. He will prepare the way. It's going to be a voice of one crying out in the wilderness. Prepare the way of the Lord. Make his path straight. Now, Isaiah, we studied Isaiah, and it is called the fifth gospel because there are so many fulfillments to be fulfilled in Isaiah by Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Let's read what that said in Isaiah 40. It's so beautiful. You'll all love this passage. Let's just see where this came from. Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins. Would that be a good message? Yeah. See it together for the mouth of the Lord has done what? God spoke the word. The mouth of the Lord has spoken it. The mouth of the Lord and God said. God spoke and it was. The mouth of the Lord has spoken it. Now, if we go on to the last stanza of that beautiful Isaiah 40 and we think about St. Peter is really the one who Mark is writing for. Isaiah says this, cry, and I say, what shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the breath of the Lord blows upon it, and surely the people is grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but what will stand forever? The word of God will stand, And how long? Forever. That's what St. Peter said in 1 Peter 1. You who have been born anew, not of perishable seed, but imperishable through the living and abiding word of God for all flesh is like grass, all its glory like the flowers of grass. The grass withers, the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord abides forever. That word is the good news. news, the euangelion, the evangelium, the God spell, the good story that was proclaimed to you. Do you see an essence of St. Peter in Mark's gospel? Yes. Not only was the prophet Isaiah saying this, but the very final prophet of the Old Testament, the very last one, and then God was quiet for over 400 years. The very last prophet was Malachi. Malachi said something. Similar. Mary and Joseph bring him to the presentation and Simeon is outside and the Holy Spirit is so strong. Simeon's like, oh, he goes running into the temple after this baby and this young couple. They're so poor. They don't have a lamb. They just have the two little pigeon offering. Simeon takes that baby in his arms. He blessed God and he said, Lord, now let your servant depart in peace. I can die now according to what? Your word. According to your word, because my eyes have seen the salvation of all people, Gentile and Jew. This is him. This is the anointed one. This is Messiah. This is Jesus. God saves the anointed one, Jesus Christ. I know it by the power of the Holy Spirit. Anna the prophetess knew it too. She's in her 80s. She comes running in. She knows it. Mark's gospel, which is Peter's gospel, is not concerned with the infancy narratives. He is going to start with the ministry of Jesus that started when Jesus Christ was 30 years old. Peter didn't know anything about when Christ was a baby. Peter met Christ when Christ was 30 years old. How do we know that? Thank you, St. Luke, the careful historian, the doctor who's careful with his charting. He said that Jesus was 30 years of age in Luke chapter 3. Why is that important? That's important because in order to be a priest, guess how old you had to be? 30. Jesus won't be a Levitical priest. He will be a priest in the order of Melchizedek, but he's the the age of priesthood. Mark writes about Jesus from age 30 forward. And he says this, John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for what? The forgiveness of sins. So baptism for John had two components. There must be repentance. You must be sorry. You must humble yourself. You must go forward and repent with a contrite heart. And then what? You will be forgiven. You have to humble yourself, though, to repent. That's the hard part. That's where grace comes in. The Holy Spirit stirs us with grace. He acts on us. He acts on that sanctifying grace from our own baptism to get us to niggle enough that we want to go repent and be forgiven in the sacrament of confession. John the Baptizer appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Now, this is a picture of St. John the Baptist by El Greco. This is what Matthew said about him. Truly, I say to you, this is Jesus talking now. These are Jesus's own words in the gospel of Matthew. Truly, I say to you, among those born of woman, there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist yet. He who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than John. Who's Jesus talking about? Who could be more humble than John the Baptist? Jesus himself. Truly I say to you, among those born of woman, there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist, yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John. For all the prophets, Jesus is still talking, for all the prophets and the law prophesied about John the Baptist. And if, if you are willing to accept it, Jesus Christ said, he is Elijah who is come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Everybody knew that someone had to come before Jesus. Remember on the cross when Jesus is crying out and some of the people say, is he Elijah? No, he's Jesus. Elijah was John the Baptist. Jesus told them that in Matthew 11, in his own words, for you with ears to hear, John is Elijah. This is a typology clue from Jesus. Jesus Christ himself said that John is Elijah. They dress alike. They talk alike. They look alike. Now, who is this John the Baptist? His dad was Zechariah. He was a priest. His mom was from the daughters of Aaron, another priestly family. Aaron's the brother of Moses. Elizabeth. And Elizabeth is barren, and they are old, old, old, old. They're advanced in years. She's never had a baby. She's sterile. She's barren. She's past menopause. There's no way they're having a kid, right? But his lot is drawn. And Zechariah goes into the temple that day, and I'm sure Elizabeth said, now make sure you pray that we have a baby. And he goes in, his lot is drawn, and he's in the Holy of Holies, the holiest place on the face of the earth. And an angel appears and says, don't be afraid, Zechariah. Your prayer has been heard. And your wife, Elizabeth, what is he praying for? He's every, any good priest, Levitical priest would be praying for the consolation of Israel, for the Messiah to come and save him from all the suppression of the Roman empire. And, and, and, oh yeah. And my wife wants a baby, but it's the same answer because the baby his wife is going to have is going to be the forerunner to the Messiah that has to come first before the Messiah. So it's a double dip. Don't you love when you get a double dip prayer? It's a double dip. And if you will have joy and gladness and many are going to rejoice at his birth. Why? Because he's the forerunner to the Messiah. And he's going to be great before the Lord, and he's not going to have any drink, no wine, no strong drink. That means he's going to take that Nazarite vow from the book of Numbers, and he's going to be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. This is a first. No one had an indwelling Holy Spirit because Jesus hadn't released the Holy Spirit yet on the face of the earth. John is an exception, the forerunner. He is going to be filled with the Holy Spirit from the moment of conception on. That's how he knows inside her stomach to jump up and down when he's in front of the Messiah. He's full of the Holy Spirit. And he will turn many of the sons of Israel to the Lord. And he, now listen to this, he will go before him in the spirit and the power of who? Elijah. And what will he do? He will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready for the Lord a people prepared. A people prepared for what? A people prepared to meet the Messiah with clean hearts. That's what John's going to do. These are the famous last words of Malachi chapter 4, the very final sentences of the Old Testament. Malachi wrote, Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day that the Lord comes. And what will he do? He will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their Just what Zechariah said. Jesus is going to come. He's going to reverse all the curses of the fall and usher in all the blessings. He does just the opposite. He gives the greatest blessing, the gift of salvation, the gift of communion again with the Trinity that we lost in the garden. I will send you, Elijah, the prophet, before the Lord comes. He's going to turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers. That's exactly what Zechariah was praying. It's a prayer of the church. The deacons say it. The Liturgy of the Hour is every morning you say Luke 1. You say Zechariah's prayer. He's going to go before him in the spirit of the power of Elijah. This is Malachi. His name means my messenger. He's the final prophet in the Old Testament. And his book was written about 400 years before the birth of Christ, about 430 years before Christ. And this was nearly 100 years after the Jews had come back from the Babylonian exile. Now, the only scripture Jesus had were the Old Testament scrolls. He had the law and the prophets. They were scrolls. They were written in Koine Greek at the time because Alexander the Great had changed everything into Greek. Now, everything Everything's Latin because Rome is the world power. But the final words of the final scroll that God revealed to humans was that of Malachi, that he was sending Elijah the prophet before the terrible day of the Lord. So everyone knows Elijah has to come first. At every Passover, they set a place for Elijah, the end of the Old Testament. That's it. That's it. Those are the last words. And then it's silent for over 400 years. And then God spoke. An incarnate word, Jesus Christ. These two boys, Jesus Christ and John the Baptist, they're six months apart in age, half a year, six months difference. God sent Gabriel, who we're celebrating today, the Feast of the Archangels. One is Gabriel. The angel Gabriel came to Mary with a message. Behold, your kin's woman. She's related to Elizabeth. She's in her her old age, and she has conceived a son, and she is in her sixth month, the one who was called barren. She's six months along. Mary in haste goes to see her. She wants to serve her kinswoman. She knows she's old. She's pregnant, too. She has a secret she'd like to share with Elizabeth. She'll get it. Elizabeth is six months along, six months ahead of Mary's newly pregnant. Mary will stay there the whole time till the birth of John the Baptist. They can't believe they're having a baby, And Mary's there to help, to see the baby. But what happens, ladies, at about three months on your first baby? You start to show. Like now, after having seven pregnancies, five kids, and now I look seven months pregnant all the time. But back then, on your first baby, you're not showing until about three months. So Mary's three months along. Guess what? She's in her first trimester. She's beginning to show. She's going to go back to Nazareth. And people are going to be like. Have you seen Mary? Have you seen Mary? Have you seen Mary? Do you think? Do you think? So she has to go back. But Elizabeth and Zachariah have a beautiful baby boy, and he's going to be the forerunner of the Messiah. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High. You will go before the Lord to prepare his way. Check, check, check. He will be the forerunner, John the Baptist. Now, in a triptych in the Russian Orthodox faith, they always put Mary, Jesus, and John the forerunner together. John often in icons has his own head on his platter because we'll see in Mark 6 how it ends with him. One of my favorite accounts of John is in Mark 6. And sometimes when it's not his head on a platter, he'll have Jesus in the chalice, baby Jesus, and he's pointing to him. In artwork, John the Baptist is always pointing to Jesus. So he sees Jesus, the true presence in the chalice there. Forerunner, why does he go before the Messiah? To soften their hearts so they can repent, be forgiven, have pure hearts when Messiah comes. Anytime you repent, the Holy Spirit just floods in. Jesus cannot resist repentance. I don't care what you've done. It can be the worst sin on the face of the earth. But if you repent and you have a contrite heart, you will be forgiven. There's nothing

We are now in a special miniseries of the 30 pesukim of our Musaf prayers. I went out of order yesterday. ש ְא֤וּ שְׁעָרִ֨ים is actually pasuk #6 Pasuk number five is יְהֹוָ֣ה מָלָךְ֮ גֵּא֢וּת לָ֫בֵ֥שׁ לָבֵ֣שׁ יְ֭הֹוָה עֹ֣ז הִתְאַזָּ֑ר אַף־תִּכּ֥וֹן תֵּ֝בֵ֗ל בַּל־תִּמּֽוֹט׃ (Tehilim 93,1) Hashem Malach Ga'ut Lavesh Hashem will have reigned,He donned or cloaked Himself in ge'ut/ grandeur (or literally arrogance ). Lavesh Hashem Oz Hitazar. Hashem will have girded Himself with might Af Tikon Tevel Bal Timot/He made the world firm that it should not falter. This is obviously a pasuk of Malchuyot (every pasuk of malchuyot / kingdom has the word melech in it except for the 10 th - Shema Israel). So, Hashem Malach/Hashem is King. We say this in our Shir shel Yom . There is a different song for each of the seven days of the week, and we say this song on Fridays because it was first said on a Friday, when Adam HaRishon opened his eyes and said, Hashem Malach. He opened his eyes on the first day and saw, Here I am, a creation in a world that was created by God, Who is the King. Rav Wolbe says, similarly on Rosh Hashanah, when we open our eyes, we should imagine that we just landed here for the first time. And when we look around, we should say, " What is this growing out of the ground? What's this hard, wood-like material? How is it growing? What is going on here ?" We should look at the world in that curious fashion, as if we just got here. And like Adam Harishon, we say, Hashem Malach Ge'ut Lavesh, God the King is wearing a coat of ge'ut , which sounds like arrogance - not a very good. Middah. Why are we calling God arrogant? The truth is, we say in Az Yashir, Ki Ga'oh Ga'ah /God was arrogant over the arrogant, and the explanation is that Arrogance means taking credit for what you did. The Mesilat Yesharim says, Machshiv et Atzmo/You are giving yourself importance, credibility, recognition for what you did. The only problem is you didn't do it. No one can take credit. It's arrogant to take credit for what you didn't do. Only God can take credit. The example that I like to give is a young child learning how to play baseball for the first time. His father lobs him these very easy pitches, and his brother stands behind the plate with the boy, holding the boy's hands around the bat. He gets this easy pitch lobbed to him by his father, and his brother swings the bat with the boy, and hits a line drive. The boy is thrilled. He hit a ball ! He bangs his chest with pride. Any bystander would say, Doesn't this kid get it? They lobbed him the ball. It was such an easy pitch to hit, and he didn't even hit it! His brother was holding his hands over the bat and the brother was the one that swung! That's really what goes on in our lives. I'm talking to myself. We have to constantly remind ourselves that we can't say, Kochi V'Otzem Yadi/My strength and My power caused me to be successful at war or anything else. No. It has nothing to do with you. God gives you the strength. And we know the famous Targum, God gives you the ideas. He gives you the ideas to amass wealth. So it's far, far from us doing anything. And therefore, only God has the right to take credit and, so to say, be arrogant because it's okay for God to be arrogant. There's nothing wrong with that. He is the One and the only one that can truly take credit for anything that happens. Hashem Oz Hitazar/ God girds Himself with Oz/strength Af Tikon Tevel Bal Timot/He made the world firm that it should not falter. This means that even when Hashem is using His power and His strength, at the same time He's making sure that the world continues to exist and run in a proper fashion. There's a beautiful Chida that quotes the Arizal that says the words Ge'ut lavesh גאות לבש rescrambled is go'el Shabbat גואל שבת God will redeem us in the merit of Shabbat. It's known that when Rosh Hashanah comes out on a Shabbat, it's either a great year or a very difficult year. This year was a year that Rosh Hashana came out on Shabbat. What is it about Shabbat that brings the Ge'ulah ? The Chida explains, in this pasuk, that when we keep Shabbat, we are being Modeh/admitting that Hashem created the world. He's king of the world, there's nothing else but Him and the world is all His. Well, if that's the case, and I really believe that, He can forgive any sin. That's why the merit of Shabbat, which is stating all those things, will bring the Geula . Shabbat strengthens that belief and all those beliefs in Hashem's Kingdom- and that causes our sins to be forgiven and that brings the Ge'ulah . The truth is, that's what every Rosh Hashanah is all about, and every Rosh Hashanah we proclaim, God is King, He's in charge , and He can do whatever He's like, and therefore we will be forgiven.

Escucha Israel

RAB SHAUL URFALI- EL SHEMA ISRAEL by TALMUD TORA MONTE SINAI

RAB DAVID HANONO- EL SHEMA ISRAEL SU PODER Y SU SIGNIFICADO by TALMUD TORA MONTE SINAI

Shema Israel.. why Baruch Shem is said quietly and it's connection to galut Edum & Ishmael by Rabbi Benjamin Lavian

El versículo de Deuteronomio 6:4, conocido como la Shema, dice así: "Oye, Israel: Jehová nuestro Dios, Jehová uno es." ¿Quién es este Dios? ¿Presenta este versículo a la Trinidad? ¿Es este Dios uno, dos, tres, triuno, o una unidad compuesta? ¿Qué es lo que nos presenta el mismo contexto? ¿Por qué es importante este versículo? ¿Qué es lo que Jesús entendía y enseñó al respecto? ¿Qué dicen los otros autores del Nuevo Testamento al respecto? Analizamos este versículo e intentamos responder estas preguntas en esta presentación. Vea el video en Youtube: https://youtu.be/hy4tOSb5qII Ve la lista de reproducción de Estudio sobre la Divinidad: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL99Wh-ROsXdCkQcMo_XIdab0Ax2ZEoc87&si=ChqGuS5El50SXrMc Vea el tema: ¿Se puede conocer a Dios? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpOHH3Cxgds Si quieres saber más sobre la enseñanza respecto del Padre, del Hijo y del Espíritu Santo, descarga Estudio sobre la Divinidad en el siguiente link: https://www.queteconozcan.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Estudio-sobre-la-Divinidad.pdf Presentado por Daniel Bernhardt Imágenes cortesía de envato.com, pixabay.com y wikipedia.org. Música por Marlise Schneider. Doxologia Judas 24 y 25 por Marlise Schneider, Canal Agape Piece: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCrJe1zxXhO9gjCybHhHSXQ Ponte en contacto: https://www.queteconozcan.org/contacto/ Suscribete al podcast: https://anchor.fm/que-te-conozcan Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for fair use for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.

Mabuting Balita l Oktubre 29, 2023 – Ika-30 l Linggo sa Karaniwang Panahon Ebanghelyo: Mateo 22,34-40 Narinig ng mga Pariseo na napatahimik ni Hesus ang mga Sadduseo, at sumang-ayon sila sa kanya. Kaya't sinubukan siya ng isa sa kanila na isang guro ng Batas sa tanong na ito: “Guro, ano ang pinakamahalagang utos ng Batas?” “Mahalin mo ang Panginoon mong Diyos nang buo mong puso, nang buo mong kaluluwa at nang buo mong pag-iisip. Ito ang una at pinakamahalagang utos. Ngunit may isa pang ikalawa na tulad nito: ‘Mahalin mo ang iyong kapwa gaya ng iyong sarili.' Sa dalawang utos na ito nabubuod ang buong Batas at Mga Propeta.” Pagninilay: Sa Ebanghelyong ating narinig, hindi isang pagano ang nagtanong kay Hesus.  Isa itong Pariseo, isang mananampalataya at dalubhasa sa Batas.  Gayunpaman, lumapit siya kay Hesus hindi upang makatagpo ng katotohanan, kundi upang subukin ito.  Sa kabila ng maitim na balak ng Pariseo, matiyaga pa ring nagturo si Hesus.  Batid Niya kung paanong pinahihirapan ng Anim na raan at Labintatlong (613) mga batas ang mga karaniwang tao.  Puno sila ng takot na maaaring nilalabag nila ang mga utos.  Tuloy, nais nilang malaman ang pinakamahalagang batas, sa pag-iingat na hindi ito malabag at masunod nila ito ng buong katapatan.  Bilang tugon sa kanyang tanong, hindi nag-atubili si Hesus sa pagtukoy sa isang bahagi ng aklat ng Deuteronomio.  Ito ang Shema Israel, ang panalanging kinagisnan at dinarasal ng bawat Judio sa umaga at gabi.  Dinggin ninyo mga Isrealita:  si Yawe lamang ang Diyos.  Ibigin ninyo Siya ng buong puso, kaluluwa at lakas.  Hindi nakakagulat ang tugon ni Hesus; ang nakakagulat, nang dugtungan Niya ang Kanyang sagot ng isa pang utos:  Ibigin ang iyong kapwa gaya ng iyong sarili.  Mga kapatid, pinag-isa ni Hesus ang dalawang utos at sinabing ito ang pinakamahalagang utos sa lahat.  Iminumulat Niya ang tao sa katotohanang katumbas ng ating pag-ibig sa Diyos, ang pag-ibig natin sa'ting kapwa.  Ayon pa nga sa Unang sulat ni San Juan:  Kung ang kapatid na iyong nakikita, hindi mo maibig, paano mo maiibig ang Diyos na hindi mo nakikita?  Sa ating pang-araw-araw na buhay, paano tayo nakatutugon sa panawagang ito ng Panginoon na “Ibigin ang Diyos nang higit sa lahat, at ibigin ang kapwa gaya ng sarili?”  Panginoon, nababatid ko po na hindi ko kayang ibigin ang aking kapwa, kung wala akong wastong pagmamahal sa aking sarili.  Puspusin Mo po ako nang Iyong pagmamahal at tulungang mahalin at patawarin ang aking sarili, nang maibahagi ko ang biyayang ito sa aking kapwa. Amen.  

Our society is developing intellectually but are we keeping up spiritually? Fr Toby looks at the ancient Jewish prayer and Jesus' call to use our minds.

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Podcast Jajam Shlomo (Sally) Zaed La categoría del Shema Israel Conferencia Historia y Creencias / Fe, filosofía y espiritualidad Historia y Creencias / Fe, filosofía y espiritualidad

Podcast Jajam Shlomo (Sally) Zaed El Zejut de decir Shema Israel Conferencia Historia y Creencias / Fe, filosofía y espiritualidad Historia y Creencias / Fe, filosofía y espiritualidad

Podcast Jajam Shlomo (Sally) Zaed La Mitzvá del Shema Israel Conferencia Historia y Creencias / Fe, filosofía y espiritualidad Historia y Creencias / Fe, filosofía y espiritualidad

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For more inspiration visit: kingdavidkabbalah.comTeachings by Rabbi Yakov ShepherdBackground music producer: Pablo @pablovamil

https://podcast.evangelicalendtimemachine.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Shema-Israel-Sarit-Chadad.mp3

Jesus' teaching on the great Shema Israel forms the very core of his teaching about the relationship that the God-who-is-love wants with each of us. Love is nourished by listening in prayer. Listen to learn more! Podcast by Fr. Luke Fletcher, CFR.

Rav Ilan Nigri

Shema Israel by Rab Yaakob Nacach

RAB ISAAC SUTTON- SHEMA ISRAEL by FOOD 4 OUR SOUL

Shiur diario del Rab Gabriel D. Michanie.

Lectura del shema antes de dormir

Get ready for an exciting, eye-opening episode! Carly and Ezra talk with Rabbi Troy Wallace, Vice President of Congregation and Leadership Development at Jewish Voice Ministries. They discuss some fascinating expressions of the Trinity found throughout the entire Bible. Troy shares loads of Scriptures, so you’ll want to be sure to look them all up to see how amazing the God of Israel is as He reveals Himself. In this episode of A Jew and A Gentile Discuss, the three discuss: What “the Trinity” means Why the Trinity is a fundamental problem for Jewish people How Jewish people understand the Spirit of God mentioned in the Creation story Appearances of Jesus in the Hebrew Scriptures Tips for discussing the Trinity with Jewish friends and family Along the way Additional things you’ll learn, highlights, things discussed: How the Hebrew word echad often means a “compound unity” rather than a single item That the word “Trinity” isn’t in the Bible How the problem Jewish people have with the Trinity is a by-product of the false division that arose between Judaism and Christianity early on That New Testament writers speak of each member of the Trinity while also driving home the point of one God Many examples of Israel’s forefathers experiencing God in the form of a man The fascinating account of Abraham’s visit with God The religious leaders of Jesus’ day thought they were obeying the Torah when they picked up stones against Him Encouragement to Jewish listeners to set aside one assumption and Christian listeners to set aside another. There’s a lot more going on in the Scriptures that’s there to see Words you might learn in this episode Shema Israel, echad, Malach Adonai, Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey (YHWH, or Yahweh), ruach/Ruach, devar, synoptic gospels, vay yerah Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey, adam (man) Scriptures referenced in this episode Deuteronomy 6:4, Genesis 1:2, Exodus 3:2, Genesis 18:1–33, Galatians 1:1, 2 Peter 1:17, 1 Corinthians 8:6, James 2:19, John 1:14, John 1:18, Genesis 3:8, Joshua 5:13–15, Judges 13:2–25, John 8:56–59, 1 Samuel 3, Psalm 33:4, Jeremiah 1:13, Colossians 1:15, John 17, John 19:26–27, Isaiah 6, Ezekiel 1, Deuteronomy 13:1–5, John 11:49–50, Revelation 13:8, 2 Timothy 3:5, Acts 26:9–18, Ephesians 4:6, Acts 2, Ezekiel 1:26–28 ◦◦◦ Want a Free Bag of Amazing Coffee? Enter our monthly drawing at www.ajewandagentilediscuss.org, and you could win a free bag of some of the finest Ethiopian coffee in the world from Lost Tribes Coffee Co. Do you like what you hear? You know, the only way we can continue providing these engaging conversations is through listener support. If you like tuning in to A Jew and A Gentile Discuss, would you consider supporting the podcast with a financial gift? Any amount – small or large – helps. Thanks! Want more discussions more conveniently? You can subscribe to A Jew and A Gentile Discuss wherever you get your podcasts. Sharing: It’s nice Don’t keep us all to yourself! Share the podcast with people you know. Let them in on these exciting conversations, and spark some of your own discu

It’s no secret: Jewish people – most of them anyway – don’t believe Jesus is the Messiah. But what are the fundamental Jewish objections to the idea that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah promised in the Hebrew Scriptures? In this episode of A Jew and A Gentile Discuss, Carly and Ezra dig into the Bible to dispel misunderstandings and answer the difficulties Jewish people have with Jesus. They show you that encountering objections from your Jewish friends or family doesn’t have to be the end of the conversation. This episode is loaded with Scripture to help you continue the discussion. They cover what they consider to be the Top 5 Jewish objections to Jesus: Jesus is for Gentiles, not Jews If Jesus is the Messiah, why is there no peace on Earth? Isaiah 53 is about Israel, not Jesus Jews believe in one God, but Christians believe in three God alone is our Savior, so we don’t need Jesus Along the way, you’ll learn: A crucial precursor to talking to a Jewish person about Jesus A common mistake Christians make that actually reinforces a serious Jewish misunderstanding How to engage in a vastly different conversation than most Jewish people have ever had with a Christian Two Messiahs or two manifestations? The importance of understanding the difference between Messiah ben David and Messiah ben Joseph Two kinds of peace, and the one the Messiah had to bring first Why Isaiah 53 can’t be about Israel The difference between three Gods and three expressions of Him Evidence of the Trinity in the Hebrew Scriptures Ezra urges that if you get only one thing from this episode, get this: As a Gentile, you’re not there to invite a Jewish person to convert to another religion and receive your Savior. You’re there to share how the God of Israel brought you into His family through the Messiah sent to the Jewish people first. Words you might learn Dual Covenant Theology, mitzvot, Yeshua ben David, Messiah ben David, Messiah ben Yosef, ecclesia, anti-missionary, Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai echad, b’yachad, Yeshua Scriptures referenced Acts 4:12, Romans 3:10, Psalm 14:1, Ecclesiastes 7:20, Ruth 1:16, Deuteronomy 18:15, Isaiah 53, John 1:29 and 36, Romans 1:16, Matthew 15:24, Zechariah 14:8, Matthew 20:28, Isaiah 53:1–5, Matthew 22:44, Luke 11:2, 2 Corinthians 4:4, Ephesians 2:8–9, Jeremiah 1:15, Psalm 48:1–2, Exodus 4:22, Isaiah 10:32, Lamentations 3:22, Ezekiel 6:8, Isaiah 53:9, Psalm 133:1, Genesis 1:2, Jeremiah 31:9, Genesis 32:22–30, John 10:11, John 10:29–31, Isaiah 9:6 Other episodes mentioned Episode 36 – Problems with the Church Replacing Israel Episode 37 – Does the Bible Say the Church is the New Israel? Episode 41 – How to Share Jesus with a Jewish Friend – Awkward but Important Episode 43 (following this episode) – Shema Israel – Jewish Problems with the Trinity ◦◦◦ Want a Free Bag of Amazing Coffee? Enter our monthly drawing at www.ajewandagentilediscuss.org, and you could win a free bag of some of the finest Ethiopian coffee in the world from Lost Tribes Coffee Co. Do you like what you hear? You know, the only way we can continue providing these engaging conversations is through listener support. If you like tuning in to A Jew and A Gentile Discuss, would you consider supporting the p

Professor: Rushdoony, Dr. R. J Subject: Prerequisite/Law Genre: Speech Lesson: 1-5 Track: 3 Dictation Name: RR130B3 Date: 1960’s-1970’s [Rushdoony] Deuteronomy six, the first commandment and the Shema Israel. “1 Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it: 2 That thou…Read more →

January 17, 2021 Speaker: Ian Campbell Deuteronomy 6.3-4, Luke 10.27-28 As we continue to understand the Shema Israel we come to the phrase "The Lord is our God, the Lord is One" which is the heart of the creedal statement and also of Christian creeds though the years. What exactly does it mean? What is our relationship now with Israel as she is addressed in the Shema? Did the lawyer asking Jesus the question have any idea that the One he was asking was the One? The video referred to can be viewed at https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/yhwh-lord/

January 10, 2021 Speaker: Ian Campbell Deut 6.4-5; Luke 10.27 Shema Israel Does Christianity have a short version? That's essentially what a young lawyer asked Jesus. Jesus turned the question back to him and he gave the answer correctly. He quoted the Shema Israel, referring to Deuteronomy 6.4-5. He had apparently heard Jesus, the new rabbi in town, who had added a second half. Still within the scope of Jewish faith Jesus added the love of neighbour to the love of God. That's it. Love God, Love your neighbour. Thus Jesus summed up the whole story of faith. The video referred to can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KQLOuIKaRA&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=BibleProject

Cycle du cours sur Chema Israel Pensez à le partager pour que le cours se diffuse au plus grand nombre. Avec les restrictions et couvre-feu les réunions en soirées sont pratiquement impossible. Mais ce sont nos seules sources de revenus à titre personnel. Vous avez la possibilité de mettre en place une conférence en réunion Zoom pour vous et vos amis ou famille à l'occasion d'une commémoration ou en cadeau d'anniversaire. Pour connaitre les conditions écrivez-nous : ravyehia@hotmail.com Vous pouvez egalement faire un don sur le site : http://ravbenchetrit.com/content/3-dons

CrossRoads Church Making and maturing disciples together as a family

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Viktor Frankl (1905-1977) var en österrikisk-judisk psykiatriker och neurolog som överlevde fyra koncentrationsläger, däribland Auschwitz. 1946 skrev han boken "Livet måste ha mening", som dels handlar om hans erfarenheter i koncentrationslägret, men också presenterar Frankls psykologiska och existentiella filosofi, som han kallar för logoterapi. Kärnan i logoterapin är att människans djupaste behov är att realisera mening, en mening som på samma gång är objektiv, samtidigt som den är personlig och individuell. Logoterapin syftar till att hjälpa människor upptäcka mening och realisera den i sitt eget liv. I detta avsnitt uppmärksammar Tro & förnuft-podden att det är 75 år sedan andra världskriget tog slut genom att läsa och diskutera Frankls bok, som avslutas med orden: "Vår generation är realistisk, ty vi har fått lära känna människan sådan hon verkligen är. Människan är, när allt kommer omkring, det väsen som uppfann gaskamrarna i Auschwitz, men hon är också det väsen som rakryggad gick in i dessa gaskamrar med Fader vår eller Shema Israel på läpparna."

Music from the Noahide Nations CD 'For Heavens Sake'. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Shema Israel (Ascolta Israele), Adonai (God), Elohim (Lord) Sostieni la Missione e la Visione che Dio mi ha dato!!

Tu Aimeras Hachem Cycle de cours sur Shema Israel

En cette période de confinement, le Rav Benchetrit continue de prodiguer ses conseils de vie. Cycle de cours sur le Shema Israel

En aquel tiempo, un escriba se acercó a Jesús y le preguntó: «¿Qué mandamiento es el primero de todos?». Respondió Jesús: «El primero es: “Escucha, Israel, el Señor, nuestro Dios, es el único Señor: amarás al Señor, tu Dios, con todo tu corazón, con toda tu alma, con toda tu mente, con todo tu ser”. El segundo es este: “Amarás a tu prójimo como a ti mismo”. No hay mandamiento mayor que estos». El escriba replicó: «Muy bien, Maestro, sin duda tienes razón cuando dices que el Señor es uno solo y no hay otro fuera de él; y que amarlo con todo el corazón, con todo el entendimiento y con todo el ser, y amar al prójimo como a uno mismo vale más que todos los holocaustos y sacrificios». Jesús, viendo que había respondido sensatamente, le dijo: «No estás lejos del reino de Dios». Y nadie se atrevió a hacerle más preguntas.

Oracion de Shema Israel

O Lord, graciously hear the prayers of Your people that we who justly suffer the consequence of our sin may be mercifully delivered by Your goodness to the glory of Your name; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen!

O Lord, graciously hear the prayers of Your people that we who justly suffer the consequence of our sin may be mercifully delivered by Your goodness to the glory of Your name; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen!

Isaiah 48 is very much a downer. Israel is repeatedly confronted with the word "shema" which means to both hear and obey--and then they are outright told that they have never heard and never obeyed. Yahweh delivers a very potent warning for those exilic Jews who are going to refuse to leave Babylon when Cyrus sets them free, and it's really easy to point our fingers and shake our heads but--how are we, all of us, still comfortably residing in Babylon when we have been called to be elsewhere?

Algunas leyes sobre cómo pronunciar el Shema Israel

La posición para pronunciar el Shema Israel y sus bendiciones.

¿Desde cuándo podemos pronunciar el Shema Israel a la noche? O mejor dicho ¿Cuándo comienza la noche?

Shiur Shema Israel, 5ta parte

Shiur Shema Israel, 4ta parte

Shiur Shema Israel, 3era parte, con el More Gus Gurevich

Shiur Shema Israel, 2da parte, por el More Gus Gurevich

Shiur Shema Israel, 1era parte, por el More Gus Gurevich

The Sages of Israel have always understood the Transcendence of God as Ein Sof. Learn the deepest level level of Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh...before we were ever in Yah's foreknowledge.

The Creator symbolically clothes Himself in the garments of "The Sefiroth", which are attributes of Hashem, his creative spiritual energies that fill and operate all the Universes. We learn from Deuteronomy 6:4 that Hashem is ONE (Shema Israel), not three or ten (godlike) beings. We show our love for Him by learning about His Torah and doing His will (mitzvahs - good deeds and kindness), by believing in and on his Mashiach. Watch on, to learn about these garments and open your eyes to the Torah of Elohim as he "Robes/Wraps " himself in all his Glorious and Splendid Torah. Website: https://theelectlife.org Don't forget to visit the website blog for more.

The Creator symbolically clothes Himself in the garments of "The Sefiroth", which are attributes of Hashem, his creative spiritual energies that fill and operate all the Universes. We learn from Deuteronomy 6:4 that Hashem is ONE (Shema Israel), not three or ten (godlike) beings. We show our love for Him by learning about His Torah and doing His will (mitzvahs - good deeds and kindness), by believing in and on his Mashiach. Watch on, to learn about these garments and open your eyes to the Torah of Elohim as he "Robes/Wraps " himself in all his Glorious and Splendid Torah. Website: https://theelectlife.org Don't forget to visit the website blog for more.

PRINCE HANDLEY PODCAST REVELATION WITH DIRECTIONA MIRACLE PODCAST PRODUCTION ~ ~ ~ PRINCE HANDLEY PORTAL 1,000's of FREE Resources WWW.REALMIRACLES.ORG ~ ~ ~ INTERNATIONAL Geopolitics | Intelligence | Prophecy WWW.UOFE.ORG MIRACLE OUTDOOR GOSPEL SIGNS OPEN AIR BIBLE MEDIA You can listen to the above message NOW. Click on the pod circle at top left. (Click “BACK” to return.) OR … LISTEN NOW >>> LISTEN HERE 24/7 release of Prince Handley teachings, BLOGS and podcasts > STREAM Twitter: princehandley ______________________________________ DESCRIPTION In this podcast teaching I will discuss MIRACLES that happened as a result of God giving me an IDEA for outdoor signs in different languages, and HOW two of them reached 1,000's of people every day for over a year. ______________________________________ MIRACLE OUTDOOR SIGNS OPEN AIR BIBLE MEDIA In the last session I talked to you about the "Vis Tab" poster idea that God gave me where we produced signs: small size (3 by 4 inches), medium size (10 by 12 inches), and large size (30 inch by 40 inches). These were all weatherproof outdoor signs; and when we put them up -- they were permanent -- and I mean permanent. If you wanted to take one off the building, you had to tear the wall down on the building! They reached multiplied millions of people for Messiah Jesus. I told you in the last podcast about how I took in―I didn't say smuggled―I took in about 4,000 of the smaller signs to Israel, and I may have taken in the larger ones, too (I forget). But anyway, God got me through customs with a MIRACLE. I also told you about and how God had policemen put them up on the walls of the Police Station in Jerusalem. Soldiers in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) put them on their weapons (rifles). These signs were mightily used in Israel. Well, I want to tell you some other things that happened with these signs. I promised to tell you about the large signs (30 by 40 inch). We had a special glue we used so they would have permanent fixture. Not only were the signs waterproof but they also had protective coating over them to keep them from fading due to the sun and the elements. I planned for them to stay up for years! I learned some new things from God. I had a friend and associate that worked with me. We started silk screening and we had different ideas that we shared with each other. In downtown Los Angeles, around Flower and Fifth Street, they were doing giant high-rise building construction. They were doing lots of deep excavation and construction. They were building the Twin Towers―the ARCO Towers or ARCO Plaza―at that time. This was a giant 52 story project. They had promo signs there, which listed the architects, engineers, contractors, etc. And these were just strategically placed by the LORD: one on the South East and one on the South West side of this giant "hole in the ground … one square city block" project.   And these signs were just perfect for the large 30 x 40 inch “Vis-Tab” posters the LORD helped me to invent (gave me the idea). So one night, my associate and I prayed about going downtown at about 3 AM in the morning. We pulled up in a van and we took the ladders out of the van. We worked on both the East and the West portion of the project, and we had to work fast. So we unrolled the signs and applied the special "formula" glue that would prevent the signs from being taken down! I remember we got the East portion done ... beautiful sign. It said, "Appearing Here Soon: Jesus Christ" and had a graphic of a world globe on it. On the other face of this big structure―on the West side―we were getting ready to place the big sign with a Star of David that said "MESSIAH DIED FOR US ... WAS BURIED ... IS ALIVE" with Hebrew writing that said "Hear, O Israel." [Shema Israel.] When we were working on the West portion, all of a sudden a police paddy wagon pulls up. Now we had already prayed that God would "blind" the police if they saw us. The police paddy wagon was like 10 feet from us waiting for a light. The light seemed like it lasted for eternity. We were right there in the middle, and I remember I'm holding onto the sign up on the ladder and my associate was using the squeegee on the bottom part of the sign, to smooth it out with the glue between it and the structure. All this time I'm reminding God that we asked him to "blind" the police. In other words, not to hurt them, but that they wouldn't see us. The policeman could have heard me if I even sneezed. He was 10 feet from me with an open door on the side of the paddy wagon where he was sitting. Anyway ... he never turned his head one second. Never even batted an eye; he just sat there looking straight ahead waitiing for the traffic light to change. I'm holding that sign up there, right by him―right beside him―and then he drove off when the traffic light changed. So the LORD was with us. Those signs stayed up there well over a year, until they had to take those structures down for landscaping and other reasons. Multiplied, multiplied THOUSANDS of people were reached EVERY DAY through those "Vis-Tab" signs―millions of people throughout one year's time―not only pedestrian traffic, but cars and public transit vehicles, as well. We probably had $100,000's of FREE advertising there. The construction project in downtown L.A.―the architecture, the planning, the permits, the structures―were ALL designed by God for us to place these signs at the right time: the perfect time. The construction project, including the infrastructure, was perfect for these signs. When you have an idea from God, the Holy Spirit will work ahead of you and prepare things for you ... so that what you do will be coordinated with other things and the logistics will flow together AT THE RIGHT TIME to release the Good News of Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) to go to the public ... to the world ... to the people. Now in a subsequent session, I'm going to tell you how I put a big billboard up―I want to give all the credit to the Holy Spirit―in downtown Los Angeles, right on the route of some of the wealthiest Jews in the world where they traveled by every day. It was a tremendous MIRACLE and I'll share that with you some other time. Anyway, I hope this encourages you to listen to God, to receive his ideas, and to implement the ideas―or at least share them with others―because IF the idea is not for you ... God wants you to be a good steward and share it with somebody else . The anointing of the Holy Spirit can be resident in―or upon―an IDEA to break the yoke of the enemy in the lives of people all over world. Remember, the Good News is for the world: every nation, every tribe, every tongue, every dialect, every family, people, ethnic and religious group of the world ... so that they might know the love of God and the Good News that God sent his Son―Yeshua, the Messiah of Israel―to be the one-time, supreme sacrifice for the sins of the world. And if YOU do NOT know Him, just PRAY and tell God that you want to receive Yeshua (Jesus) as YOUR Messiah right NOW. God will give you Eternal Life, forgive your sins, and start you on your way to heaven. I trust this has helped you, my friend. God has many IDEAS to give you―and many MIRACLES to happen as a result of those those ideas―as you implement them or share them with others. Baruch haba b'Shem Adonai. Your friend, Prince Handley President / Regent University of Excellence Podcast time: 7 minutes, 17 seconds. Copyright © Prince Handley 2019 _________________________ Rabbinical & Biblical Studies The Believers’ Intelligentsia Prince Handley Portal (1,000’s of FREE resources) Prince Handley Books NOTICE If you would like to partner with Prince Handley and help him do the Spirit exploits the LORD has assigned him, Click the secure DONATE you see below. God will reward you abundantly on earth … and in Heaven! DONATE A TAX DEDUCTIBLE RECEIPT WILL BE SENT TO YOU ___________________________

The post The First Commandment and the Shema Israel appeared first on Rushdoony Radio.

Va’etchanan in English means ’And I besought’. [Deut 3:23 – 7:11] In this Torah Portions Teaching Yiskah will be sharing some relevant and different topics that can be applied in our contemporary lives as Followers of Yeshua. 1. Seeking the LORD with all our hearts. Beseeching God with supplications and vehement cries. 2. Encouraging and strengthening new leadership. 3. The need to live a godly life when going into spiritual warfare. 4. Observing the statutes and the judgments of God so we might live and possess … 5. Saved by the blood of Yeshua 6. The disciples of Yeshua after His death and resurrection were zealous for the Torah. 7. Yeshua’s words on keeping the Torah. 8. Is keeping tradition sin? 9. Were the Scribes and Pharisees keeping the Torah? 10. Why was Yeshua so harsh on the Scribes and Pharisees? 11. Should gentiles keep the Torah? 12. We are in a New Covenant! Is the Torah still in place? 13. Teaching our children and grandchildren. 14. Adding and Taking away from the Torah. 15. Israel destined to be light to the nations. 16. Shema Israel. Just One God!!! Love the LORD with all your heart, soul and strength. 17. Destroying the enemies from within and from without. 18. Our relationship with Hashem is based in LOVE

Minister:Rev. Taylor KernTexts:Deuteronomy 6:1–9

A Cabala do Shema Israel by Rabino Ilan

Shema Israel, Shomer Israel

Shema Israel, Shomer Israel

Shema Israel, Shomer Israel

These next couple of lectures discuss Deuteronomy as a whole. First, the role of the Law in our relationship with God is discussed. Then the Shema Israel and the Ten Commandments, the cornerstone of the Law, is reviewed. God cannot be satisfied by our imperfect adherence to these Laws, but through His love and mercy our hearts will be circumcised to build a higher obedience.

When someone enters a place where they are saying shema israel Sep 13, 2016

Family Life - Winning a Generation Judges 2:6–14 While the memory of God's greatness and his kindness toward Israel was alive, the people maintained their devotion to God. Joshua and his generation kept the memory of God's mighty acts alive among the people. When the knowledge of God is preserved in a community, faith is nourished and obedience flourishes. If we allow our children to grow up without this knowledge of God, we create not only ignorance and unbelief, but also their destruction. It is the duty of all parents to teach their children about God and his saving work, so that the next generation will know and be saved. Psalm 115:4-8 You become what you worship Tell your children of God's greatness and of His kindness to your family. Deuteronomy 6:4–9 Known as "Shema Israel" the first two words in Hebrew, "Hear O Israel" Observant Jews say it in prayers twice a day and teach their children to say it as their last words of the day before they go to sleep. Two priorities: 1) Love The Lord with all your heart and 2) Teach your children to love The Lord. It starts with you. Are you living so that your family sees your love for God? Do they see that your relationship with God is a priority or an after thought? Your kids will listen to what you say, but they will do what they see you do. Teach your kids that love for God begins with respect for you. Proverbs 13:24: "He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him." Proverbs 19:18a: "Discipline your son while there is hope; do not set your heart on his destruction." Proverbs 22:15, "Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it from him." Proverbs 23:13, 14: "Do not withhold discipline from your child; if you strike him with the rod, he will not die. If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol." Proverbs 29:15, 17, "The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother . . . Discipline your son, and he will give you rest; he will give delight to your heart." Hugging and kissing, and tumbling, loving, forgiving, and spending time with your children are all just as important as spanking.

the right kavana in Shema Israel. jul 14, 2016

Hoy escuchamos y meditamos el primer mandamiento que Cristo nos dejó "Shemá Israel" Escuchamos Tambien: - Alfareros - Joan Sanchez - Jon Carlo - Fray Richard y mas! REDES SOCIALES: http://www.catoliscopio.com/recarga http://Facebook.com/catoliscopio http://www.twitter.com/catoliscopio REDES SOCIALES: http://www.catoliscopio.com/recarga http://Facebook.com/catoliscopio http://www.twitter.com/catoliscopio

Summary of today's show: On our Thursday show, Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Gregory Tracy, and Fr. Roger Landry consider the new headlines of the week, including the Supreme Court's ruling on the Affordable Care Act; Cardinal Seán's Fortnight for Freedom town hall; last Saturday's ordination Mass; the Redemptoris Mater Seminary gala dinner honoring Rabbi David Rosen; the Catholic Appeal passing a milestone; and Catholic Press awards for the Pilot. Listen to the show: Today's host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today's guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today's show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot's and The Anchor's websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today's topics: Supreme Court ruling; Fortnight for Freedom town hall; Ordination Mass; Redemptoris Mater dinner; Catholic Appeal; Catholic Press Awards 1st segment: Scot said big tech news from Susan. She finally got an iPhone and is turning to producer Rick Heil for help in learning how to use it. She has already added the ICatholicRadio app. It's been a busy week between the ordinations, the Fortnight4Freedom live,interactive town hall, the Redmeptoris Mater Seminary. They brought in Gregory Tracy and Fr. Roger Landry, who has just completed his move to St. Bernadette Parish. Scot said the live town hall was the first of its kind to his memory. Susan said she was impressed by the production values as well as the guests, Jim Garvey, president of Catholic University of America; Kim Daniel of CatholicVoices USA; and Angela Franks of Theological Institute for the New Evangelization. Greg said he liked it very much especially toward the end with the question and answer period. He liked the give and take among the panelists. Scot said that for those who hadn't been up to speed on these issues this town hall provided a lot of good background. Fr. Roger said he was also very impressed by the Q and A. He thought President Garvey looked like Christopher Plummer and speaks like a movie star. Angela Franks was incredibly powerful on how this isn't a war on women. Fr. Roger also thinks this is the kind of thing we should do more often, not just when we're in crisis. It's a great opportunity to learn a lot in one hour. Scot said Cardinal Seán very much liked it too and he thinks the cardinal would like to do similar things on other issues, like the Year of Faith this fall on what it's about and what he's asking Catholics in the Archdiocese to do. Scot said the Pilot article did a good job on getting quotes from the panelists, including Angela Franks: “You may have heard some in the secular media advance certain myths about the HHS mandate, which is the latest infringement on our religious liberty. For example, you might have heard that this issue is about access to contraception, or that this is just a Catholic issue, or that the Church is imposing her values on the rest of society. You might have heard that the Church is waging a war on women,” she said. “All are false, blatantly false. Clearly this issue cannot be about access to contraception, which is inexpensive and broadly available. If a person can afford a cell phone or even three lattes a month, she can quite likely afford to pay for contraception. Instead this issue is about forcing Church organizations and every Catholic to provide contraception and abortion-causing drugs and subsidize them, which are actions against public teaching,” she said. Susan said the comparison to phones and coffee grounds it in reality. Angela was succinct and refuted the major points we keep hearing in the popular press one by one. Susan also liked Angela's comment that it's up to the laity to take the lead on the front lines at the water cooler. Scot also quoted John Garvey's third point: “The framers of our constitution and the Bill of Rights protected the free exercise of religion because they thought it was important for human flourishing and happiness, but our society will not care about protecting religious freedom for long if it doesn't care about God. That is where we must begin to reform. We won't have and we probably won't need religious exemptions for nurses, doctors, teachers, social workers, if no one is practicing their religion. The best way to protect religious freedom might be to remind people that they should love God,” Garvey said. Scot said when we look at the Church as a family, many of our family members have stopped practicing their faith and we have to look in the mirror and see if we are still practicing our faith as strongly. If we don't care about our faith, then why should it be protected? Greg said the ambivalence of some Catholics was one of the arguments used against our religious liberty. Fr. Roger said the point illustrates how we got here. As for the how to move in the future, we have to grow in the importance of religion not just to society, but to each of us individually as well, which is why the Year of Faith is so important. Moving to other news, the ordination Mass took place at Holy Cross Cathedral last Saturday. The new priests are Fathers Eric M. Bennett, 31; Eric F. Cadin, 31; Felipe de Jesus Gonzalez, 34; John J. Healey, 62; Adrian A. Milik, 30; and Michael F. Sheehan FPO, 31. Father Michael Sheehan, a member of the Franciscans of the Primitive Observance, a religious community in the archdiocese, described the feeling of finally becoming a priest after completing his studies. “It is awesome. It is awesome in all of the senses of that word. On the one hand, there is the joyful thrill of knowing that you will be acting as Christ for people, and then on the other hand, there is the chilling responsibility that you will be acting as Christ for people,” he said. Father Sheehan's parents said their son felt the call to the priesthood from an early age. “I am extremely proud of Michael and all his accomplishments. It all culminates today in his ordination. We are very pleased and excited for him,” the new priest's father Gary Sheehan, 59, said. His mother Diane Sheehan, 57, said she knew her son would find success in his pursuits. “Michael has been a leader his whole life. We knew in second grade that he was going to do well whatever he did. God bless him. It has been a long time coming to this day,” she said. His grandmother, Anne P. Shannon, 83, said she knew her grandson had a calling since he was young. “I was attending the quarter of seven Mass every morning. He was with me, so I always knew that Michael was special, and that he indeed had a calling — and I was right,” she said. Scot said the ordination is the highlight for all the families, not just the new priests. Susan said she didn't attend the Mass, but watched it on TV and found herself compelled to watch the whole thing. She said she took notes on Cardinal Seán's homily in which he talked about St. Peter's denial, which he said wasn't made to a soldier with a knife, but to a waitress with an attitude. She talked about the images of the imposition of hands and how the CatholicTV coverage allowed for the sacred silence that occurred at several times during the Mass. Fr. Roger said the words of the sacrament are a continuing call to conversion 13 years after his own ordination. He looks at his hands differently now because of the sacraments he now performs with them. His hands are an extension of his body as he is an extension of Christ's Body. Fr. Roger talked about how as a priest he is now on call 24/7. He recalled a conversation with actor Jim Caviezel who played Jesus in the Passion of the Christ about the pressure that's on him all the time now to live up to that image and how he wondered how priests lived up to that their whole lives. Greg said he thought how fortunate he's been able to go to the last 10 out of 11 ordination Masses. What he recalls is the sense of emotion among the ordinands both before and after the Mass. One of his favorite moments was when the Cardinal blesses the hands of the new priests and then kisses them. The six men are starting their new assignments today. Breaking news this morning is that Archbishop Fulton Sheen has been declared Venerable, which is the second big step toward canonization. Fr. Roger said when he was in the diocese of Peoria, he'd heard about a miracle attributed to Sheen, which could advance him to the next step of beatification. He also called attention to the cause of Servant of God Alvaro del Portillo y Diez de Sollano, who was also declared Venerable, and was a major contributor to Vatican II as well as a close collaborator with Pope John Paul II. from on . Also in the Pilot this week is a story about the Redemptoris Mater Seminary gala dinner last Sunday. Susan said her first close-up experience of the NeoCatechumenal Way and the seminary was the big concert this past May at Symphony Hall and so she wanted to come to this dinner. She said it was a great dinner, honoring Rabbi David Rosen, the International Director of Interreligious Affairs of the American Jewish Committee and Director of its Heilbrunn Institute for International Interreligious Understanding. He is also the former Chief Rabbi of Ireland. He is a past chairman of the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations and is also Honorary Advisor on Interfaith Relations to the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. He serves on its Commission for Interreligious Dialogue, and represents the Chief Rabbinate on the Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land. Susan said he spoke about the struggle of the Jewish people for survival as well as the teaching of the Church in the Second Vatican Council on our Jewish elder brothers in faith. He also spoke about Pope John Paul II's friendship with the Jewish people. After the rabbi spoke, the seminarians of Redemptoris Mater sang “Shema Israel,” a song based on one of the most important Jewish prayers, to honor the speaker and the message. … The archdiocesan liaison to the Jewish community, Father David C. Michael gave his thoughts on the speaker and the meaning of the night for Catholic and Jewish communities in Boston. “Reaching out in love and understanding to one another, that is an important place to begin. Then we have to deepen that relationship, that's where the hard work begins. The hard work begins in the deepening,” he said. “I think that his quote of John Paul II was absolutely on target where the pope says before we can be a blessing to the nations we have to be a blessing to one another,” Father Michael said. Greg said Rosen is very significant in terms of Catholic-Jewish relations. When the Holy Father calls inter-religious meetings, it's Rosen who is called to stand next to the Pope as a representative of the Jewish faith. The audio of Rosen's speech will be on the Pilot's website on Friday. Scot said June 30 is a milestone date for the Catholic Appeal, because it's the end of the fiscal year and the end of the parish campaign. Scot said they are within $100,000 of making their fiscal year goal of $14 million but still have a long way to go to make the calendar year goal of $14 million in 2012. Scot also noted that the Pilot won seven Catholic Press Awards among 64 total awards given. Greg won an award for a photo he took to illustrate a story on the new Roman Missal. They also won an award for their editorial on the Maria Talks website as well as another on the Defense of Marriage Act. The Anchor also won an award for the columns written by Fr. Timothy Goldrick. The award was given by the Society for the Propagation for the Faith. Scot also profiled the obituary of Fr. Joseph Moynihan who was a pastor for 22 years in Westwood. 3rd segment: cot said the Supreme Court decision this morning was surprising, that Chief Justice Roberts sided with the so-called liberal wing. Scot read from : Today the United States Supreme Court issued a decision upholding as a tax the provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that requires individuals to purchase a health plan—the so-called “individual mandate.” For nearly a century, the Catholic bishops of the United States have been and continue to be consistent advocates for comprehensive health care reform to ensure access to life-affirming health care for all, especially the poorest and the most vulnerable.Although the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) did not participate in these cases and took no position on the specific questions presented to the Court, USCCB's position on health care reform generally and on ACA particularly is a matter of public record.The bishops ultimately opposed final passage of ACA for several reasons. First, ACA allows use of federal funds to pay for elective abortions and for plans that cover such abortions, contradicting longstanding federal policy.The risk we identified in this area has already materialized, particularly in the initial approval by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) of “high risk” insurance pools that would have covered abortion. Second, the Act fails to include necessary language to provide essential conscience protection, both within and beyond the abortion context.We have provided extensive analyses of ACA's defects with respect to both abortion and conscience.The lack of statutory conscience protections applicable to ACA's new mandates has been illustrated in dramatic fashion by HHS's “preventive services” mandate, which forces religious and other employers to cover sterilization and contraception, including abortifacient drugs. Third, ACA fails to treat immigrant workers and their families fairly. ACA leaves them worse off by not allowing them to purchase health coverage in the new exchanges created under the law, even if they use their own money.This undermines the Act's stated goal of promoting access to basic life-affirming health care for everyone, especially for those most in need. Following enactment of ACA, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has not joined in efforts to repeal the law in its entirety, and we do not do so today.The decision of the Supreme Court neither diminishes the moral imperative to ensure decent health care for all, nor eliminates the need to correct the fundamental flaws described above.We therefore continue to urge Congress to pass, and the Administration to sign, legislation to fix those flaws. Scot said it seems a measured statement. If the whole act had been struck down, the 50-plus lawsuits filed against the HHS mandate wouldn't have been needed, but today we're in the same position we were in yesterday. Greg noted that the justices in the minority would have struck down the whole law. He said the bishops were always in favor of expanding healthcare for the poor, just in a way that doesn't violate consciences. Scot said these lawsuits filed Catholic institutions continue and it is another constitutional issue about religious liberty. Today's decision was on the government's authority to enact an individual mandate. Scot said his analysis is that this clearly expands federal power, even if it's a tax on those who won't buy federal healthcare. Roberts said you can't force someone to buy healthcare, but you can tax someone for almost anything. Greg said Roberts also said he wasn't saying that this tax is a good idea. He's essentially saying that we need to respect the will of the people through their elected officials in passing a law if it's constitutional. It may not be a good law, but it's constitutional. It also means it can be repealed by the representatives as well. Scot said this is the second biggest court decision in his lifetime, second only to Bush v. Gore. Greg noted that this is different from Roe v. Wade when it invented something that didn't exist before. In this case, the court was only giving deference was being given to the elected representatives.

shema israel...

Introduction It was the last week of Jesus' life. We've been studying this last week of Jesus' life in another gospel account. In John's gospel, we have the account of Jesus' visit, his final visit to his friends, Martha and Mary, and Lazarus. You remember that it was Lazarus that Jesus had raised from the dead, and Martha and Mary, he loved them dearly. And they had dinner together, and after dinner this rather stunning episode took place. It's recorded in John 12:3-5, “Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet, and she wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected. ‘Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages.’ And Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. She's done a beautiful thing for me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want, but you will not always have me. What she did, she did to prepare me for my burial. And I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached, throughout the world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.’” That's an incredible encounter, isn't it? This lavish gift worth a year's wages, 300 denarii, just poured out on Jesus, just poured out on him. And the house just filled with this odor of pure nard. Nard came from Northern India. It was imported at great expense in these tiny little alabaster boxes, very expensive, and John's account gives us a sense. This was pure nard, this was the best stuff. Poured it all out on Jesus. And Jesus actually defends this action. This lavish action of luxury poured out on him, he defended it. I believe that this encounter literally happened, a physical thing that did happen, but I think it also speaks to me of something that God wants from me. The most precious thing that I have to offer. It's not in an alabaster box, it's in my heart. It's the affection, the love of my heart toward him, he wants that. He wants my uppermost affection given to him, poured out on him. That's what he wants. And every one of you came here today with that same gift. You have it, you have it to give, it's yours and you can give it to anyone you want. But God wants it for himself. He wants you to pour out your alabaster box of affection on Jesus, on God, through Christ. That's what he wants. That's what I think this commandment is standing over us for every moment of our lives, commanding us to do. And as we venture forth into a new decade, as we enter a new year, I think, the greatest single issue in our lives this morning is simply this, do you love God at all? And if you do, do you love God more now than you did a year ago? Is your affection for God growing and healthy and strong? Do you yearn for God and the things of God? Are you able to say, “My heart yearns for him as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I yearn for God, and I want him and he satisfies me”? Is this love that you have for God growing stronger and stronger or is it growing weaker? Or as I say with all seriousness in my heart, is it even there at all? Do you even love God? Are you even born again? Are you even alive at all, spiritually? This is what's standing over us today as Jesus opens up the law of Moses. And I think what struck me this morning, I really hadn't thought about it until now, but we are taking a trip this morning as a congregation to the foot of Mount Sinai. And here behind these statements, we should hear the terrors of the law. “This is the law,” said Jesus. This is the summation of the Law of Moses. And so we're taking a trip this morning to the base of Mount Sinai, to try to understand these commandments. What is the Greatest Commandment? Context: A Week of Biter Testing This is part of the final week of Jesus' life, a week of bitter testing when Jesus would be rejected by his own people. He was despised and rejected, Isaiah 53. He was not esteemed, he was not loved. He was rejected by his people. And this chapter, Matthew 22, is a chapter of one contest after another, one conflict after another with some of Jesus' enemies who are trying to snare him and trap him. You remember the Pharisees and the Herodians with the question of taxation; and then the Sadducees with their question on the resurrection. An Expert in the Law Now here is this expert in the law, verse 34, “Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together.” They are assembling together. Acts 4, quoting Psalm 2, “‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One.’ Indeed,” Acts 4, “Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus. They did what your power and will had determined beforehand should happen.” So here it is, this is the conspiracy against Jesus. And now they're sending forth this expert in the law to trap Jesus. But this man, I think it was a little different than most of Jesus' enemies. He was literally a lawyer, that meant he focused, spent his full-time on the Law of Moses. That's what lawyer meant here. But he was more than just one who studied the law, I think he loved the law. And I think he wanted to love the Lord who gave it. It's interesting in Mark 12, a fuller account of this whole thing, in Mark 12:28, this expert of the law noticed that Jesus had given a good answer and then began to speak based on that. “‘Well said, Teacher,’ the man replied, ‘You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, and with all your understanding, and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.’” That's what he said after Jesus had given his answer. And then Jesus said this, “When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, ‘You are not far from the Kingdom of God.’” The Testing Question So that's who this man was. Now, what was the testing question? Look at verse 36, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?” Now again, the law was the law of Moses, the law given by God to Israel, the nation of Israel, mediated through Moses. Moses was therefore, I think, the most revered man in Judaism. And Jesus, it seemed, at certain points of his ministry was challenging Moses' supremacy, like in the Sermon on the Mount: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not murder,’ but I say to you that anyone who is angry with his brother is in danger of the fire of hell. And you have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ but I say to you that anyone who even looks at a woman lustfully has committed adultery with her in his heart.” Jesus seems to be supplanting Moses, then, in his own mind and that's blasphemous to the Jews. Now, centuries of scribal tradition had encrusted the Jewish reading of the law. They struggled to hear the Word of God clearly and purely. Over the centuries, rabbis had determined that since there were 613 Hebrew letters in the Ten Commandments, there are also 613 separate commandments in the Law of Moses, generally. And they divided those 613 laws, the rabbis did, into two categories, 248 affirmative laws, things you must do. And they said this was one for each part of the human body, as they supposed. And then there were 365 prohibitions, one for each day of the year. They also divided the laws of Moses into two categories, light and heavy. Heavy meant something that was absolutely universally binding, all the time. Light meant not so significant, but they could never agree as to which were the light and which were the heavy commandments. So it gave them something to argue about, which they did pretty much full-time, talking about the Rabbis. They are arguing all the time about the law. And so this question was actually a typical rabbinic question. But I think it also, in the context of Jesus' life and the hatred of the Pharisees, had a hidden barb. It was an effort once again, to entrap Jesus in his own words and have him arrested as a blasphemer. Love God With Everything You Are Jesus’ Very Orthodox Answer And so they asked him which of all the laws of Moses was the greatest commandment. And Jesus gave, in verse 37, a very orthodox answer. There really is no surprise here. Jesus replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” That's what it says in Matthew. Mark gives a fuller account of Jesus' answer. “‘The most important one,’ answered Jesus, ‘is this: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.”’” So Jesus goes to the “shema”, that's just the transliteration of the word here, “Shema Israel,” “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” So significant was this one statement from Deuteronomy 6, that the Jews wrote it down on little pieces of parchment and they put it in little boxes that they put on their forearms or on their foreheads, called phylacteries. And they would put them also on the doorposts of their homes, because that's literally what it said to do in Deuteronomy 6. He then, Jesus, gave the commandment that was the centerpiece of all that God commanded Israel to do, also from that same chapter. Deuteronomy 6, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.” This was recited by pious Jews every day. It was recited by the Jews together in the synagogue every week, every Sabbath. Jesus was no innovator here. This is not a shocking answer. He's not coming out of left field, sometimes he can do that with surprising scriptures they had never thought about, but not here. In effect, Jesus is saying, “This law has been in front of your eyes every day of your lives. There's nothing new here.” But there is an infinite difference between knowing the commandment and obeying it. What the Words Mean Now, what do these words mean? Well, it begins with this topic of love. The Hebrew word for love, “ahev”, is a deep and multi-faceted word. It's interesting to me that the first time that the word “love” appears in the Bible is in the context of a father-son relationship. I find that fascinating. I don't think there are any accidents in the Bible, generally, but especially not in the book of Genesis. As things get going, God is communicating to the human race. And so the first time we see the word “love” is in Genesis 22. “Then God said, ‘Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I'll show you about.’” Why is that significant to me as a Christian theologian? Because I think the most, the most significant love relationship in the universe is the love relationship between the Father and the Son. And every other love relationship is a reflection, an image of that love. And we as sinners are saved only on the basis of the strength of that love. I'll talk more about that in a moment but that's the foundational love there is in the universe, the love that the Father has for the Son. The second time that the word love appears in the Bible is in the context of a marriage relationship. It has to do with Isaac again. And Isaac met Rebekah, you remember how she, let's give her, alighted from her camel. I'm thinking that's what happened. Others think she fell from the camel but that's fine. In any case, that was the first time that Isaac saw Rebekah. And it says that “Isaac took Rebekah into the tent of his mother, Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife and he loved her.” So, again, it's that use of the word love, the love of a husband for a wife. Interestingly, the third example is also from Isaac's life. And that's at the end of his life. Genesis 27:4 “When he said to his son, Esau, ‘Prepare me the kind of tasty food that I love and bring it to me to eat so I may give you a blessing before I die.’” Same word. And we use the same word in English. I love God. I love my wife. I love a good steak. And I'm actually gonna argue that there's an intrinsic similarity and sameness to all those kinds of love. It has to do with the heart direction, a heart affection. And what I said at the beginning of the sermon is the uppermost affection that you have should be given to God. And any created thing you put above God is an idol. We'll talk more about that in two weeks. Love the Lord your God with Everything You Are So what does he command here? Well, you are to love the Lord your God with everything you are. He says, “With all your heart.” Now, what is the heart? The heart is the central part of you, it's the core of your being. And in the scripture, the heart does many different things. For example, the heart thinks. It says in Psalm 139, “Search me, O God, and know my heart. Test me, and know my anxious thoughts.” Secondly, the heart feels emotions, feelings. In Romans 9:2, the Apostle Paul speaking of the nation of Israel and their apostasy from God and their rejection of Christ, he said, “I speak the truth in Christ, I'm not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.” So the heart is the root of emotions. The heart is also the root of joy, as well. Zephaniah 3:14, “Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!” So, it's a feeling. Thirdly, the heart decides. 2 Corinthians 9:7, on giving money, it says “Each of you must give as he has decided in his heart.” So the heart is the root of the will, it's the root of the decision process by which you make decisions. The heart also plans. Proverbs 16:1, “To man belong the plans of the heart.” So your heart plans. The heart also yearns and desires. How many of you have cherished Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you,” what? “the desires of your heart.” It's the heart that yearns. It's the heart that desires. The heart does all of those things. It seems, to some degree, that there's no internal thing that the heart doesn't do. And yet the Lord gives us two more internal words: Soul and mind. You are to love the Lord your God with all of your soul. Since the heart does so much, what's left for the soul to do, you may ask. Actually, in many verses, the heart and the soul are linked together and seem to be almost interchangeable. The phrase “with all your heart and all your soul,” appears nine times in Deuteronomy alone. You remember when Jonathan wanted to take on the Philistine army all by himself, remember? And there was an outpost of the Philistines and he's got his shield bearer with him, remember? And he says, I wanna go up there and fight them, and the shield bearer says “Do everything you have in mind. Go ahead because I'm with you heart and soul.” Basically, it's everything inside me just wants to be with you, Jonathan, let's go do it. So the soul could be said to be that immaterial part of you that relates to God. But let's not be too precise about that because we're already told that we're supposed to love God with all of our hearts. So long story short, I'm really not sure what the difference is between heart and soul. The word for soul is “nephesh”, and it relates to just living creatures, even animals. In Genesis 1:21, it says that “God created the great,” KJV, “the great whales and every living creature that moveth,” and the Hebrew word there is “nephesh”, all the living creatures, all the living nepheshes, and whatever, nepheshim, I guess. But those are all the living things. So basically, think of it in terms of the principle of life inside you, that principle that makes you alive. Genesis 2:7, “Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being,” a nephesh. So as God just breathes life into you, that's your soul. So, I think he's saying, you're to love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul, with every fiber of your being, everything you are inside you. But then he adds this third word, mind. The same thing with the mind, the mind is the part of you that thinks and reasons, all of that. Christ is commanding that all of your thought life be pleasing to God. That your intellect be fully given over to loving God, that you should love him in the depths of your mind. Your imagination should be in full service to your love for God. You should be imagining in reference to God. Your mental powers, your science, your technology, your mathematics, your philosophy, your logic, your deductive skills, your reasoning skills, your powers of observation and argumentation. All of this should be given over fully to God, to loving God. And you should invent new ways of expressing love for God. Sinners invent ways of doing evil, Romans 1:30. That is, they contrive new ways of rebelling against God. Therefore, the opposite would be to invent new ways of expressing love for God. Charles Wesley put it this way: “O for a thousand tongues to sing my great redeemer's praise. The glories of my God and king, The triumphs of his grace.” Now, I don't think that Wesley wanted himself a thousand tongues, that would be grotesque, but I think what he wanted was a thousand-person choir. I checked with Eric and he thinks that that's probably right, okay? I don't know what Charles Wesley would have looked like with a thousand tongues but I don't think I'd wanna see it. But a thousand-member choir to sing forth the praise and the glories. Oh, that I had that. He's using his imagination to think of ways to love God. And then, finally, he says we are to love God with all of our strength. The focus here is on our body. That our bodies would be given over full strength to loving God. That you would present your body to God at every moment as a living sacrifice. That your arms and your legs and every part of your body, your mouth, all the parts of you would be given over fully in service to God. That you would pour out your strength fully to God at every moment. That you would be spent, used up, poured out, given over completely in service to God. At the end of your life that you can say, like the Apostle Paul did, I'm already being poured out like a drink offering and the time has come for my departure. When God is through with me, all that will be left is my lifeless body. I have nothing left to give to God. And those are the component parts but you are to love God with all of your heart, and all of your soul, and all of your mind, and all of your strength. The implication is, all the time. There's not a moment of the day that you should not be loving God like this. You should hold nothing back to love God completely, with everything you have, that's whole-hearted devotion. Psalm 9:1, “I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart, I will tell of all your wonders.” Psalm 119:2, “Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart.” Oh, dear friends, we have the tendency to spare ourselves, do we not? To hold back some in reserve. Athletes, I think, come the closest to doing something with all of their heart in our culture, maybe soldiers too. But there's an athlete, I remember some years ago, watching the end of the Ironman triathlon in Hawaii. This is for true sadists. I can't imagine why anyone would wanna do this to themselves. It all begins with a 2.4-mile swim in the ocean. That would finish most of us. I mean, literally finish us. That would be it. After that, a 112-mile bike ride. And then and only then can you begin the marathon, the 26.2-mile marathon. That's the full-blooded Ironman triathlon. And I was watching this on TV. And there was this individual, and he was within half a mile of the finish line. He was leading at the time, but he had nothing left to give. And so he was crawling on his belly, on his hands and knees, his hands were bloody, his knees were bloody, his body was bloody and he was dragging himself to the finish line. He ended up finishing 14th or something like that, as others passed him by. He had nothing left to give. The standard of love that God demands from us in the law here is 100 percent every day of your life. A Second Commandment is Like It Everything Depends on these Two Commands He also adds, and we'll talk more in a separate sermon, a second commandment is like it, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” And he says that everything depends on these two commandments. He organizes however many, 613, commands in the laws of Moses, organizes all of them, prohibitions and positive commands, everything comes down to these two. All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments. And so therefore, if you truly love God as God commands, if you truly love your neighbor in the same way, you will be perfectly obeying the commands of God. The Ten Commandments is a brief summary of the 600-plus laws. These two commands, even briefer summary of the Ten Commandments. It's a summation of everything that God wants from us. Everything then comes down to this one word: love. “The goal of our instruction,” 1 Timothy 1:5, “is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” Everything that we do at FBC should promote love for God, and love for neighbor. And if it doesn't, I tell you, it is worthless, it is chaff, it will be blown away on Judgment Day. Every one of my sermons should engender love in your heart for God, and for your neighbor. And all of our ministries should be organized and set up for that purpose, that love would be developed in our hearts and be expressed. And if we don't love, 1 Corinthians 13, says we are nothing. God Actually Requires This...But You Can’t Do It Now, here's the stunning thing dear friends, God actually requires this of us. And this is where I bring you to the base of Mount Sinai, with all the terrors of the law. If you don't love God, every moment of your life that you are under the just wrath of God, and the punishment the wages of sin is eternal death for not loving God. God actually requires this. On Judgment Day, you will stand before God and the court will be seated and the books will be opened. And there'll be another book, The Book of Life, which is our only hope, but the dead will be judged by what they had done as recorded in the books. And I am just trembling. This morning, I just trembled in my heart for lost people. If there are any lost people that are here today, who do not love God, God commands you to love him. And you have already disobeyed that command, you're already under the wrath of God for disobeying this law. Do you not realize how perilous these words are for you? God will look at the full record of your words and deeds, the motives of your heart. And he may say something like this, “I created you. I knit you together in your mother's womb. I sustained you every day of your life with food, clothing and shelter. I gave you rich experiences filled with joy and pleasure. I feasted your eyes with the delights of nature, of mountain grandeur, of gentle spring scenery, of rugged cliffs and tiny wild flowers, of grizzly bears and timid chipmunks, of roaring hurricanes and gentle zephyrs. “I surrounded you with the love of family and friends. I gave you a loving wife and three children. And through them came thousands of gifts of love. I fed your mind with education, I gave you opportunities to grow and learn, I provided labor for you to do and a sense of satisfaction at a job well done. I paid you wages, money, with which you were fully supplied and sustained. I healed you when you were wounded and when you were sick. I renewed your strength when you were weary. I fed your stomach with nourishing foods while delighting your tongues with flavors rich, delicious, pleasurable exotic, varied. I entertained you with sports and movies, and books, and music, every good and pleasant moment you ever enjoyed in this world was a direct gift from me. “Beyond that, I surrounded you with scriptural influences. You drove by countless churches, almost every day of your life. I put Christians in your life who loved you and who lived out their imperfect faith before your eyes as witnesses. Though you do not know the total number, I sent evangelists 173 times over the 69 years of your life, specifically to proclaim to you personally, the good news of Christ's birth, life, death on the cross and resurrection from the dead. And to appeal to you to repent of your sins and to find faith and forgiveness in Christ. Those evangelists used many different approaches to win you. Some of them were sweet and tender. Others were fiery and powerful. Some reasoned with your mind, others appealed to your heart and your emotions. You read in your lifetime 21 different tracks on Christ in the gospel, 1,377 times you heard some Christian radio or TV programming. “Each of those were efforts that I was making to reach out to you directly and personally with the gospel of Jesus Christ. And after every time that you rejected the gospel command to repent and believe, I graciously covered your sins and sustained your life more, healing your diseases and feeding your stomach while holding out my hands to you that you would repent and believe in Christ. That's how I loved you, all the 69 years of your life. But I commanded you to love me. Did you? Did you love me with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind, and with all of your strength? Did you pour yourself out, day after day, in worship and adoration in your prayer closet? Did you thank me and praise me for each of those blessings with which I blessed you? Did you make sacrifices for me? Did you give money sacrificially to the poor and needy? Did you sacrifice time and bodily effort to serve me and to obey my commandments? Did you cherish me in your heart? “Did you love Father, Son and Holy Spirit? Did your heart leap for joy again and again at the greatness of what I did for the world in Christ? Did you delight to hear of sinners converted, of marriages restored, of orphans cared for, of drug addicts rescued? Did your heart melt in singing songs to me or speaking words of praise to me? Did you love me with every fiber of your being, every moment that you lived?” Dear friends, I dare not put words in the mouth of God. But I believe that these words are consistent with the commands of God. And with what I understand the Judgment Day to look like as we are judged by what we did as recorded in the books of the law. Did we obey it? Did we obey the law? Saving Yourself Is Impossible And now I tell you that saving yourself is impossible. Romans 3:20 “By works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” Are you feeling it? I felt it this morning, I feel it still, through the law comes the knowledge of sin. This is the perfect law that Paul had in mind when he wrote that. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your mind. Love your neighbor as yourself. This is what he had in mind. You cannot save yourself by means of this law, it cannot be done. Charles Spurgeon put it this way. “Is there someone here so profoundly brainless as to reply, ‘I intend to keep it, I believe I actually perfectly can obey this. I think I can get to heaven by obedience to it, from here on out.’ Man, you're either a fool or else willfully ignorant. For sure, if you truly understand this commandment, you will at once hang down your hands as if to say, obedience to that is quite impossible. Thorough, and perfect obedience to that no man can hope to reach to. Some of you will think you will go to heaven by your good works. Do you really think that? This is the first stone you're to step on your stairway to heaven. I am sure it is too high for you to reach. You might as well try to climb up to heaven by the mountains of the earth, and take the Himalayas as your first step. For to obey this must ever be an impossibility. But remember, you cannot be saved by your works, if you cannot obey this perfectly entirely constantly and forever. “‘Well,’ someone replies, ‘I dare say, if I try and obey it as well as I can, that will do.’ No sir, it will not. God demands that you perfectly obey this and if you do not perfectly obey it, he will condemn you. ‘Oh!’ someone cries out, ‘Who then can be saved?’ Oh, that is the point to which I wish to bring you this morning. Who then can be saved by this law? Why, no one in the world salvation by the works of the law has proved to be a clean impossibility. None of you therefore will say you will try to obey it and so hope to be saved. I hear the best Christian in the world groan out his thoughts, ‘Oh God,’ he says, ‘I am guilty. And should you cast me into hell? I dare not say otherwise. I have broken this command from my youth up, ever since my conversion, even. I have violated it every day. I know that if you should lay justice to the line and righteousness to the plumb line, I must be swept away forever. Lord, I renounce my trust in the law for by it I know I can never see your face and be accepted.’” Do you not see it? We must have a savior. We must have a savior. We can't save ourselves by the law. And isn't it incredible that there is actually one man who has perfectly obeyed this law. Isn't that astonishing, be amazed. Oh may your heart melt in worship for him. His name is Jesus Christ. Jesus has cleanly and perfectly obeyed this command, every moment of his life. How to Develop a Love Relationship with God Start with Christ: Imputed Righteousness is His Perfect Obedience to these Commandments And his perfect obedience to this law is our only hope. That and the fact that God has graciously agreed that if you just believe in him, he'll count his, Christ's, love as though it were your own. As though you had loved God as well as Jesus had. Isn't that incredible, the gift of imputed righteousness? That's the gift of the wedding clothes that you must wear on that wedding banquet day. We already covered that in that parable a few weeks ago. It's the love of Jesus for his Father that's gonna cleanse you and clothe you, and Christ did in fact do this every moment of his life. And the ultimate measure of it, dear friends, is the cross, is it not? The cross of Jesus Christ. As he was talking to His disciples, the night before he was crucified, He said in John 14, “The prince of this world is coming for me, and he has nothing on me.” What does that mean? I am sinless. I've never done anything that Satan can accuse me of. Listen to this though, John 14:31 “But the world must learn that I love the Father, and that I do exactly what the Father has commanded me to do.” Oh, what a verse! How deep and how rich is that. The world must learn that I love my Father. How does the world learn that? Watch and see as I go to die. As I go pour out my blood for the Father. It was for love of the Father above all things, that he did it. And yes, it was to love his neighbor as himself. Yes, that as well, but above all things, he did it to love and obey his Father. And that is the gift of righteousness that God wants to give you. How about this one, John 8:29, who of you can say this, Jesus can, “I always do what pleases him.” That is the righteousness he's offering you here today, as a free gift. Oh, how sweet, how wonderful! Our salvation in Christ is based on this love. It was for love of the Father that Christ died for us. Christ Jesus has become for us righteousness. And this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by his grace. Now, you need to say to yourself, “I can never perfectly love God with all my heart, but Jesus did. And by simple faith in Christ, God sees me as righteous.” You might have walked in here lost, right now, you can say that, by faith. Say “Jesus, save me. Jesus, just save me. Give me your perfect obedience to law, give me your love for the Father and I will be cleansed, I will be holy. Give it to me now by faith.” You don't need to go anywhere. You don't need to walk the aisle, you don't need to come forward, you don't need to sign anything, you just need to believe. And Christians, you need to realize this will forever be your righteousness. But don't stop there, dear Christians. And we're not going to. I'm gonna go back to this text again in two weeks. Because this is just the beginning of your salvation, this justification. Then you know what happens? The righteous requirements of the law need to be fully met in you who do not live according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. You know what the spirit's gonna do the rest of your life? Tell you this, “Love God, love your neighbor, Love God, love your neighbor, give everything you have for God, give everything you have for your neighbor. Pour yourself out the rest of your lives.” And so what we're gonna do in two weeks is we're gonna do some diagnostic work. It's gonna become like a hospital here. We're gonna do the cardio test, we'll put you on the treadmill, and you're just going to be searched by the Word of God, and if you find that you have some defects in your love for God, we're going to show you the scriptural way whereby your love and your affection for God can be rekindled. So, that's in two weeks. In the meantime, I urge you, just look at James 4 because that's our text. The reason that our hearts as Christians grow cold to God is one simple word: idolatry. That's why. We become idolaters, we start to worship created things more than the Creator. And James 4, among other passages, is the cure for idolatry. Close with me in prayer.

Paul puts forth several lines of argumentation in Galatians 1-4, including: 1) The Messiah is greater than Israel and is a hope for the whole world; 2) More than a fulfillment of the law, Christ is God's perfect gift for those who, in their mortal weakness, cannot hope to fulfill all the demands of God by themselves; 3) Paul's ministry to the Galatians exhibited both bona fide miracles and the introduction of the Spirit in these Gentiles' hearts; 4) The law served Israel as a tutor who controls an unruly child, but Christians are called to be adults, not mere children; and 5) It is foolish to turn from the Spirit's promptings and rely on self-justification and slavish bondage. In Chapter 4 he discusses the theology of the law and the promises of God. He teaches that the promise precedes the law, and further states that God intended for the law to show His people they had the disease of sin, that they might yearn for the Messiah's redemption. Using the two sons of Abraham in an allegory, Paul illustrates how the son of a slave, conceived through man's fleshly design, stands in contrast to the son of a free woman, born through supernatural grace (cf. v 21-31). His gospel offers freedom in Christ; this freedom is born of maturity and establishes a right relationship with God. If Christ has set us free from the shackles of self-justification under the law, Christians must "stand fast, therefore, and ... not submit again to a yoke of slavery" (5:1). Paul then makes a strong and concise rabbinical argument: "If you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who receives circumcision that he is bound to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace" (v 2-3). In this attempt to convict the Galatians, Paul explains that Christians are called to a life of faith and love in the Spirit that comes from God, hoping "through the Spirit, by faith," for the righteousness that will be revealed at Chrit's second coming (cf. v 4). He further states, "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any avail, but faith working through love" (v 6). By asking "who hindered you from obeying the truth?" Paul contrasts obedience to God with an obedience merely to the law (v 7). Notably, the Greek word for disobedience is the same word for disbelief. A Christian notion of obedience would be to respond to God with trust and belief, relating to Him as He is. One expresses his obedience by reciting the Creed at Mass, which begins in the Latin with the word credo: I believe. This deeply personal statement is akin to a marriage vow. Like the Shema Israel, however, our life in God is both deeply personal and deeply communal, demanding a loving response: "Hear O Israel: the LORD our God is one LORD; and you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might." (Deut 6:4-5). Music: Beethoven's Sonata No. 8 in C Minor "Pathetique", Op. 13 performed by Daniel Veesey. www.musopen.com

Because Jesus' teachings build upon the Law which God revealed through Moses, Christians must take care not to overlook the Old Testament. The fourth chapter of the Book of Deuteronomy contains God's demand that we heed all of His statutes and ordinances and that we "do them that [we] may live" (v 1). One brings judgment upon himself if he decides to add or subtract any of the Lord's commands. Acknowledging the weakness of man's memory, Moses repeatedly instructs the people to bind God's law to their hearts and to diligently put it into action. Although his approach may appear on the surface to be redundant, his repetition is a deliberate attempt to cultivate God's words deep into their memory. This type of instruction helps them realize what a profound gift God has given the people: "Did anything so great ever happen before? Did a people ever hear the voice of God speaking from the midst of fire, as you did, and live? Or did any god venture to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by testings, by signs and wonders, by war and by great terrors, all of which the Lord, your God, did for you in Egypt before your very eyes? All this you were allowed to see that you might know the Lord is God and there is no other" (4:34-35). The fifth chapter of Deuteronomy contains the powerful giving of the Ten Commandments in the Covenant at Horeb. Deuteronomy six is at the core of the Bible, for it contains our Great Commandment, the Shema Israel. Any pious person will spend a lifetime struggling to follow this command in its entirety; only a fool would take any portion of it lightly. God commands, "Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone! And [therefore] you shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today. Drill them into your children. Speak of them at home and abroad, whether you are busy or at rest. Bind them at your wrist as a sign and let them be as a pendant on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates" (6:4-9). Following the Great Commandment means that one seeks to offer every thought and action of his life in worshipful reverence to the one true God. This includes the way he handles his money. Notably, following this commandment means doing whatever possible to teach one's children and grandchildren to live it fully. "When the Lord, your God, brings you into the land which he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that he would give you ... take care not to forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery" (v 10,12). Like the Israelites, Americans must beware not to "follow other gods ... lest the wrath of the Lord" flare up against us (v 14-15). Our "other gods" today can come in the form of sex, money, or prestige. The seventh chapter highlights the Israelites as a unique people, separate from all the other nations. So, too, Christians are "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people he claims for His own" (1 Pt 2:9, cf Ex 19:6). God demands these things from us for our own good. "Keep all the commandments, then, which I enjoin on you today, that you may be strong enough to enter in and take possession of the land into which you are crossing, and that you may have long life on the land which the Lord swore to your fathers he would give to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey" (Dt 11:9). Only by binding God's commandments to our hearts and living them out in holy habits, disciplines that train one to habitually do the right thing, does one have any chance to defeat the devil. God sets before us a blessing and a curse: a blessing for those who follow His commands, a curse for those who do not. The Book of Hebrews clearly shows that the New Covenant has raised the bar, for those who do not keep his commandments reap eternal punishment. The Lord knows the weakness of men's hearts and gives them the Sacrament of Baptism to circumcise this heart, the Eucharist to renew it, and innumerable other blessings. Let us firmly claim the blessings that He has given us, offering ourselves to Him entirely while we still have time to do so. Music: Beethoven's "Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Op. 15" performed by the Skidmore College Orchestra. www.musopen.com