St. Matthew, Chapter 21, verse:23b; Christ's authority.

Our paragraph topic is:  (The authority of Jesus) Part 2. 

Christ was a gentle man.  He was not pretentious or self seeking.  He taught with love and understanding giving the people all they needed to comprehend fully.  His words were filled with the spirit of his father and he wanted the people to know his father as he knew him.  For God our Father is the creator of all things.  He gave life to all the world, all creatures, all things.  His creation is good.

Christ is a spirit of power and majesty.  And yet with all the power of the universe he was humble, quiet, gentle, loving.  His rage, his wrath could have destroyed anyone and everyone that displeased him.  Yet not often did that side of him show.  He performed miracles.  He made the dead rise, cured the lame, cast out demons, made the blind see, the lepers whole, calmed the stormy seas and walked on water.  But little did you see or hear of the awesome power he commanded, used.

And then came the chief priest and the elders, and said, "By what authority dost thou do these things? And who gave thee this authority?" 

They were wise men.  They were leaders and teachers and elders.  They were learned men, men of the world, knowledgeable of all that concerned the Law and the people of Israel.  But they did not know him.  They did not know the Christ.  They did not know from whence he came or from what part of the world he came and they were fearful. 

He brought change.  He brought peace, he brought harmony, he brought love.  He brought a knowledge of something more to life than what the people knew as their daily routine.  He brought knowledge of the kingdom of heaven to a people who knew of their God but did not know of his kingdom, of his plans for them, of his love for them.

We today live in the same world as those of yesteryear.  We eat, work, play, love, cry, search for truth, and die the same as they did thousands of years ago.  We know through our churches that there is a heaven and a kingdom of God.  Yet do we believe this?  Are we sure of this?  Is this a certainty in our lives today?  We are challenged.  We will be questioned of our faith.  We will face the winds of change that seeks to turn us in another direction.  How solid are our feet planted in the belief and truth of the authority of Christ that nothing will turn us away from him.

He is our provider.  He is our protector.  He is our caretaker no matter who rules, who is in office, who calls the shots.  God's will be done and we who believe and know will not be turned away from the gift of life that has been freely given to us through the passion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  This is the authority upon which we stand.

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 nd 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 20, verse:30a, Two Blind men.

Our paragraph topic is:  (The blind men at Jericho) Part 2. 

A great crowd followed Christ as he was leaving Jericho.  He was the person of the times.  Everyone wanted to see him.  Everyone wanted to be near him.  Everyone wanted something from him.  They were drawn to him through the word.  They heard through the word.  And the word spread of his deeds, of his miracles, of his teachings.  Many thought that he would bring about change.  But his change was of a greater purpose than what was imagined.

He came for a purpose.  He walked and talked for a purpose.  He taught of the things to come and of his Father.  And he gave comfort to those in need.  He gave hope to those without hope.  He brought light into the darkness so that those without belief would know, those without hope would be hopeful, those without faith would see that their faith was real.  Even the blind who could not see knew that he was the one.  "And behold, two blind men sitting by the wayside heard that Jesus was passing by."

The word was everywhere.  Everyone was talking about him.  Everyone was spreading his message and what they saw.  And that meant that they stopped what they were doing and came to him.  He was in their town.  He was in their village.  He was nearby and they wanted to see for themselves.  He was nearby and they wanted to know for themselves.  He was there and they wanted to be there.  The two blind men were there and this was their opportunity.

Great people come into our lives and we have opportunities to see them, to be where they are, to even have a chance to meet them.  So when that opportunity presents itself, if we are lucky, we rush to be in that place where they are.  This is our nature.  This is who we are.  This is the opportunity to grab a moment in time that we will remember for the rest of our lives. 

What would you do if you heard that Jesus was passing by your city?  What would do if you heard that Christ was coming to your town?  If it were announced on the news that Christ was having a meeting at your local church, your local arena, or coliseum, would you come?  Would you make an effort to buy a ticket, to get off from work, to plan a way to get to where he would be?  He performs miracles.  He changes lives.  He makes the blind see and the lame walk, and the cripple whole.  What could he do for you, if you came to see him?

Each and everyday we have that same opportunity.  Each and everyday we can go to see him, be with him, touch him, know that he is with us.  Each and everyday we have the opportunity to live with him just as the disciples did two thousand years ago.  The choice is ours.  The opportunity is ours if we choose.  All we have to do is ask. 

We must know that our asking requires patience.  We must know that our asking requires believing.  It is believing that we must act on, knowing with certainty that he will hear us and answer.  For without that certainty, impatience will creep in.  Without that certainty, impatience will seek to persuade you to give up.  Impatience will talk to you and seek to make you believe that he will not answer.  Impatience will seek to destroy your faith in him.  But patience will deliver.  For patience will allow you to see the miracles that he will perform in your lives.  Patience will give you the strength to know that he will answer.  Patience will walk with you each day, each hour, each minute and show you how to walk in belief, and to walk in faith, and to walk in hope.  We are his children and he is our Father.  He will provide.

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 17, verses: 18-19a. Faith is the cure.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Why the disciples could not cure him) Part 1.  

Christ made the demon leave.  He cast it out.  He returned the child to his father and set the guard to prevent the demon from returning.  And the light of Christ shone within the child.  The disciples tried to cast it out.  They made an effort to remove the demon but it would not obey them, it would not leave.  The father pleaded with them for their help.  He begged.  He knew that it could be done.  He heard the word of how others were cured.  He saw the ones who were transformed, the ones who were made whole, the ones who had demons that were cast out.  And he believed that this could happen for his son also.  He had faith in his belief.

The father was persistent.  He was demanding.  He was unrelenting because he loved his son and he knew that if it could happen to others it could happen for him.  He had faith.  So he searched, he traveled, he followed the word.  He listened to all the talk about Christ and what he had done for others.  He believed with certainty that it could happen for his son.  He believed with certainty and he had faith.  But the disciples did not know.  They did not have the certainty in their beliefs, in their faith.  So they could not cure him.  They asked Christ why they could not cure the boy.   Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could not we cast it out?"  He said to them, "Because of your little faith."

They had little to no faith.  They had little to no belief to guide them in their actions.  They were not ready to do great things.  Yet these were the ones Christ chose to follow him.  These were the twelve that he hand picked.  They were the chosen ones that the people would follow after Christ returned to his father in heaven.  When would they get it?  When would they believe?  When would their faith increase so that there was no doubt?  All plans were in place for the completion of the mission and the training time was coming to an end.  When will we get it?  When will we believe?  When will our faith increase so that there is no doubt?

What is faith?  How would we define it: faith is a belief in something?  Would we say that faith is a belief that there is a God, that there is a supreme being, that there is something greater than ourselves?  The question then becomes: Is this God a loving God?  Is this God a caring God?  Is this God a protective God?  Can we believe in this God?  Can we trust this God?  What is it that we believe, as we go through life on a daily basis?  We are taught that there is a God.  We are given the scriptures as a basis for our beliefs.  As children we are taken to church and taught in Sunday Bible study about our God from the scriptures of the Bible.  Is this enough to guide us through life?  Do we continue our beliefs as we grow older and venture out into the world to make our own way? 

The world would change our beliefs.  The world would turn us away from what we are given as children, as young adults.  The world would have us doubt what we are given through the teachings from the scriptures.  It would convert us to its way of thinking and lead us away from the commandments of the Bible.  The world says the Bible is outdated.  The world says the Bible is a book of fiction and not to be believed.  The world says do not follow the Bible but follow us and we will reward you with our riches.  The world says we will make you happy, we will make you rich, we will fulfill your desires, we will provide for you, we will protect you if you only follow our ways and not the ways of the Bible. 

How do we reconcile the difference?  How do we come to terms with what the world offers and what we are taught in church?  On the one hand we have the world that would offer to fulfill our needs and on the other hand we have the church that would have us believe that our needs will be fulfilled.  Do we have the faith to believe?  Do we have the faith to know with certainty that our beliefs are true, our hopes are real, and our desires will be fulfilled?  Only with certainty will we be able to act.  Are you sure?  Do you know?  Have you discovered the truth of who you are in Christ?  Faith is the belief in the desire to be one with Christ, as Christ is one with the Father?  Come!  Open the door to your heart and become one with he who is one with the Father.  And you will know for certain who you are.  There will be no doubt.  There will be no fear.  There will only be you in the truth of Christ and the Holy Spirit. 

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 17, verses: 6, The Son of God: The Disciples are affraid.

Our paragraph topic is: (Jesus transfigured) Part 5. 
  
And the voice of God spoke from the bright cloud.  The voice spoke to the disciples telling them to hear Christ.  God spoke to them telling them that Christ was his beloved son and that he was well pleased with him.  They did not know where the voice came from.  They did not know how it spoke to them.  They did not know how they were hearing this voice.  All they knew was that it spoke to them telling them to hear him. 

Did they not hear him before?  Were they not listening to him all this time?  They walked with him everyday.  They talked with him everyday.  They slept with him, eat with him, listened to him preach, saw him work miracles, everyday.  So why did they not hear him?  Why did they not listen to him?  Why did they not know him in their hearts that God the father had to tell them to hear him?  God spoke directly to them, and them only, that they should know the truth of who Christ was.  And they heard the voice of God speak to them.  But it was this voice that made them tremble.  It was this voice that caused them to fear.  It was this voice that brought them to their knees and made them fall to their faces with fear.  And on hearing it the disciples fell on their faces and were exceedingly afraid.

Christ loved his disciples.  He watched over them.  He fed them, made sure that they had food to eat and wine to drink.  He protected them from the evil that sought to destroy them.  And he nurtured them for they would become the future leaders of the church here on earth and would bear witness to his life, death, and resurrection.  But they did not hear him.  They were not listening to him.  They did not understand him with the knowledge and certainty of a truth taken from the world we live in.  It was only after the coming of the Holy Spirit that they knew him with certainty, only after his death and resurrection. 

We know with certainty that the wind blows.  We know with certainty that the seasons change.  It gets cold in the winter and hot in the summer.  We know that there is gravity that will cause us to fall from high places.  These things and more, we know with certainty because we have experienced them with our bodies.  But then there are those things that we do not know with the certainty that we know worldly truths.  We believe that Christ lives.  We believe that we will come to live with him after we die.  We believe that there is a heaven where all God's children will go to, to live for eternity.  We know that there is evil in the world because we see it and experience it everyday in our lives.  Most of us do not know it directly but hear of it and see it on the news and in the media.  We believe that Satan does exist but we do not know it the way we know the things of this world. 

The disciples heard God speak of his son.  The disciples were told to hear him.  The disciples were listening but were not hearing.  Why do we not hear today?  What stops us from knowing?  Can we not know the truth of Christ as we know the things of the world?  Is it not possible for us to have the certainty in our beliefs as we have about worldly things.  You see, we have our inner beliefs and we have our inner counter beliefs.  Evil is in the world and evil influences us from within.  We believe the truths that God has given us through Christ Jesus and then we are given doubts.  We know within ourselves that Christ lives but evil would have us doubt.  Evil would have us disbelieve.  Evil would have us not know with certainty Christ Jesus. 

With the certainty of the spiritual knowledge of Christ and the life that he has given us, we know no doubt.  With the certainty of the truth that comes from the Holy Spirit we know who we are.  But evil will plague us.  Evil will continue to throw darts.  Evil will continue to talk to us and set traps to catch us off guard.  For evil wants us to doubt.  Evil wants us to question.  Evil wants us to ask what if.  Evil wants us to not know with certainty who we are in Christ.  For with certainty comes power.  With certainty comes wisdom.  With certainty the light within us is born and we know who we are without doubt, without uncertainty. 

Christ knew who he was.  Evil knew who he was also and sought to announce to it the world.  But Christ would not have his name proclaimed for fame and fortune.  He was not of this world and sought not the false riches of this realm.  Christ was from the Father and so are we.  Yet we do not know who we are or where we are from.  And evil would not have us know.  God , our father, proclaimed to the disciples to hear his son for they heard so much more.  They heard Christ.  They heard the people.  They heard evil speak to them from within themselves.  Just as we do today, they did then.  Defend yourself!  Stand up to the doubts of evil!  Know with certainty that Christ is within you and you are within him.  Seek the light given to you, for it is the key that opens the door of the certainty of who you are.  Christ told us: "The eye is the lamp of the body and if the eye is sound then the body is full of light."  Find your light within and know the truth of who you are in Christ.  For certainty is the key to the power that Christ has given you in this life. 

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 14, verses: 13 - 14, The Needs of the people: Christ's compassion.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Hunger of the crowd) Part 1.  

And so it was.  John the Baptist was murdered by Herod, Herodias and her daughter, agents of evil.  They had planned their plot with the advice of evil and carried it out.  John had warned the people of the evil of Herod.  John had spoken to them about his lies and deceit.  And John was imprisoned for speaking out against evil.  For evil wanted to silence John the Baptist.  Evil wanted to put John to death.  Evil wanted to stop John from winning souls to Christ.  John baptised the people.  John preached to the people of repentance.  John won souls for Christ and turned people against the evil that existed in the kingdom.  And evil wanted him dead.  And so it was.  John was murdered and sent home to his father.  His mission accomplished on this earth to prepare the way for Christ.

And the disciples of John came and removed his headless body from the prison and gave him a proper burial.  For Herod and Herodias were gloating over the head of John the Baptist.  They were rejoicing to his lifeless head how they had triumphed over him.  And evil watched on the sidelines as they became embolden in their merriment of their power.  For the people did not revolt.  The people did not cry out in shame over the death of John.  But the word spread how Herod was against his death and how he swore an oath to Herodias' daughter to give her anything that she asked for her reward to dance at his birthday party before the people.  Their plan was crafty.  Their plan was deceitful.  Their plot was carried out flawlessly.  And they rejoiced over the death of John the Baptist.

And the word spread of the death of John the Baptist.  The people were lost.  The people were in need and without a guide.  The people were in chaos.  For John was their leader.  John was their prophet.  John was their sign, pointing to the Messiah.  They were in need.   When Jesus heard this, he withdrew by boat to a desert place apart; but the crowds heard of it and followed him on foot from the towns.  And when he landed, he saw a large crowd, and out of compassion for them he cured their sick. 

Jesus traveled by boat and the crowds traveled by foot.  And they were in need.  A great loss had taken place here on earth and a new beginning was unfolding.  And the people were in chaos.  They new not where to go.  They knew not what to do.  They knew not any more of John the Baptist so they turned to Christ for their answers.  And the word spread of the loss of John the Baptist.  And the word spread of the whereabouts of Christ.  The people were in need and when Christ landed and saw the crowds he was moved with compassion because of their need for direction, their need to believe, their need for hope, their need for guidance.  And he gave them their direction.  He gave them their hope.  He gave them their belief.  He showed them that God was still with them and he cured their sick.

The time is coming and is almost here.  Chaos is coming.  Unbelief is coming.  Doubt is coming.  Fear is here.  And the people are lost and without direction.  With the uncertainty in the world today, people are feeling uncertain.  People are loosing faith.  People are loosing hope for themselves and their God.  For the evil one is bringing about uncertainty that the people will know doubt.  The evil one is bringing about uncertainty that the people will loose their belief.  The evil one is bring about uncertainty that the people will loose their hope and open the door to fear. 

There is no fear in Christ.  There is no doubt in Christ.  There is no uncertainty in Christ.  For all things are in Christ.  There is no impossibility in Christ for all things are in Him.  Those who know will stand tall in this time of uncertainty.  Those who are rooted will not be moved by uncertainty.  Those who believe will see the truth come forth in spite of the fear and doubt in the world.  And those who practice perfect patience in the Lord will see the certainty of his love.  Christ is Lord of all and he sits at the right hand of God our Father in heaven.