JANUARY 07 THE JESUS QUESTIONS Introduction-07: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33 (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17)
LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer
JESUS, praise the Name of the Only Begotten Son of the Living God. Lord Jesus, I write Your Name “JESUS” and I marvel at both the “Name” and its “Meaning” but it is hard for our finite minds and mortal intellect to actually understand the “fact” that Jesus IS the Son of the Living God!
The other fact that is difficult to “wrap our finite mortal mind around” is that the “Living God” who Loved the world with a Love that cannot be comprehended by mortal man would remain TRUE to HIS INFINITELY DIVINE CHARACTER and PROVIDE for our SALVATION as explained by Abraham to Isaac, “God will provide Himself the Lamb…” (Genesis 22:8)! Man who is flesh cannot conceive that the Living God who is SPIRIT would allow His Only Begotten (Divine) Son to be born of a (mortal) “virgin”, live a perfect life in the FLESH and then as part of God’s Master Plan for mankind, the Omnipotent would offer His ONLY BEGOTTEN Son as the Atonement for the sins of the world?!?!
Why would a God that has unlimited Power and has absolutely ZERO need of mankind Sacrifice so much of Himself in order that the same mankind that has rejected and denied Him would have a pathway to FORGIVENESS of our iniquities against God — surely this is the “MYSTERY OF GOD” that is to be revealed when He RETURNS to “Bring Home” those that have “received” Him! Praise God for His Master Plan!!! AMEN
THE JESUS QUESTIONS
Jesus was known as the Messiah by all those that had been blessed by the angel’s declaration: “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11) and those that had traveled to Bethlehem and had seen with their own eyes the Christ Child laying in a manger.
Jesus was next revealed as the Messiah to a man named Simeon in Jerusalem for (as per Jewish tradition) “after eight days were completed” it was customary for Jewish families to take newborn males to the temple for circumcision. “Now when the days of her [Mary the mother of Jesus] purification according to the law of Moses were completed, [Mary and Joseph brought their Child named Jesus who was born in a manger in Bethlehem] to Jerusalem to present Him to the LORD…And behold there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.” (Luke 2:22-26) Simeon being an official in the temple at Jerusalem and very familiar with the “Consolation of Israel” (which was a common name for the Messiah used by the Jews) that when Mary and Joseph presented Jesus to Simeon, Simeon was aware that he was holding in his arms the “LORD’s Christ”! Simeon said when “he took [Jesus] up in his arms and blessed God… ‘LORD, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel.” (Luke 2:27-32)
John the Baptist was among the few that had been informed by the angel of God or by the Holy Spirit Himself that the Messiah had arrived but unlike those that had beheld the Child in Bethlehem, or Simeon who had held the Messiah in his arms at the circumcision ceremony in the temple in Jerusalem
{{side thought: Simeon most likely circumcised Jesus
knowing it was God’s Son that he was circumcising!!!!!!!!Selah}},
John, the foretold “forerunner” of the Messiah, had not yet seen the Messiah but John had been proclaiming about the Messiah, “…He [the Messiah] who is coming after me is mightier than I…[the Messiah] will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Matthew 3:11).
John the Baptist had been proclaiming that the “kingdom of heaven is at hand” but John had not actually seen the Messiah in the FLESH; however, when Jesus came to John to be baptized in the Jordan, it was at that very “moment” when John first saw the Messiah with his own eyes that the Holy Spirit revealed to John that this Man approaching him in the Jordan was the Messiah in the flesh!!! John felt unworthy and tried to prevent Jesus from being baptized by him (see Matthew 3:14) but through that Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist in the Jordan, Jesus publicly revealed Himself and John as Messianic Prophecies being publicly fulfilled in the presence of many eyewitnesses!
Prior to Jesus being baptized in the Jordan by John the Baptist, Jesus had been revealed as the Messiah by a host of other witnesses and by circumstances beyond His control — but clearly all His prior circumstances are themselves a witness to the fact that God has a Master Plan and that Jesus IS the “Anointed One”! Now here at the Jordan, prophecy was simultaneously being fulfilled in the sight of a multitude of “eyewitnesses” that left no doubt that John was the “forerunner” of the Messiah and that this Jesus whom John had just baptized in the Jordan was the long-awaited Messiah! These prophecies were not fulfilled by Jesus simply proclaiming Himself to be the Messiah but the prophecies were fulfilled by documented factual circumstances surrounding His Birth and by a multitude of witnesses that proclaimed they had seen the Messiah with their own eyes! But here at the Jordan, Jesus begins His Ministry as the Messiah by declaring to John in the presence of those many witnesses: “Jesus … said to [John], “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” (Matthew 3:15)
“Now” also is a good time for “us” to consider the great cloud of witnesses before us that included individual “eyewitness accounts” of having seen the Messiah — we ourselves should “Now” listen to Jesus and take His advice to “us” for “now” is the time for “us” to be led by the “Spirit” into His Presence and to listen when Jesus, by the Holy Spirit encourages “us” to: “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” (Matthew 3:15)
Remember — Today is the Day of Salvation and only through Salvation can we “fulfill all righteousness”!!! Are you like Simeon looking expectantly to see the Messiah??? Remember Jesus promised “Seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened”!!! (Matthew 7:7)
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THE PATRIOT’S PULPIT
Comment: 1/7/24 Sunday 6:08A - America is the “land that I love” and I KNOW that for America to be blessed again as it was “in the beginning”, America will have to return to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — we will never become strong again until we return to the TRUE SOURCE of POWER and STRENGTH and let God lead us back into the “Promised Land” which is not a “physical” location but exists “spiritually” in the hearts of free men everywhere!
America was not “GREAT” because of “technology” or because of “government regulations” because none of that existed when our founding father’s signed a declaration declaring loud and proud that God, not men, give us our “inalienable rights” and “freedoms”. Therefore if America does not establish God and His Moral Standards as the cornerstone of our nation, we will continue to be subject to the will of men who will enslave us — for men of personal power who follow their own desires for “self” do not care about the rights and freedoms of others but only seek to oppress the “common folk” and therefore they seek power and control above all else and completely abandon all compassion for the true “common good” but will instead defile and redefine “the common good” to accomplish their own personal agenda for their own personal gain.
God gave us freewill and encourages us to “love one another” but America has been overtaken by men who have let themselves be overtaken by the desire to “rule over others” and have legislated God out of America and therefore our society has become a Godless society and has inherited the curse of those that turn from God. John the Baptist preached “Repentance” and when Jesus started His earthly Ministry after being baptized by John, Jesus began preaching “Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand” and that is exactly where America is at today in 2024 and if we don’t Return America to God, America will never again prosper and men will never be free again.
There is a great movement of God’s Spirit
and America must look inward at where our collective “heart” is
because if God does not “create a clean heart” within our nation through individual lives, we will remain a morally bankrupt society and will continue to “rot and rust” as a nation. Each individual has the responsibility to “put their own house in order” and allow God to bless the American Dream once again! We must prioritize our “Patriotism” to serve others, only a true “Patriot” would sacrifice their life for others and Jesus is the Greatest Patriot I know! Let us build our “Patriotism” on the Rock and we will not only withstand the “Storm” but America will Prosper once again!
GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!
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