Nehemiah 8:13-18 Matthew 13:51-52 Nehemiah 8:14-15 Numbers 33:4-6 Nehemiah 8:18 Mark 6:30-52 Proverbs 4:1-13 “Columbus Then and Now” Miles Davidson, 1997, p. 268, Columbus arrived in America on Friday afternoon,…
Jewell, Iowa
COMMITTED to train men and women
to have minds for the Lord Jesus,
hearts for the truth, and
hands that are skilled to the task.
to have minds for the Lord Jesus,
hearts for the truth, and
hands that are skilled to the task.
"Messiah" Tagged Sermons
Luke 1:26-38 1 Peter 1:10-12 Daniel 9:21-23 Luke 1:26-30 Isaiah 11:1-2 Isaiah 11:3-16 Luke 1:34 Luke 1:36-37 Romans 15:4-6 Biblical literacy produces biblical morality. Biblical illiteracy produces declining morals. With…
Stuart Briscoe in his book titled: “Vital Truths to Shape Your Life”
“Freedom creates options. Political freedom allows me to vote for the politician whose platform most closely reflects my political opinions – or not to vote at all. Religious freedom allows me to worship at the church, synagogue, mosque, or temple that I believe teaches the truth. Or I am free not to believe anything. Economic freedom allows me to live where I wish, drive what I prefer, travel where I want, wear what I like, associate with whom I choose. BUT ALL THESE OPTIONS REQUIRE ME TO CHOOSE. “
Ian Thomas comments on this text: “Those who would have you reject the Virgin Birth of Christ, would have you believe that He was the illegitimate child of a woman who was both unfaithful and a liar! Others would have you believe that a matter of such gravity is of no particular consequence! Remember that every lie is a lie about the truth – and every lie comes from the same source, the big Lie, who is the father of lies.”
Ian Thomas: “By the Word of God, through the Holy Spirit, acting on the obedience of Faith. That is how the miracle took place, and Christ was born in Bethlehem. …By His incarnation the Lord Jesus Christ had established a precedent in procedure for spiritual regeneration.
Question of the week:
In Exodus, chapters 19-20 we read that God Almighty inaugurated a covenant with Moses, which we know as the OLD COVENANT. This took place on top of Mount Sinai. WHEN was the NEW COVENANT inaugurated and with WHOM?
Some people believe that Jesus’ Christ will come back to this earth without any precondition. Others believe that there is no second coming of Christ. They spiritualize the second coming of Christ by teaching that when you are being baptized by their church, the second coming of Jesus has just materialized. And there are those who believe and teach that God is done with physical Israel, and that the church has replaced physical Israel. Therefore, they say, the modern state of Israel is an invention of Zionist zealots and that they have no right to claim any connection to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
When the disciples asked Jesus the question:
“Lord, will You at this time RESTORE THE KINGDOM TO ISRAEL?” Acts 1:6b Jesus did not answer: You have no clue. Israel’s kingdom is done. It will never be restored. I will start a new work not many days from now and that work is called Ecclesia, aka as the church, and it is this church that will inherit all the blessings I have promised to Israel. THE FATHER AND I ARE DONE WITH ISRAEL. Just forget it.
Listen to what Jesus really said:
“It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.” (verse 7)
In other words, all the promises found in the O.T. regarding the restoration of the kingdom to Israel will happen at a time which the Father has ordained. How and when it will happen is determined by the Heavenly Father alone.
That Jesus will come back again to this very earth, this very place they were standing on when this conversation took place.
There should be no question about the fact that this same Jesus, the resurrected Son of God, will COME BACK TO THIS VERY EARTH IN LIKE MANNER. HE WILL JUST APPEAR THE SAME WAY HE DISAPPEARED. People will watch Him coming back. He will not come back as a ghost, he will not be a political leader, he will not be a military leader, he will not be an economic leader, He will not be a religious leader. HE WILL COME BACK AS THE SON OF GOD AND WILL ESTABLISH HIS KINGDOM ON THIS EARTH IN VISIBLE FORM.
The entire book of Revelation is dealing with Christ’s return to this earth.
The book itself makes no sense whatsoever if we loose sight of this important fact. That’s the reason why the book is called THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST. While John saw Jesus in heaven, sitting at the right hand of the Father, this aged apostle also saw what God the Father has ordained to happen to this earth and His creation, BEFORE HIS SON WILL RETURN TO THIS EARTH TO SET UP HIS KINGDOM.
Before Israel will receive the cleansing of her sin, they must first look ON HIM, the very one they have rejected at His first coming, and they must plead for His return. Israel will have to be brought to a place of desperation, where and all the nations of this earth will go against them during the final years before Christ’s return. They will not prepare themselves to welcome their Messiah UNTIL THE PRECONDITION HAS BEEN MET. And that will not happen until Israel as a nation will go through Jacob’s trouble, where God Almighty will have to pour His wrath upon this entire world.
We know that the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, is primarily the revelation of Jesus Christ, the son of God. Throughout the entire bible from Genesis to Revelation, the main theme is always the Lord Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah and the Redeemer of mankind.
The Apostle Paul declares that Jesus Christ has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. And he goes on to say that by Him, Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah to the Jews, the king of the Jews, the Savior of the world, is the one who created everything that is in heaven and that is on the earth. All things were created through Him and for Him. And the book of Revelation is giving us the details HOW GOD HIMSELF IS PREPARING CHRIST’S SECOND COMING TO THIS EARTH. There is a condition that must be met before Jesus Christ will return to this earth to establish His VISIBLE KINGDOM.
According to Matthew, Jesus began His ministry in chapter 4. You can read this Gospel from chapter four until chapter twelve to find out that Jesus went around Israel proclaiming that He is the promised Messiah. The purpose of all His miracles recorded in those chapters was to authenticated His Messiahship and His message, the Gospel of the kingdom. In other words, all the miracles Jesus did were signs to the nation of Israel to challenge them to make a decision about Him. Everything changed regarding the purpose of His miracles and His message in Matthew, chapter 12, beginning with verse 22.
The people were not willing to come to a decision by themselves. They were looking for the answer from their religious leaders, the Pharisees. When they accept Him, when they authenticate Him, then we will accept Him as well.
Then, in verses 30-37 Jesus pronounced a judgment on the Jewish generation of that day. Why? Because that generation had committed the unpardonable sin: THE BLASPHEMY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. Listen, the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit was not an individual sin but a NATIONAL SIN. It was committed by that generation of Israel in Jesus’ day.
In other words, the content of the unpardonable sin was the national rejection of the Messiahship of Jesus while He was physically present, on the grounds that He was demon possessed. THIS SIN WAS UNPARDONABLE, AND JUDGMENT WAS SET. THE REALIZATION OF THIS JUDGMENT CAME IN THE YEAR 70 A.D. The Roman army destroyed Jerusalem, burned down the temple, slaughtered over one million Jews, and dispersed the rest world-wide.
It is interesting that from this point on in the Gospel of Matthew, special emphasis is placed on THIS GENERATION. Why? Because it was this generation that was guilty of blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Judgment was unavoidable, because there would be no forgiveness for this sin.
Listen, the book of Hebrews was written to a group of Jewish Christians who, because of persecution, were contemplating a return to Judaism. The book warned them that they must completely separate themselves from Judaism. If they failed to do so, they would be caught up in the judgment of 70 A.D. and suffer physical death. Only of they separated themselves from Judaism completely would they have the opportunity of escaping the judgment upon that generation. Of course, from Hebrews it is not known what the results were. But it is known from JOSEPHUS AND EUSEBIUS quoting HEGESIPPIUS, a Jewish Christian historian of the second century. These men recorded how the Hebrew Christians, in obedience to the book of Hebrews, separated themselves from Judaism. So when the revolt against Rome began in the year 66 A.D., the entire Jewish Christian community left the country and waited the war out in the town of PELLA, and the east bank of the Jordan River. Although 1,100,000 Jews died in this Jewish revolt against Rome, not one Hebrew Christian was killed. Because they did obey the book of Hebrews, they escaped with their lives, and they were freed of the judgment upon that generation.
Why did John call for a water baptism?
The ritual of water baptism was applied to Gentiles, unclean people, who wanted to convert to Judaism. Ritual baptism was never administered to Jews, only to non-Jews who converted to Judaism. Why? Because Gentiles were considered unclean and needed to go through a purification rite, to take a bath – in order to be welcomed and received into the covenant community of Israel.
However, John the Baptist primarily directed his calls for repentance to Jews. With that, he told Israel “the Messiah is about to arrive but you are not ready for Him. It is you, the people of Israel,that are unclean. That’s the reason why John called the Jews to submit to a ritual of cleansing that up to this point had been administered only to Gentiles. The typical procedure when a Gentile was going through the proselyte baptism, he was never baptized by a Levite or by a priest, who normally performed all the other purification rites in Israel. The convert was to baptize himself. No wonder the religious leaders asked themselves: Who does this man think he is, to call us, the children of Abraham, to undergo a cleansing rite?
The Lamb of God is also prefigured in the Passover, when God prepared to bring His final plague on the Egyptians, the death of every firstborn male of the Egyptians, including the crown prince of the Pharaoh (Exodus 12:3-31). Just as the blood of the lamb caused the people of Israel to be spared from God’s wrath, the Lamb of God redeemed His people from the penalty that was due for their sin.
If you would have to give a definition of who Jesus is, what would it be?
Peter simply stated: You are the Christ, the anointed one, the promised Messiah, the Son of the living God.
The apostle Paul in the letter to the Colossian church is getting all excited when he giving them a definition of who this Jesus Christ is.
Notice how valuable that treasure is. First, the man finds the treasure and immediately recognizes HOW VALUABLE that treasure is. He does not tell anyone about his find, because he is concerned that someone else would take it from him. His heart is filled with great joy as he goes and liquidates everything he owns so he can go and buy the field in which the treasure is hidden. IN OTHER WORDS, TO GET THE TREASURE, HE IS WILLING TO GIVE UP EVERYTHING ELSE.
In the second parable, the man is portrayed as a merchant, a person of great wealth. He is seeking pearls so he could resell them with a profit. However, in his search He came across ONE VERY SPECIAL PEARL OF GREAT VALUE, he also was willing to go and sell everything he owned so he could get that particular PEARL. The treasure hidden in the field and the pearl of great price are both POINTING TO THE GREATEST TREASURE OF ALL TIME, JESUS CHRIST. In order to get that treasure we must be willing to give up everything.
Today’s evangelistic sermons are full of sugar that brings the hearer to a temporary “sugar-high” only to crash a few hours and days later.
The truth is that the person who finds the treasure, who finds the pearl, never has enough to procure this treasure unless he or she is willing to let go of everything.
In the Gospel of Matthew is recorded the itinerary of ONE BUSY DAY OF JESUS’ LIFE when he walked among the people called by God to be His own.
The answer Jesus gave them at the end of a very busy day is the answer you and I are in desperate need to understand.
Jesus came to this earth to do the Father’s will. What was the Father’s will? THAT JESUS WOULD COME TO THIS EARTH TO DIE.
Jesus is the only person ever born into the world for the sole purpose TO DIE.
Simeon was sensitive to the Holy Spirit. In order to be such a man, one has to be willing to forsake all that hinders him to be guided by the Holy Spirit. Jerusalem was a busy religious place, and certainly the Temple was filled with people every day.
He knew the Scriptures and believed that the Messiah would come to rescue Israel. HE OBEYED THE HOLY SPIRITS PROMPTING TO GO TO THE TEMPLE EXACTLY AT THE RIGHT TIME. Obedience to God is what makes you recognize Him instantly.
Remember, this book of Revelation is revealing to us primarily Jesus Christ, the one who said to JOHN in Revelation 1:8: I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, says the Lord, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead.
Today, we will put our spiritual spotlight on the first beast. This best is a masterpiece, the greatest counterfeit the world has ever seen. This Beast WAS GIVEN MANY TITLES IN THE BIBLE. There are at least 20 different titles given to this beast, the master piece of counterfeiting. The Apostle Paul reminds the believers from this church that when he was with them, he was teaching all the details regarding this truth to them.
It is amazing how the Bible clearly states the contrasts between Jesus Christ and the Antichrist. And yet, he will be able to deceive the whole world with his great counterfeit. How is that possible?
The Antichrist will have the power of the occult behind him. This power is not his own, but his father’s power, which is Satan. He will seek to destroy the holy people of Israel with this supernatural power. This beast, the Antichrist, will be the most powerful man on earth. Eventually he will declare himself to be deity and he will stand up against “the prince of princes, Jesus Christ, and so truly be the ANTI-CHRIST. THIS MAN WILL BE Satan-controlled and Satan-energized. What an incredible counterfeit.