St. Matthew, Chapter 23, verses: 37b; Gathered thy children.

Our paragraph topic is: (Lamentation over Jerusalem) Part 2.  

Christ cried out for the city on the hill, Jerusalem, Oh Jerusalem!  He loved the city and the people within it.  His passion for them was deeply held within him for he knew what was to happen.  Yet with all the effort to stop the trials and tribulations nothing happened.  Messengers were sent, prophets were delivered so that the people would hear the message but the city would not have it.

Christ knew.  He saw the past and the future of the city.  He knew what would happen and his heart wept for the people and especially for the children.  He cried:  "How often would I have gathered thy children together."   The children that he so loved and cared for that he wanted to protect but could not.  The little ones that were so precious to him who's hearts were so full of love who's lives were cut short.   These were the ones that he wanted to protect, to provide for but could not because the city would not.  

Jerusalem, Oh Jerusalem, why did it have to be this way.  Sin City, Sin City, why do you call us to do the things that we do?  Why do you corrupt?  Why do you create greed?  Why do you cause us to slander?  Why do you cause us to loose all our morals just to seek the false glitze and glamour of the bright lights of your city?  Sin City, even the children are brought here to be influenced at an early age.

We cry and we weep for we must have the life that is flashed before us daily, in our lives and in our dreams.  These are our goals.  This is what we live for and what we die for, to live the golden life.  And yet we do not realize that we already have the golden life.  It has already been given us.  Christ came that we would have it and have it more abundantly.  But we do not understand that it is already there for us.  We are blinded by the glitz and glamour of the bright lights of the world and what it has to offer. 

What thing of value can a man offer for his own soul?  There is nothing more valuable in this world than a man's soul.  Lose not your own! 

 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 21, verses: 34-35; The Vine-dressers I.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Parable of the vine-dressers) Part 2. 

We continue this parable where Christ is telling the chief priest, the elders, and the scribes a story about a topic that they can relate to.  He talks about a householder, a home owner, who remodels his home to accommodate a vineyard.  The owner wants to have grapes that grow and pressed into a wine that he can enjoy.  He is not able to oversee the entire process of the growth of the grapes and the pressing into wine, so he leases the vineyard out to workers who will be paid to manage it for him.

He goes on a long far away journey for business that keeps him away from his vineyard for some years while the grapes are growing and the wine is being pressed.  Christ tells this story because he wants the rulers of the day to understand how it relates to them.  They are the vine-dressers who were supposed to manage the vineyard for the householder.  But when the fruit season drew near, he sent his servants to the vine-dressers to receive his fruits.  And the vine-dressers seized his servants, and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 

Surely this was wrong on the part of the vine-dressers.  They were hired to work the vineyard and to prepare the wine when the grapes were ripe.  They were hired to watch over the vineyard and prepare the fruit for the householder's return.  They were given the charge to provide and protect the householders property for which they were being paid.  Why did they turn on the householder?  Why did they beat and torture the householders servants?  What motive could they have for doing such?

Did they consider themselves in charge?  Did they consider themselves as owners?  Did they desire to have the fruits of the vineyard for themselves, knowing that it belonged to another?  What motive could have persuaded them to take such heinous actions?  We turn around and see some of the same actions today?  Crime is rampant in the streets.  Burglaries, robberies, theft, break-ins, all sorts of actions that indicate the same behavior taken by the vine-dressers of the past are still here today.

Why do we have to steal?  Why do we have to rob?  Why do we have to take by force that which does not belong to us but to others?  We see, we want, and we take, seems to be the motto, irrespective of who it belongs to.  There is the thrill of it all.  And the chase to get away from being caught becomes a thrill to be remembered and repeated until caught. 

If we only knew who we are.  If we only knew what is given to us.  If we only believed that we are already rich beyond our wildest imagination then we would know that we do not have to steal or take that which does not belong to us.  More than anything of value on this earth, Christ has given us life anew and this is the most precious gift anyone can give to us.  The rest is dirt.  All the diamonds and jewels, and money and fame cannot compare to the treasures stored in heaven for those who love the Lord.  Nothing can satisfy the hunger, the want, the desire that burns within, except he who has given us life.  And it is he who has prepared a place for us in his kingdom.  Take not!  Steal not!  Rob not!  Be not that one who believes that he has not when he has all.  Christ awaits with open arms to provide for you.  Christ awaits with open heart to forgive you.  Christ awaits with open spirit to love you with a love that no earthly gift can fulfill.  Open your heart, open your mind, take the leap of faith and he will come and be with you!

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, Capter 14, verses: 6 - 8, Herod's murder plot: The promise with an Oath.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Herod murdered John) Part 2.      

Herod was a deceitful King.  He was a liar and a murderer.  He was filled with his own passion and guided by his wife Herodias.  For Herod loved Herodias.  He desired her.  He lusted  that he would do anything for her.  John spoke against Herod and Herodias and they did not like it.  How dare he speak against the king.  How dare he speak against the king's wife.  Any lesser man would have been put to death immediately.  But John was a prophet.  John was the messenger of the Messiah.  John proclaimed the coming of the savior and the people revered him.  But Herodias was filled with hatred and passion against John and she would have his head for speaking against her.

To appease Herodias, Herod had John arrested and imprisoned.  Herod would have liked to put him to death but the people would have revolted against him for such actions and that would have involved the Romans coming in to calm the crowds.  So Herod was perplexed as to what to do about John the Baptist.  He wondered, he planned, he schemed, and he plotted.  And finally he came up with a plan.  The demons were with him.  The demons helped him to plan.  The demons that possessed Herod had him do their actions to murder John the Baptist.  This was their plan. 

On Herod's birthday, the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod.  Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask of him.   Then she, at her mother's prompting, said, "Give me here on a dish the head of John the Baptist.

And so the plot enacted.  John was to  beheaded because of an oath by the King to give anything to his wife's daughter.  This was the plan.  This was the plot.  This was the scheme of the demons to get rid of John the Baptist.  The demons were loosing disciples because of John the Baptist.  They were being cast out.  They were loosing souls to John the Baptist who was baptising souls to Christ.  But the demons had a plan.  The demons had a plot.  And the demons had agents to work for them.  The demons had Herod and Herodias to do their will in killing John the Baptist.

Be not an agent for the devil.  Become an agent for Christ.  There is no middle ground.  You are either one or the other.  You are either working with Christ or you are working against Christ.  And the demons are recruiting daily.  They are plotting.  They are planning.  They are running every kind of scheme to steal the souls of men, women, girls and boys, children and all mankind.  For they work for the evil one who's goal is to capture as many souls as he can and destroy them in hell. 

Christ said beware the one who can kill the body and destroy the soul in hell.  He it is whom you should fear.  There are agents in this world for the evil one.  Do not become one of them.  Repent and be born again in Christ.  For he will cleans you of the evil that would possess you.  He will sanctify you that you may be made anew.  He will justify you that you will be made holy before the father.  He will protect you that you may not fall again to the tricks and traps of the evil one.  His word is truth.  His word is life.  His word is love.  Become one in Christ and he will become one  you.