St Matthews, Chapter 19, verse: 8, The Hardness of hearts.

Our paragraph topic is:  (The question of divorce) Part 6. 

From the beginning he created them male and female.  For this cause they will leave their parents and cleave to one another to become not two flesh but one.  This was God's purpose from the beginning, that they would come together for his purpose.  But man has created his own purpose.  Man changed God's purpose so that he could make it according to his own thinking.  And now we have divorce.  Now we have separation.  Now we have strife, anger, frustration, hatred, fear, doubt, and destruction.  Today we have destruction of God's plan that will brings peace and harmony, and love into the male and female relationship.

Where did it all begin?  God gave us bonding.  He gave us relationships.  He gave us the togetherness that comes with one flesh.  Yet we have separation.  Where did it all begin?  It began in the desert.  It began with the freedom of the captives from Egypt.  For they were in captivity for four hundred years.  They were under the Egyptian rule.  They were under the customs and habits of another culture and they adopted that culture and those rules as their own.  And they became hardened according to what they had known for four hundred years.  And Christ told them that it all began with their hardened hearts.  He said to them, "Because Moses, by reason of the hardness of your heart, permitted you to put away your wives."

Their hearts were hardened.  Their minds were set.  They were determined to separate, to divorce, to do other than what was God's plan.  So Moses permitted it.  Moses allowed them to put away their wives.  Moses saw that they were determined.  Moses saw what they would do.  Moses knew in his heart that freedom from the Egyptians was not freedom but continued bondage to the culture and ways of their captures.  And if this continued that their freedom would only lead to death and destruction.  For this was the way of the Egyptians.  This was how they dealt with their wives.  This was their separation and their culture.  And that same culture had been accepted by the Jews, freed from captivity.

So Moses sought a solution.  Moses did not want destruction.  Moses did not want his people to follow the same path.  He sought to change them.  He sought to move them in a different direction.  Moses sought to bring his people back to the Father who had freed them.  But they were determined.  They wanted to stay with what they knew.  They did not want to change.  And now today down through history we have the same.  We separate.  We divorce.  We ignore the will of God our Father who made us male and female, who made us that we would be one flesh for a purpose, for a cause. 

Father, forgive us.  Father, have mercy on us.  Father, help us to understand your purpose, your plan for us, male and female.  Help us to know you.  Help us to see you.  Help us to come to know the truth of who we are in Christ Jesus, our savior.  For he came that we would have life.  He came that we would no longer live in darkness.  He came that we would live abundantly in faith, and hope and peace and love.  Help us to understand the truth of who we are in you.  For with this knowledge we are able to see your purpose.  With this knowledge we are able to see ourselves as you created us, not as flesh and bones, but as spirits created in your likeness.  And with this knowledge we will understand the purpose with which you have given us to be male and female.  Thank you for your mercy, Father.  Thank you for your patience, Father.  And thank you most of all for your love. 

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 12, verse: 28, The Kingdom of God is at hand.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Christ refutes them) Part 3. 

So the Pharisees wanted to fight.  They wanted to cast doubt upon Christ.  They wanted to create suspicion upon his name.  Consulting with their partners, the devil, they came up with the thought that Christ was a partner with Beelzebub.  And they spoke it to him.  But Christ refuted them and schooled them on what they were doing.  He told them that a house divided will not stand.  He told them that if he was under the power of Satan then how is it that their children were able to cast out demons calling upon the same power that he did.  He told them that because their children believed in that same power, they would be the judges of the Pharisees at the day of judgment.

Christ was meek.  Christ was mild.  But the Pharisees wanted to battle so Christ brought them to the battle.  He spoke to them the words that ran ice chills down their backs.  He told them, "But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you."   This was a chilling thought.  The kingdom of God had come upon them.  They then had to understand what this meant.  They had to know that they then were fighting with God.  They then had to understand the consequences of their actions, the consequences of their words. 

The thought came and the next thought was that of the demons pulling them back into the pit of their reality, telling them that this could not be.  The demons had them to think that the Spirit of God was not upon this man and the kingdom was not upon them.  The demons told them that these were the ramblings of a possessed man and that they should find some way to get rid of him.  For the people did not see as they saw.  The people did not understand as they understood.  The people did not know as they knew.  So they continued to battle, blinded by the reality that stood before them, Christ Jesus, the Messiah.

Are you blinded by the reality of the world and unable to see the reality of the kingdom?  Are you in the world, unable to let go because of the fear spoken to you by the devil?  Christ wants you to let go.  Christ wants you to let God.  Christ wants to demonstrate to you the awesome power of his love for you.  But you can not experience it until you let go, until you let God direct your life.  When you express you release of the world and speak your dependence on God, the miracle begins.  Once the miracle begins your life will not be the same again. 

The demons will try to pull you back.  They will bring you doubt.  They will try to bring you fear.  They will try to turn you back.  But those who persevere will begin to see the change.  They will begin to know in little ways that God provides.  They will see the miracles taking place before their eyes and the kingdom of God will be upon them.  Patience is required.  Perfect patience is needed.  For a ocean liner is not turned around on a dime and your destiny will not be changed over night.  Walk the path with Christ and he will provide.  Seek the knowledge of the Holy Spirit and he will guide.  Know the words given by Christ and God will protect and provide.  God loves you!

St Matthew, Chapter 12, verses: 15 - 16, The Testimony.

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

Time marches on and the battle continues.  The dark frces of evil, in counsel with the Pharisees, have gathered together to plot the downfall of Christ.  But Christ continues the battle.  He cures the people that follow him.  He provides miracles to the large crowds.  He continues to take back the lost souls that were captured by evil.  And the battle continues.  With all his power and miracles Christ is merciful.  Christ is forgiving.  Christ is loving.  For with a few words he could have brought damnation upon the Pharisees.  With a few simple words he could have unleashed the powers of heaven upon those that conspired.  Yet he was merciful.  He was loving.  And he was humble.

For it was spoken of him in the scriptures.  Isaias prophesied of his manner, of his nature, of his actions.  St Matthew tells us,  "What was spoken through Isaias the prophet might be fulfilled, who said,  "Behold, my servant, whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased: I put my Spirit upon him, and he will declare judgment to the Gentiles."

 Christ, the chosen one, beloved of God, upon whom the Spirit of God has been laid, was spoken of throughout history until his coming.  He would right what was wrong.  He would bring salvation.  He would bring judgment to the people.  He would save all mankind. For he was the chosen one of God.  He came to do battle.  He brought the sword of God to separate the saved from the damned, the believer from the unbeliever, the just from the unjust.  And the Pharisees plotted against him even down through history as it was written.  They sought to prevent his coming.  They sought to destroy his word.  They sought to take by force the souls of the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  But Christ came.  Christ restored.  Christ renewed.  Christ made new the covenant.

Histroy tells us about the chosen one.  It tells us about the history of the savior of the world.  It tells us about his salvation, his resurrection, and his ascension into heaven.  But today Christ lives and the spirit tells us.  The spirit moves us.  The spirit guides us.  The spirit lives.  Christ promised to send the Holy Spirit.  Do you know Him?  Have you received him?  Why do you wait, hesitate, doubt, disbelieve that the Holy Spirit will come to you?  Why do you not seek him?  Why do you not know Him?  Why do you not beg for him to come to you instead of praying for things of this world?  The Holy Spirit will give all.  The Holy Spirit will teach all.  The Holy Spirit will reveal all.  Christ was merciful.  He was patient and continues to be patient today.  But the time of the coming of the destroyer is unknown and could come any day.  Do not be caught off guard.  Be prepared!  Be in Christ!  Seek Him!  Find Him!  Know Him and he will know you.