St. Matthew, Chapter 24, verse: 23; Behold, here's Christ!

 Our paragraph topic is: (The sign of the last day) Part 1.  

We don't think about the last day.  Why?  Probably because we don't believe that we will be around on that day.  We will be dead and gone before it comes around, or so we think.  Who knows when it will happen?  Christ is telling his disciples that it will happen and what to look for.  He is warning them of all the wrong things that will happen that may lead them astray.

This is the paragraph of signs.  It is the paragraph to his disciples then and to believers today of what to know when the last day comes.  It is important to know for all.  We do not know when that day will come.  It may be tomorrow, or the next, or next week, or next year.  In our minds, in our consciousness, we do not consider it happening, but Christ has given us the prediction of the coming of the last day.  And this is what he tells us: "Then if anyone say to you, 'Behold, here is the Christ,' or, 'There he is,' do not believe it."

Don't believe what you hear others say to you, Christ tells us.  Don't believe the rumors and the lies and the scandals that will come from the fear and anxiety of the coming of the last day.  There will be many false prophets and false rumors floating about to lead many astray.  Do not believe.  Do not follow.  Do not be led astray by those who would use you for their own selfish desires of power and glory.

Two thousand years ago Christ warns those who believe in him and the Father who sent him, of the end days.  He told his disciples so that they would know.  He told those who would listen and those who believed.  He laid the foundation for his church that his work would continue into the future for those who did not know him, those who did not see him, those who did not hear his voice but who would believe in his words.  These are the elect, the chosen ones who believe in him and know the truth of his teachings.

He came to give life and to give it more abundantly.  Anyone who believes in him and repents of their sins will be saved.  He gave his life that we might have life, if we choose it.  The choice is ours if we want it.  The life is ours if we know it.  Today, tomorrow, next week, we can have it if we know it.  It is within us.  The light of life comes from Christ.  He is the Savior from which we receive life from the Father, the source of life.  Ask and you shall receive.  God is rich in love and forgiveness for each of us who believe.  

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 22, verse: 23; The Sadducees' Question.

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.