Our paragraph topic is: (The Sadducees question Christ) Part 1.
The Herodians came, questioned and tested him, and left marveling at his answer. Now we have the Sadducees coming on the same day with their questions in their attempt to gather evidence against him. They were learned men. They studied the text and the books handed down by their fathers and the prophets but they had no wisdom or insight into the meaning behind the words. The spirit of the Lord was not with them.
They were the ones who did not believe in the resurrection. They only believed that we lived for today and die tomorrow. So they had no understanding of what happened after death. They had no knowledge or belief that there was an after life, a soul or a spirit. They only believed that they lived for today and tomorrow you die and that is the end of life. So, "On that same day some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him, and questioned him."
Christ was an ordinary man, an ordinary man of flesh and blood. He was not a hero. He was not a prince or a scholar, at least not in the eyes of those who practiced being a scholar in those days, those who trained with the elders and learned various schools of thought. He was just an ordinary man who would not attract the attention of anyone. Yet within this ordinary man lived the Son of Man, the Son of God.
He came down from heaven to walk among the ordinary people to be an example to them of a new way of life. He wanted to show that there is a God and a heaven and a life after death that we could all believe in and live for. He showed that he had the power of the Holy Spirit and God the Father to perform miracles that no other man or prophet had performed before him. He wanted the people to rejoice, to have hope, to be happy in the knowledge that they had a God to provide for them, to care for them, to protect them, and to love them, even if they had to suffer in the present.
For he came to suffer. He came to die for us. He came to become a substitute for us all that we might have new life. He came that the life that we lost in the garden we could have again. He came because of the passion of his love for us all. He came that we each might now have the choice to make our own decision as to whether we wanted to live with him or to die without him. The choice would be ours alone. The message would be spread to all. All would have the opportunity over and over again till the last day, to decide. The choice would be ours. We must choose or the choice will be made for us. Death will come and it will decide. Why wait.
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.
Our paragraph topic is: (The marriage feast) Part 3.
No one had come to the feast. The king had sent out invitations to all the nobles and the important guest but no one came. He wanted to have the great hall filled with guest and party goers so that there would be merriment and laughter. He wanted all those who were of importance to be there to see his son and new wife celebrate their vows, but no one came.
So he sent out a second invitation. "Again he sent out other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatlings are killed, and everything is ready; come to the marriage feast."
You see, they were invited. They were the ones who were sent invitations to come to the party. They were the ones who were favored to come. They were the ones who from the beginning knew about the great celebration and the marriage feast of the son but they did not come, they refused to come and celebrate with the king. There was something in the air, something was amiss with the celebration and the people who were invited knew and refused to participate.
Are we the same today? Do we refuse to come to the party, to the wedding feast? We are invited. We were sent the invitations. But there is something amiss that prevents us from going from wanting to go to participate.
Are there requirements to participate? Do we have to jump through hoops to go, or pay a fee to get in? What do we have to do to be invited, or even to go. We believe that this is going to be a great celebration. We have been told that it will be the party of a lifetime, like no other. So what will it take for us to go. Will it cost too much? Will it take up too much of our time and energy to prepare? Will it be worth the energy going? Is there another party that is better that we would like to go to that is being held at the same time? What do we decide, what do we do? Do we plan to go or not?
Faced with this decision what will you decide? What will you do? Will you continue along the road you travel or will you make the turn to the right that leads back to the wedding feast? You know that you have heard about it. You know that you want to go. Yet there is something that holds you here, something that causes you to hesitate in your decision. Do not waver in your decision. Be straight forward and decisive in your answer. Everyone is waiting for you to come. They want to see you there. Come join the party, come to the wedding feast! It will be a blast.
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.
Our paragraph topic is:
(The mother of James and John) Part 8.
They wanted fame and fortune. They wanted to sit at his side. They wanted to have power and prestige. They wanted to be at the head of the table and not at the end. But, they did not know the price they would have to pay for their wants. These were they wishes of James and John as expressed by their mother. She spoke what they would not speak. She came forth and worshipped even as they could not worship. She brought forth what others only thought about, what would be their rewards for following in the footsteps of the Lord.
They loved him surely. They walked with him for years. They watched him work unbelievable miracles. They listened to his words with care. They, like no other living today, had the opportunity to see with their own eyes and experience with their own beings the living Christ.
He came down from heaven. He walked the earth. He lived amongst the people. He taught them of the Father and gave them his principles and practices. And then he died. He suffered, he was punished as no man has ever been punished. And he was hung on a cross for sins that he did not commit. They did not know the whole picture at the time they asked to sit at his side. But they would follow in his sacrifice. And: He said to them, "Of my cup you shall indeed drink."
Here is something that we can ask ourselves today, "Can we drink of his cup?" Can we take even a sip, a whiff or even a smell of the cup that he drank from? It was a tall cup, a cup filled with issues, a cup filled with pain, suffering, unselfish love, grace, tenderness, patience, knowledge, faith, trust, and a deep seated passion in the redemption of mankind, a passion that required his life. Are we worthy of the love that he has for us? Do we know the value of the sacrifice that was made for us? Can we not see, can we not understand, can we not know the beauty of who we are in his eyes?
We live in a world, a realm, where we are provided with all that our hearts desire. In order to have all, we must strive. We must work, we must achieve, we must educate ourselves, overcome obstacles, revise who we are in order to conform to the common mole. We must give up who we are, sacrifice that which is natural to us, change how we think and feel, how we know, and how we believe, in order to achieve all. And in the process of all this, we become something else, somethin other than who we are. We become something that the world has created. We do all this that we might succeed, that we might be on top.
Will we drink of his cup or shall we drink of the cup the world has given us. Both will change us. Both require a decision. We live in the world but we are spiritual. The world gives us food, gives us protection, allows us to grow, it gives us love, educates us, gives us the opportunity to provide for ourselves, and demands us to conform to its norms. But when we come of age and decide which road we want to take, we make a choice. Sometimes the choice is easy, natural, given to us from birth. At other times we come to re-evaluate the choice in order to continue.
Our Father walks with us at each choice we make. We can let go of the world and turn back to him. We can change the decision that we make. We can understand that there is something more, something greater, something that gives us peace and joy and love in our lives. There is something that is within us that is not of this world but of the spirit and life given us by our Father. It is that spirit that will guide us along right path that leads to him. The choice is ours to make. Do we drink of his cup?
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.
Our paragraph topic is: (The doctrine of the cross) Part 5.
Christ continues to teach his disciples and the crowd about the value of the soul. He told Peter, who was possessed of Satan, to get behind him. He told the crowds to take up their crosses and to follow him. He posed the ultimate question of the value of the soul. And he reminded them of the day of judgement. What do we choose? The decision belongs to us, as humans. Do we seek the riches of the world and give up the most valuable thing that we possess? Or do we follow Christ and take up our cross so that we may have life eternal with him? The choice is ours.
Christ made his choice. He came that man would have a choice. He came that man would have the opportunity to have life. He came that man would no longer have the judgement of death over our heads. For Satan had tricked Adam and Eve into thinking that they would not die if they disobeyed God and eat the forbidden fruit. And God pronounced judgement upon man. But the decision was theirs to make. And so death entered into the world and mankind lost their souls and with it, eternal life. But Christ came to satisfy the judgement and pay the penalty for man's transgressions. Christ came that man would have life if he wanted it. And Christ came to right the wrong brought by Satan.
What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and loose his soul? What do we gain if we do not have life? We gain death, eternal death. For the day will come when all mankind will be judged and all mankind will have their decisions weighed by God. The truth will come forth and all mankind will know the truth of their decisions. Christ told his disciples and the crowds that the day of judgement will come. "For the Son of Man is to
come
with his angels in the glory of his
Father, and then he will render to everyone
according to his conduct.
And so we wait. And so we live. And so we die, each day, having made the decisions as to how we live in this world. We are driven by the lusts of this world and the passions that it offers us. We live on autopilot in a world that does not offer us a choice. Our daily lives are filled with the choices that help us to loose our souls. We seek repentance one day of the week in our efforts to put to right all the things that we do the other 6 days of the week. And we believe that we are happy. We believe that we have life. We enjoy the choices that are given to us not knowing or believing that we have a choice.
Seven days a week, 24 hours a day we have the choice to be who we are. But that choice goes against what the world offers us. Think what the world would be if we did not have entertainment that thrilled our hearts with sex and violence and action. Think of what the world would be like if we did not have gossip and scandal. Think of what the world would be like if we did not have porn and adultery and lust. Think of what the world would be like if we did not have murder and rape and violence. But this is not the world we live in. And those are not the choices that we are offered. What choices do we have? We have the choice to be who we are. We have the choice to become the persons that we were created to be. We have the choice to live the life that was given us by God. We have a choice. The question is will we choose that choice.
To sleep the sleep of drunkenness. To sleep the sleep of denial. To sleep the sleep of the choices we are offered in the world, is not to sleep but to refuse to awake. We have the choice to know ourselves as we are known by Christ. We have the choice of living in him daily, knowing the truth of who we are. We have the choice of seeing ourselves, now, as we will be seen in heaven. We have the choice of knowing the consolation of the Holy Spirit, that will be our guide, our protector, our provider here in this world. And we have the choice of knowing that death is no obstacle for us but only a door, opening to our meeting with our Lord Jesus Christ and our father, God, our creator. Seek the treasure that is yours in heaven and discard the worthless trinkets that are offered in this world. The door is open. Walk through and receive the knowledge of who you are in Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits your coming. Rejoice!
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!
