St. Matthew, Chapter 23, verses: 31b; Those who killed the prophets.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Their persecution of religion) Part 5.  

Christ is speaking directly to the Scribes and the Pharisees on how they are destroying the religion of the people.  The things they are doing and the rules and the laws they enforce have little to do with increasing the faith of the people but instead destroying their belief in their God.  Why is it so difficult on the people at this time in their lives?  Why do the leaders proclaim so many laws that they have to follow?  Why are they treated like slaves where every move is watched over by the religious leaders to make sure they are doing no wrong?  Why is there no mercy in the Lord?

God heard the cries and sighs of his people and sent his prophets to warn the leaders of their harsh treatment of the people.  He sent messengers to the Pharisees to tell them of their wrongs. The prophets proclaimed in the streets the message of God but the leaders would not have them stirring up the people with a different word than that which came from them.  To put an end to the messenger they killed the prophets, spilled their precious blood.   And the people were left without the message.  The new leadership followed in the same footsteps as their fathers maintaining the same rules, persecuting the religion as their fathers before them.

When Christ confronted them about their fathers, they tried to escape their heritage but they only convicted themselves by their own words.  He told them that they can not deny: "That you are the sons of those who killed the prophets." 


They, indeed, were the heirs of their fathers who killed the prophets.  As much as they might try to hide from that fact it would be part of their heritage.  Their fathers trained them, taught them how to rule the people.  They taught them the ins and out of leadership, and getting ride of the opposition was one of the key tools handed down to the children.  This was how they ruled the people.  Keep everyone in line.  

We see this even today, in every corner of industry, government, management, finance, business, etc.  As long as you stay in line with your leaders and do as they ask, keep your head down, don't make trouble, no matter what, you will be fine.  If you see something wrong, ask too many questions, speak up at the wrong time, you are subject to find yourself at the back of the line and out the door.  These are the rules of our society and they are enforced down to the man.

Ask yourself, where do you want to be in life?  On the inside or on the outside?  How far are you willing to go to achieve your goals?  What are you willing to do to get there?  Are you willing to lie, cheat, steal, slander, cause harm, murder, lower your moral standards, whatever? We are driven to get ahead.  We are motivated daily to have the things that we see that others have.  We want the same things and we will have them!  And then there is that little voice that sits on our shoulder that tells us how to get what we want if we only have the guts and the courage to take it.  Evil has come full circle.

Christ came to redeem us from the evil in the world.  He came to give us a new life, a life rich with all the joy and happiness that this world cannot offer.  He came that we might have peace within, knowing that we are already wealthy, rich beyond the worldly material of mankind.  Our joy lies with him.  Our peace is in him.  Our love is from him.  We are in him and he is in those who will accept 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 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 23, verses: 23b; Paying Tithes on nonessentials.

Our paragraph topic is:  (They overstress the nonessential part of religion) Part 2.  

They wanted to control everything the people did, every aspect of their lives, so they could collect taxes and tithes.  So they conceived of different ways they could create rules to control the people.  They stressed the nonessential parts of religion as being important in the lives of the people.  The more a person adhered to the nonessentials the more a person was made to believe they were special to God.  And yet this was not what God wanted from the people.

Where was their faith?  Where was their belief in the God who created them and gave them life?  Where was their trust in the one God who provided for them on a daily basis?  Why were they not grateful for the many graces that were given to them on a daily?  Instead it was:  "Because you pay tithes on mint and anise and cummin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the Law."

What is important to us today?  Are we taught to observe just the nonessentials of our religion, go to church on Sunday and holidays, give tithes if we can, send our children to Bible study?  Are these the essentials for us today?  Or is there more that we should do?  Do we really believe in what we hear in church?  Do we know that we have a God in heaven that loves us and provides for us?  What happens when we have a love one who is taken away and we have to suffer the pain of loss?  Do we blame God for our loss, our pain, our suffering?  

Our knowledge and belief is more than just words that we hear repeated in church.  It has to become a part of who we are, an understanding of the knowledge of our God and his love for us.  Our belief has to become us, who we are inside and out no matter what happens, life or death.  We are more than just flesh and blood.  We are more than just body.  We are soul, spirit, created in the image and likeness of our Father.  Our life is eternal if we choose to accept who we are.  And the life here on earth is only a spec in the cosmic time of eternity.  That is our belief.  That is our knowledge.  That is our truth, our faith in the trust given us from the promise of Christ Jesus.  He came to give us new life and now that new life is yours.

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 23, verses: 23a; The Hypocrites.

Our paragraph topic is:  (They overstress the nonessential part of religion) Part 1.  

They were zealots in their desires to control the people.  They believed that every part of the Law must be applied to everyday life or else the people would find ways to get around the Law.  So they created rules to cover every possible way to keep the people in line and to limit any way that would allow outlets for them to get around the Law.

This is why Christ called them out on all the unnecessary rules they placed upon the people.  These were not rules in the Law.  They were only rules put in place by the Scribes and the Pharisees.  This is why Christ admonished them: "Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!"

Again he called them hypocrites in the face of the public that all would know them for what they were, and again the Scribes and the Pharisees were angered at being publicly humiliated.  But they could not see.  They could not understand.  They could not comprehend that this was an opportunity for them to realize who they were and what they had done to the people.  It was an opportunity for them to become open and be healed of their evil influences.  But this was not to happen.

Instead, as we know today, they were too far gone.  They were pawns in the game of chess between good and evil being played out for the prize of mankind.  Christ came to save us from the forces of evil that had held mankind in its grip since the garden of Eden.  Death was born and brought forth into the world and reigned until Christ came and conquered it.  He is the first of the new born.  He is the master and savior of the new man.  

All now have the chance at life instead of death.  All now have the opportunity at eternal life if they choose.  For the life here on this earth is only temporary.  But the life hereafter is for all eternity.  The comparison of life now to life eternal is but a speck of sand to the entire beach of sand.  Yet that choice is ours to make and we each must come to the awareness of who we are and why we are here.  Choose life eternal and not death.

Life is not about how much money you can make or your status, your home or car, or your clothes, or job.  Life is about life, and that is already given to you if you choose it.  Live a good life.  God will provide all that you need.  Trust in his love for you and he will provide.  Do not be anxious about tomorrow for you have a Father in heaven who knows what you need and he will take care of you.  He is loving and caring, protecting and providing.  All we need do is thank him for the saving grace he gives us.  Amen. 

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 23, verses: 15b; Sons of Hell

Our paragraph topic is:  (Woe to the Scribes and Pharisees) Part 9.  

How do you reach a lost soul?  How can you show them the error of their ways?  How is it possible to shock them back to a sense of justice that they might be able to see the mistakes that they made?  We all are human.  We all make mistakes.  We all are subject to the influences of evil.  In the time when Christ came, evil was rampant.  Evil was with men.  Evil was within the hearts of men and they had forgotten the God of their forefathers.

And this is why Christ called out the leaders, the Scribes and the Pharisees.  They were the ones who set the rules.  They were the ones who enforced the laws.  They were the ones who taught the people how to follow the laws of their forefathers, because they had the books written by the prophets.  They could enforce the laws the way that they saw fit and understood.  Christ called the hypocrites.  He told them:  "Because you traverse sea and land to make one convert; and when he has become one, you make him twofold more a son of hell than yourselves."

He called them hypocrites.  They were masquerading as religious men but underneath the masks they were creating evil in the hearts of men.  They were creating sons of hell, doing the work of the devil, not the work of God.  

 How appropriate is this message for us today.  We go out and evangelize to bring others into the church so that they may be saved.  The church is something new for them in that there are guidelines that we live by to help us follow the life that God wants us to live.  These may be difficult for a new comer to follow or even comprehend if they see others who do not follow the same guidelines.

God our father gave us basic commands to follow to keep us away from harm, out of the way of evil.  He loves us and does not want us to be harmed, just as we love our own children.  We would tell our own children not to put their hands in the fire because it will burn them.  God wants to do the same for us.  We can not base our experience upon that which we see others do.  It is up to each one of us though, to seek a personal relationship with our Father so that we know in our hearts what his will is for us.  His love for us is the key.

Christ is our Lord and Savior.  It is through his passion that we were reborn into a new life.  He came down from his thrown in heaven to be with us, to walk with us and talk with us to leave a legacy that we might know that he is with us.  It is through him and with him that we have a spokesperson to the Father. He knows our faults and failures.  He knows our pains and our sorrows.  He knows our hopes and our fears.  He is with us and in us, if we open ourselves to him through the Holy Spirit.  His love is endless.  His love is boundless.  His love is fulfilling.  He is the be all and the end all of all our needs.  To be with him is to be at rest for all eternity.  

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 23, verses: 4; Heavy Burdens.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Hypocrisy of the Scribes and Pharisees) Part 3.  
Christ now teaches the disciples and the people about the Scribes and the Pharisees.  He tells them to follow the rules and the regulations that proclaimed by the Scribes and the Pharisees because they have taken the Seat of Moses.  He wants them to obey the laws.  He wants them to understand the difference in what it means to be a Scribe or a Pharisee and the actions of leadership they take.

We follow our leaders and look up to them as examples.  We practice their ways and model their speech and actions.  But Christ tells the people:  "And they bind together heavy and oppressive burdens, and lay them on men's shoulders; but not with one finger of their own do they choose to move them."  

We follow those who lead us.  They are the ones we look to, to give us direction and understanding of purpose.  We listen to their speeches.  We believe in their actions.  We obey the rules and laws that they pass down to us because they are our leaders.  We are solders who do without question the commands that are given us.  We do not question their actions even though we may think that the commands we are given are wrong.

Christ wants us to see, to understand that the actions of those who lead us determine who they are.  Their actions speak to the person that we follow.  Their actions show us the contradictions of those that we follow.  Our eyes must see and know the difference in what we hear and what we see.  We should not be blind following those who would lead us to destruction.  

Observe and do but do not act according to their works, he tells the crowd and the disciples.  He came that we would have life and not death.  He lived that we would know of a Father who loves us.  He died that we could be justified as a people from the sins of the world.  He ascended that we would know that he is in heaven waiting for us to come home.  He is the example to follow.  He is the guide.  He is the Lord of all who seek to know his passion for us.  

The Lord is with us in every situation that we encounter.  He is our support and our shoulder in our time of need.  Seek him and you will find your answer to the why of life.  Follow him and he will lead the way.  Trust him and he will give you peace.   

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 23, verses: 3; Their works.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Hypocrisy of the Scribes and Pharisees) Part 2.  
Jesus has spoken to the Pharisees, now he speaks to his disciples and to the crowd.  He tells them about the burdens that they face from the rules and regulations made by the scribes and the Pharisees.  Moses was their leader and he made judgements from the judgement seat.  But since his death the scribes and the Pharisees have taken over the judgement seat of Moses and declared many new rules and laws.

So Jesus tells the disciples and the crowd to obey the commands given from the judgement seat of Moses because it is a sacred chair.  He tells them:  "All things, therefore, that they command you, observe and do.  But do not act according to their works; for they talk but do nothing."  

What examples do we have today of all talk and no action?  Who gives us instructions on how to do something but no practical examples of how we may go about it?  We try to follow the example but fail to have the success implied.  We do everything that is given us but still without the results that we are shown.  Get rich!  Follow my lead!  Do it this way; I have laid out all the step by step instructions.  Pay this amount and you will get these results.  They have figured out how to do it or at least tell us that it can be done.

Christ was a doer and not a talker.  He came, leaving his high throne and his crown.  He walked among us.  He talked with us, danced with us, drank with us, suffered oppressions with us, and died for us.  He didn't just talk the talk, he walked it also.  He left the disciples with us as witnesses of the truth that he brought.  They saw it all, witnessed it all, and spoke to us about it all.  These books of the testament are not just writings of the disciples about some fictitious events that they saw.  They are the writings of the word of God become man.

He is our example of how we should become in this time and age.  We should be doers and not just talkers.  We should show our faith in the works that we do for others.  If there is love in our hearts for Christ, then there should be love in our hearts for others.  We are children of God, all are the same.  God is our Father who gave us life.  Christ is our Lord who restored us to life.  The Holy Spirit is our guide who leads us through life until we reach our home in the kingdom of heaven.  

Be not like the Pharisees and the Scribes who do nothing.  Live the life of Christ.  Follow his example and spread the love that is so freely given to you.  Let your heart be filled with that which comes from heaven and pass it own to everyone you meet.  For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that we might have life eternal with him.  Help others to have it also.

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: 4, The Just payment.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Parable of the laborers in the vineyard) Part 4.  

The house-holder has need of workers in his vineyard and he goes to the market place and finds workers standing idle.  He tells them to go to work in his vineyard so that they will have something to do to earn their wages and provide for their families.  He had need of work and they had need of someone to hire them to work.  This is the parable that Christ tells his disciples that relates to the kingdom of heaven.  

The laborers were standing idle without any work to do.  The house-holder was looking for laborers to work.  The kingdom of heaven is seeking workers.  The believers on earth are seeking work to do but are standing idle with no one to hire them.  God is seeking workers so Christ tells his disciples that the house-holder told the workers:  "And he said to them, 'Go you also into the vineyard, and I will give you whatever is just.' "

So the laborers are sent to work in the vineyard with the promise that they will be paid whatever is just.  What is just for a days labor?  What is just for the work that they will do?  What is just for the skill that is required for the work they are required to do?  We live in a world where we are in the same situation of determining what is just for us.  Is it fair and just that we work honestly and fairly and others do not?  Is it fair and honest that we follow the rules and others cut corners and get by?  Is it honest and fair that we are slighted and passed over for promotions and perks and others get the all benefits?

What is just?  What is fair?  What is right?  And what is wrong?  In this day and time it seems that it does not pay to be honest and to be fair.  It seems that it does not pay to be upright and straightforward.  It seems that we are the ones who get the unfair and unjust treatment.  Can we not stand by and accept this?  Can we not allow this to happen to us?  Are we compelled to  change our position and do what is necessary to advance our own cause?  Are we driven to bring about a change for ourselves?  What is just for us?

We compare what is just to what is before us.  We feel what is unjust by what others are doing.  We see the results of what others are doing and how they are rewarded.  We hurt for what is right and what is wrong, what is just and what is unjust, what we want and what we do not have.  These are our passions.  These are our motivations.  These are the things that tempt us to turn from who we are in Christ.  For God is our Father.  He is right and he is just.  He is patient and he is forgiving.  He is the final judge and we must trust in his wisdom and glorify his justice even when it seems that it is unjust.  The just payment is what we should seek.  The just payment is what we should believe.  The just payment is what we should know because God is our Father and he will provide for us.  He will care for us.  And he will be the ultimate judge of what is just.  Seek not the ways of the world but seek the kingdom of heaven and all else will be provided to 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 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 19, verse: 18e, The commandments: Thou shalt not bear false witness.

Our paragraph topic is:  (The rich young man speaks to Jesus) Part 8.

The rich young man had come to Christ with a question on his mind.  He wanted to know what to do to enter into the kingdom.  He was serious.  He had come a long way to hear the truth for he believed that Christ would tell him the truth and not falsehood.  So he found Christ and asked the question of what he must do.  Christ told him in simple terms what he must do.  He must keep the commandments.  The young man knew the commandments as anyone who was a member of Israel knew. 

The commandments were the rules by which the Jews lived and thrived and believed.  Some of the people kept the commandments completely, some partially, some knew them but did not keep them at all.  This was what the young man saw and knew but was puzzled about.  So Christ told him the commandments to keep: Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not commit adultery, and Thou shalt not steal.  And Jesus said:"Thou shalt not bear false witness." 

This is another commandment given to the young man seeking the kingdom.  Why did Christ tell him this commandment?  Why did Christ tell him the any of the commandments that he already knew?  Why did the young man want to know what to do?  Why do we want to know what to do?  Do we believe in what we must do to gain the kingdom?  In our day and time, it seems as if we live in a world where there is no knowledge of the kingdom, no knowledge of a God, no knowledge of the commandments he has given us to live by.  We go to church on Sundays, fulfill our religious obligations, and return to the world and live by the norms of the world and not by those given us by Christ.

We are the sheep that he left behind and they are the shepherds left behind to guide us in our daily lives.  Do we have guidance?  Are we led in the right direction?  There is the world and then there is the church.  There are our jobs, our homes, our children, our rest, our play, our hopes and our dreams.  Then there is our beliefs, our practices, our thoughts, our knowledge, and our beings, which define who we are.  The two are separate.  The two are not one.  Should they be one and the same?  Should we be one person, one being, one love, one knowledge, one spirit, one job, one home, one parent, one rest, one play?  Or should we be true in one area and false in another? 

We are witnesses to our beliefs.  We are spirits in our lives.  We are truth in our thoughts and our beings.  But are we true or are we false?  Do we bear witness truly to who we are or do we bear witness falsely?  To live separately bears witness to who we are.  To live as two contradicts what we believe.  To bear falsely in one area and truly in another shows the split in the person that we claim to be.  The world drives us to be false.  The world reinforces us each and every day to be separate, to not be one.  The world would divide us, create conflict, lead us away from who we are.  The world would have us bear false witness even to ourselves. 

We are children of God our Father who created us in his image.  We are spirits housed in the flesh, eternal beings given new life through the sacrifice of Christ our Lord.  Live true to the nature that is within you and falsely according to the world.  Be the spirit that is within you and seek to know who you are in Christ.  For he came that we would know.  He is that we will see.  He loves that we will love with the love that is given to us.  And he guides us that we will not be lost in the world.  To know is to seek.  To find is to understand.  To understand is to see the truth of who you are.  Be the truth that is within you and the Holy Spirit will come and be with you always.

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 19, verse: 18a, Which commnadments to keep.

Our paragraph topic is:  (The rich young man speaks to Jesus) Part 4.

The rich young man approached Christ and asked the question that we all ask.  What must I do to attain heaven?  Christ told him to keep the commandments.  Is it just that simple?  Is it just that easy to attain heaven?  Keep the commandments.  So as we review the commandments handed down to Moses and the Jews of Israel, what must we do today.

Today is different from the time when Moses lived.  Today is different when the Jews lived.  Today people live in cities, drive cars, watch TV, work in office buildings, go to schools, and do all sorts of things that are completely different from the time when Christ walked the earth.  How do we apply them today?  How do we keep the commandments today when times are so different?  The rich young man was puzzled by Christ's reply.  He did not know what commandments to keep.  So, He said to him, “Which?”

Of all ten commandments the young man asked, which ones should he keep.  And our question today is the same.  Do we keep all the commandments or do we observe some of them? Our society has rules.  Our families have rules.  Our jobs have rules and regulations that we follow in our daily routines.  Do we follow these rules or do we seek to find shortcuts around those rules that will benefit us more than they will benefit others?  Do we lie?  Do we cheat?  Do we lust?  Do we bear false witness?  Do we honor our fathers and mothers?  Do we hate or do we love our brothers and sisters?  Do we love all mankind or are we selective in who we care about and love?  These are some of the problems that present themselves to us on a daily basis.  It is how we respond to them that speak to what is in our hearts and minds.

We are born and breed in a society that teaches us how to survive.  That survival may mean stealing or taking what we want and desire or it may mean that we are given the tools needed to provide for ourselves adequately.  But as we look around in our environment we are faced with all that the world has to offer.  And if we do not conform to the way of the world then we do not have the opportunities to experience what the world offers.  We are left out.  We are denied.  We become outsiders looking in on what others have that we do not.  Is this what we want?  Do we want what the world offers?  Or does our Father in heaven offer more?  

Our desires and passions motivates us to conform.  Our desires and passions tell us that we must find a way to have all that our hearts desire.  And as we follow that path of our passions we toss out the guidelines given us by our heavenly Father as to how we should live.  We throughout the love that is a part of our spiritual nature and replace it with the desires of the world.  And we forget.  We compromise.  We adapt.  We change and rationalize that which is in our hearts for that which is in the world.  Slowly we move along the path of the world and get farther from the path of that which is of the spirit.  And finally we are so far down the road of the world that we forget who we are and fall asleep in the realm of the desires and passions of the world.

Which commandments do we keep?  Christ came that we would have life and have it more abundantly.  He gave of his own life to pay the price so that we could have our life.  And we give our lives to the world.  We turn away from the spirit that is within us and turn to the darkness that is in the world.  Keeping the commandments is keeping the life that is within us.  Keeping the commandments is maintaining the love that Christ has for us.  Keeping the commandments is holding onto the love that our Father has for us and the protection that he provides.  If we only knew.  If we only understood.  If we only allow ourselves to see the truth of who we are then we would not decide to fill our hearts with the passions and desires of the world. 

Our Father loves us.  We are his children and he is our Father who will provide and protect us.  And death is but a door that opens to the joys and happiness that is ours through Christ.  Or, it can open to the pain and sorrow of what life offers without our Father.  The choice is ours to make.  Seek to know the truth before making the decision.  Seek to find out who you are in Christ before traveling down the road of passion and desire for the world.  For great are the treasures that are sacrificed.  Great are the joys that are lost.  Great is the happiness that is forsaken without him that is the source of all happiness.  Come!  Seek to know the truth of who you are in Christ and you too will find peace, joy, and happiness that is everlasting.

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 19, verse: 17a, What is good?

Our paragraph topic is:(The rich young man speaks to Jesus ) Part 1.

And behold a certain man came to Christ with a question.  He wanted to know what was good.  He wanted to know what was acceptable.  He wanted to know what he had to do to enter the kingdom of heaven.  He had heard of the miracles performed by Christ.  He had heard of the words spoken by Christ.  He had understood the meaning of those words but he wanted to be certain of those words and not just depend on the hearsay as passed down from those who carried the word.

So his curiosity led him to find Christ.  For he figured that Christ had to be a good man.  He figured that Christ had to be a just man.  He figured that Christ had to be a religious man who would tell him what was right and good.  So he sought him out that he may get the true words directly from Christ himself.  And he believed that he would get the truth from such a good man as Christ.  But underneath his question, hidden in the back recesses of his mind was that lingering question, the question of good and right.  And Christ spoke to that question.  He said to him, "Why dost thou ask me about what is good?

What is good?  What is bad?  What is right?  What is wrong?  Do we know good from bad?  Do we know what is right or what is wrong?  Can we determine for ourselves what is good or what is bad, what is right or what is wrong?  We are the ones who must live by what is good or what is bad.  We are the ones who must abide by what is right or what is wrong.  Are we to make these determinations for ourselves?  Are we to abide by our own determinations of these boundaries?  It would seem so in the world that we live in today.

We are brought into a world that has existed from the past.  And with that existence are the things that are given to us as what is right and what is wrong.  God our Father gave us rules to live by.  He gave us boundaries to abide within.  He helped us to know what is right and what is wrong according to his wisdom and knowledge.  He has given us free will to choose.  He has not dictated to us that we should follow his commandments but allows us to make our own decisions.  And our decisions are influenced by the evil that exists in the world today.  So we are given the rules that are created by the world that we live in and they are handed down to us by those who have made those decisions for us.  Yet we have within us the truth and the knowledge of the father.

So what is good?  What is right?  What is wrong?  And what is bad?  The decision is ours to make.  If we choose, we can know the answer to these questions.  If we choose we can have the knowledge to discern these answers.  If we desire with our hearts, we are able to know what is good, what is right, what is bad and what is wrong.  For Christ came that we would know.  He came that we would see.  He came that we would understand the truth of who we are in God our Father through his sacrifice.  We are created in his image and his likeness.  God our Father is good.  He is kind.  He is merciful.  He is forgiving.  He is loving.  He is full of all grace and glory.  And it is from his gifts that we receive our goodness, our mercy, our forgiveness, and our love.  The choice is ours for the taking.  The belief is ours to believe.  The knowledge is ours for the knowing.  The love is ours to be loved, if we open our hearts and receive it from the one who gives it freely.  Open your heart and know the love that fulfills all desires.

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.