WHAT DO I DO WITH JESUS

 

SALVATION IS ABOUT A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD THE FATHER, GOD THE SON AND GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT. IT IS A MUTUAL RELATIONSHIP.

The final segment of this short teaching, is simply this; have you received the gift and call of Jesus to, through faith and repentance, receive His gift of eternal life? If you have what now?

1. Knowing there is no salvation in any other name but Jesus, we in faith have placed our Hope in who He is and in His promises. According to 2 Peter 1:3-11, we are told that His divine power has been given to us, concerning all things that pertain to life, godliness, through the knowledge of Him and when we abide in His promises we become partakers of His divine nature. It goes on to talk about the qualities that are ours through Jesus Christ.

2. Jesus doesn't come in part, He comes complete as Savior and as Lord. The problem is many Christians want heaven but not surrender themselves to His Lordship. See what the word says:

Ephesians 3:14-21 this is a prayer for the believer that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith, that we would be rooted and grounded in love. Among many other things that are prayed in the apostolic prayer we find this verse:

Verse 19 "to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." When we look back to the Old Testament at the first Passover they were told to take a lamb without blemish and roast it and eat it all (leave none). In 1Corninthians 5:7 "we are told that Christ our Passover, was sacrificed for us."

3. Jesus said in Luke 9:23 "If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me". And again in Colossians 3:5-14 we are instructed to continually put off the old man and put on the new man, and again in Romans 12:2 we are instructed to "not be conformed to the world but be transformed by the renewing of our mind daily.'

These scriptures basically mean we surrender our will, our way and our desires to Christ Jesus our Lord. We do this daily and how we renew our mind and our thinking is by staying in His word daily. Simply put: we remove self from the throne of our heart and lift up Jesus Christ to His rightful position in our lives

4. Being a follower of Jesus Christ is a commitment to consecrate our lives to Him. Romans 12:1 tells us we are to be a living sacrifice. A life surrendered. In John 15 Jesus begins to talk about the vine, the vinedresser, He says He is the true Vine, the Father is the Vinedresser. We are told we are to bear fruit, whose fruit? Christ's fruit not ours, we says that He prunes us so we will bear more fruit. Old things, even good things that need to come off our lives that we may bear much fruit.verse 8 As we bear His fruit, much fruit the Father is glorified and we shall be His disciples. The word also tells us there is the fruit of the Spirit, these are given to us when the Holy Spirit indwells us, they are seen in us as they are exercised in our lives. These are found in Galatians 5:22-23. I could tell you the do's and don't's of sin. But I won't, because the word is very clear as you read the whole word of God particularly in the New Testament you will see that as a follower of Christ our life is a long process of learning and trusting and aligning our lives up with who Jesus Christ says we are to be and putting off the sins that so easily entangle us. Just a couple more scriptures: as followers of Christ Jesus we are a people of faith, faith is trusting in Jesus even when we cannot see what will happen. In Hebrews 11:6 we are told without faith it is impossible to please God and again in 2Corinthians 5:7 we walk by faith and not by sight. Love is the other characteristic of a follower of Christ, throughout the New Testament Jesus instructs us to love one another, especially read John 13:35 and 1John, time would fail me to mention how often in every epistle we are told not only to love but what love looks like. 

In Romans 13:10 "Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law". 

As a true believer in Christ Jesus our Lord, we have this promise of what is coming; He came the first time as promised and He is coming again to catch His church, you and me up to meet Him in the skies. Amen brothers and sisters one day in the near future we are going home.

DEATH, BURIAL & RESURRECTION

 

JESUS WAS WILLING TO GO TO A CROSS FOR YOU

1. Because Jesus was resurrected we now have the Hope that these natural bodies will be resurrected again. 

1 Corinthians 15:13-17 I recommend reading all of chapter 15.

2. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead, lives through the Holy Spirit within every true believer. Read John chapter 14

3. Jesus is our living Hope 1 Peter 1:3

4. We have been bought by the precious blood of Jesus 1 Peter 1:18-19

5. We are now heirs and joint heirs with Christ Jesus, our inheritance is to be in His presence for all eternity. Romans 8:17

6. We have been delivered from the kingdom of darkness and we have been forgiven of our sins Colossians 1:13-14

7. On the cross He cancelled our debt that stood against us, He nailed it to the cross. He disarmed Satan and took all authority away from him. Colossians 2:14-15

8. He has given us authority over Satan and his demons, through the power of binding and loosening. Matthew 16:19 the word "Keys" in this scripture means "authority".

So much more I could say, but that is enough for now. Once we were saved our position changed, we are now seated in heavenly places. We have been given the power to say no when tempted. When we do sin we have an advocate, Jesus and when we repent and ask for forgiveness, we are forgiven. We are now children of the kingdom of light when we walk in love as children of the light. We have been cleansed by the blood of Christ. Found in 1 John 1:7

The word tells us that we were once dead but we have been made alive by His grace, not by our works but by His grace. We are now a new creation. Now begins a time until our lives here ends, called sanctification, maturing in our relationship with Jesus Christ. Christ blood cleansed us and saved us, and God will grow us, our part is to abide in Him, stay in His word, stay in fellowship with our Lord. We are instructed to put off the old man and put on the new man, this is done daily. Tomorrow Lord willing we will look at "What are we suppose to do now?"

JESUS WHO?

 

STANDING AT A CROSSROADS 

There is coming a moment when Jesus will ask each of those who profess to be followers of Jesus a question just as He asked His disciples:

Matthew 16:13&15 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, "who do men say that I, the Son of Man am?" He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"

1. Jesus said He is the Great I Am, that before Abraham He was.

2. Jesus said He was the Way, the Truth, and the Life no one comes to the Father but through Him

3. He is the door, the gate, the Light of the world, the good Shepherd, the bread of life, the resurrection and the life, the living water

4. He is the ultimate Teacher, Prophet, Evangelist, Apostle, Pastor, Healer, Provider, Head of His church, the Rock of our salvation, the Chief Cornerstone, the Author and Finisher of our faith and much much more 

Hebrews 13:2 "looking into Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

NOTE: See what it says "who for the joy that was set before Him", the cross was not a joy, but the outcome of the cross was His joy, that through the cross, eternal life would be given to all who believe and the fellowship that was lost in the Garden of Eden was restored. In our life sufferings we too have joy, that joy is knowing this will pass we have hope that the unbeliever cannot have.

5. He set His face to go to Jerusalem knowing what awaited Him there, He was hated, betrayed by a friend, denied by Peter, spit upon, had His beard pulled out by the hands of others, beaten, lied about, turned over to Pilot, a rebel was chosen to be released, the people who once shouted hosanna were now shouting CRUCIFY HIM, CRUCIFY HIM, was scourged until unrecognizable, nails driven through His hands and feet to hang on a cross. WHY DID HE DO IT! BECAUSE HE SAW VALUE IN US, ME AND YOU. At anytime He could have stopped what was happening yet He stayed on the cross, all sin imaginable was placed on Him. It is written "By His stripes we are healed"! 

Isaiah 53:10a "yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He put Him to grief. When You make His soul and offering for sin."

Go back and read of Jesus in Isaiah 53:1-12

QUESTION: Do we see value in others, do we see value in ourselves? When we see value in others we will find to love and show kindness. We must learn that our value is not based on anyone's opinion, not in our gifts and talents but in our relationship with Jesus Christ 🔥

The world hates Jesus and the world hates His followers, that is why the world attempts to silence the voice of the Ekklesia. Some say He was just a Prophet or just a Teacher, or a good Man but not Deity. But who do you say He is. We are at a crossroads, time to decide,

 Who is this Jesus to you? 

THE LIFE OF CHRIST JESUS

 

JESUS THE CHRIST BEGINS HIS MINISTRY

1. At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus allowed Himself to be baptized by John the Baptist. John the Baptist bearing witness saying "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world", and again he said "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and remained upon Him."

FOOTNOTE: God ordains not man, man confirms by witnessing what God has already done 

2. Immediately Jesus was led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After 40days and no food the humanity in Jesus was tired and weak, here is when the devil began to tempt Him, yet with each temptation Jesus responded with the word of God. Jesus was tempted in three ways: a. In His hunger, He was hungry had been fasting so a "if" question was asked "if You are the Son of God", b. Again in His identity, "If You be the Son of God throw Yourself down" then the devil quoted scripture, c. Then His position, the devil said "All these things I will give You if You fall down and worship me". Silly devil all the kingdoms of the world already belonged to the Creator of all things, Yeshua, see Colossians 1:16. After this the angels literally came and fed Him. 

FOOTNOTE: If Jesus at had at any time given into the temptation of the devil, then there would have been no salvation for anyone. But read Hebrews 2:17-18 & Hebrews 4:15. Because He was tempted He became our Kinsman Redeemer, and He can understand us when we fall into temptation.

3. Began His ministry by calling His ministry team to "Come follow Him".

4. He taught in the synagogues, on the mountain top, and by the sea. 

FOOTNOTE: It is written that the people were astonished at His teaching because He did not teach as the scribes, but He taught with authority.

5. He fed the multitudes, the blind received their sight, the deaf could hear, the mute could speak, the lame could walk, the dead were raised, demons were cast out and infirmities were healed. And He was worshipped by those He healed and by the witnesses who saw and believed.

Matthew 15:31 so the multitude marveled marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing, and they glorified the God of Israel.

6. Two things, a. The Pharisees were unbelieving, they were always questioning Jesus, they were jealous of Him and they were continually plotting against Him. b. The only place He did very little healing was in His hometown and He said "because of their unbelief".

FOOTNOTE: The religious will always question all God is or does, but those of faith will follow Him. Faith is the opposite of unbelief, though in faith we believe and we keep praying for our loved ones healing here on this side of heaven and as hard as it might be to us, God is still sovereign and it is written "there is a time to be born and a time to die". That is the hardest thing to know when we watch our loved one breath their last breath. Yet, I believe miracles of life happen everyday. When my daughter was dying I held on to this word God gave me, "this is not unto death", when she died I asked God about that word I held onto, He in His mercy replied "She can never die, she just came home"!

Again these are only highlights of His life.

 John 21:30 And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book. Now open your word and read John 21:31

JESUS DEITY IN THE FLESH

 

YESHUA OUR SAVIOR

This post may make you think it's Christmas already, but no it is to tell of His coming.

1. In Luke chapter 1 we see that the angel Gabriel came to a young woman by the name of Mary, he came with good news; she would give birth to the Son of God. In their conversation, she asked how can this be? Gabriel replied "The Holy Spirit will come up on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore, the child to be born will be called Holy---The Son of God. NOTE: The Son of God did not have either Mary nor Joseph's DNA in Him.

2. In Matthew chapter 1 when Joseph knowing the child was not his, was contemplating how to privately put Mary away, in his sleep the angel spoke to him in verse 21 and said " She will bear a Son, and you will call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins ". All of this was to fullfil what had been prophesized about His coming.

3. In the Hebrew and in the Greek His name is Yeshua which means "Savior", in our English translation Yeshua is translated Jesus and means Savior.

4. We are all familiar with John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life". NOTE: when it says "so loved the world", it is speaking of humanity.

5. Jesus said in Matthew 5:17 (my words) that He did not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets but to fullfil them 

6. The Law can never justify nor save anyone, because every man, woman and child is born a sinner, the Law was our tutor that showed us our sins. Jesus came to do what we could never do, fullfil the Law for us that we might be justified through Him. The Prophets announced His birth was coming and He came. Born of a virgin, born under the law. The Lamb of God laid in a manager in a little town of Bethlehem, announced to the shepherds who came to worship Him, and the Wise Men who traveled from afar, arrived sometime later to bring gifts and worship the newborn King. The religious leaders didn't care, didn't come, and Herod tried to kill Him. But praise God, Jesus was born and tomorrow we will look at His life.

P.S. I know these posts are only highlights but it is always good to share the Good News.

JESUS WHO!

 

LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT MY JESUS 

May I spend a little time doing a little teaching? This blog reaches many people and as we are seeing a coming to an end of the church age, and the spirit of the antichrist working harder and harder to destroy who Jesus is, I would like to spend a little time on this subject "Who is Jesus"?

Just a few of the names used for Jesus:

1. Messiah, promised to be coming throughout the writings in the Old Testament, means in the Hebrew "The Anointed One".

2. Christ, not Jesus' last name, but in the Greek translation means the same as Messiah "The Anointed One"

3. The Son of God 100% Deity and 100% man you can read of His birth in the gospel of Matthew, Luke and even Galatians 4:4

  NOTE: if Jesus were not 100% deity He would not have been sinless, and there would be no salvation 

4. Jesus is the second person of the Trinity/Godhead. First mentioned in Genesis 1:26 "Let us make man in our image and after our likeness."

5. One God in 3 distinct persons; God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

John 10:30 Jesus' words "I and the Father are One."

6. Immanuel which means "God dwells with us"

7. Yeshua which means Savior is both the Hebrew and Greek name for Jesus. Jesus is the English translation for Yeshua and it also means Savior. Next blog post we will look more into this.

Just a start at identifying who is this Jesus. Before we can go any further I wanted to establish this absolute truth.

Jesus the Christ is the promised One that would be coming, as promised in the Old Testament. Just setting a foundation for the following blog posts.