JANUARY 11 THE JESUS QUESTIONS Introduction-11: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33 (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17)

 JANUARY  11  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   Introduction-11: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33  (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17)

LIVING FOR JESUS   Daily Prayer    

JESUS, my prayer for the new year is to daily be totally dependent on Your Mercy and Grace to lead me where You will. 

Lord, I pray that in regard to worldly influences I may have the discernment to see past the world and the deceit of this world to Your Truth and to Trust Your Holy Spirit to take whatever worldly circumstance that I find myself in and use it to witness to Your Great Love — for there is nothing or no one that cannot benefit from Grace which You have provided so abundantly. 

Keep our hearts and eyes open to those times when we can take the circumstances of the world and use them to witness to your Glory.      AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has already in the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew fulfilled more prophecies than any one single person before Him and certainly Jesus has fulfilled more prophecies than anyone that has lived after Him. The Birth, Life, Death by Crucifixion, Burial in a “borrowed” Tomb, and His Glorious Resurrection on the Third Day are predictions fulfilled by Jesus. 

The fulfilling of specific prophecies of the Messiah by Jesus have been documented by so many independent sources and written down and confirmed in the presence of so many eyewitnesses that 

there will NEVER be anyone but JESUS that can have the facts of His Life 

be the PROOF that He is the SON OF GOD. 

Some obvious supporting facts surrounding Jesus fulfilling the Messianic Prophecies come from the world of mathematics but are not always considered as “proof” (there will always be skeptics). Mathematics became involved because the “claims” that Jesus fulfilled so many prophecies got the attention of the scientific/mathematical community and several well known mathematicians were asked to apply the science of “probability” to the scriptures. As a result of applying the science of probability to prophecy, the numbers generated from this investigation and sophisticated mathematical calculations produced such outrageous numbers that the numbers were rechecked and recalculated by dozens of sources! 

One such case resulted in  a conclusion written by the professor emeritus of science at Westmont College in Santa Barbara who had previously served as chairman of the mathematics and astronomy departments at Pasadena City College.  Professor Peter Stoner had done a probability study on 11 general prophecies coming true and wrote,

 “the probability of these 11 prophecies coming true, if written in human wisdom, is…1 in 5.76 x 10^59. Needless to say, this is a number beyond the realm of possibility.” 

Professor Stoner used the following to illustrate the unbelievable number of 1 x 10¹⁷ of one person “accidentally fulfilling” only 8 Messianic prophecies: 

“Imagine filling the State of Texas knee deep in silver dollars. Include in this huge number one silver dollar with a black check mark on it. Then, turn a blindfolded person loose in this sea of silver dollars. The odds the the first coin he would pick up would be the one with the black check mark are the same as 8 prophecies being fulfilled accidentally in the life of Jesus.”

 

{{See internet article: “Applying the Science of Probability to the Scriptures — Do Statistics Prove the Bible’s Supernatural Origin?” 

By Dr. David Reagan on the website http://christinprophecy.org}} 

If we look at just the “odds” from a numerical standpoint of one man “accidentally” fulfilling more than 8 prophecies as being impossible 

then what is the phrase that would have to be invented for a second person to fulfill more prophecies than the first person?!?!? 

The “odds” that one man could fulfill ALL the Messianic prophecies are so beyond our comprehension that many find it hard to believe it to be humanly possible and choose to believe that all of this “prophecy” stuff and “the Jesus story” is a “fairy tale” — which is still one of the main arguments put forth by skeptics against Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit today and this argument prevents many people from believing! On the other side of the coin others write:

 “The bottom line is that the fulfillment of Bible prophecy in the life of Jesus proves conclusively that He truly was God in the flesh. It also proves that the Bible is supernatural in origin.”  

Many “unbelievers” are the very ones that deny that Jesus is the Son of God and that God Himself exists, yet they refuse to accept as “evidence” the “eyewitness” accounts such as each of the individual Gospels. If we accept simple things that must be true of the Messiah like the Messiah is a Jewish male born to a virgin in Judea and that He would have to be “sacrificed” to make atonement for the sins of His people and not just any “sacrifice” but a unique death-by-crucifixion at the hands of a foreign government then when we look at the simple facts of eyewitness accounts of the life of Jesus who was a Jewish male born in Bethlehem to a virgin and we have records of Jesus Himself starting His ministry by teaching, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” then eyes must be opened to the TRUTH!  

Matthew, being an educated Jew met Jesus and then learned everything he could about Jesus and would eventually write the Gospel of Matthew that would be an eyewitness account to the fulfilling of Jewish prophecy by Jesus. Matthew being a studied and educated Jew himself recognized the significance of the simple facts of the life of Jesus and wrote the Gospel that documented his findings. 

I can just imagine what Matthew felt like when he started following Jesus and hearing reports from the other apostles about the parents of Jesus and when Matthew traced the genealogy of Jesus back to King David, Matthew knew that there was something special about this first born Jewish male that could trace His genealogy back to King David! 

But can you imagine how Matthew felt when he learned that the mother of Jesus divulged the detailed accounts of how her firstborn son Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirt and that she was a “virgin” when she gave birth to Jesus! Then Mary and Joseph both told of their separate visits from the angel Gabriel 

and Gabriel telling each of them to

 “call Him Jesus for He will save the people from their sins”!  

I can also imagine that Matthew started taking notes and studying the prophecies of the MESSIAH even more seriously because Matthew realized that already Jesus had fulfilled the three most basic but difficult prophecies concerning the MESSIAH — for no one can choose where they are born nor whom their parents are much less who the parents of the parents are — secondly there is the “virgin birth” prophecy which no one can choose that their mother be a “virgin” and give birth!  

Those ARE IMPOSSIBLE things for man, but that makes the HOLY SCRIPTURE valid when it clearly states, 

“with man it is impossible but with God, all things are possible.” 

I am sure that Matthew started writing furiously when he heard Mary and Joseph tell the account of the “virgin birth” and I am sure that God fully intended for Matthew to be the one to write the Gospel and document this “impossibility” of Jesus — for the TRUTH is that indeed it is “impossible” for man to fulfill prophecy, only GOD can fulfill prophecy and only the Son of God could be “virgin born”!!! The first four chapters of Matthew then documents through eyewitness accounts all the simple facts of the Life of Jesus that points to the Divine Truth that Jesus is the Son of God!!!   

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THE PATRIOT’S PULPIT

Comment: 1/11/24 Thursday 6:00A - Good morning and God Bless all Patriots everywhere! Things I wanted to get done on my Patriotic “To Do” list seemed like they were going slower and slower but then it finally dawned on me sometimes we can “want” things to be done “right now” but like my granddaddy told me, “Son, spit in one hand and wish in the other and see which one gets wet first” so either we have to get busy ourselves and get to work shoveling or the hole never gets filled!  I have also realized that my “Patriotic” contribution at this time and circumstance in my life was going to be limited to “BELIEVING” and sharing my FAITH IN PATRIOTISM! I am sure that I am not alone in KNOWING that our government should be as President Lincoln said in his famous quote: 

LINCOLN’S FAMOUS QUOTE AND ITS INSPIRATION: “We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

   

When we realize that Lincoln was doing everything in his power as President of the United States to give Patriot’s a “new birth of freedom” and that he was using the full weight of his office to ensure our nation would be a nation “of the people, by the people, for the people” yet we find ourselves in 2024 facing the same battle against those that would withhold our “inalienable” God-given rights and freedoms, then if we as “common citizens” struggle to “make things right (Patriotically”) and it takes a little more time than we would like, then dear Patriots, we are in good company and it is well worth the effort for our collective Patriot future to carry on — as long as it takes! 

I just have to sometimes step back and take a deep breath and wait for the peace of God to shine forth and confirm that we are wanting the “RIGHT” thing and “those who wait on the LORD will renew their strength”. So Patriots, keep the Faith and know we are on the right path and reconfirm in your Patriotic soul why we became the “UNITED” STATES — remain “united” in our resolve and TRUST GOD, I know that “all things work together for good” and “what man means for evil, God intends for good” and God will make it benefit us if our heart are in the “right” place. 

Right is Right and Wrong is Wrong regardless of what the Propagandists want us to believe.  I have been a Patriot from the git-go and I “pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America” and “to the Republic for which it stands” and I have not seen any reason to believe there is anything better, therefore I will stand shoulder to shoulder with my fellow Patriots and do what I can as long as I can for the America I LOVE and BELIEVE IN!!! 

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JANUARY 10 THE JESUS QUESTIONS Introduction-10: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33 (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17)

 JANUARY  10  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   Introduction-10: Lessons, Lifestyle, and Parables of Jesus: JQ#1-JQ#33  (Matthew 1:1 thru 3:17)

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer    

JESUS, as we enter the new year we realize that the “Good News” is 

that we have another year and our complete future in which we can spend our lives in Your Presence each and every day! With Great Hope and Expectation we can look forward to a year with the KING of kings and LORD of lords! 

If it be Your Will for us, I pray that You grant Your servants the Grace and Mercy of another year that we will get to spend with the One that is Worthy and has given us this Divine Advice and Promise: “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5) and as God Promised His people through Moses as they were being delivered by the Mighty Hand of God from their bondage in Egypt and were about to face unknown enemies on their way to the “Promised Land”: 

“Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of [your enemies]; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes before you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6) 

I can’t think of a better way to begin a new year than to know

 that it is God Himself that is going before us and His Divine Promise will lead us safely through!      AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has been introduced by St. Matthew in his Gospel of Christ Jesus in such a manner that Jesus is first revealed as the Messiah by 5 Reveals: 

(Reveal 1) <<Matthew 1:1-17>> “the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ” (Matthew 1:1) and this genealogy also establishes Jesus to be “the Son of David” and “the Son of Abraham” thereby fulfilling the minimum requirement for the long awaited and highly anticipated Messiah, who in Jewish eschatology is a future Jewish king from the Davidic line. It is interesting to note that in addition to Jesus being the “Son of Abraham” in this genealogy given by Matthew that in the ancestry of Jesus the line of Abraham extends back in Jewish history through Shem who was the son of Noah. 

The Holy Scriptures record: “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.” (Genesis 8-10) 

The fact that the Holy Scriptures includes Noah in the line of the Messiah is paramount to understanding the “Purpose” of the Messiah and God’s “Intent” in sending Jesus to earth to be born at that particular time into this particular family. A monumental clue exists here in the introduction and genealogy of Noah, 

that the Holy Scriptures record of the time of Noah: 

“The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.” (Genesis 6:11) 

Everyone even vaguely familiar with the Bible can tell you the story of the flood

 and of Noah’s ark and how God made it rain 40 days and 40 nights 

but not many can quote what God spoke directly to Noah as to the reason Noah was to build the ark for God: 

“So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, ‘The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.’” (Genesis 6:12-13) 

Remember Matthew is writing to Israel and all Israel had been reading the Book of Moses for generations upon generations and they would have understood from reading Matthew’s genealogy that Jesus had in His ancestry King David, Abraham, and Noah thereby linking Jesus directly to men whom God had called out individually to lead the nation Israel in a Divine Way!!! 

These individual men in the same family line can also trace their ancestry back to the first man that God created with His Own Hands and became a “human being” when God used His Own Breath to Breathe Life into, Adam — thereby making Jesus the “Son of Man” as well as being the “Son of God”. 

The Hebrew word for “begot” that is found in all genealogy in the Holy Scriptures does not just mean “only” in reference to being the “son of” but is best rendered as “became an ancestor of” thereby the Biblical word for “son” is the equivalent of our English word “descendant” so by tracing the genealogy of Jesus through King David and Abraham, Matthew also demonstrates that not only is Jesus from the family line God has chosen to raise up leaders for Israel but Matthew also through the genealogy of Jesus demonstrates that Jesus is of the line that God announced would bring forth the Messiah and is also the family that can trace its lineage back to Adam, making Jesus eligible to be the Messiah, the Son of God AND the Son of Man! 

The continuing genealogy of Matthew also reveals Jesus is the Messiah by 

(Reveal 2) <<Matthew 1:18-25>> His “virgin birth” as prophetically written over 700 years before by the prophet Isaiah “Therefore the LORD Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 11:1,Isaiah 7:14, & Numbers 24:7,8a,16-17a) 

(Reveal 3) <<Matthew 2:1 - 2:23>> Prophecies fulfilled by Herod about the Messiah’s birth being in “Bethlehem” - the city of David  (Isaiah 40:3, Jeremiah 31:15, Hosea 11:1, & Micah 5:2) 

(Reveal 4) <<Mathew 3:1-17>> The testimony of John the Baptist the “forerunner of the Messiah” who was preaching “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand…” (Matthew 3:2) and was baptizing in the Jordan all those that went out to him in the wilderness to hear his message of “Repentance” and “were baptized by him in the Jordan confessing their sins…” (Matthew 3:6) and when John saw Jesus he proclaimed that Jesus was the One that John had been sent by the Holy Spirit to “prepare the way of the Lord”. (Matthew 3:3) John also said when he saw Jesus coming to him in the Jordan, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) and finally  

(Reveal 5) <<Matthew 4:1 - Matthew 28:20>> Jesus is proven to be the Messiah by the way He Lived and what He Taught others as the Holy Scriptures record in <<Matthew 4:1 - Matthew 28:20>> that Jesus is the Messiah by virtue of

 His Lifestyle, 

the Lessons and Parables Jesus Taught, 

and with His Life, Death, Burial, and Resurrection 

which when taken altogether “is sufficient evidence” that 

Jesus IS THE MESSIAH, 

GOD’s ANOINTED, 

GOD’s ONLY BEGOTTEN SON”!  

Therefore, we find in the Gospel of Matthew enough evidence and eyewitness testimonies to prove in any modern court, that Jesus IS the “rightful Heir to His Father’s Kingdom” ——— but it is as true today as it was when Jesus walked the earth that each of us must view the “evidence” through the filter of our personal “FAITH” and provide the final “verdict” for ourselves with an honest answer for the single most important Question you will ever be asked ——— for one day you will stand in His Presence and Jesus will ask you face-to-face  — 

“But who do you say that I am?” (Mark 8:29)  

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THE PATRIOT’S PULPIT

Comment: 1/10/24 Wednesday 5:17A - Good Morning my fine fellow Patriots. I’m praying to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that He will guide us through this valley of darkness to those green pastures, still waters, and paths of righteousness! As hard as the wind is blowing we should anticipate that it is the moving of the Holy Spirit and know that all those that have not built their “spiritual house” on the Rock will be blown like locusts into the sea and soon the sun (and Son) will rise to a brand new Day of the LORD. 

All the “mainstream media news” is losing the battle because TRUTH cannot be suppressed forever, especially when the SPIRIT is moving across the land as it has started moving in 2024. The “Big Lie” is still being told but when it is held up to the LIGHT it will show its true colors and we the people will be slaves no more! I know when I go buy groceries and gas that regardless how many talking heads tell me the “economy is better” I have to laugh out loud, of course that’s what you’re supposed to do when the clowns take center ring in the big circus and brother this current administration is quite a show. 

I have been hearing through the Patriot’s grapevine that there is a lot of talk about millstones and wooden nickels and an old Bob Dylan song, “Blowing in the Wind” — well I can tell you my friend that “the answer” is not stopping cows from farting! Everything seems to be a big joke to them and all we have to do is “change genders”but the TRUTH is that everything woke is going broke and if we don’t turn this economy around this year that everyone and everybody will be broke as well. When the SPIRIT moves like this in people’s hearts though, HOPE and FAITH puts forth new buds, soon new leaves, and then new fruit and prosperity will follow with hard work taking care of the weeds. God will give us everything we need but He expects us to “tend the garden” and if we do our part, He will do His! We need more Patriots to help their neighbor identify the weeds and how to sharpen their hoe to clear the rows.  I am ready to roll up my sleeves and get the ground ready — if we want a good harvest we have a lot of work to do! 

Stand TALL with the TRUTH or fall short with lies.

Rise and Shine!

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