St. Matthew, Chapter 24, verse: 11a; False Prophets.

 Our paragraph topic is: (He tells them of trials and hard times to come) Part 7.  

I am trying to imagine the stories that Christ is telling his disciples about the hardships and trials they will face in the coming months and years.  What would I think if I were there in his presence listening to the words coming from God himself through Christ to me.  After all Christ was the Word of God, the two were one being.  Would I become fearful?  Would I be afraid?  Would I not want to be a disciple anymore?  Yet this was my creator, my savior, my Lord, the one who has all the answers to my needs, the one who gives life eternal.  Why should I not believe in him and his protection if he is telling me all these things in advance so that I will know what will happen?

He is my rock, the foundation of all my faith.  I am blessed that I have been chosen to be here in his presence listening to his words.  I should have no fear, no doubt, no anxiety.  He has given me the tools I need to overcome the trials and tribulations I will face.  He has promised that he will be with me always.  He has assured me that he will send another to help and guide me along the path of life to overcome any and all obstacles.  This is why he is telling his disciples: "And many false prophets will arise." 

How will we know them when they come?  How will we be able to determine who is false and who is real?  Will there be miracles to show the difference?  Or will there be fake magic to confuse and mislead?  What tools do we have to help us make the decision who to follow or who not to follow?

Today we have many churches of many different denominations.  It seems that everyone wants to have a church or to preach the gospel to the people.  Christ told his disciples that when persecutions begin that many will fall away and hatred will abound.  Some will see opportunity to take up the mantel and proclaim themselves as prophets of God.  And today we must be careful to discern in our hearts who are the real prophets and who are the false prophets.  Beware of what you hear and what you see.  Do not allow yourself to become involved with that which is not a part of the good that is within you.  For that which is good will be turned to evil.

Christ came to show us the way to the truth and the light.  He came to open the door so that all who desire to know the truth have a way to find it through faith if they desire within their hearts to seek it.  There is an advocate that will come and be with you to guide you along the way to the truth of who you are within.  Open the door and let the light shine in.  Do not let the false prophets of today confuse or mislead you.  You have an advocate.  You have a connection to someone who loves and knows you.  Seek him and he will find you.  Ask for him and he will answer.  Knock at his door and he will open and greet you with open arms of love.  God is your father and your God of 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 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 19, verse: 7, Moses written notice.

Our paragraph topic is:  (The question of divorce) Part 5. 

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.  You gave us life.  You give us joy.  You give us happiness.  And yet we are today without understanding of your will for us.  For you created us male and female.  You created us two flesh to become one.  You gave us our purpose.  You gave us our plan.  You gave us the world we live in to multiply and prosper.  And yet today we do not know you.  Today we do not obey your commands.  Today we live according to our own will.

For we were lost.  We were deceived.  We were dead, without your spirit.  And Christ.  He came to take back what was lost.  He came to pay the price.  He came that we would have life and have it more abundantly.  The choice is ours.  Do we live with you, according to the laws that you have given us, or do we live according to the dictates of the world.  Christ gave us your command: "What God has joined together let no man put asunder."  And yet we do.  How have we come to changing your laws.  They said to him, "Why then did Moses command to give a written notice of dismissal, and to put her away?"

Why did Moses allow for dismissal of a wife?  Why was the practice of separation begun?  Why was it necessary to have a divorce?  God our Father put them together from the beginning.  God our Father gave them a purpose?  God our Father created them male and female so that they would come together for a cause.  And it was God our Father who gave them life that they may prosper.  Yet man has changed the rules of God.  Man has decided that it is better that they are separate.  Man has willed that they may divorce and remarry.  And thus we have man's plan in today's world.

The plan was changed and the purpose discarded.  And now we divorce, we separate, we remarry as many times as we see fit.  For the structure of the original plan has been changed.  Can we not accept the original plan?  Can we not abide by the original plan?  Are we not God's children living according to his will?  Do we not start with his understanding, his plan, his purpose?  Do we not accept that we are put together for a purpose?  Do we not believe that he knows what is best for us?  It is up to us male and female to come together with the knowledge and the will to live according to his plan and his purpose and not according to the will of the world. 

If we are Christians and live according to the life that is given us through Christ then we should know the truth of who we are.  We should accept the will of our Father when we make the commitment to live according to his purpose.  Yet the tricks and traps of the world weigh upon us, both male and female.  The wants and desires of the world lead us in a direction away from the knowledge of our protector.  The passions of the life we live and the life we experience, on a daily basis, wear upon our conscience like water wearing upon rock, eroding away at our ability to follow the will of our father.  Yet it is only with the truth of who we are and the consolation of the Holy Spirit that we find a stronghold away from the constant battering of the world we live in. 

Come!  Let us retire from the storm of the outside world.  Let us live according to the will of our Father.  Let us know the truth of who we are in Christ and thereby secure the protection of the Holy Spirit that will guide us through the darkness.  Christ is the light in the darkness.  He is the beacon to follow.  He gives us the strength to weather the storm of the world.  Stay strong.  Stay true to who you are in him.  Seek the solitude of his protection and you will know the peace and joy of his love.  For he is our fulfillment.  He is our purpose.  He is our love and our happiness.  For there is nothing in the world that can compare to what our father has prepared for us in heaven.  And it is our decision to turn from the ways of the world and turn our hearts to him who made us and sustains us.  For to know him is to love him and to love him is to be with him. 

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: 18, The Rock: The Church.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Peter's confession) Part 6.   

And to Simon was given the truth from heaven.  For not by his own understanding did he come to know the truth.  By the revelation of God the Father himself, did Simon come to know, did Simon come to speak, did Simon come to believe with certainty that Jesus was the Christ, Son of the Living God.  For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that mankind would be saved from destruction and damnation.  For Christ came to redeem man from the sin of Adam and to do something more.  He came to establish his kingdom here on earth, on this rock.

The disciples did not know.  They followed Jesus because they felt that there was something different about him.  They followed him because they saw the miracles that he performed.  They followed him because they believed that they would be a part of something greater than themselves and their own accomplishments.  They followed him because they saw for themselves what the crowds felt as he preached and taught a new way of life, different from that which was taught by the Pharisees and the Saducees.  They followed and the crowds followed because Christ was the light of the world.  But there was more. 

This was not just a one time thing; Christ came, he overcame, and he left.  Christ came to do more than just preach and teach.  He came to train and to establish.  He came to build and to create.  He came to dominate that no one and nothing would destroy what he was creating and building, the church.  And so he spoke, that his church would be created.  He commanded that it would be done.  He willed that the evil of hell would not overcome what he was creating.  And so it was and is today.   "And I say to thee, thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

And so it began some two thousand years ago that Christ established his church here on this rock.  Nowhere else did he come except to this rock the earth to build his church that would last down through the ages and for eternity.  He will come again to judge, to separate the goats and the sheep, the wheat from the tare, the good from the evil.  Only the father knows the date and the time.  Only the father will be the judge.  Only the father will call an end to all things as we know it.  We all have heard the predictions.  We all have been warned as to the final outcome.  Are we prepared to meet our maker?  Are we ready to meet death, right now?

The gates of hell shall not prevail against the church.  The gates of hell shall not overcome the power of what Christ began.  The gates of hell shall not destroy what Christ created for you and for me.  He gave us a place to grow.  He gave us a place to thrive.  He gave us fertile soil to be nurtured in, a place to be fruitful.  He gave us the seed that is planted within us.  He gave us new life that we may live.  He gives us joy, the knowledge that he is with us.  He gives us protection from the dangers of the world and the evil that awaits us.  He gives us love that guides us and fills us with the knowledge that he is the one sent down from heaven by our Father and our God.  We have a living God who is alive and not dead.  We have a living God that will come to our aid if we open our hearts to him.  We have a living God in the church that is with us, in the church that is in us, in the church that is a part of us.   

Come!  Open your hearts to the love of Christ and accept the church that you are a part of.  Receive the Holy Spirit that you may know the truth of who you are in Christ.  I have and I know who I am in Christ.  I see me everyday in him.  I know me everyday in him.  And the Holy Spirit abides with me.  Follow the path set before you and you too will know the truth of who you are.

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!