Scripture Union Daily Guide Sunday 16 March 2025 Devotional Message
TOPIC: Vain Religion
OPENING PRAYER: As I read your word O Lord, grant me an insight and grace to do your will in Jesus name.
SCRIPTURE: Matthew 15:1-20
Question(s) For Meditation:
► Q2: Is there any example for me to follow or not to follow?
► Q3: Is there any command for me to obey
► Q5: Is there any warning for me to heed
Scripture Union Daily Guide 16 March 2025 – OUTLINE
The ministry of Jesus at this time was around Galilee. He fed the 5,000 on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. The delegation sent by the Pharisees must therefore have travelled about 200km just to ask Jesus about washing of hands as a religious ritual (Matthew 15:1,2). These traditions must have been valued far more than the real Laws of God.
Notice the rebuke from the Lord Jesus as He clearly exposed the weirdness of their reinterpretation of the Law (Matthew 15:3-6; compare 1 Timothy 5:8). Following Jesus’ example, by what tests are we to evaluate (a) our local traditional customs and practices, and (b) the traditions and practices in our local churches? In what ways would you think your behaviour and current lifestyle may contradict God’s word (see Matthew 15:8-9)?
In Matthew 15:11,17-20, Jesus stated what would really make a person unclean. How do you measure against this standard of practical holiness? Notice what Jesus said about the Pharisees in Matthew 15:14. How should this help us in our choice of a counsellor, a pastor, or a teacher?
And So:
Does your state of godliness depend on your outward cleanliness, or your purity of heart?
* Any new insight or reinforcement of what you already know?
Hymn: Purer in heart, O God
1. Purer in heart, O God, help me to be;
May I devote my life wholly to Thee:
Watch Thou my wayward feet,
Guide me with counsel sweet;
Purer in heart, help me to be.
2. Purer in heart, O God, help me to be;
Teach me to do Thy will most lovingly;
Be Thou my friend and guide,
Let me with Thee abide;
Purer in heart, help me to be.
3. Purer in heart, O God, help me to be;
Until Thy holy face one day I see:
Keep me from secret sin,
Reign Thou my soul within;
Purer in heart, help me to be.
Closing Prayer:
Make Psalms 139:23-24 your prayer for today.
One Year Bible Reading Guide:
Numbers 21-22, Acts 8.
One Year Bible Reading Guide, Hard Copy Version:
Deuteronomy 14-16
NATIONAL PRAYER BULLETIN
Sun Mar 16, 2025
PRAYER FOCUS
THE NATIONAL CHAIRMAN
“The Lord is the friend of those who obey him and affirms his covenant with them”. Psalms 25:14
THANK GOD FOR:
* Choosing the National Chairman Dr. Wilfred C. Onu as a son and friend and affirming His covenant with Him.
PRAY FOR:
* God will help him to obey him always. • The Holy Spirit will hide nothing from him. • Wisdom to live right and do what is right and direct others to follow in His step. • Divine visitation on the family and relations.
Scripture Union is an international, interdenominational, evangelical Christian organization. It was founded in 1867, and works in partnership with individuals and churches across the world. The organization’s stated aim is to use the Bible to inspire children, young people and adults to know God. (Scripture Union Daily Guide 16 March 2025)