20th Post Jesus Authority - Matthew 11:27; Luke 10: 22

The passage states that all things were given to the Son by His Father, no one knows the Son except the Father, and the one the Son wills to reveal Him. This is another passage that says the way to the Father is very narrow, it only goes through the Son (Jesus). When Jesus said that the Father gave Him all things; this means that Jesus is not acting on His own but is doing the will of His Father. When Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden (Genesis chapter 3), man was separated from God through his defiance of God's Law. We have been in this sinful nature ever since. God the Father sent Jesus His Son to restore us back to the Father. Not everyone who hears this message will believe; this is part of our free choice. It is this free choice that causes us to not do the will of God. When you choose to believe, it is through the will of Jesus (God's Son). It is this fact that should keep believer's from bragging that they are saved. They are saved because God died for their sins through Jesus and picked them to believe. We can be thankful, but not boastful. Just as in the time of Jesus, people have had to make a decision to believe or not. Today we have the same decision to make. I believe we have it a little bit easier, because we have access to more written accounts of Jesus than the people living at the time Jesus walked this earth. At that time not everyone had a chance to actually see and hear Jesus. Even today, the message is the same Jesus wants to restore man back to God. All men, not only Jews, but anyone who would believe. The message is the same and the road is still narrow.

19th Post - His Authority

The passage is taken from Matthew 11: 4 - 6; Luke 7: 22 - 23. Disciples sent by John the Baptist, while John the Baptist was in prison in the palace of Herod Agrippa. John the Baptist is Jesus' cousin and is 3 months older than Jesus. We need to remember that John the Baptist's father was Zacharias. For the Angel Gabriel to come to him while he was working in the Temple Zacharias would have to be of the line of Aaron, of the Levites. Since Zacharias was a high priest, he would have access to all the sacred writings and would have taught his son John from these books (scrolls). This is the information John used to make way for the Messiah. Looking at what John the Baptist said "Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand." "The one who follows me will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with Fire." Both of these statements seemed to look at the apocolyptic side of the Messiah. Since Jesus has come, we tend to look at these apocolyptic passages of scripture as being fulfilled after the second coming of Christ. The Zealots or conservative hard liners living at the time of Jesus, were hoping for the promised Messiah to be more appocolyptic, than one with a servants heart. I believe that John the Baptist also thought that the Messiah would come into His Kingdom very soon after His arrival on the scene. I believe that this is why John sent his disciples to ask Jesus if He is the Messiah, or should they look for another. Jesus was counting on John's knowledge of the sacred writings when he told the disciples to tell John "The lame walk the leapers are cleansed, the dead are raised and the poor have the Gospel preached to them." These are also prophecies that the Messiah was to perform in order to prove that Jesus is indeed the Messiah.

18th Post - What Jesus Said... About "The Life"

We looked at two Passages under this heading - John 11: 25 - 26 & John 14: 6.
John 11: 25 - 26 says that Jesus is the resurrection and the life. If you believe in Jesus even though you may die yet shall you live. This is quite a bold statement, coming from a 30 year old man, and suggests that Jesus has greater authority then other men. You have to decide if Jesus was who He said He was. The only person who would have this authority would be God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth and all things contained therein. This is why we are studying Jesus' words. We know that God can not lie, and Jesus being God would also be bound to this truth and likewise can not lie. This is how you will be able to expose false christ's that will appear in the last days. Of all the religions of the world, Christianity is the only one that teaches that God gave His only Son to die to save us from our sins. We have to believe this. In the process of this study we will look at what Jesus said and did in order for us to believe that He was the Son of God. You are the only one who can decide the answer to the question of Jesus being God or not. The evidence is in the Bible and anyone can learn the truth. Only God has control over every aspect of man's life and afterlife. John 14:6 takes Jesus authority one step further, it claims that Jesus is the only way to the Father. By getting to the Father you will be in Heaven because that is where God the Father lives. This sounds very narrow minded, but ask yourself what other God sent His Son to die for your sins? There is only one! If there is only one, how can people say that all paths lead to Heaven? Jesus suffered and died to earn the right to make this claim. You must decide who is right.

17th Post - Light of the World continued

Jesus was sent by God to witness to people in the New Testament. His message was the same as the Old Testament prophets. Jesus was trying to re-establish the relationship between God and man. Like in the Old Testament, the people of the New Testament would not listen to the words of Jesus. The people of the Old Testament had the reputation of killing the prophets God had raised to re-establish the God and man relationship. The people of Jesus' day also did not want to hear that they had gone astray like lost sheep, and Jesus was trying to corral them back into the believing fold. Like their ancestors, they also plotted for ways to kill Jesus. It was their love for the darkness that caused these people to kill Jesus. This is what Jesus meant when He said that you would have the light for a little while, the light would go out when Jesus was killed. The disciples did not have enough faith to carry on this work after Jesus death. This is why Jesus continued to tell them to walk in the light and to get the light within them so that they will become sons of light.
If they had the light within them they could continue to walk in the ways of God even after Jesus died. When we decide to follow Jesus, we have to make a decision to follow only one voice. If you have not made this commitment, then you are probably not one of Jesus' sheep. You could be stumbling around in a haze without a clear reason for your movements. If this sounds like you, and you want to change this. Make a commitment to follow Jesus. You do this by reading the Bible, going to Church and getting into a Bible Study. Choosing to live for Christ does not mean that your life will magically get better and you will not have any trials. With Christ in your life your troubles seem easier to handle because you have someone to share them with. Someone who knows your troubles and will stay with you and never leave. Someone who is never too busy to listen or help you. This is what a personal relationship with God can offer.

16th Post - The Light of the World.

The Bible verses we looked at are as follows: John 8:12; John 9:4-5; John 11: 9-10; John 12:35-36; and John 11: 25-26.
These passages are all from John, they come toward the end of Jesus' earthly ministry, before He goes to the cross. Jesus likens the darkness to sin, on the one hand and then applies the coming darkness to His coming death when He will leave this world and go back to Heaven. Jesus came into the world to save it from sin. Sin was brought into the world through the fall of Adam and Eve (Genesis chapter 3). Since the fall, all mankind has had a sinful nature. It is this nature that causes us to do things contrary to God. God gave the Law to Moses as part in the 10 Commandments. These were to be guides to show us how to live as individuals. God gave Moses another part of the Law to show us how to live in a society (this is found in Deuteronomy). If you look at any society they have rules that the people living in that society agree to live by. If you look at these laws you will see that some pertain to us and some to God. This means we can victimize others and God if we choose to break these commands. When we victimize others, they will speak out and demand satisfaction. God on the other hand is not as vocal as we are. We take God's silence as a sort of silent approval; we say well, He didn't disapprove. The problem is that He does disapprove and He tells us in the Bible through His Word. This is why in the Old Testament God raised up prophets to speak for Him, when the office of High Priest was not speaking for God. To be continued next post.

15th Post The Good Shepherd - Comment

Its funny that we have been looking at the Good Shepherd and false shepherds, true committed sheep and sheep trying to look like true sheep. We are told that to be a Christian means you are striving to be Christ-like. How come is it, then when in some Churches you don't see the attributes Christ taught being done by the Church members? Have we grown so complacent with our teachings on Jesus that we have forgotten that we are to continue to try to act like Jesus acted? It seems that Church should bring out the best in people. In some Churches there seems to be no difference between the way they act and the way the world acts. In a lot of ways we are acting like the Pharisees that lived during Jesus' day. The Pharisees dressed in ways that set them apart. In fact the word Pharisee means to set apart. They only associated with their own group, and only interacted within that group; except when they were doing acts of kindness. Christ asked us to be salt and light. To be Salt and Light means that you are not afraid to stand up for Christ especially when the world goals are contrary and point out those differences to the world. Jesus said to be known as His Sheep we need to love one another. If our behavior in Church matches the world out side of Church, how are we salt and light exactly?
How do we show the world that we love one another?? If we have lost this, how do we get back?
This is the same problem with asking for revival. According to 2 Chronicles 7:14; if you look up that verse you will notice that God clearly states that revival starts with His People. It is the same thing in the New Testament whether revival or turning back to Christ the work starts with God's people. A Church changes one believer at a time. If your Church looks like the one mentioned above you can start to affect this positive change by adopting positive teachings of Christ in your own life at home, work and in Church. This is how you go about making change happen. However, some sheep look for a church that is displaying these positive attributes join the Church but do not assimilate into that Church. They believe that since they attend there, they have those attributes also. To reap the benefits of these attributes, you have to adopt these attributes.

14th Post The Good Shepherd - John 10: 26-29

We spent two hours discussing these three verses in context with the previous verses John 10: 1 - 18. I enjoy and encourage discussion during my Bible studies because when you can put into words your position and then try to defend it Biblically, you better understand your position. It is when defending it Biblically that you can prove your position has merit or not. By hearing what others have to say on the subject can change the way you looked at the verse; they may have seen something you did not. "The Bible can never mean what it never meant." Gordon Fee stated this in his book "Reading the Bible for all its worth." John 10: 26 - 29 picks up where John 10: 1 - 18 left off. In these three verses Jesus says you who are not my sheep because you don't know my voice and don't follow me, you will not receive eternal life which I give you. My Father has given them to Me, no one is greater than Him and no one can snatch them out of My Hand. This is absolutely True the devil can not snatch anyone out of Jesus Hand. Last week we looked at the sheep who are listening to Jesus. If you are familiar with herding animals, they tend to form groups within the flock. Group A is the group that fights for the nearest position to the shepherd. Group B forms just outside group A. Group C forms just behind B. And D are the ones hanging around the fringe just outside group C. All these groups are within ear shot of the shepherd, and are following where ever He goes. Sheep, like us have the ability to attract danger and to misbehave at any time. This is what keeps the shepherd busy and at times he cannot see all the sheep at the same time. The Bible proves this with the stories of looking for lost sheep. If these sheep were constantly listening to their shepherd they would not become lost. Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees when he remarked "you are not my sheep because you don't hear my voice." This is very interesting, the Pharisees considered themselves to be the closest group to God. Here Jesus as the Son of God clearly tells them they are not part of His flock. They chose to dismiss His words because they didn't think He was God. We can make this same mistake today.
Sheep can get used to following each other within the confines of the flock, they stop listening to the Shepherd and become complacent within the flock. They feel they are still part of the flock because they never leave the flock but they won't receive eternal life. In humanity these are the ones who go to Church, don't read their Bible and their life has no fruit to show their belief. They believe that they have achieved the prize without achieving it. To make sure you are not one of these, you need to walk with God daily. This takes a personal commitment to make quality time with God on a regular basis. When you make this commitment your life will show this change, this is what is meant by saying when you accept God your life changes. This is what Baptism symbolizes, when you are put under the water it symbolizes being dead to sin; when you come up you are alive in Christ. This should not be the only proof you have of living for Christ, this should be the start of a long string of events. If Baptism is all you have to look back on then maybe you, like the sheep mentioned above are hanging out with the flock but not really a part of it. It is through reading the Bible that you can find your way back to the Shepherd and being able to hear His voice. When we decide to walk with Jesus, we start the process of becoming more like Christ. When we die we are the most like Christ we can be until He completes this work in us at the ressurrection. This is the goal of all believers to become more like Christ. It requires work and an investment of time with Jesus. There is no short cut to achieve eternal life. Its funny, we go to school and college to train us for something we may do for 20 - 40 years or more; but we neglect learning about what it will take to live forever. The later requires the same kind of diligence. Too bad, we don't always realize how important it is. If we did maybe we would have taken the Bible and Church more seriously.