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Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Choices- Religion or a Personal Relationship with God

Choices-    Is it 
Religion or a Personal Relationship with God?
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John 14:6 KJV

Jesus saith unto him, 
I am the way ,
     the truth, and
          the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. 

Matthew 6:33 KJV

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness;  ...


Choices Choices Choices

We all make choices.  We choose who our friends are, our husband or wife, this movie or that movie, etc.  All day long we are engrossed in our choices, and often self-centered choices.

But, the very most important choice we have in life does not concern earthly choices but Spiritual Choices!
It is not a choice about helping others, visiting the poor,or anything similar.

The most important choice is the choice we make about Jesus.

Our first choice concerns: 
do we Humbly and Submissively accept Him as our Savior?

      IF  your answer is "no" 
                   maybe you should STOP READING.

If ‘Yes’ then we move on to other choices.   

These choices include
2-  What church we go to,
3-  How will we serve Him
4-  How we try learn about Him,
5-  How we choose to worship Him.

But, even these are religion choices and 
are not as important as the Spiritual choice we make.

The most import choice we make is this:

We choose First to do as Jesus tells us:

“Seek ye first the Kingdom of God.”

This was not presented as a suggestion,  or an option!

This is Jesus’ Command to US!


Seeking the Kingdom comes before any earthly religion choices we make. In seeking the Kingdom, we must first, foremost, continually, and be absolutely driven to Have a Personal Relationship with God.

Choices above 2, 3, 4, and 5 are simply about religion!

What is your choice?
Religion with all its 
rules and traditional trappings
or
A Personal Relationship with God.

If you have a Person Relationship with God in which you  activity seek Him daily through Bible Study and Prayer, then you are living under Jesus' command for us;   if NOT, then


maybe

just maybe,


quite possibly,

All you have is just religion.

It is your choice.


In your Religion, helping others may be a choice,


In your Personal Relationship with God,
    out of love, we are filled with desire for helping others.


What is your choice?


Thanks be to God
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Saturday, November 26, 2011

Heavenly Threats Because of Earthly Success Part 1 of 2

Heavenly Threats Because of Earthly Success
Part 1

 See scripture below.

We must be careful with our earthly successes.  
We just may think we made it happen.
It can threaten our entrance into the Kingdom.
-----

My brother Don, deceased, was became a U.S. Marine in the early 1960's.  When I joined the U.S. Air Force in 1970, he told me an important story about a new Marine Second Lieutenant that over-enjoyed his status as a commissioned officer.  The lieutenant thought he was more than he really was.

As Don told me one day:
He passed a friend on base (Camp Pendelton, Ca. USA) and noticed that his friend, a young Private, was saluting a lieutenant, many times.  The lieutenant was counting as the private was saluting and counting, 88...89...90.....

My brother saluted the lieutenant as he passed by, then quietly stopped and turned to watch.  Just then, a Colonel (five ranks higher than a 2nd lieutenant, stopped, and the lieutenant saluted the Colonel.

The colonel  asked, "What is going on here lieutenant!"

"Well Colonel, this young private failed to show respect to me and did not salute me and I am teaching him a lesson about proper military behavior.  To correct him, I am making the private salute me 100 times."

The colonel replied, "Hmmmm, well lieutenant, do you know that the proper behavior is for the officer to return the salute!"

"Well, sir, uhh, yes I do sir," said the lieutenant.

"Private" said the colonel, how many times have you saluted the lieutenant?" asked the colonel.

"About 93 times."

In a stern voice, the Colonel told the lieutenant, "Well, lieutenant, have you returned his salutes?"

"uuhhh, well, uh Sir, No Sir I haven't sir", said the lieutenant.

Turning to and telling the private, "as the lieutenant salutes you 93 times, you count them, do not let him miss even one.  If you do not feel they are of proper military behavior, then let me know."

To the lieutenant, "Return his salutes, then report to me in my office."

"Yes Sir," as the lieutenant started saluting in proper military fashion, 93 times as the private just stood there (no doubt smiling) and counting.... 1...2...3......


An earthly moral to this story:
As a leader, if you have to enforce your authority, reminding people you are their superior, you often lose much of the respect people had for you.  Do not confuse people's respect for your position with their respect for you.  Authority is given to you, respect is earned.

For the Heavenly Threats Part 2, click here 

Thanks Be to God
Lonnie


A video:
Click here:  "kings and kingdoms will all pass away".
The same by the Gaither Vocal Band:

Today's Scripture

The Rich Young Ruler

16Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?"
17"Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments."
18"Which ones?" the man inquired. Jesus replied, " 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony,
19honor your father and mother,' and 'love your neighbor as yourself.' "
20"All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?"
21Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
22When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
23Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
24Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
25When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, "Who then can be saved?"
26Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
27Peter answered him, "We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?"
28Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
29And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.
30But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.



Tuesday, November 15, 2011

The Gospel of Matthew, Part 3, Why was Matthew Written?

Why was 
the Gospel of Matthew Written?

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Have you ever seen the need of a person around you and without asking began to fulfill that person's need.  It may have been taking a meal to them,  cleaning, or one of many little things easily done for others.  You were not asked, you just did it.

The writer of Matthew, saw a need for the Jewish community in Palestine.  Jesus was not coming back as soon as previously thought.  Matthew knew the Jews needed to know the Gospel, the "Good News of Jesus the Christ”.

Consider some of the thoughts and facts:
1.    The writer of Matthew wrote as if he were Matthew and could have known him well.  The Jewish apostle Matthew was a hated tax collector.  Because, he abandoned his faith (being a Jew) and worked for Roman authorities, and made great money, he became an outcast.
2.    It was difficult, confusing times in Palestine because of the growing number of Christians including the Jewish Christians.  The Jews were tired of the hated Roman government, restless with the Jewish Temple leaders, and slowly creating revolution against the Romans.  Rome did not like this.  In 70 AD, the Romans destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem.
3.    The Jews needed Knowledge of the Gospel, in terms and language they could understand and knowledge of the Messiah.  A book was needed to help them understand what happened in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  The Jews needed to know that all was changed by the one person, Jesus.  Most of them knew nothing of Jesus when he was alive.  Telling stories about Jesus was no longer good enough.  It had to be written for the Word of God to spread. 
4.    Jews had been looking, anticipating, and longing for a Messiah for hundreds of years.  It had been over 400 years since a Jewish writer had written anything about a Jewish leader.  There had been predictions of the coming Messiah, it was time for someone to write the New Truth, the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ.  They had to know to stop looking, start learning, and begin believing on their Risen Lord. 
5.    Matthew was a learned, smart, and knowing man.  It can be easily thought that with his skills, after the Resurrection, besides teaching and preaching he wrote some stories of Jesus.  Or, someone close to him, Jewish,  could have written the stories of Matthew.  By the time Matthew was written, the Gospel of Mark was being circulated to a wide area.  Very likely, there were other manuscripts of Jesus stories being distributed.  But, something special was need for the Jews.
6.    Something special for the Jews was written, we call it the Gospel of Matthew.  Someone, filled with the Holy Spirit, saw the need.  As discussed in "The Gospel of Matthew Part 2, scholars cannot conclusively prove Matthew the apostle was the writer.  But, very likely it was someone Jewish, had much knowledge of the person Matthew the apostle.  

Evidence from the Gospel Matthew was written for the Jews:

1.    It begins with a Jewish genealogy to prove Jesus was from the prophecy of being in the family line of King David.  Also, it connects Jesus all the way to Abraham. 
2.    The genealogy is in three sections with fourteen generations in each section.  The number '14' is 2 times 7.  Seven is the perfect number with the Jews.  Three is also an important number in Jewish history.
3.    Matthew is concerned with teaching the fulfillment of the OT.
4.    There are nine references to fulfillment of OT Scripture:
Matthew:  1:22-23;  2:15;   2:17-88;   2:23;
    4:14-16;  8:17;   12:17-21;   13:35;   27:9-10.
5.    Use of Jewish thought and terms.  For example, Matthew always writes "Kingdom of Heaven" instead of "Kingdom of God".  The word "God" was never spoken directly in Jewish society at the time.  This tradition still prevails today in many Jewish communities.
6.    There is in Matthew an emphasis on the term "Son of David".  It was prophesied that the Messiah (Jesus) would be in the family line of King David.
7.    Five teaching sections in Matthew.  This is a parallel to the Old Testament, five books in the original Torah (the Pentateuch), the first OT Scriptures accepted by the Jewish faith.  This gives the idea to the Jews that Jesus is the new Moses.  Moses saved them once, a new Moses is coming had been the thought for about 2500 years.  Jesus is the Messiah, and the writer of Matthew wanted to make sure the Jews understood that.
When we understand why something is written, we better understand the way it was written.   Knowing about the life and times of Jesus and the Jews helps us to better understand God's word.

The Holy Spirit inspired the people of the times before Jesus, during His life, and absolutely after his death.  Sometimes we fail to remember that the Holy Spirit stills inspires us to do things for other today.  I have no reason to take the time to write these messages except for the fact I feel the Holy Spirit leads me in writing these messages.  I receive from may of you encouragement to continue writing.  That helps me as I hope you find encouragement is all the writing I have published.

I praise God for your friendship and encouragement. 
==========================================

Coming: Part 4 -  The order of Jesus' life as found in Matthew.
Now, you know that Matthew was for the 1st Century Jews and Jewish Christians.  One then has to think of the order of events presented by Matthew.


Part 5
Why is Matthew called the "Teaching Gospel"?

God Bless you all,
Thank you for all your prayers.

In His Service,
lonnie


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Sunday, November 13, 2011

Praising God in Sickness and in Health

Praising God In Sickness and in Health

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As Christians, we believe in a most wonderful God.  A God of Love that Cares for us beyond our wildest expectations.  We all live in varied circumstances.  But, because we believe in a Risen Lord our Faith is different that all other faiths in the world.


ONLY THE CHRISTIAN FAITH BELIEVES IN A RISEN LORD.  OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST. 
 THE TRUTH OF JESUS CHRIST RISES ABOVE ALL OTHER FAITHS BECAUSE HIS WORD, HIS TEACHINGS, HIS EXAMPLE TO US, AND HIS LIFE WERE GLORIFIED BY GOD WITH JUSUS' RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD.


No matter how bad our times,  no matter our life's circumstances, no matter what disease or hard time may fall on us we still sing praises to Jesus our Master of the Universe.  No matter what, how we may slip and not live according to His Will and His Plan for our lives, when we turn back to Him in Humility and confess our Sin, Jesus accepts us back and blesses us.  His love is enduring, it will never end, and when we submit to Him, He wipes away our Transgressions, our Sins against Him.


Therefore, in all our life we must be in constant prayer to Him praying and praying often everyday.  In that God, builds our faith.  We cannot build our faith in God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit; we submit to Him and He then builds our faith in Jesus as our Savior.  


In all things, sickness and in health, we must Praise our Risen Lord.


Even though my wife is sick, I Praise God, I love God, and I place NO blame on Him for this disease she has.  


In all our days good or bad, 
in Good health or or Not,
We must Praise our risen Lord
simply for the Love He has for us.


Amen


click on this song
Watch it often,
Absorb its Message.


Click Here,    We believe in our Lord Jesus Christ  
  "BECAUSE HE LIVES"



Love you all.


lonnie
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Friday, November 4, 2011

The Gospel of Matthew-Part 2- Who Wrote Matthew?..

The Gospel of Matthew- Part 2- Who Wrote Matthew

Short Introduction about my Writings

When we earnestly read and study the Bible with the desire to have the knowledge and understanding of the Bible , a very precious, wonderful feeling we receive is to truly feel it is the Inspired Word of God! Without any conditions, restraint, or exception attached to it, God provides us with that feeling!!  Scholars can try to explain away much about the Bible, but Believers cannot be fooled.  Without exception, the writings of the Bible was inspired by God.  The Bible as we have it has withstood assault for over 2500 years (Old Testament) and the New Testament has stood for the last 1800 years.

In this series, you, the reader, may not always understand what I write or perhaps not believe what I write.  I will provide references for my writings and if I express an opinion it will be indicated as opinion.  Please email me if you do not understand something or differ in your opinion.  I ask you to respect my opinion as I will yours.  The Glory of Bible study, regardless if we do not understand or agree with every word, through the study we can come to feel the inspiration and can therefore ourselves be inspired.  When we start to feel the inspiration, better understanding comes. 

==============================

Now,
Who wrote the Gospel of Matthew?


Tradition leads us to accepting the apostle Matthew, also known as Levi (from Luke), as the writer of Matthew; but nowhere in Matthew does the disciple claim authorship!  However, there can be some discussions or disagreement that is not the case. The question you the reader must answer,  “Does it really make a difference in our faith if the disciple Matthew did not write the Gospel.  It is still the inspired word of God.

Suppose you can accept this:  Since the apostle Matthew was an eye-witness to most everything Jesus did, then Matthew’s Gospel should be somewhat unique.  The problem is, The Gospel of Matthew is not totally unique with the other Gospels (more on this below).

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke can very easily be seen together in providing the Gospel of Jesus.  This ‘togetherness’ is referred to as “the Synoptic Gospels”.  In looking carefully at the Gospels of Mark and Matthew we discover the following:
1.      In most published accounts of the Gospels we have the following:  Mark (very likely was written first) has 661 verses, Luke (written second) has 1,071 verses, and Matthew has 1,151 verses. (*4)

2.      Scholars have reason to believe Mark was the first Gospel written and what was came from the traditions of stories told about Jesus.  Traditions that had circulated for many years (*2, pages 630-631).  Mark, as a very young person, was quite possibly an eye witness to portions of Jesus’ Ministry (Mark 14:51,52), especially in the Garden where Jesus prayed His final prayers.  Mark is placed by scholars as written between 50 AD and 60 AD.

3.      Matthew basically repeats at least 606 of Mark’s verses.

4.      About half of Matthew is nearly all of Mark. 

5.      Nearly all scholars believe Matthew was written after Mark, and after 60AD, more likely after 70 AD as Matthew has Jesus referring to the Temple destruction in Matthew 24:1-2.

A Conclusion to Consider

Most scholars believe that a Jewish man other than Matthew wrote this Gospel after 70 AD.  Within the Gospel there is subtle evidence to this.  The glaring reason that the apostle Matthew did not write the Gospel is this fact:  Matthew’s Gospel relies too much on the Gospel of Mark (see #4 above).  If the apostle truly wrote the Gospel why did he rely so much on Mark.  An eye witness would have written as he saw it, not as someone else saw the events.


The Jewish man who wrote Matthew was writing to the Jews with the desire to present the new way to Salvation (And that was truly something to write about!).  The reason that Matthew’s Gospel is presented first is found in two ideas.  It is a very complete Gospel compared to the others; and it serves as a bridge from Old Testament thinking to New Testament thinking about salvation.   No longer are Jews tied to the Old Testament law for salvation, the New Testament thinking represented Jesus as the Christ and Savior the Jews were seeking from the prophecy of the Old Testament.  Matthew’s goal was to show that the Path of Jesus is THE path to Salvation, Love God, Love people (Matthew 22:33-49).  


So, does it make a difference if you believe that Matthew, Jesus’ apostle, was or was not the writer?  As long as people are inspired by this Gospel, does it really matter? 

The authorship is not the issue in this Gospel. 
The Gospel is what it is, it gives us the Good News of our Salvation. 


Next up, Part 3 - 
     The Gospel of Matthew:  Getting the Reader’s Attention.

Why in the world would anyone start a book with a genelogy?  Matthew did and with good reason.

Note:  I will try to keep all these messages of the Bible study to about 600 words.
==================================================

References:

*1  The Gospel of Matthew, Vol 1,  Dr. William Barkley,  Westminster Press, 2nd Printing 1976
        from the Introduction, pages 1-10

*2  “The Interpreters Bible”, Abingdon Press, New York/Nashville, 1951, 

*http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09674b.htm#V
                under the title “Place and date of composition”


*4   http://catholic-resources.org/Bible/NT-Statistics-Greek.htm    (number of verses in the Bible)

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

The Gospel of Matthew-- A short Bible Study ....Part 1

The Gospel of Matthew-- A Focused Bible Study  ....Part 1

How does a person start a book?  Perhaps a book the writer may think is one of the most important books a person could ever read, a book about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  That was the job the writer had in writing the Gospel according to Matthew.

Many questions come to mind when reading Matthew.  What are the themes or subject matter that reoccurs in the book?  Why is Matthew so hard on the leaders of the Temple?  Why was the Savior of the world baptized?  The answer to these questions points and many others leads to why Matthew was written.  Knowing the why, helps us understand the Gospel better.

Then, have you ever thought about why Matthew was put as the beginning of the New Testament.  It was not written until a number of years after the Gospel of Mark and perhaps Luke, why was Mark not placed first.  Certainly, the purpose of Matthew is go give information about Jesus and His ministry, but to whom?  Was it for us today or more specifically people of the time of Jesus?


Most Bible Studies, proceed with reading the first chapter and ends with the last chapter and a summary.  This Bible study will focus on the various subject matters the author wrote and how those passages are compared between the Gospels.

In this series of study of Matthew’s Gospel, the  Subject matter (themes) of Matthew to be covered are:

1-  How Matthew improved or changed the writings from Mark. This will compare Matthew's wording of statements from Jesus differed from Mark on the same statement.  This begins to provide clues as to why Matthew was written the way it was. 

2-  Matthew is a teaching gospel.  Today's scholars believe there was a source called "Quelle" which is German for 'source'; it was a book of Jesus' sayings.  It is believed that from this book Luke and Matthew took many of Jesus' teachings.  The question is what was their purpose to include these writings such as the “Beatitudes” and the Sermon on the Mount.

3-  What difference would it make to you if the apostle Matthew was not the actual writer of this Gospel.  Perhaps he just dictated to scribes what Jesus did.  Perhaps someone not mentioned in the Bible very close to Jesus wrote the Gospel.   How does when Matthew was affect the purpose of this Gospel and the verses included.

4-  How does the order of events and writings express and provides us clues as to why Matthew was written.

5-  As I present further study of Matthew and the current events of the first Christian century we will see how the events of the day affected Matthew's writings.  Why are the Sadducees of Jesus' time not mentioned but seven times.  In Matthew, the most important enemy is the 'scribes and Pharisees' and mentioned 28 times; why is Matthew so focused on this group.  Could it be because of the time in which the Gospel was written?

Before this Bible study is completed, you will see and understand many other things.  It is my hope to make the Gospel of Matthew become one of your favorite Gospels.  In Matthew, we find a wealth of information that will lead us to greater faith.

I encourage you in the next days and weeks to read the Gospel of Matthew.  Then as the Bible Study continues, read it again.  I have read Matthew at least 15+ times.  As I reread, I find more 'new' ideas that I never noticed in previous readings.  That is why we call the Gospels the "Inspired Word of God", we cannot know it all, and we cannot have total understanding reading only one time.  The contents of Matthew is as a Gold mine with ideas and teachings leading us to find nuggets of understanding our Savior.  It is a journey to greater faith!.

To God be the Glory.

Please pray for me as I prepare this Bible Study.