St Matthew, Chapter 16, verse: 22, The Future of the Church: the first member wavers.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Passion and resurrection foretold) Part 2.   

Simon Peter was the first member of the Church.  Simon Peter was given the knowledge of Christ's origin.  Simon Peter was given the revelation.  And Simon Peter was under attack by evil because evil wanted to prevent the church from taking hold here on this rock, this earth.  For Christ had willed that his church would be established and that the gates of hell would not prevail against it.  Yet the gates of hell and evil itself would make every effort to tear it down, to undermine it's efforts, to bring scandal, to discredit the the true nature of its creator, and to do anything it can to turn man against Christ.

Christ was the teacher.  It was his mission to teach his disciples.  He had to give them the wisdom to withstand what was coming before them.  He had to provide them with the understanding to see the truth of what would happen to him.  He had to show them how all was predestined and written about him before he came to earth.  And he had to prepare them for the future of their mission after his mission was complete.  They did not know.  They did not yet understand.  They did not fully comprehend the teachings that he gave them but they would take them to heart. 

And the first member of the church, Simon Peter, was under attack.  He heard what was being said.  He felt the agony of what would happen.  He knew the truth of the consequences of the forthcoming storm and he was afraid.  He was under attack and his heart was opened to allow fear to come in.  And with that fear came evil.  For evil took possession of him.  Evil controlled him and made him fear.  And evil moved him to action.   And Peter taking him aside, began to chide him, saying, "Far be it from thee,O Lord; this will never happen to thee."

Peter was the first member of the church and today there are many.  The church is in us.  The church is beside us.  The church is through us and with us in our daily lives.  But are we with the church?  Are we true members of the church?  Do we belong to the church as the church belongs to us?  We perform our weekly duties by going to Sunday service.  We pray.  We perform our ritual and prescribed duties, but does that make us true members?  For we live in a world that turns us away from the church.  We live in a world that would have us not believe in the truth of the church.  We work, sleep, cry, love, play, and have all our waking hours in a place that would turn us away from the kingdom of heaven. 

Simon Peter was under attack and he took Christ aside and told him that it would not happen.  He told Christ that he could not believe that these things would happen to him.  Yet he did not know that he was at war with the world.  Peter did not understand then, that evil was around him and influenced him to act.  The times since then and the times now have not changed.  The church is at war.  We the members of the church are at war with evil and the war starts with each of us individually.  How we think, how we act, how we believe, how we work, how we play, how we love, how we see, and most of all how we open our hearts are subject to the war we wage with evil. 

For it is through the heart that evil finds passage.  It is in the heart that evil wants to reside.  It is with the heart that evil wants to possess that it may create evildoers for its work.  Guard your heart from the tricks and traps of the world, for they are many and subtle.  Close the door of your heart to those things that would compels you to love.  And protect your heart with the truth that comes from and through Christ, our savior.  For with him and through him and by him, we are transformed into the children that our father created.  We are the light of the world and the light from the Holy Spirit should resides in us.  Do you know?  Can you see?  Christ told us how to be certain.  Open the door of your heart and invite him in.  He will come and reside with you.  Follow the path set before you and know the truth of who you are in Christ. 

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: 21, The Future of the Church: The Foretelling

Our paragraph topic is:  (Passion and resurrection foretold) Part 1.   

And so it was that the church was established in Christ Jesus.  And Simon Peter became the first member of the church here on earth.  For it was in him and through him and of him that the word was spread throughout the earth by the will of Christ Jesus and the love of God the Father.  Two thousand years the church has withstood the wars and deaths and crimes and evil in the world and still stands today.  It has been battered and beaten and torn from within and still survives as Christ willed it during his here mission on earth.  

And now the final days were approaching.  Christ continually spoke to his disciples about his mission and his purpose.  He told them of the future.  He described to them what was coming.  He gave them the vision of what was to happen to him and how it would all end.  Yet they did not understand.  They did not know.  They did not fully comprehend that these things must take place to save mankind.  The disciples only saw the material.  They only lived in the flesh and not in the spirit.  For the time was approaching when the sacrifice must be given that man would be saved.  So Christ taught them of the things to come.   From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and Scribes and chief priests, and be put to death, and on the third day rise again.

This was the future of one so meek and mild.  This was the future of one so loving and understanding.  This was the future of one so forgiving and one so passionate about what must be done for mankind.  Death was waiting.  Torture and pain were at his doorstep.  Humiliation and dishonor, hatred and abuse, bloodshed and mutilation of such kind that no man could endure.  Yet knowing all this he willingly submitted.  Christ was the only begotten son of God, first, before all things were created.  He knew not pain.  He knew not suffering.  He knew not death.  And yet he gave up his heavenly crown, his kingly position, his place on the throne at the right hand of his father to become man that all mankind would not be condemned to death.

This was his mission.  This was his passion.  This was his purpose in becoming man and taking on human form.  God, the ultimate judge, pronounced that if Adam eat of the forbidden fruit that he would surely die.  That was the judgement.  That was the decision made by Adam.  And death came forth to rule over mankind until the judgement could be satisfied, placated, annulled.  And it could only be satisfied with the blood from one so pure and without sin.  And so Christ entered into his mission knowing the consequences of what was to take place. 

He gave of his life so willingly because the price had to be paid that man could have life and have life eternally.   So those who seek, those who desire, those who want to know, can find eternal life in Christ.  For through him and in him and with him comes forth spiritual life in man.  And those who do not seek, those who do not know, those who do not desire are of death and have not life eternal.  Come!  Follow the path set before you.  Seek the knowledge that brings eternal life and know the truth of who you are in Christ.  The spirit awaits your coming.    

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: 20, The Rock: The admonition.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Peter's confession) Part 8.   

Through the revelation of the Holy Spirit from God, Simon Peter became the first member of the church here on earth.  Christ gave him the keys to the kingdom of heaven.  Christ gave him the authority to close or open doors here on earth that would be closed or opened in heaven.  And he, with the other disciples, would become witnesses to the Son of the Living God.  However, that time had not come and the sacrifice had not been given.  So their ministry had not begun until the time was fulfilled.

They heard the truth.  They now knew without a doubt that Christ was the Messiah.  There was no turning back.  Fear was at their door.  Death was following in their footsteps close behind.  And the time was almost at hand when the mission of Christ would be fulfilled here on earth.  But the time for the disciples was just beginning.  Their time would start at the sacrifice.  Their ministry would be anointed at the Pentacost.  Their voices would be heard after the ascension.  But not today.  Not tomorrow.  Not until after the sacrifice.  So Christ warned them not to speak.  Christ admonished them not to reveal.  Christ protected them against the evil that wanted to kill them before their ministry would begin, but not today.  Then he strictly charged his disciples to tell no one that he was Jesus the Christ.,

Evil was upon them and scandal wanted them to talk.  For they held a great secret that the people should know.  But the time had not been fulfilled for the truth to be revealed.  So they were admonished to keep silent.  How often we are filled with the spirit of the truth and want to tell the world.  We are evangelist.  We are compelled to speak to everyone that we meet.  We are driven to convert all.  We are youth in our wisdom of the love of God and unknowing of the trickery of evil.  For evil would have us turn souls away from Christ rather than bring them to him.  Evil would have us fill our brothers with hatred rather than love.  Evil would have us be examples that would keep people in the world rather than bring them from it.  We know not the trickery of evil.

As I look around the world that I live in, I am conscious of one thing, there is evil in the world.  One might make the reasoning that there is good and evil in man thereby excusing the fact that evil exists in the world.  I recently watched a program on national TV where a well known journalist completed a documentary on finding the truths of the Bible.  The documentary took a look at the origins of sin in mankind and acknowledged that Adam and Eve were tempted by Satan.  Yet from that point Satan and his evil was not mentioned again in the documentary, as if to say he does not exist.  

We live in a world influenced by evil and the results of what evil brings.  All the sins of mankind come from and originate from the evil of Satan and his agents, whose sole purpose is to influence mankind against the commandments of God.  Our heavenly father says to us, do these things and you will avoid the wiles of Satan.  And yet our society is filled with all manner of influences that we accept as commonplace, influences that originate from Satan and are against the will of God. 

We are on the battlefield and yet we are asleep.  Guard what you see and guard what you hear that your heart may be protected against the influences of evil.  Desire to seek the truth of who you are and your heart will be opened to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  God's love will come and protect you, guide you, feed you, and give to you the wisdom to see and know the truth of who you are in Christ.   Follow the path!

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!