Tag: Son of God

What is in a name?


Immanuel meaning “God with us”

Isaiah 7:10-16 King James Version

10 Moreover the Lord spake again unto Ahaz, saying,

11 Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.

12 But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord.

13 And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also?

14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

15 Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.

16 For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.

Even today there are many men named Yeshua, Jesus, and other Biblical names but that doesn’t give them the ability to be that person. God foretold that Immanuel would be born and that He would be the Messiah, the Christ. In order to be the Messiah or Christ, He would have to be God in man’s flesh, there is no other way to do this! This only happened one time!

When you have or are given the name of a famous person, does that make you into that person? Of course not! A name is just a name, unless it is given to you by God Himself. Then it becomes a calling and a purpose for your life. God had seen this from the beginning and He knew that Jesus being born of a virgin would literally be “God with us”, as the prophecy had said that the seed of the woman would be our Savior. That is Who Jesus is and always has been!

Why did He have to come in this manner? Because, only a perfect and sinless sacrifice could cover the sins of the World and the only way for this to happen would be for this Man to have the Spirit of God in Himself, not the spirit of sinful man. God could’ve made Him a body of sinless flesh, but He chose to do it by natural birth by a woman because Jesus had to be born under the Law in order to begin a new Covenant with sinful mankind.

Live, love and persue happiness


The life that we have been given and the love that has been shown to us through Jesus’ sacrifice for all of us, is a gift of immense proportions. Unfortunately, many people miss this gift and don’t realize just what they have been given until some trial comes along and shows them what they have and what they could’ve had. Also, we tend to miss it because we don’t want to believe any of this because of Who He is! Many people don’t want to know Jesus because Christianity and Jesus Himself said that He was and is the Son of God.

God is love and this is part of the message that Jesus brought to the world and to His disciples. But, we should be trying to live like Jesus did and love the way that He did and if we did that then happiness would follow. We also should be letting Jesus live through us so that others will see Him and not us, so that they will see the love of Jesus in our words and our deeds. That is the gift that we need to be giving to others during our time here.

It is true that during this time of year, we are looking for gifts from our family and friends, our boss, our wife or husband, our parents, but you have already been given the most valuable gift that could be given…that of the Christ, your Messiah, Jesus. He made the sacrifice that could not be done by anyone or anything other than the perfect Son of God. Why do people reject Him and His gift? Because they don’t believe in Him or in Who He is, plain and simple.

Most just think that He is a prophet or he was and he was crucified and died,  and that is it! Many don’t think that the story of His resurrection is true or that He is the Son of God, but He is! Jesus is the only Man of God that is almost always spoken of in the present tense, not in the past tense. “Why is that?” you might say; because He sits at the right hand of God right now! He is not dead, but alive and waiting for you to ask Him into your life. He will not force you to accept Him, neither will He ask you to kill someone who doesn’t accept Him. That is not His way.

He was born to a virgin, by the will and actions of God through the Holy Spirit to become the Son of Man Who is the Son of God. No contradiction exists in this and He is the only One that could fulfill all of the prophecies concerning Himself from the Old Testament, which He did at His birth, through His life and with His death on the cross and His resurrection! He fulfilled them all, no mere man, prophet or not, could accomplish that!

Give Jesus a chance in your life and in your heart. You won’t regret it and others will see Him through your actions as well and may turn their life over to Him because of the changes they see in you. Wouldn’t that be wonderful! To know that even one person came to Christ because of something that you said or did, although you may not even find it out until you get to Heaven, won’t that be a great blessing?

Think about it!

 

What do you believe?


On any given day there are many news stories about people who believe many different things about religion. Some may not believe in any sort of god, man-made or otherwise. Some believe in only a man-made religion which is so focused on its “prophet” that they will kill you if you say anything bad about it at all. Some people believe in a religion which focuses on re-incarnation or coming back after death until you get it right. Boy, would that get old!

I don’t have the time nor the room to speak about all of the hundreds of religions in our world, but there is one that many people don’t like and some that do and it is Christianity. Some people hate it and the people who practice it just because and for no other reason than it has Jesus as its Messiah. Some hate it because He is a Jew and was raised that way so they won’t have anything to do with “that religion”.

Aren’t we supposed to be living in the twenty-first century? All of these racist ideas and bigoted ideas are supposed to be behind us aren’t they? I know that some of the references that I used in the first paragraph sound racist too, but that is not how they were meant. I am just pointing out that many, if not most, of the religions in our world are or were created by men. Some would even argue that Christianity was too but at least it does have a book which points to its Savior from beginning to end even if it started with Moses‘ books.

Jesus is even in the news today because they are reporting that they have supposedly found a piece of the cross that He was crucified on. Great news if it is but how are they going to prove it? Blood, tissue and DNA doesn’t survive that long (even if it did come from the Son of God)!

We are coming into a time in world history that, whether you believe it or not, is part of prophecy and is foretold to be the worst time in the history of the world. I don’t know when this time will come about but according to what has already happened, it won’t likely be long in coming. It is prophesied to be a time that according to:

Matthew 24:21-22: 21. For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.

The Truth of God‘s Word speaks it as plainly as it can be said so will you examine your belief, your life against it and decide? We can and have come up with so many religions in the past two thousand years and many just in the past two hundred and yet only one holds the hope of eternity. I know it sounds narrow-minded, but if you had two paths that looked like you would survive a cataclysm and yet only one were solid enough to travel on, which would you choose? Especially if the safe one were narrow but solid and the other was wide but slippery, which would you choose?

 

Are you worthy of Him?


What makes me worthy? I have been a drunkard, maybe not an alcoholic, but I drank nearly every Friday night and some days even while I was at school. I tried drugs in my youth for more than a few times and I did inhale, it wasn’t fun at first, but after a while I enjoyed the feeling.

I enjoyed the high feeling that they gave me but I did not enjoy the depression that came afterward. I have used prescription pain medication to make me “feel good”, though thankfully I didn’t become addicted to it. I have looked at pornography and fantasized about things that I wouldn’t admit to today, but I do admit that I did it.

You may be wondering why I am telling you, my friends, about this, why would I show my failures and my warts to those that I am supposed to be bringing the gospel to? The reason that I am doing this is simple…it is to show that no matter how low you have been, how much you have done, how sinful you may think that you are, God loves you anyway!

God can use you and your story, warts and all, as a way to bring someone to Christ and if your story or mine can bring at least one person into a relationship with Christ, then it is worth it to tell your story. Because it also shows the grace that God extends to each of us, regardless of how we were before we came to know Christ.

Of course, it is not a story that I would like to go into the gory details over but
suffice it to say that nobody wants to know those details. Regardless of that, my question for you is: “What do you think you have you done in your life that is keeping you from asking Jesus into your life?” God knows the depravity of
humanity, He knows what evil or good we are capable of and yet, He loves us
anyway. Is it any wonder that Christ can use each of us?

Can you understand that God can use each of us with our problems, our past
failures, our humanity showing in places that we don’t want it to? Is it possible
that with our failures, small or great though they may be, Jesus can still use us
for His purposes? He used Peter even though Peter failed Him on the very night that He was arrested and taken to be tried! Jesus used Saul, who became the apostle Paul, even after he had murdered Steven and likely others before Jesus confronted him on the road to Damascus.

God loves each of us enough that He sent His Son to die for our sins, to pay the
penalty for our sins. That may not sound like much, but if you consider that
Christ took the sins of all of humanity, not just the ones living when He was
here but those that came before and those of us born since He went to His
throne in Heaven! He also died for those that have not yet been born.

So, are you worthy? Do you think that you deserve to receive God’s grace and
His love? If you have accepted Jesus as your savior and into your heart, then you do; but, if you have heard the message in church for many years, if you have read your Bible and even taught Sunday school but are unsure of your relationship to Him then you need to get on your knees and pray. Ask Him to show you what you need, ask Him to forgive you and to come into your heart and to give you the peace which comes with His presence.

Here are some scriptures which enforce the idea of whether we are in need of
being worthy or not:
1 Corinthians 6:11:  And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are
sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

Romans 5:8:  But God commended his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Philippians 4:8- Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things [are] honest, whatsoever things [are] just, whatsoever things [are] pure,
whatsoever things [are] lovely, whatsoever things [are] of good report; if [there
be] any virtue, and if [there be] any praise, think on these things.

Matthew 10:37- He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of
me: and he that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

1 Timothy 6:3-5- If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome
words, [even] the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is
according to godliness;

Galatians 2:20- I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

We have been given the most gracious and wonderful gift…the gift of salvation
through Jesus Christ! All that we have to do is believe in Him and ask Him into our hearts, repenting of our sinful ways and turning from our prior life to follow Him in obedience and humility until He returns. Some may say that is fine for you, preacher, you are supposed to follow Him but I can only ask Him into my heart. I can’t be expected to follow Him daily!

Why not? His disciples did and countless others have over the past two thousand years. Many have given their lives because they would not renounce Jesus, they would not reject Him and follow the rest of the “church” of the day.

A belief that can cause so many to give their lives in order to spread the news to others is one that cannot be stopped. Even some of the Pharisees said that if it was of men, it would die with them, but if it was of God then there would be no stopping the message. Our Lord’s message has been through many terrible times during the past two thousand years. People have been burned at the stake, forced to freeze to death, seen their families killed in many gruesome ways and yet the message and their belief never faltered.

Our God is an awesome, powerful Creator who can take jars of clay like us, break us and then mold us into exactly what He wishes for us to become. Then He will give us the words…the message that others need to hear, no matter where they may be, so that someone will find out about Jesus and come to a saving knowledge of Him. It is not an easy message, it is not one that is to be taken lightly but it is a message that can save your immortal soul from hell.

If you have never given your life to Jesus and earnestly followed Him, praying all the while to be given a chance to tell someone, even just one person, about what Jesus has released you from, then I urge you to do that now! Jesus stands at the door of your heart, waiting to be asked to come in. He will not push His way in nor will be force anything upon you, but He will change you if you ask Him to and that change will glow and be visible to all around you because it will no longer be just you, but Christ living in you that they will see.

Are you strong enough to be meek?


Everyone thinks that when Jesus was speaking of being meek, that He meant passive and weak. When Jesus sat down to teach and said: “ Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” Matthew 5:5; He did not mean that we are to be door-mats. That is not and never has been what He meant by that word.

Recently, I found out what the word “meek” actually means and it is like a broken horse, strength under submission to the master. That is exactly how we are supposed to be in our walk and our daily lives, submitting ourselves to Him daily and gaining strength from Him yet allowing that strength to be under His control not ours.

Allowing Jesus to have control of your life is not something which we are accustomed to doing. Our nature is to retain control of our own life and situations at all times if it is in our power to do so. Being willing to give up control of your life and allow Him to guide you daily is what being meek and surrendered to Him is all about. We have been given a gift of divine Grace from our Creator and all we have to do is decide to accept it or not. I know it doesn’t sound like a big decision, but the simplicity of it, in my opinion, is what makes it hard for us to accept completely.

In our everyday lives, the decisions that we make have an effect immediately for us and our family. There are also those who are watching us, usually unknown to us, who take notice of what we do and how we do it. These are the ones that we can cause to change their lives for good or ill by the seemingly little things that we do or say. That is a huge responsibility and most people don’t pay any attention to it or have no idea that their actions have any impact outside of their family or friends.

Your life and how you live it will have tremendous consequences in the lives of those around you. Consider the apostle, Peter. He was a married man with a family and a fisherman when Jesus called him to be His disciple. Peter was brash and bold but not meek, until the night that Jesus was arrested. After he denied that he knew Jesus three times, Peter realized what he had done and it broke him as a pottery vessel being hit with a hammer. He became a meek servant of the Son of God at that point and stayed that way until he was crucified.

Your life and the life that you give to the Lord is the most important decision that you will ever make. Think about it, pray about it and seek Him.