Would you follow Jesus?

Would you follow Him as a disciple or a follower or just interested in Him and the “good feelings” which you get when you are attending a meeting? It is not unusual actually. Many of His followers during His ministry did follow Him for the food or for healing or just to hear Him preach because He taught with authority which no other person could claim.

In today’s religious climate whether it is in America or elsewhere in the world, people tend to look down upon Christian beliefs and our faith in Jesus as the Son of God. So do you think that people would follow Him today? Some people would but in large part, I think that many more would either try to get Jesus arrested or killed, just as they did almost two thousand years ago.

Why has nothing really changed in all that time?

Well, Satan is still at work. In the church and in society as well as in every part of every government all over the world. So, the Adversary is very good at what he accomplishes and he is still doing that very thing inside the church, regardless of the denomination!

My question still stands…would you follow Jesus as a disciple or just someone interested in hearing Him speak but not really interested in the sermon itself or the Person bringing the sermon? God does care about each of us in this world but His timing is coming to a close and when the Trumpet sounds for the church to leave, where will you be? Will you be in the company of those taken up into heaven or will you be here watching the news and trying to figure out what went wrong?

There are many who really don’t believe that this will take place. Many people on newscasts and on social media have expressed their views about the Bible and the God of the Bible is a myth or a fabrication and that most of the books of the Bible are just the writings of a bunch of old men and nothing more. If you have studied the Bible as a book of tales and fables I can understand where this kind of thinking comes from. But if you have ever been in a church and heard the sermons and prayed with those in attendance then you know that the Bible is God’s Word.

Since many of its prophecies have come about in history, right up to the reclaiming of Jerusalem in 1967 then God’s Word can’t be “just a book”. It is the Word of God and He cannot lie. I pray that you will seek Him out while there is still time to accept Him into your heart because after the church is “taken up”, it will be harder and much more dangerous for anyone to give their heart to Jesus and live as a Christian during those times.

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Jesus learned from Joseph

When the high priest heard Jesus acknowledge that He was the Son of God, he rent his cloak. In the Old Testament, if the high priest did this in his priestly robe (the one which had no seams), it effectively removed him from office according to the Torah.

We have been celebrating the birth of Jesus, the Son of God, but consider the time of His crucifixion and when He said, “It is finished”. The veil of the Temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom. God’s Presence was in the Holy of Holies so it was God Himself Who tore (rent) the veil of the Temple from top to bottom giving mankind access to Himself from that point on through the substitutionary death of Jesus as the Passover Lamb and the fulfillment of ALL of the feasts which God had instituted from the time of the exodus from Egypt to the giving of the law of God on Mount Sinai. In particular the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Firstfruits.

Jesus fulfilled all of the feasts and their meaning, not just as the Lamb of God but as our Savior and Lord and our High Priest Who went into the Temple in Heaven to put His blood on the altar to atone for ALL of our sins.

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The list below comes from a very good book which is speculative, but according to Scripture as much as possible. The name of the book is “The Forgotten Man of Christmas“, check it out if you are interested:

Jesus came into a world where the ruthless exercise of power turned the pages of history, but His way was the way of love and peace.
He wasn’t an academician, but Jesus challenges us to develop our capacity to love God more, and in His name, thousands of schools and colleges have been funded.
Jesus never wrote any of His teachings down and no book bears His name as the author, but His teachings are universally known and quoted and have shaped the course of human history like no other.
He was a carpenter by trade and He never built any objects of note, but we choose to honor Him through the beauty of cathedrals, churches, and chapels, all built to His glory.
Jesus never held any political power nor any monetary wealth or social prestige, but no one has ever altered the human scene or our understanding like He did.
Jesus healed a relatively small handful of people during His ministry, yet the foundation of modern medicine bears His imprint even today.
Jesus knew nothing of art, other than the joining of wood and stone in His trade, but His spirit ignites the creative spark in humanity and many galleries are graced with expressions of Who He was and Who He is.
There is only one of His sermons which is complete in the gospels, yet the words of that sermon are the cornerstone for our human reality and the Magna Carta of our human spirit.
Jesus never owned anything of value to the world, yet when He was on the cross soldiers gambled for the only article in His estate, the seamless robe He wore; and in every place where His teachings are embraced, the standard of living is lifted, and where His name is claimed, no one can sit idly by while people go hungry or the lonely are in need of a friend.
Jesus spoke more of service than of rights and privileges, but where His message is heard and heeded, the value of each individual is exalted and the rights of all are protected, especially those who are weak, worn, forgotten or unborn.
Jesus lived only 33 years before His Earthly life ended, but He changed everything, even the way we date history. Surely we can agree with Paul that “His name is above every name.”

Many of these traits He learned from the example of His Earthly father during the years before He was found in the Temple at the age of 12. During the years leading up to His Earthly father’s death, Jesus kept learning the lessons that Joseph taught Him and I believe that Joseph modeled God for his Son as much as anyone could have. Many of the attributes of God are what we are supposed to model for our own children and anyone else who might see Jesus reflected in our lives.

Being like Jesus was in this life is our goal as Christians but He learned much of how to live and be like His Father, God, by learning it from His Earthly father…Joseph. A Jewish Boy could learn from no better teacher than the man who raised Him and that is exactly where Jesus learned how He treated the people around Him, men and women alike.

God wants a relationship with each one of us and it doesn’t matter where you live or if you have any money or not, He just wants a real, personal relationship with you. In God’s eyes and in His heart He sees each of us as unique individuals, which we are, but God sees and knows so much more about you. He can see your ambition and your guilt. He knows your weaknesses and your strengths and He cares about you.

Many of us go here and there trying to gather more goods or to be more productive, yet what good are we doing by accomplishing this? If you aren’t doing these things for God and His Kingdom then the benefit is for who exactly? God doesn’t need your money or your things, He wants you and your talents because He gave them to you to do His will in this life. Collecting things in this world has nothing to do with your service in God’s Kingdom because not one of those “things” will be with you when you stand before God.

So, why did God choose Joseph to be the Earthly father of Jesus? First is the fact that he was a descendant of David and of the tribe of Judah so this would fulfill prophecy regarding the Messiah. That is the fulfillment reason why Joseph was the one who raised Jesus. So what other reason would cause God to allow His Son to be raised by this man? The Bible says that he was a just man and honorable but you can also see kindness in his dealings with Mary as well. Jesus learned all of these human qualities from Joseph even though the Bible seems to write him off as the husband of Mary and a descendant of David.

God knew Joseph’s heart because he was a devout man and a carpenter. Why is that important? Because he could show Jesus the importance of building relationships and how to treat others. We, in the West, tend to look at Jesus as the Son of God which He is but He is so much more than that. He was a carpenter and the Messiah. He was a teacher and a healer. He was a rabbi and a student of Life. He was the Son of God and the son of Mary and Joseph, fully God and also human and it was His humanity which He learned from Joseph.

Did Jesus know all things as God in human form? Yes, He did, but He had to learn humanity and all of its problems and frailties from His human parents and that is what made Him the Person Who loves children and those who are hurting from sickness and grief and suffering in ways which we can’t imagine. It was Jesus’ humanity which He learned from His Dad while He was living with Him. We don’t know what happened to Joseph because the last time we hear about him was when Jesus stayed at the Temple while His parents left and headed back home. Jesus was about 12 years of age then. but during those years Jesus learned many things from Joseph and He may have had Joseph for a few more years but we just don’t have a record of it.

My point is this: Jesus learned about humanity from Joseph and his work as a carpenter and all of the people that his father in the Jewish community. He taught us how to be His disciples through His ministry and parables and His healing of those that He came in contact with that we have in the gospels. So go into the world around you and be more like Jesus and His human father, Joseph, because I believe that we see and learn more about being a follower of Jesus from Joseph because we can see the way that Jesus acted during His ministry. He would’ve learned from His Father all about being God in human form but He learned everything about being one of us from the man God chose to raise His Son.

Life…

We see each other as we perceive ourselves, sometimes better and sometimes worse.

Life is that way sometimes and when we look around we do notice it. People are good-hearted if they have been raised that way, if not then they are the product of their upbringing whatever that might have been.

Then there are those who have become bound by their beliefs and at times are bound so hard until they can’t see what others have been through in their lives. They judge people from their own perspective and beliefs and look down on others, just as the Pharisees did during Jesus’ day. Religious “racism” can blind people in life and it causes many fractures in families and in churches.

This is what has happened in the church since the first century and it has become more pronounced as time has moved toward the place where we are now. It is shameful to look at people who were a part of the church and still consider themselves to be more enlightened than they really are because of their perception and “better than you” attitudes.

The world and the church, regardless of which denomination you belong to, is full of people who are part of this group and one day their hypocrisy will come to light. Satan has done his work very well in the deception of those who believe that they are on the road which leads to heaven. He has also influenced much of what is taught in churches today because many churches don’t teach directly from God’s Word, they just pick a scripture verse or two and teach it out of context.

That is not the way that Jesus taught and it isn’t the way that we are supposed to study the Bible or teach the Bible. Context can show a whole new light on verses in a chapter when they are taught with the whole chapter. Please study the Bible as a whole Book of God’s Word. Don’t just pick and choose what to teach or believe because when you do this you are no better than those around you who choose to believe this part and then don’t want to hear the other part.

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Seeking God and finding Him

We hear in churches all over the world that God is the I AM. In Genesis (the Beginning) God says, “Let us make man in our image”. Consider that God has not come down with dementia and that He was actually speaking to other “parts” of Himself for a moment; later we find in the Bible that God has a Spirit or “the Breath of Life”. Then there is the Angel of the Lord and other representations of Yeshua in the Old Testament. What does this all point us to? That God is a Triune Being Who manifests Himself as the Holy Spirit or the Breath of Life, Yeshua (Jesus) the Son of God (the Angel of the Lord) and God the Father.

When we are seeking Him in any book of the Bible, He can be found. It is not a search that is futile. God is there in each book. He may be seen or heard as one of the Three but He is there. The main reason that so many people get confused about finding God in the Bible is that of His Person, He is found in different ways and places. Sometimes His voice is small and sometimes it is so loud that it frightens people who hear it, as it did when He met Moses on the mountain.

God is not only found in the Bible but His influence can be seen and felt all around us, although people tend to overlook Him or give Him silly names when they find His influence in the natural world. People wonder at all of the beauty on the Earth and in the photos of stars and galaxies and nebula which we see through our telescopes and all of it was placed there by God for His purposes.

Seeking a miracle is as close as the nearest nursery in a hospital. Each baby born, with or without a special need, is a miracle of God’s creative design and purpose. He knows what each of us can do and what we are capable of in this life, regardless of how long our lives may be. His purpose for each life will be fulfilled and in our world today many of those lives are snuffed out like a candle before they are able to fulfill His purpose through them. Which is why He keeps sending children into the world so at least one will complete His mission for them and for Him.

Why do I write this little article here today? Because someone needs to know that God has a purpose for your life. It may not be a worldwide ministry and it may not be something which will bring you fame and fortune but whatever it is God gave you the talent and the ability to accomplish it. It may only be to talk to a person about their addiction or to help your grandmother or grandfather with a project. It could be the influence which your life will have on someone you don’t even know and you may not know about it until eternity comes.

Whatever your purpose in this life is, it is preparing you for eternity and the influence you will have on someone somewhere. Maybe during this life or during the Kingdom which will be during the one thousand years which Jesus will reign, you will find your place in His Kingdom and His purposes. Who knows? God does.

Seek Him out while there is time to do so, now…today! Because if you haven’t given your heart to Him yet when the Trumpet sounds and the church is taken to eternity, becoming a Christian during the seven years which follow will be harder and much more dangerous than it is today.

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What is your view?

The world and the media cloud our ideas and our view of the world around us with their own version, their own spin on what is happening and what has happened in the past. So how are we to discern the truth of what is and what will be if we don’t read the Bible? It is God’s inspired Word to mankind and since He cannot lie, it is the whole truth. Regardless of the watered down messages that some teach or try to “interpret” in a way which has nothing to do with its message at all.

God’s predictions for our world’s future, such as the saying of Jesus that “the kingdom of God will come before this generation is done”, did not mean that those living at the time would see His second coming. It did refer to the Jewish people who would still be the state of Israel at the time of His second coming. I am sure that many in that day hoped that Jesus would destroy Rome and its hold of persecution and oppression over the Jewish people but that wasn’t His job at that time.

Jesus came to end the oppression of Satan over the whole world so that people could gain their freedom from the world and its sins and the consequences in their lives. That was His message and His mission the first time. When He comes the second time, it will be as Conquerer and King and He will do it because not one comma or period will pass away before all are fulfilled.

Our world, not just America, is beginning a new year and all of us need to be seeking Jesus as our True Savior. He is the only Way to Heaven and our debts for our sins have been paid, all we have to do is believe in Him and follow Him daily, seeking to be more like Him until that day when He calls us all home. I pray that more people will learn of Him and seek Him as their Savior this year because He is coming soon.

Think about this…

When the high priest heard Jesus acknowledge that He was the Son of God, the high priest rent his cloak. In the Old Testament, if the high priest did this in his priestly robe (the one which had no seams), it effectively removed him from office according to the Torah. By rending his garment he cut himself off from being a representative character. He was no longer accepted by God as an officiating priest.

This bit of information is hard for us to understand or get any kind of idea of what this really means but that is exactly what Jesus came to do and He accomplished it in the way His Father wanted Him to do it. All 300 prophecies about Him from the Old Testament were fulfilled by Him so there is no denying that He was truly God and man, because no human being could’ve fulfilled even a few of the prophecies written about Him.

Jesus came to take the sins of the world upon Himself so that He could be our sacrifice, our atoning sacrifice for everyone! It doesn’t matter if you are not a believer or if you are a bit skeptical about Him because He took your sins too. Your lack of belief or your refusal to believe in Him doesn’t annul any of the grace and mercy which has been given to you. The only barrier keeping you from Him or the atonement and salvation which have been offered by His death and His resurrection is your belief in Him. By accepting Him as your Savior and repenting of your sins, you can walk with Him through this life and become one of His disciples.

It is not a hard thing to do unless you are truly addicted to your life and the “things” in it. If you would rather live your life according to your rules and do what you want to do then you are free to do so. But don’t expect that you will enjoy heaven in eternity because your salvation through Jesus is the only way to get there.

I just want the real thing…

If someone asks you to not tell them about religion or the church, they just want the real thing… what do you say? First, tell them about Jesus and why He came in the first place. How should you tell them? Just tell them about your Savior and His message about forgiveness and love which He came to bring to all of us! This is the story of His purpose and the Good News of salvation!

That is the message that counts. Salvation through belief in Jesus and His atonement for your sins and mine on the cross. It doesn’t have to have doctrine or religion attached to it and it doesn’t have to be all flowery and noble. Like the thief on the cross, believe in Jesus as the Son of God, your Savior, and mine. That is all that is needed. It doesn’t require hours of service in His Name or certain amounts of money or other “works” like teaching or preaching. All of that may happen after you have accepted Him as your Savior but they will be done because you love Him and you know He loves you and died for you.

That is the true nature of knowing and loving your Savior. Just know that He loves you and He came to give you hope of eternity through Him. A child can understand it but many of us as “adults” try to dress it up or add things to our belief which are not needed. We try to make a simple belief in our Savior into a life-long project which we have to help Him bring us to salvation and none of that helps at all!

In fact, it hurts our own belief by adding things which we do or think we need to do in order to have salvation. When all that is necessary is our heartfelt need of Him and our belief in Him for our forgiveness and salvation. Because until we come to that place where we know deep down that we need Jesus…we will not seek Him out as our Savior and Lord.

God provided Him as The Atonement for our sins, but the Holy Spirit has to bring us to the point of knowing that we need Him before we will ever seek Him out. Those who are sinning and have never sought their Savior or heard that they need Him will never go looking for Him. It’s kind of like a man who walks by fountains of clear, cool water every day. Until that man is thirsty enough to notice them and seek one of those fountains for a drink, he will never know how refreshing their water is.

God knew that we needed a Lamb which could take the sins of the world away, but until each of us realizes this and that we need Jesus for our salvation, each of us will walk right by without ever seeking Him to be our Savior. God has placed a Fountain of Living Water for us to drink from and it’s within our grasp, all we have to do is realize that we need Him and ask Him to come in and quench our thirst for salvation and forgiveness.

A world without Jesus…

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A world where Jesus was not born in Bethlehem? Because the Bible is full of prophecies concerning His birth, He had to be born! There is no possible outcome or future in which He did not come! We would not have a world worth living in if He had not been born. Even the Bible itself would be completely in error if He had not been born. A world without Jesus would be one without hope and without the possibility of knowing God…ever!

God loves us and it is this love which determined before the world was formed, that humanity needed a Savior. Our entire world and any hope of eternity would be shattered or rather it would’ve never been if our Messiah, our Savior, Yeshua, had not been born in this world to a virgin named Mary. Why am I posting this question on the very day which most people celebrate the birth of Jesus? It is just an imaginary, theoretical test for those who may read this to see if you can even imagine a world without His influence in it.

I cannot even imagine it in the least!

I can imagine, at least in a small way, how a world might have been without Adolf Hitler or even the attack on Pearl Harbor. The reason that I say this is because both of these have had worldwide consequences, just as the birth of Jesus still has an impact on the world even today. So can anyone comprehend how our world would be if Jesus had not been born?

I am a preacher and a student of the Bible. As such, I know that the Bible itself would be worthless if He had not been born because His coming was foretold as far back as the Garden of Eden. God said the “seed of the woman would bruise the serpent’s head and the serpent would bruise His heel”.

Since taking Jesus’ birth out of the history of our world would make the entire Bible worthless, many of the laws which are in the world today would be non-existent. Many, if not all, of the laws and even some countries, would not be if that were the case. The hope of eternity would never be a part of our lives and the entire world would be under Satan’s control which God could not and would not allow!

A world without Jesus the Christ in it would be a chaotic and terrible place to live. The lack of the Promise of His coming would not have given the Patriarchs any hope for Israel or their future. We would have no hope for eternity or salvation. This world would be one in which many of us, if not most, would not want to live in at all! Without the Promise of His coming, there would’ve been no reason to dry up the waters of the Flood from the world and there would be no reason to give mankind hope even in the saving of Noah’s family.

To shorten this narrative, there would be no reason to even begin the story of mankind if Jesus was never to be born. Which is why God did decide to intervene in history Himself and come to be born of a virgin, clothed in humanity and to take the sins of the whole world on Himself in order to give ALL of mankind a True Hope to look for and believe in.

The Light that lit the Way

Luke chapter 2 gives us the story of His birth and how it came about in our world. The angels announced it to shepherds and Mary and Joseph were in a stable in Bethlehem because nobody could take them into an inn because of all the people who were there for the census.

Christmas is the celebration of one moment in time when God came to live with mankind in the person of His Son, Jesus, in order to reconcile mankind to Himself by being the substitute for each of us on the cross.

God did this out of His love, not just for the Hebrews but for all of mankind. Jesus was the Light for us to follow and to aspire to in our lives. The Light which lit the way for the wise men was the Holy Spirit which is why astronomers cannot find the “star” in their calculations which led them to Bethlehem soon after Jesus was born.

2 Corinthians 5:17-21 tells exactly why this happened and here are those scriptures for you to read:

17 Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. 21 For he hath made him be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

The most precious gift which was given to all of mankind is the love of God given in the Person of Jesus Who came to be our Passover Lamb to die for all of our sins, not just a few people but all people! The only way that we can come into God’s Presence is by accepting Jesus as our Savior Who paid the price for each of us, even though HE had no sin nature because He loved all of US!

We can have the Truth of Christmas and the surety of our salvation through our belief in Jesus and His substitutionary death for all of our sins!

God came to Earth in the Person of His Son so that we can come to His home in Heaven by accepting Jesus as your Savior. God has always loved His Creation and we are all included in His Creation. He knows you better than you know yourself and He created you with your perfections and your faults and He knows exactly what you alone can do in His Kingdom. Nobody else in the world can do the specific purpose which He has placed within your being and by giving your heart and life to Him, you can make an eternal difference in someone’s life, somewhere.

Don’t turn away from His call on your life, become the person that God knows that you can be, Why do I say it this way? Because He placed your personality and your intellect inside you so He knows exactly how you can make a difference and for whom you will make a difference. No matter where it might be or when He can see you doing and becoming the person that He created you to be.

The Christmas Story

Luke 2:

1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. 2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) 3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) 5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. 6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. 7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

The Shepherds and Angels

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. 16 And they came with haste and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. 17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. 18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

Our Savior, Lord, and King born as a babe to be our Passover Lamb and He will come back soon as our King!

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