Category: Christ alone

May 21, 2019May 21, 2019

He is Not Here…! |Passion Week-Resurrection Sunday

This is a very special Blog Post for a very special Holy Week. Culminating today when our LORD and Savior Jesus the Christ, played a joke on Death’s sting (1 Corinthians 15:55 )! I usually don;t do a post on Sunday’s but for this, I will make an exception…

Please click on links to get the full text:

The Death of Jesus
“45 From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. 46 About the ninth hour, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?”…..50 When Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, He yielded up His spirit. 51 At that moment the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

The earth quaked and the rocks were split.52 The tombs broke open, and the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised.…”- Matthew 27:51

…5 As the women bowed their faces to the ground in terror, the two men asked them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; He has risen! Remember how He told you while He was still in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again. 8 Then they remembered His words. 9 And when they returned from the tomb, they reported all these things to the eleven and to all the others. .. 11 But their words seemed like nonsense to them, and they did not believe the women.’”… Luke 24:5-11

Jesus had completed the once for all sacrifice. His body had been tortured and killed.
As Jesus gave up His spirit, His body dying., the Curtains of the Temple ripped from the top to the bottom. It is said in Jewish writings, that the veil or huge curtain was as thick as a man’s hand. So roughly 4-6 inches thick.
In order for the veil or curtain to rip, it would take a supernatural event to make it happen.
This incredible statement found in Matthew’s Gospel gives us the finished work of Jesus the Messiah or Christ or Savior of the world.
Once He obediently became the blood sacrifice for the world, there was no need to have a Temple here on earth since His death on the cross was sufficient enough for taking (Hebrews 9:26) our sins away forever.
After they had buried Jesus, they sealed the tomb with a Roman Seal. No one was to break the seal, If they did, whoever was responsible would have the full might of the Roman forces against him.
Yet, with the most powerful army known to man, Jesus showed them who was more powerful. The tomb was rolled away by The LORD Himself!
The Roman soldiers saw everything but knew what their punishment would be for letting a dead person escape from the tomb they were guarding (Matthew 28:12)….yes, my attempt at humor….so the Chief Council in Jerusalem helped them out.
Why because the death and resurrection of Jesus put them in a fantastic bind. This non-graduate from their Rabbinic prestigious schools had, for three years or so, made fools of the wisest of learned men in Judea.
Jesus knew the scriptures, and spoke them with authority ( Mark 1:22). The authority of being the Messiah of Israel.
John called him The Word who became flesh ( John 1:-5 ).
Jesus had to die in order for humanity to once again come into a holy communion or relationship with God.
This is why Jesus came to be born of a virgin ( Isaiah 7:14 ).
Preach His Good News of salvation through Him and just Him (Isaiah 61:1 , Luke 4:18 , John 14:6 )
Be arrested, tortured and die ( Matthew 16:21 ) at the hands of the Council of Judea.
He also told His followers that he would die and come back to life ( see above link Matthew 16:21).
So today, Resurrection Sunday (Easter Sunday), we celebrate our freedom. Just as Jesus beat Death’ sting and rose to life, we one day when our bodies give up, will also rise up from Death’s door and live again ( Romans 6:5 , 2 Corinthians 4:14 )!
May you have a blessed Sunday and may you get to know Jesus in a personal and saving way.

He is risen! He is risen indeed!

If you want to get to know God:

Know God

April 21, 2019

The Passover LAMB of God |Passion Week- Last Passover

Matt 26_26.jpg

“26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, spoke a blessing and broke it, and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is My body.” 27Then He took the cup, gave thanks and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.…” Jesus in Gospel Matthew 26:26-29 Berean Bible Study

We take time today to commemorate Jesus’ Last earthly Passover before He became the Pesach Lamb of God
He is the reason why the Israelites celebrated and practiced this yearly Feast
On Passover:
The Israelites would take the 1-year-old male lamb which they had chosen 4 day earlier
Fed this little lamb for 4 days
Kept this little lamb with them
And on the 14th day
They would sacrifice its life
Use hyssop to mark the door posts as sign
For the LORD to pass over and cover their sins
Thus saving them from
The “Angel of Death”
What would this look like?

The PassOver Sacrificial Lamb.jpg

Like the above drawing…
Eerily familiar to this:

After Jesus was taken down.jpg

On that Passover day, Nisan 14… The blood of the Lamb of God was placed on the wooden beams
The cross would be outside of the city
All the 1-3 million Jews coming into Jerusalem for the Passover would have witnessed Jesus’ Via Dolorosa through the streets of Jerusalem.
Most would have heard of this Miracle Worker
Most would wonder why He did not save Himself
He would not save Himself for our sake
He would die for our transgression and sins
By His stripes we are saved and healed
By His death & resurrection we are saved from spiritual death

Thank You Jesus for being the Lamb of God who took my sins away. You were telling your disciples and us to celebrate today and as many times as we can, Your willing sacrifice. By taken the bread and drinking the wine, we are commemorating the Passover Feast, and remembering what You did for us.

Happy Passover weekend everyone!

If you don’t know God personally and want to know the One who died for you and me. For our sins. Get to know Him:

Know God

April 18, 2019April 18, 2019

The Passionate Jesus —Get to Know Him Personally This Passionate Week |Passion Week Series

The Roman Road leads to the edge of the cliff and into the bottomless pit unless you confess Jesus as your personal LORD & Savior
That cliff will always keep you separated eternally from God until you choose His Son, who has paid the death contract for you.
We all carry the death contract from the day we are born and it gets heavier the older we get.

—This Sunday will start the beginning of a great and awesome week. Where God did a wondrous work of sacrifice though His Son Jesus the Savior for those who out their trust in Him.

—Passion Week starts with Palm Sunday( Matthew 21) and ends on Resurrection Sunday. But it doesn’t end there. You see, the story starts with Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity. Who is the Creator of this universe. He spoke and the Big cosmological Bang happened.

—From the beginning of time, Jesus knew what was going to happen when He breathed life into humans.

—Yet, with all His omnipotent knowledge, He still obediently humiliated Himself by leaving His throne and coming down to earth as a human baby. That is unimaginable to me.

—That God would become flesh & bones(John 1:14; Hebrews 2:14 ). With the same carnal needs. With all of the weakness of a human body (Hebrews 2:17) which starts decaying the minute we are born.

—He was 100% human—100% God. I won’t try to explain this in 1-3 sentences because theologians have tried answering this wonderful and mysterious truth in volumes of books.

Just know that the chances of 1 person fulfilling a few prophecies or predictions are astronomical. Jesus has fulfilled over 350. Yes, 350. If I was a Vegas man, I would place my bets on Jesus. I would take what He said and the predictions or prophecies He fulfilled as facts.
Now comes the most extraordinary 3 facts to take away from this:

— Jesus was tortured & died on the cross (Matthew 27)

— Jesus was buried (Matthew 27:56-66)

— Jesus resurrected from death 3 days later (Matthew 28:1-15)

If this was not true, the greatest Empire and military in history, would have:

—Made a ridicule out of Jesus by displaying His body
— And/or killing off Jesus’ disciples for lying.
—Solving the mystery of where the body was hidden.

But neither of those things happened, why?

— There were too many witnesses who saw Jesus after His death. (Acts 5:32)

—The story was never fully disputed & the disciples continued preaching in the same city Jesus was buried. The Sanhedrin could not shut them up! ( Acts 5:32; Acts 23:24)

—The rest of what happened to His followers as they multiplied has been chronicled in the Bible and in other historical chronicles. (1 Corinthians 15:2-4)

Jesus disciples were:

—Beaten to stop having them share the Gospel of Jesus.

—Tortured to deny Jesus as the Messiah—Savior of Israel and the world.

—Killed for not recanting. It was the other way around, people like Paul of Tarsus chained up to his jailers converted many of them until he was put to death for His Lord and Savior, Jesus.

Yet, His disciple remained faithful to the story of:

— Jesus,

—His teachings,

—His miracles,

—His crucifixion,

—His death

—His resurrection.

All this along with changing the mightiest empire that ever was through:

—Person to person sharing of the Gospel of Jesus.

— One on one disciplining on how to be followers of Christ.(2 Thessalonians 2:15)

—Continued fellowship of the church of Jesus who were called people of the Way.(Acts 2:46)

Yet still there are:

—Doubters to Jesus being who He said He was.

—Almost two thousand years later, Jesus is still controversial.

—People are still coming to know Him personally.

—Others are still scoffing at the stories they hear.

No other person in history has been:

— Loved & hated.

—Admired & Despised

—Worshipped & ridiculed….

Jesus remains a central figure in modern history.

—Countries have come and gone.

—Scoffers have said that Christianity is dead countless times.

—They have vowed to make Christians disappear.

—Yet, Jesus’ followers remain strong as always.

— The Bible remains the most read book in History because it’s His Story!

All this, due to a humble Carpenter who:

—Was born in Bethlehem

—Raised in Nazareth

—Taught scriptures to the masses by His Authority

—Said that He was God

—Fulfilled over 250 prophecies written centuries before His birth

—Healed the sick and lame

—Raised people from the grave

—Walked on water

—Gave sight to the blind

—Gave grace, mercy & peace to this sinner!

May you get to know Jesus the Messiah—Savior of this world during this most Holy of Weeks.

Get to know Him, here is how:

April 12, 2019April 12, 2019

Know God

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Words Which Bring You Peace, Grace, joy & Set You Free |The Bible

John 8:34-36 NKJV

Words are powerful, they are precise.
Words can make you climb the highest mountains or leave you crawling the lowest of valleys.
Words can build up or destroy. They say that violence is the reason for so many deaths in this world and that guns kill.
What they have missed is the rhetoric on both sides of the political aisle.
They also have missed the constant and systematic social media onslaught of making people who have differing views hate each other.
Words. Words unite. Words divide. Words hurt. Words heal.
The Word of God in His scriptures does both. We must have the full counsel of God to know what we as humans are capable of. Left to our own free will and thinking, we are then left to our own demise.
Free will and thinking can only coincide within us when there is a Higher Power that has given us limits on what we can and can’t do.
I know you are thinking, “How can you say that we are free people who have free will and thought if you are saying that we need a Higher Power to tell us what we must and mustn’t do?”
This is where Moral Law and Truth come in.
We can’t have a free society without morals. Morals are taught and practiced.
We also need civil law to keep society in order.
The less government intervention, the better. Let me explain. How can people be a free society if every action is dictated by the government? The more government interferes, the fewer people are free to think for themselves and make the right decisions. Because human laws are imperfect, no matter how good they seem.
Why? Because human beings have both good and evil inside of them.
Words. Words can teach, or make people ignorant.
The Bible is still the most read book in human history. It has founded societies and has made more people free.
The words inside have changed lives. This book has withstood the test of time.
There are more copies which prove how close to the original writings of the Old and New Testaments they are than any other book out there.
Even the skeptics are unable to say otherwise. The critics have tried saying that we can’t trust the Bible because it was written by men and the writings are so old, we can’t believe what the original manuscripts.
Yet, the more they fight this Book, the more the Bible verifies itself, more than any other book out there (See References below).
Words. The Bible has words. If you read them and acknowledge what these words say, it brings new life to the person reading it.
Words inside this beautiful, awe-inspiring Book have led more people to be free, than any other book in History.
Words. Can transform a person from the inside out.
I invite you to read the Bible yourself.
You will find the words refreshing.
Start with the Book of Psalms and Proverbs.
Once you are there, you can jump into the Gospel of John.
Then you can go to Romans where the words will give you what people without God are like.
What people with God plus regulations are like.
Finally, what people who have a lasting personal relationship with Jesus, the Savior of the world are like.

The Word.png

You see, words can be read and interpreted in personal fashions. But once you understand God’s word, there is only one way you can learn it.

You can read it for the task of reading through it like any other book. You can read it and see how God gave us do’ and don’ts, and try incredibly hard to abide by God’s Commandments.
Or, you can take those same Commandments and read what Jesus said about them in his Gospels and in Acts, Romans, 1st, and 2nd Corinthians, Galatians,, etc..
Once you read the explanations of the God’s Word and Commandments in these Letters, you will be set free.
And once someone is set free in Christ, the person is forever free, no matter what governing bodies are in charge.
No matter what words anyone uses against the person that has been set free through Jesus the Savior of the world.
Remember, words can hurt, divide and misinform.
But the Word of God heals, unites and points you to the grace, peace, and joy of knowing God wholly, through a personal relationship with His Son Jesus.

I invite you to know Jesus and ask Him into your life. I encourage you to be indeed set free…

Get know God & be truly free:

How Can I know God

Steps to Peace With God

Know God

REFERENCES:

BibleAsk.com

Dead Sea Scrolls

New Testament Writings Research

March 14, 2019March 14, 2019

January 14, 2019January 14, 2019

The Name That Shall not Be Named |JESUS IS LORD!

“saying, “By a charge we commanded you not to teach in this name, and behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring upon us the blood of this man.”But Peter and the apostles answering said, “It is necessary to obey God rather than men.” — Peter in Acts chapter 5:28-29

Obey God Not Men.png

I was talking to One of the guys in our family who is in full-time ministry along with his wife. He was telling me that the city Council of that city that the church is in, sent a letter telling all Christian churches that they were not to use the name of Jesus anymore in city council prayer meetings..

That they would have to generalize the name of God in their prayer. So he said that the senior pastor decided not to go.
I disagree 100% with that. As Christians we do not cower because we have the power. As Christians we do not run from fire we run into the fire because like the three young men and the story of Daniel Jesus will hold us and keep us and protect us. We won’t do as the world says — for all to bow down to satanic images and culture; we do not, we cannot.
We stand with the name the name that is no longer popular. The name that People want to get rid of. The name that infuriates those that don’t know him personally.
What I would’ve done as I would’ve gone in there and said in the name of the Lord of lords, king of kings, the name above all names. In the name that I cannot mention.
And his mighty name that I cannot say but one day all will bow down to that Name and that is why I pray in His name.

Screen Shot 2019-01-14 at 4.44.23 PM.png

—It would behoof all of you not to try to hide His Name that is systematically being deleted. It will be in vain! The Roman Empire tried, they failed. All kingdoms have tried but failed. Don’t make the same mistake as they did. Instead embrace and welcome His name into your lives and into society. Jesus has changed societies for the better.

I for one will never stop exclaiming Jesus Name. I don’t care what authorities do or say. They are but a small vapor in existence. Jesus is the Creator of this universe and exists outside of time and space. He is forever.
Who do you think I will listen to?!

Need God?

How Can I know God

Steps to Peace With God

Know God

November 14, 2018November 14, 2018

Blind Faith — Unseen & Eternal |Christian Faith

I just met a couple in their mid twenties. Both of them are visually impaired. The young lady was leading her husband. Both were very kind and cheerfully going through their obstacles courageously.
I noticed how slow they were going, and figured that this may have been their first time in this restaurant. The wife was struggling with direction and coming towards me. Looking at them I felt horrible that they were blind with no one to help them. I said “hello” to them, so as not to have her bump into me. She was very cheery in her response, which surprised me a bit. She happily asked if they were going the right way towards the parking lot. I calmly and gently started giving her specific directions, letting her know about different things in front of them within the small fenced in area they had entered into.

She gladly took my directions, and they made it through the gauntlet of tables, chairs, and fencing we who can see, take for granted.

I saw them finally making it to the edge of the sidewalk where they would await their ride and was joyful to have helped them in a small way.
The young couple was waiting a while for their ride and I called out to them if they wanted to join me while waiting, the young wife turned towards my voice with a soft, peaceful smile, thanking me again and said that they liked standing. I know that feeling since I sit behind a desk long periods of times.

I thought to myself how we, who have eyesight, have it pretty made in this world. Yet, I can’t help thinking that the young, joyful blind couple is more blessed than those of us with vision.

You see, these young visually impaired adults, have to have full-on faith the minute they wake up. They can’t see the world, yet they go out into it every single day with such courage and enthusiasm, ready to take on every obstacle that comes their way.

I can’t help but think that those of us who have the precious gift of eyesight may learn a thing or two from them. At least I have. It made me ponder…

Are we going out into the world with our faith, ready to take it on?
Or are we wasting our valuable and precious gift of sight squandering the time and wishing how life could be better for us if we just were able to have God do this or that for us?

I choose to have that blind faith of the couple I just met. May God use me to go and spread more of the incredible and courageous faith of going into the world and making a difference for Christ….

Need God?

How Can I know God

Steps to Peace With God

Know God

Resources:

Scripture