St Matthew, Chapter 16, verse: 13, The Rock: The Question.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Peter's confession) Part 1.   

They crossed the sea and left the boat, Jesus and his disciples.  They arrived in Caesarea Philippi where Christ was about to begin another part of his journey here on earth, on this rock.  His time was approaching, his work was coming to an end, and the sacrifice was being prepared.  His disciples were with him at all times and they were being prepared for the coming war with evil.  Christ was to leave this earth, this rock, and his disciples were to remain to continue his work.  They did not know.  They believed that Christ would remain with them to fight the upcoming battles.  They believed that he would take over the rule of the Pharisees and the Sadducees and replace it with his rule.  Yet Christ was a gentle man.  Christ was a man filled with love.  Christ was not a man of violence, yet he was the Son of Justice.  He was the Son of God.

But the time had not yet come and the disciples must be prepared for the coming of the battle.  The plans must be put into place.  The strategy must be studied and enacted.  And the war must be proclaimed.  So Christ began by questioning his disciples.  He wanted to know what they were hearing.  He wanted to know what they were understanding.  He wanted to see what they were seeing so that he could make corrections.  So he asked them.  Now Jesus, having come into the district of Caesarea Philippi, began to ask his disciples, saying, "Who do men say the Son of Man is?"

You can ask the same question today and get a variety of answers depending upon who you talk to and what people believe.  Today, nearly 2000 years later, there is not one religion.  Today there is not one God.  Today there are many religions and many gods that people believe in.  We have become a culture of many.  We have become a culture, throughout the world, of freedom of religion and freedom of speech.  Even though in some parts of the world freedom is not free, but people are still individuals and can do and believe who and what they want.  Christ did not come to enforce one religion, one belief upon the people of the world.  He came that we might have the freedom to choose.  He came that we might have life and not death.  For before his gift to mankind we were dead, without life, without choice.  And now we have the choice of life and not death alone.

Who do men say I am?  Who do men say that the Son of Man is?  The knowledge is there for the knowing.  The truth is there for those who seek truth.  The life is there for those who want life and not death.  It is up to the individual to seek.  It is up to the individual to find.  It is up to the individual to know.  For those who seek can know for certain.  Those who find will find without doubt.  Those who desire will have their hearts filled.  For there is a living God.  There is a living truth.  There is a living certainty that can be gained for those who desire to know.  It is at your fingertips.  It is in your face.  It is on the tip of your tongue if you would only say it.  God's will be done.  Will your will be done in this life and in the next?  Follow the path.  Read the truth.  Know with certainty that you are a child of God.  His arms are open wide waiting for you to come home.

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, Chpater 16, verse: 12, The Leaven: The Enlightenment

Our Paragraph topic is:  (The leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees) Part 5.

Understanding was not with the disciples.  Wisdom was lost.  Knowledge was foreign.  And they themselves were without sight.  The disciples did not see.  They did not understand.  They did not know what was happening among themselves.  All they knew was that they forgot to bring leaven to make bread and this caused great strife.  They had forgotten who made the bread.  They had not understood the miracle maker and his power.  They were without the wisdom that comes from spiritual insight.  And they were being filled with the leaven that spread from the Pharisees and the Saducees.

But Christ was in their midst.  Christ was there to guide them.  Christ was there to give them sight, to instruct them in the ways of the world.  So, he had to bring them back to the reality of the spirit.  He had to warn them of the plague that was taking over.  He had to instruct them in the wisdom of past events so they would have understanding and love.   The disciples were so filled with what they considered the needs of the now that they forgot that their needs were already given to them.  And Christ had to call forth understanding that they would come back to spiritual reality.  Then they understood that he bade them beware not of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

There is a famous experiment used in psychology where several cards in a deck are altered.  A black spade becomes a red spade, a red heart becomes a black heart, etc.  The deck of cards are then flashed before a patient in shot intervals, asking the patient to identify each card before going to the next.  At short intervals the altered cards are not identified properly.  However, after each round of exposure, the interval of exposure is increased to allow more time to identify the altered cards.  As the exposure time increases most patients are able to identify the altered cards.  But there were some who, even at increased exposure times, still did not identify the altered cards.  Most people can and do understand with increased time to contemplate the internal change.  Others simply will not make the adjustments necessary to understand.  This is explained as an unwillingness to make the necessary internal adjustments to identify change.  Change requires a willingness to let go of the internal reality created by the mind and an acceptance of a new reality. 

We live in a world today that is our reality.  It is given to us at birth and we live within it throughout our lives.  It is our reality.  Yet there is another reality that is before us that we are unable to accept or unwilling to accept.  Most of us accept a reality that there is a God, a higher being that created the world we live in.  Yet our acceptance is only partial, only minimal,  without complete commitment.  We live in a physical world that we see, feel, smell, and hear.  Our acceptance of this world is real, complete, total.  And it is the acceptance of this world that prevents us, denies us, holds us back from accepting completely the reality of the world of God.  Understanding is our vehicle.  More exposure is our tool.  And internal change is the purpose which allows us to know who we are.  Some will accept.  Some will not.  Some will believe partially, partially in the world and partially in the spirit.  And then there are those who will let go of all that is in the world and connect with all that is in the spirit.  Can you make the internal change to let go?  Can you believe, totally, that God lives and the spirit is alive?  Can you make the change that will turn you inside out?  Can you become the spirit that you are?  The change is simple.  Follow the path that is laid out before you and search for the light that is within 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 16, verse: 11, The Leaven: The Understanding

Our paragraph topic is:  (The leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees) Part 4.   

And there they were, standing among themselves, after having been in a heated argument, listening to Christ chastise them.  They did not yet understand.  They had lost all memory of what had happened with the five loaves and five thousand men.  Their minds were focused upon a simple, what they believed, a failure on some one's part, to bring bread that they would not go hungry.  Yet before them stood the creator of bread and wine.  Before them stood the creator of all things that would provide and protect them.  The leaven had crepted in and was infecting their minds and bodies and spirits.

Christ was appalled.  He could not believe what he was hearing, what he was seeing, and what he felt in his heart for those that he cared so much for and loved.  These were his future candidates.  These were the ones who were to carry the gospel throughout the world.  And here they were arguing among themselves about a material thing called bread.   Why Satan himself must have stood amongst them and laughed at how easily they could be persuaded to loose the one thing that gave them life, love for one another.  Christ had to bring understanding.  He had to call forth order.  He had to bring back their memories of the things that had come before them that they would know and see the pettiness of their behavior.  He said to them:   "Why do you not understand that it was not of bread I said to you, 'Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees'?"
 
It was not of physical but of spiritual.  It was not of bread but of leaven.  It was not of death but of life that he spoke to them that they would know the truth.  Yet they were still in the flesh.  They were still in the body.  They were still not in the spirit that Christ wanted to make them aware of who they were.  For the flesh was of death.  The spirit is of life.  The flesh commands attention but the spirit awaits the truth.  The body says I am.  But the spirit knows I am.  The flesh says now.  But the spirit says eternity.

Why do you not understand that it is not of paper and dots and dashes that I write?  Why do you not remember who brought you to this place, this blog, this moment in time that you would be able to read what is written?  Is it just words?  Is it just nonsense?  Or is it the awakening of something more in you that desires life, that desires love, that desires peace?  For your inheritance has been given.  Your light is seeking to be seen.  Your joy is waiting for your embrace that you may know the truth of who you are in Christ.  Created in his image and likeness, your light will shine throughout the world that many may see and know that you are a child of your father and creator.  Come, walk the path that is before you.  Open your heart to the love that awaits you.  Know the truth of who you are and your life starts anew.  Christ 
awaits you.  The Spirit seeks you.  God, your father, loves you. 

Read the signs 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!