Sermon on the Mount - Progress and perfection

Wednesday Readings List

August 17, 2016

Sermon on the Mount – Progress and perfection

Hymn 238
O, sometimes gleams upon our sight,
Through present wrong, th’ eternal right;
And step by step, since time began,
We see the steady gain of man.

 

For all of good the past hath had
Remains to make our own time glad,
Our common, daily life divine,
And every land a Palestine.

 

Through the harsh noises of our day,
A low sweet prelude finds its way;
Through clouds of doubt and creeds of fear
A light is breaking, calm and clear.

 

Henceforth my heart shall sigh no more
For olden time and holier shore:
God’s love and blessing, then and there,
Are now and here and everywhere.

THE HOLY BIBLE – KJV, NLT, AMP, JB Phillips

 

Matt. 5:48 (KJV)
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.

 

Galatians 5:7-10 (JB Phillips)
You were making splendid progress; who put you off the course you had set for the truth? That sort of “persuasion” does not come from the one who is calling you.

 

Ex. 10:3, 10-11; 13:17, 18; 14:5-6, 9-14, 21-23, 28, 31 (NLT)
Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: How long will you refuse to submit to me? Let my people go, so they can worship me. Pharaoh retorted,…. Never!…. And Pharaoh threw them out of the palace. When Pharaoh finally let the people go,…. God led them in a roundabout way through the wilderness toward the Red Sea.

 

When word reached the king of Egypt that the Israelites had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds. “What have we done, letting all those Israelite slaves get away?” they asked. So . . . . the Egyptians chased after them with all the forces in Pharaoh’s army—all his horses and chariots, his charioteers, and his troops. As Pharaoh approached, the people of Israel looked up and panicked when they saw the Egyptians overtaking them. They cried out to the Lord, and they said to Moses, “Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? . . . We said, ‘Leave us alone! Let us be slaves to the Egyptians. It’s better to be a slave in Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness!'” But Moses told the people, “Don’t be afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again. The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.”

 

Then Moses raised his hand over the sea, and the Lord opened up a path through the water with a strong east wind. The wind blew all that night, turning the seabed into dry land. So the people of Israel walked through the middle of the sea on dry ground, with walls of water on each side! Then the Egyptians—all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and charioteers—chased them into the middle of the sea. [T]he waters returned and covered all the chariots and charioteers—the entire army of Pharaoh. . . . When the people of Israel saw the mighty power that the Lord had unleashed against the Egyptians, they were filled with awe before him. They put their faith in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

 

Heb. 10:35, 36 (KJV)
Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

 

Isa. 30:15 (KJV)
For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength:

 

Ex. 17:8-9, 11-13 (NLT)
While the people of Israel were still at Rephidim, the warriors of Amalek attacked them. Moses commanded Joshua, “Choose some men to go out and fight the army of Amalek for us. Tomorrow, I will stand at the top of the hill, holding the staff of God in my hand.” As long as Moses held up the staff in his hand, the Israelites had the advantage. But whenever he dropped his hand, the Amalekites gained the advantage. Moses’ arms soon became so tired he could no longer hold them up. So Aaron and Hur found a stone for him to sit on. Then they stood on each side of Moses, holding up his hands. So his hands held steady until sunset. As a result, Joshua overwhelmed the army of Amalek in battle.

 

Ps. 46:1-11 (KJV)
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear . . . Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled . . . . God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early. The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted. . . . He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; . . . . . Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.

 

Nah 1:9 (KJV)
What do ye imagine against the Lord? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time.

 

Ex. 32:7-8 [NLT]
The Lord told Moses, “Quick! Go down the mountain! Your people whom you brought from the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. How quickly they have turned away from the way I commanded them to live! They have melted down gold and made a calf, and they have bowed down and sacrificed to it. They are saying, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.'”

 

Romans 12:2 (AMP)
And do not be conformed to this world [any longer with its superficial values and customs], but be transformed and progressively changed [as you mature spiritually] by the renewing of your mind [focusing on godly values and ethical attitudes], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His plan and purpose for you].

 

James 1:22-25 [KLV]
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

 

Ezek. 12:21-28 [KJV]
And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, what is that proverb that ye have in the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth? Tell them therefore, Thus saith the Lord God; I will make this proverb to cease, . . . The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision. . . .For I am the Lord: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more prolonged. . . . There shall none of my words be prolonged any more, but the word which I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord God.

 

Luke 17:20, 21 [KJV]
When he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, [Jesus] answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

 

Luke 13:10-13
One Sabbath day as Jesus was teaching in a synagogue, he saw a woman who had been crippled by an evil spirit. She had been bent double for eighteen years and was unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Dear woman, you are healed of your sickness!” Then he touched her, and instantly she could stand straight. How she praised God!

 

II Cor. 6:2 (KJV)
For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

 

I John 3:2, 3 (KJV, NLT)
Beloved, now are we the sons of God. Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure.

SCIENCE & HEALTH WITH KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES, by Mary Baker Eddy

SH 39:18-27
“Now,” cried the apostle, “is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation,” — meaning, not that now men must prepare for a future-world salvation, or safety, but that now is the time in which to experience that salvation in spirit and in life. Now is the time for so-called material pains and material pleasures to pass away, for both are unreal, because impossible in Science. To break this earthly spell, mortals must get the true idea and divine Principle of all that really exists and governs the universe harmoniously.

 

SH 495:25-31
Question. — How can I progress most rapidly in the understanding of Christian Science?
Answer. — Study thoroughly the letter and imbibe the spirit. Adhere to the divine Principle of Christian Science and follow the behests of God, abiding steadfastly in wisdom, Truth, and Love.

 

SH 233:1
Every day makes its demands upon us for higher proofs rather than professions of Christian power. These proofs consist solely in the destruction of sin, sickness, and death by the power of Spirit, as Jesus destroyed them. This is an element of progress, and progress is the law of God, whose law demands of us only what we can certainly fulfil.

 

SH 92:32
Do you say the time has not yet come in which to recognize Soul as substantial and able to control the body? Remember Jesus, who nearly nineteen centuries ago demonstrated the power of Spirit and said, “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also,” and who also said, “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth.” “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation,” said Paul..

 

SH 239:16
To ascertain our progress, we must learn where our affections are placed and whom we acknowledge and obey as God. If divine Love is becoming nearer, dearer, and more real to us, matter is then submitting to Spirit. The objects we pursue and the spirit we manifest reveal our standpoint, and show what we are winning.

 

SH 256:1-6
Progress takes off human shackles. The finite must yield to the infinite. Advancing to a higher plane of action, thought rises from the material sense to the spiritual, from the scholastic to the inspirational, and from the mortal to the immortal.

 

SH 170:22-24, 28
Spiritual causation is the one question to be considered, for more than all others spiritual causation relates to human progress. The description of man as purely physical, or as both material and spiritual, — but in either case dependent upon his physical organization, — is the Pandora box, from which all ills have gone forth, especially despair.

 

SH 158:1-12
It is recorded that the profession of medicine originated in idolatry with pagan priests, who besought the gods to heal the sick and designated Apollo as “the god of medicine.” He was supposed to have dictated the first prescription, according to the “History of Four Thousand Years of Medicine.” It is here noticeable that Apollo was also regarded as the sender of disease, “the god of pestilence.” Hippocrates turned from image-gods to vegetable and mineral drugs for healing. This was deemed progress in medicine; but what we need is the truth which heals both mind and body.

 

SH 412:13
The power of Christian Science and divine Love is omnipotent. It is indeed adequate to unclasp the hold and to destroy disease, sin, and death.

 

SH 496:15
Hold perpetually this thought, — that it is the spiritual idea, the Holy Ghost and Christ, which enables you to demonstrate, with scientific certainty, the rule of healing, based upon its divine Principle, Love, underlying, overlying, and encompassing all true being.

 

SH 419:31-4
If it is found necessary to treat against relapse, know that disease or its symptoms cannot change forms, nor go from one part to another, for Truth destroys disease. There is no metastasis, no stoppage of harmonious action, no paralysis. Truth not error, Love not hate, Spirit not matter, governs man.

 

SH 419:10, 22
Neither disease itself, sin, nor fear has the power to cause disease or a relapse. Disease has no intelligence with which to move itself about or to change itself from one form to another. If disease moves, mind, not matter, moves it; therefore be sure that you move it off. Meet every adverse circumstance as its master. Observe mind instead of body, lest aught unfit for development enter thought. Think less of material conditions and more of spiritual.
A relapse cannot in reality occur in mortals or so-called mortal minds, for there is but one Mind, one God. Never fear the mental malpractitioner, the mental assassin, who, in attempting to rule mankind, tramples upon the divine Principle of metaphysics, for God is the only power. To succeed in healing, you must conquer your own fears as well as those of your patients, and rise into higher and holier consciousness.

 

SH 412:23
Mentally insist that harmony is the fact, and that sickness is a temporal dream. Realize the presence of health and the fact of harmonious being, until the body corresponds with the normal conditions of health and harmony.

 

SH SH 254:16
During the sensual ages, absolute Christian Science may not be achieved prior to the change called death, for we have not the power to demonstrate what we do not understand. But the human self must be evangelized. This task God demands us to accept lovingly to-day, and to abandon so fast as practical the material, and to work out the spiritual which determines the outward and actual.

 

SH 57:1
Chastity is the cement of civilization and progress. Without it there is no stability in society, and without it one cannot attain the Science of Life.

 

SH 323:32
Willingness to become as a little child and to leave the old for the new, renders thought receptive of the advanced idea. Gladness to leave the false landmarks and joy to see them disappear, — this disposition helps to precipitate the ultimate harmony. The purification of sense and self is a proof of progress. “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.”

 

SH 253:32-23
The divine demand, “Be ye therefore perfect,” is scientific, and the human footsteps leading to perfection are indispensable. Individuals are consistent who, watching and praying, can “run, and not be weary; . . . walk, and not faint,” who gain good rapidly and hold their position, or attain slowly and yield not to discouragement. God requires perfection, but not until the battle between Spirit and flesh is fought and the victory won. ….When we wait patiently on God and seek Truth righteously, He directs our path. Imperfect mortals grasp the ultimate of spiritual perfection slowly; but to begin aright and to continue the strife of demonstrating the great problem of being, is doing much.

 

SH 505:16-20
Spirit imparts the understanding which uplifts consciousness and leads into all truth. The Psalmist saith: “The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.”

 

SH 444:10
Step by step will those who trust Him find that “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

 

SH 224:8-10
There should be painless progress, attended by life and peace instead of discord and death.

 

SH 506:10
Through divine Science, Spirit, God, unites understanding to eternal harmony. The calm and exalted thought or spiritual apprehension is at peace. Thus the dawn of ideas goes on, forming each successive stage of progress.

Hymn 160
It matters not what be thy lot,
So Love doth guide;
For storm or shine, pure peace is thine,
Whate’er betide.

 

And of these stones, or tyrants’ thrones,
God able is
To raise up seed—in thought and deed—
To faithful His.

 

Aye, darkling sense, arise, go hence!
Our God is good.
False fears are foes—truth tatters those,
When understood.

 

Love looseth thee, and lifteth me,
Ayont hate’s thrall:
There Life is light, and wisdom might,
And God is All.

 

The centuries break, the earth-bound wake,
God’s glorified!
Who doth His will—His likeness still—
Is satisfied.

 

Hymn 97
He that goeth forth with weeping,
Bearing still the precious seed,
Never tiring, never sleeping,
Soon shall see his toil succeed;
Showers of rain will fall from heaven,
Then the cheering sun will shine;
So shall plenteous fruit be given,
Through an influence all divine.

 

Sow thy seed, be never weary,
Let not fear thy thoughts employ;
Though the prospect seem most dreary,
Thou shalt reap the fruits of joy:
Lo, the scene of verdure brightening,
See the rising grain appear;
Look again, the fields are whitening,
Harvest time is surely here.

 

 

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