Luke 6- Deut. 11-12

7The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. 8But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Get up and stand in front of everyone." So he got up and stood there. 9Then Jesus said to them, "I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?" 10He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He did so, and his hand was completely restored. 11But they were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.
Here Jesus had the opportunity to heal the mans hand in private but instead He was bold and spoke out in front of everyone and healed the man! Jesus didn't care what the Pharisees thought of Him, He wasn't worried what they'd scheme and do to Him, He wanted to demonstrate the power of God through Himself and wasn't ashamed to do so!

12One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. 13When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles:
Here we see Jesus about to make a MAJOR decision in His life, He was choosing His 12 disciples. What example does he give? He spent the night in prayer. When we have choices in front of us, we should always be following Jesus' example, pray!

22Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. 23"Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.

19and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.
God, you are ALL powerful! You spoke words and people were healed! I can't wait to see your great power face to face someday!!!

27"But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. 30Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31Do to others as you would have them do to you. 32"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. 33And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. 34And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. 35But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

40A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.

41"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
42How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

43"No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers.

45The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.
46"Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? 47I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice.

Lord, what great words of wisdom. God, I want to be a student of your Word so that as I grow, I can help teach others! Thank you for giving me opportunities to teach now in the lives of my two children. Lord, I want to apply your words in my life, putting them into practice daily! I want to produce good fruit and store good in my heart. Help me to love those who persecute me. Help me to be vulnerable towards non Christians God and bold to speak your truth so they may hear and respond! Help me to give when others ask God or when they're in need.

Deuteronomy 11
Here God tells us what He expects from us, obedience and wholeheartedly serving Him!
13 So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the LORD your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul-
22 If you carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow—to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways and to hold fast to him-
18 Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.
I like these visual reminders! Keep things in front of you, keep God continually on our mind!

We as parents are given a HUGE responsibility to teach our children! We want our kids to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven someday and hold God's truth in their souls!
19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
20 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates,

God can either bless or curse us! We can follow and obey His commands or disregard them.
26 See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse-
27 the blessing if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today;
28 the curse if you disobey the commands of the LORD your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known.

He also gives us a warning about worshiping other gods.
16 Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them.

Deuteronomy 12

12:23

23 But be sure you do not eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat.
This verse reminds me of what Pastor Mike said, the first death in the Bible was after Adam and Eve sinned and God covered them with animal skin. Blood is the life and through death of Jesus on the cross, our sin has been covered.

Talking about idol worship
4 You must not worship the LORD your God in their way.
5 But you are to seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go;
6 there bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, what you have vowed to give and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks.
7 There, in the presence of the LORD your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the LORD your God has blessed you.
8 You are not to do as we do here today, everyone as he sees fit,
9 since you have not yet reached the resting place and the inheritance the LORD your God is giving you.
13 Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings anywhere you please.
14 Offer them only at the place the LORD will choose in one of your tribes, and there observe everything I command you.
18 Instead, you are to eat them in the presence of the LORD your God at the place the LORD your God will choose—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levites from your towns—and you are to rejoice before the LORD your God in everything you put your hand to.
31 You must not worship the LORD your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.
32 See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it.

These verses made me think about 1) where we worship 2) what we devote our time to and
I know this passage is talking about idol worshipers and we're not to follow their example for worship.
This passage makes me think about where I go to serve the Lord. I'm so thankful for a church that preaches truth from the Bible! The warning in verse 8 made me think about what "society" finds acceptable and how Christians are not of this world and live to please God, not man. And, verse 14 made me think about how I need to really consider what I do, when I do it and who do I do things for! I should do ALL things for the glory of God, verse 7 & 18 (rejoice in everything you put your hand to) but I should also be sure I'm serving my church body, not just the PTA or local Mom's group but prioritizing God's service above all else!
As for worship, don't worship in their way, God really points out the importance of WHO we worship and HOW we worship. Again, reviewing the chapter, it should be wholehearted, genuine, from the heart, in full service to God! We bring all of ourselves to worship, our best, our tithes, our full attention...time with God should be taken seriously and not lightly. We come to church to learn and grow but also to worship a holy God who deserves praise and adoration!