St Matthew, Chapter 18, verse:1, Pride: Who is the Greatest

Our paragraph topic is:  (Against ambition) Part 1.    

So the disciples were in the house with Jesus.  Simon Peter was off fishing to deal with his thoughts of anger and frustration with the taxing system.  But the others were debating and dealing with other issues.  Satan was at work, never resting.  He was dividing.  He was instigating, he was seeking ways to turn the disciples away from Christ so that he could use them for his own purposes.  

The disciples were young in the spirit.  They did not completely understand what they were doing or who they were dealing with.  It was spiritual warfare and Satan was on the prowl.  He could not directly affect the disciples because of Christ but he could influence them with little suggestions.  He could plant thoughts in their minds.  He could give them ideas like seeds that would grow and fester in their minds until they became full blown thoughts that would lead to actions that were against the spirit.  So, at that hour the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" 

Who is the greatest?  Who is the best?  Who is the prettiest?  Who is the strongest?  We could think about all these superlatives all day and wonder where we fit in the grand scheme of things.  What are our greatest qualities?  How can we maximize upon these qualities to get ahead, to make ourselves noticed, to put us above the rest of the crowd.  Who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?  The disciples discussed this question among themselves and wanted to know the answer.  They thought about and argued the question among themselves with each having their own opinion as to the answer.  And while they were arguing the answer Satan was working in their midst.

We all want to feel proud.  It is a natural human emotion that makes us feel good about ourselves while at the same time making us feel bad about ourselves.  For in considering the question of what we have done and what we have accomplished, we can also think about what we have not done and what we have not accomplished.  We are proud of what we have.  We are proud of who we are in the community.  We are proud of our accomplishments, our titles, our homes, our cars, our clothes, how we look, our physical being, and all the things that will make us feel good about who we are and how other people will see us.  We are proud of the physical and not the spiritual.

For how can we be proud of the spiritual?  How can we have others see the spiritual being that we are and make us feel proud that we are spiritual?  Do we become religious?  Do we become knowledgeable of the scriptures that we can show others our spiritual growth?  Do we speak of religious things among our friends and associates that we can demonstrate our spiritual being?  Do we do all these things that we may become spiritually proud of who we are?  Only God sees our true spirit.  Only God knows what is in our hearts.   Only God is the true cause of how we feel about who we are. 

For it is the truth of the knowledge of who we are in Christ Jesus that leads us to know the true nature of our being.  And without the knowledge of our spirit we are still just physical beings, lost in the physical world.  We are spiritual beings not knowing the light of the spirit that is within us.  We are spiritual beings unable to perceive the light within us, unable to see the light of life given us by Christ Jesus through his sacrifice.  And without true knowledge we are walking in darkness, simply physical beings. 

Christ told us that the eye is the lamp of body and if the eye is sound then the body will be full of light.  Do you have a sound eye?  Can you not see the light within you?  Do you not know the light of your soul?  Come!  Follow the path before you.  See the spirit that you are.  Know the light of Christ that is within you and you will no longer be in darkness.  Christ has opened the door for you.  He has given the path to walk.  He will come and send the Holy Spirit to be with you for the rest of your days, if you simply ask. 

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in. 

St Matthew, Chapter 16, verse: 13, The Rock: The Question.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Peter's confession) Part 1.   

They crossed the sea and left the boat, Jesus and his disciples.  They arrived in Caesarea Philippi where Christ was about to begin another part of his journey here on earth, on this rock.  His time was approaching, his work was coming to an end, and the sacrifice was being prepared.  His disciples were with him at all times and they were being prepared for the coming war with evil.  Christ was to leave this earth, this rock, and his disciples were to remain to continue his work.  They did not know.  They believed that Christ would remain with them to fight the upcoming battles.  They believed that he would take over the rule of the Pharisees and the Sadducees and replace it with his rule.  Yet Christ was a gentle man.  Christ was a man filled with love.  Christ was not a man of violence, yet he was the Son of Justice.  He was the Son of God.

But the time had not yet come and the disciples must be prepared for the coming of the battle.  The plans must be put into place.  The strategy must be studied and enacted.  And the war must be proclaimed.  So Christ began by questioning his disciples.  He wanted to know what they were hearing.  He wanted to know what they were understanding.  He wanted to see what they were seeing so that he could make corrections.  So he asked them.  Now Jesus, having come into the district of Caesarea Philippi, began to ask his disciples, saying, "Who do men say the Son of Man is?"

You can ask the same question today and get a variety of answers depending upon who you talk to and what people believe.  Today, nearly 2000 years later, there is not one religion.  Today there is not one God.  Today there are many religions and many gods that people believe in.  We have become a culture of many.  We have become a culture, throughout the world, of freedom of religion and freedom of speech.  Even though in some parts of the world freedom is not free, but people are still individuals and can do and believe who and what they want.  Christ did not come to enforce one religion, one belief upon the people of the world.  He came that we might have the freedom to choose.  He came that we might have life and not death.  For before his gift to mankind we were dead, without life, without choice.  And now we have the choice of life and not death alone.

Who do men say I am?  Who do men say that the Son of Man is?  The knowledge is there for the knowing.  The truth is there for those who seek truth.  The life is there for those who want life and not death.  It is up to the individual to seek.  It is up to the individual to find.  It is up to the individual to know.  For those who seek can know for certain.  Those who find will find without doubt.  Those who desire will have their hearts filled.  For there is a living God.  There is a living truth.  There is a living certainty that can be gained for those who desire to know.  It is at your fingertips.  It is in your face.  It is on the tip of your tongue if you would only say it.  God's will be done.  Will your will be done in this life and in the next?  Follow the path.  Read the truth.  Know with certainty that you are a child of God.  His arms are open wide waiting for you to come home.

Read the sign of the times!  Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ.  Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself.  Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding.  Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith.  Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ.  The Holy Spirit awaits you.  Christ seeks to know you.  Open the door and let him in!

St Matthew, Chapter 16, verse: 4b, The Test: The sign of Jonas.

Our paragraph topic is:  (The Pharisees and Sadducees ask a sign)
Part 3.     

The Pharisees and the Sadducees came to Jesus with in their plots and plans.  They asked him to give a sign that they would know and believe was from heaven.  They wanted to test him.  They wanted to have him perform a miracle for them even though they knew that he was the Messiah.  The evil within them knew that he was the Christ yet the evil urged their evil doers to ask for a sign to test him.  

Evil was all around. Evil sought to trap.  Evil sought to ensnare.  Evil sought to find a way to discredit what was truth.  So they plotted and planned with their evil doers on ways to carry out their plans.  One worked in the spiritual realm and one worked in the physical realm.  And yet the physical realm did not perceive that which was in the spiritual realm.  The physical body did not or would not accept that there was a spiritual realm of evil that suggested the things to do in the physical realm.  They were blinded.  They could not see.  They did not want to see for their physical passions kept them from seeing, kept them from believing, kept them from know the truth that was before them.

So Christ gave the physical as an example.  He gave them knowledge that they could relate to in the physical realm.  He demonstrated to them the knowledge that they had about interpretation.  They could interpret the morning sky.  They could interpret the evening sky and know what was coming before them.  So why did they not want to see the interpretation of what was before them so that they would know the truth.  They did not want to let go of the physical and accept the spiritual that was before them.  So instead of reaching understanding for themselves and having their eyes opened to the evil that was within them, they accepted the plot of evil and continued to live in the darkness.

They came to Christ and asked for a sign.  And Christ told them:   An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign, and no sign shall be given it but the sign of Jonas."  And he left them and went away.

Are we like the Pharisees and the Sadducees?  Do we request a sign?  Do we demand a miracle so that we can say that we believe?  Do we counsel with evil that evil may reside within us?  For a sign will not be given except for the sign of Jonas.   Christ spoke to the Pharisees and the Sadducees to let them know that he knew of their evil.  Even more so, he spoke to the evil within them to let evil know that he was coming.  He told them that he would be with them for three days.  He told them that he would come to bring about a change.  He would reside in the belly of hell to release the souls that were trapped there.  He would come to the belly of hell to right what was wrong and to seal those who walked the earth and possessed men to do evil for them. 

Shudder in your spirits for Christ would come and exact judgement upon the evil in hell for three days.  He would come and release all the souls that lived in purgatory that had waited patiently until his coming.  He would come to hell and give life to those souls that lived by the laws of God and bring punishment to the evil that roamed the earth.  So, he gave the Pharisees and the Sadducees the opportunity to read the signs of the times.  He gave them the opportunity to awaken from their sleep with evil.  He gave them the spark that would ignite their minds and open their hearts that they may be healed.  But they refused to believe.  They refused to see.  They refused to know.  They only wanted to sleep in the bed of darkness.  They only wanted to remain in the web of evil that walked the earth and tempted them to do evil.

Where are we today?  Are we asleep with evil?  Are we not reading the signs of the times and awakening from the blindness of evil?  Many will go down the wide road of destruction.  Many will heed the call of sin.  Many will succumb to the passions of lust and open their hearts to the evil that comes from within.  And yet we refuse to understand truth for its simplicity and its beauty.  God loves us.  God created us in his image.  God wants each and every one of us to live with him in heaven.  But we continue to allow ourselves to follow the world down the path of destruction and death.  WAKE UP!  See the signs!  Open your hearts to the love of Christ who died that you would have life again.  Believe!  And be saved from darkness that awaits you.  Death is a thief and will come when least expected.  Be prepared daily, hourly, that you may not be caught unaware.  A trail of crumbs have been left for you to follow.  Come!  Christ awaits you and the Holy Spirit will guide you on this journey of life.

Read the signs of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ.   Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself.   Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding.   Read it for knowledge.   Read it for faith.  Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ.   The Holy Spirit awaits you.  Christ seeks to know you.   Open the door and let him in! 

St Matthew, Chapter 15, verses: 21 - 22, The Lost Children of God: The Canaanite Woman.

Our paragraph topic is:  (The Canaanite woman) Part 1.  

Jesus left the land of Genesar and traveled to the district of Tyre and Sidon where he stayed and taught the disciples and the people.  The word spread.  The word was spoken of his greatness.  The word was heard by many far and wide that knew him not, but heard of his deeds.  And many came to be a witness, for themselves, of the truth that was taking place in their time.  For others did not believe.  Others scoffed at the idea.  Others ridiculed the word.  Others warned of fake and fraud and forgery and trickery.  And others persuaded the people that no such person existed that could give them hope.  For evil was at work in the land.  Evil possessed the people.  Evil turned their minds and their hearts that they did not believe the Messiah had come.  Their eyes did not see, their ears did not hear and their hearts were closed less the word would enter them and they believed.  

And yet there were those, lost children of God, that did believe.  There were those, the lost children of God, who heard the word.  There were those, the lost children of God, who had a ray of hope when the word entered and sparked new life.  And evil would not relent.  Evil would not pass.  Evil would not yield until the appointed time.  For evil possessed the people and held them within its grip.  And no one knew of the hope that would rid them of the evil. 

And so, the Canaanite woman came.  And so, she was filled with hope.  And so, she knew the truth had come.  She would not be turned, she would not be deterred, she would not relent, she would not accept defeat, she would not give up to the evil that had possessed her daughter and taken over her body.  For she knew that the time had come.  She knew that the Messiah had come.  She believed that he was the one who would defeat the evil that was in her life and the life of her daughter.  So, she came out to meet Jesus and to plead for his help.   And leaving there, Jesus retired to the district of Tyre and Sidon.  And behold, a Canaanite woman came out of that territory and cried out to him, saying, "Have pity on me, O Lord, Son of David!  My daughter is sorely beset by a devil."

Does the Canaanite woman cry out today?  Can you hear her crying for her children?  Can you hear her weeping for the lost children of God?  For they are blind.  They are deaf.  They are hungry.  They are dirty.  They have no place to sleep.  They are possessed of evil that turns them away from society to seek their own survival.  And the evil stalks them day and night without relenting.  They know no rest.  Who would weep for them? Who will care for them?  Who will feed them.  Who will give them the true spiritual food that they need to renew the life within.  Physical food will not suffice.  Only the spiritual food that Christ brought will heal, will save, will conquer, and will give new life. 

The Canaanite woman came.  She came because she heard the word.  She came because she believed.  She came because she knew that this Christ was the answer to her prayers and she would not be deterred.  She would not be turned.  She would not be changed.  She knew that her prayers had been answered.  So, she went out to meet him.  She went out to see him.  She went out to know him that her prayers would be answered.  And she cried out to the Lord.  Save my daughter.  Save my child.  Save my beloved, for she is beset by a devil.  Who will cry out for the lost souls of today?  Who will weep for those possessed of evil?  Who will pray for them?