STOP!

Several years ago, I was telling a bedtime story to two of my grandchildren, the oldest being 8 years old.  I had done this many times.  But this night I wanted to tell them the story of Jesus, even though I knew that they had heard it in Bible classes. 

I began by telling them that all through the Old Testament there had been promises made that one day a Messiah, a king, would come to save the world.  As we get to the NT, we read of the birth of the king, Jesus.  But He was a disappointment to many, because He was born into a poor family, made His start in a barn with the animals, and wasn't the kind of king they wanted. 

But as Jesus grew up, at the age of 30 He began to teach.  And the people followed Him everywhere.  And He would teach them, and heal them, and feed them sometimes.  Nearing the end of His life, He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and the people lined the road and cheered Him on. But this wasn't to last....and He knew it.  He knew that He would have to eventually be killed; and He taught this to His disciples.  One time, Peter said, "Lord, this shall not be!"  And Jesus rebuked him saying, "Get behind me, Satan...you don't know the things that are of God." (Matthew 16:23)

It was time for the last supper, the partaking of the Jewish Passover Feast with His 12 apostles.  Jesus knew that He was about to meet His end.  As He sat with them at the table, He knew that one would betray him to those who wanted Him killed. And of course, we know where this story is going, that He would be tried and eventually killed on the cross, only to rise again.

But before I could get to the cruel ending, I started telling the boys of the suffering, how Jesus would go into the garden and pray under great stress.  How He would be taken, tried, lied about, spit upon, beaten with whips that tore His skin.  And suddenly, Andrew said, "STOP!"  I said, "Why Andrew?"  He said, "I can't hear any more......stop!"

I thought it was neat that a child could relate to the death of the Lord, that the pain would be too great.  And I thought about how, if you and I had been there to see how badly He was treated for our sake, that we would have been so sad to witness that great suffering.  We would remember, as He told us to remember Him.  That we would remember Him as we took of the communion, remembering His love and compassion for all men.  And we would never forget......

Thanks for reading.  Have a good week.

Wisdom From Jesus

All through the New Testament we get the teachings and wisdom given by Jesus.  For this posting, we will focus on some of the things He was saying in Luke 12.  In verse 16, it says, "Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: 'The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully.  And he thought within himself, saying, "What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?"  So he said, "I will do this; I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods.  And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.' " But God said to him, "Fool!  This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided"  So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.' " 

To understand what Jesus was teaching here, we have only to read on.  "Then He said to His disciples, 'Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on.  Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.  Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them.  Of how much more value are you than the birds?"  Later He says, "..seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you." 

The man with lots of crops and barns and everything he needed wasn't wrong to have things.  What was wrong was his priorities.  All he could think about was things, and things of this life.  Jesus is saying that our priority needs to be on spiritual things, on the kingdom of God.  Jesus says that if we follow Him, everything else will be okay.  We all need to listen to this wisdom. 

Thanks for reading again.  Feel the love again.

The Simple Story

We all are affected by the way we are raised, by our parents and grandparents and by the religion, or beliefs about religion, to which we are exposed.  And what we learn is not always right; sometimes we must relearn...and be willing to relearn.  Another way of saying this is to say that we should be open-minded, open to hear, seeking the truth.  Hebrews 11:6 says, "...he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him."  So must we all be always diligently seeking Him.

One basic principle that we see in the New Testament is the theme subject of the kingdom.  Jesus taught so much about the kingdom.  In Luke 10, He sent 70 of His followers out to teach people about the kingdom (verse 9), saying "the kingdom is nigh."  Jesus told us in many figurative ways about the kingdom.  The kingdom is like a mustard seed, like a treasure hidden in a field, like a valuable pearl and much more.  With so much emphasis on the kingdom, we certainly need to "seek" the truth about it. 

It is noteworthy that in Acts 1, when Jesus is about to leave the earth and ascend into heaven, the apostles asked Him, "..will You at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?"  This is an important question!  It shows that the kingdom that Jesus and His followers have been teaching about is still not here.  And it relates to the desire of the Jewish people to get their kingdom, their prominence back.  They had it in old days, in the OT, with great and powerful kings, like David.  Here in the NT, they are being ruled, dominated and suppressed by the Roman government.  They want redemption; they want their kingdom.  But they, even among His followers here in Acts 1, don't realize that the kingdom they are about to get is a spiritual one.

The answer Jesus gives them is, "..it is not for you to know.."  But then He tells them to wait in Jerusalem for power.  And what follows is Jesus going to heaven to rule over the new kingdom, and the apostles, armed with extraordinary power of the Holy Spirit, going out to witness and develop this new kingdom, this kingdom that was foretold in Joel 2, Daniel 2, Isaiah 2 and many other places throughout the OT.

That is the simple truth of the Bible.

Thanks for reading.  Feel the love.  

The Pivotal Point.........

There is a pivotal point in the Bible where everything changes.  And before discussing this subject, let me say that most people, even Christians, do not have a good understanding of this.  But the whole Bible teaches the before and after of this pivotal point.  And I do not want to indicate that this is the main event of the Bible.  The main event could be the birth of Christ or the death or the resurrection, or the ascension of the Lord.  This is about the change that occurs with God's people, with the beginnings of Christianity.

To be clear, let me state that this turning point occurs with one event, this being the coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2.  The apostles are in Jerusalem at the instruction of Jesus, who has just left them to ascend into heaven and rule over His kingdom from the throne.  Before leaving, He said, "..you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."  They waited in Jerusalem for days; the Holy Spirit came upon them, Peter rose to speak and said, "..this (event) is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh.' "

Note these points:

*  As shown above, the prophet Joel, teaching hundreds of years before Jesus, looked forward to the "last days."  This same prophesy was made over and over throughout the Old Testament (e.g., Daniel 2, Isaiah 2).  The OT taught that one day the kingdom would come in its fullness with the coming and ultimate death of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.  We learn in Acts 2 that this is the last days.

*  The Jewish Law was still in effect during the life of Jesus.  Jesus kept the Jewish Law throughout His time on earth.  After Acts 2, there was no more Jewish Law.

*  Worship was on Saturday until after Acts 2--Sunday thereafter.

*  Partaking of the Communion, the Lord's Supper, began after Acts 2, not before.

*  "Christians" only occurred after Acts 2.

*  "Church" only occurred after Acts 2.

*  Common practice of baptism for the remission of sins only occurred after Acts 2--actually, in Acts 2.

*  The taking of the "good news" to all the world only began in Acts 2.  Jesus made no attempt to do this; He stayed close around, traveling very few miles in His ministry.

In Acts 1, just before Jesus left the earth, "...when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, 'Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?'  And He said to them, 'It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.' " This shows that the "kingdom" is about to start, but has not yet.  Jesus had to leave and begin His reign on the throne in heaven.  The apostles had heard about the coming kingdom and were asking if this is the time.  He doesn't tell them, but tells them to wait in Jerusalem and they would see.  Indeed, they did see in Acts 2 when the Holy Spirit came upon them...just as promised.

Thank you for reading and for your open minded analysis of these important things. 

Blood

The subject of blood is of critical importance throughout the Bible.  We see blood in the 10 plagues that God brought upon the Egyptians in convincing the Pharaoh to let the Israelite people leave Egypt, to be freed from slavery.  It would seem that this story is the greatest of all events in the Old Testament. 

The very first plague was where God turned river water into blood.  Of greater import is the final plague where God takes the life of each firstborn child in Egypt.  The only salvation from this plague was given to the Israelites: putting animal blood on the door facings of their homes.

The greatest example of blood significance is found with the blood of Jesus.  As Jesus was facing His impending death, He told His apostles that He would be killed, that they should always remember Him by taking of the Lord's supper, the communion, remembering the giving of His body and blood.  In Matthew 26:28, He said, "..this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins."

Jesus was beaten with whips, scourged (whipped with strands of leather with metal tips), had a crown of thorns put on His head, bringing forth blood, had nails driven through His hands and feet, and even after death, had a spear driven through His side, bringing forth blood and water. 

The blood of Jesus is critical to the Christian as it represents the giving of His life for each of us.

Let us remember and give thanks.

And thanks again for reading.  Feel the love......

The Christmas Story

The Christmas story is a beautiful story, telling us of the miraculous birth of Jesus.  It is recorded in most detail in the book of Luke, but is also told in Matthew.  The other two of the first four books of the New Testament do not tell of the birth, but rather start the story of Jesus as a grown man.

We should note that Jesus was not likely born on December 25.  There are a number of reasons why this is the case, one being that shepherds are not in the fields typically at this time of year.  But perhaps a better reason is that the date was just picked rather randomly.  And here are a few other facts, all of which you can learn by googling the origins of Christmas. The year of Jesus' birth has been miscalculated; He was apparently born between 7 and 2 BC.  And Christmas seems to have been started some time around the 4th century.  It had some pagan beginnings that came with some gruesome and violent actions on that date.  But that was all long ago and we now find ourselves with Santa Claus, Christmas trees and lights, presents and  many remembering the birth of Jesus.

In the detailed account of Luke, we read of shepherds who were in the fields with their sheep.  An angel appeared to them telling of the birth of the Lord, "a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.......And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.' "  The shepherds came to Bethlehem and saw the Christ child lying in a manger; after this, they "returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them."

In the book of Matthew we read of the wise men from the east; they came to Jerusalem looking for the Christ child who was born.  They had seen a star and were looking for the "King of the Jews.  They were sent by Herod the king to Bethlehem to see the child Jesus; they had read in the OT scriptures that He would be born in Bethlehem.  They followed the star which directed them to the baby.  "When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.  And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped Him; and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh."  Often people make the mistake of saying the three wise men; but there were three types of gifts; we just don't know how many wise men there were.

So we see that there were many miracles involved in the birth of Jesus...and much fulfillment of OT scriptures.  We don't read anywhere in the Bible where Christians were to observe the birth of Jesus, and we don't know when that was.  But the Bible makes quite a significance of the death of Jesus, especially where Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper, or Communion, and said "Do this in memory of Me." 

Thanks for reading again.  Have a Merry Christmas!!

Story of Three Mountains

There are a number of mountains referenced in the Bible.  I want to mention three mountains in this lesson; and it will be noted that they are of increasing importance.  And we will get to it shortly, but if you want to read ahead, these are covered in a very powerful statement in Hebrews 12:18.

The first mountain is Mt. Sinai.  it is where Moses went up on the mountain to get the Law of Moses from God, to include the 10 commandments.  This mountain is still there today on the Sinai Peninsula, though we don't know the exact location of Moses' ascent.

The second mountain is more important; it is Mount Moriah.  Many important events occurred here on Mt. Moriah.  We read in Genesis 22 that God told Abraham to take Isaac, his only son, go to Mt. Moriah and offer Isaac as a sacrifice.  God spared Isaac at the last minute.  This is the same mountain where David reigned over his powerful kingdom and where Solomon built the temple for worship to God.  But of greater significance was the crucifixion of Jesus--done on this mountain.  Still the location of the city of Jerusalem, this is the greatest mountain ever known...except for mountain number three:

Hebrews 12:18 says, "You have not come to the mountain..." where Moses climbed.  But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem..."  This is referring to the heavenly city, heaven.  Jerusalem could be said to be the greatest city ever  known on earth.  But as Christians, we look forward to a life eternal in the heavenly Jerusalem, heaven itself.  Thus, those of us who follow God come to the greatest mountain of all.