We can see clearly, the evil that surrounds us on all sides, yet we cannot forget as believers, that our mission, which we have been given, to point all who will listen, that there is GOOD NEWS, for all who believe, that this world will one day be restored, by the one who holds all things in his power. That person…..is Jesus Christ! Amen.
Click on the link to hear the song, by Christy Nockels.
“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.” And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.”
Matthew 1:18-25 NASB1995
3–5 This was the Lord’s appeal. With tenderness and emotion, the divine Plaintiff recalled His many gracious acts toward them, almost to the point of assuming the tone of a defendant. Noting their trek from bondage in Egypt to their own homeland, God had provided leadership (v. 4), reversed the attempts of Balaam to curse the people (v. 5a; cf. Nu 22–24), and miraculously parted the Jordan River (v. 5b) so they could cross over from Shittim, located E of the Jordan, to Gilgal on the W side near Jericho. God had faithfully kept all His promises to them. † 6:6, 7 Micah, as though speaking on behalf of the people, asked rhetorically how, in light of God’s faithfulness toward them, they could continue their hypocrisy by being outwardly religious but inwardly sinful. † 6:8 Micah’s terse response ( v. 8) indicated they should have known the answer to the rhetorical question. Spiritual blindness had led them to offer everything except the one thing He wanted—a spiritual commitment of the heart from which right behavior would ensue (cf. Dt 10:12–19; Mt 22:37–39). This theme is often represented in the OT (cf. 1Sa 15:22; Is 1:11–20; Jer 7:21–23; Hos 6:6; Am 5:15).
In this book, Joel reflects on the “Day of the Lord” and how true repentance will bring about the great restoration hoped for in the other prophetic books.
Hope you enjoy the brilliant summary, in animation.
From: John MacArthur Study Bible.
Vs 7emptied Himself. From this Gr. word comes the theological word “kenosis”; i.e., the doctrine of Christ’s self-emptying in His incarnation. This was a self-renunciation, not an emptying Himself of deity nor an exchange of deity for humanity (see notes on v. 6).
Jesus did, however, renounce or set aside His privileges in several areas:
1) heavenly glory—while on earth He gave up the glory of a face-to-face relationship with God and the continuous outward display and personal enjoyment of that glory (cf. Jn 17:5);
2) independent authority—during His incarnation Christ completely submitted Himself to the will of His Father (see note on v. 8; cf. Mt 26:39; Jn 5:30; Heb 5:8);
3) divine prerogatives—He set aside the voluntary display of His divine attributes and submitted Himself to the Spirit’s direction (cf. Mt 24:36; Jn 1:45–49);
4) eternal riches—while on earth Christ was poor and owned very little (cf. 2Co 8:9); and
5) a favorable relationship with God—He felt the Father’s wrath for human sin while on the cross (cf. Mt 27:46; see note on 2Co 5:21). form of a bond-servant. Again, Paul uses the Gr. word “form,” which indicates exact essence (see note on v.
6). As a true servant, Jesus submissively did the will of His Father (cf. Is 52:13, 14). the likeness of men. Christ became more than God in a human body, but He took on all the essential attributes of humanity (Lk 2:52; Gal 4:4; Col 1:22), even to the extent that He identified with basic human needs and weaknesses (cf. Heb 2:14, 17; 4:15). He became the God-Man: fully God and fully man.
bible.com/bible/100/mat.6.33.NASB1995
He’ll take care of the rest!
See a fun song from the past, by Keith Green
bible.com/bible/100/rom.1.20.NASB1995
WITHOUT EXCUSE……..”COME TO JESUS, ALL YOU WHO ARE HEAVY LADEN, AND HE WILL GIVE YOU REST”, HE SAID. If you don’t know how to do this, the answer is simple. Jesus said, “pick up your cross, and follow him”. Believe in Faith, that he, Son of God, gave himself, to die for us, in our unrighteousness, that we might become righteousness before God.
bible.com/bible/116/jer.15.19.NLT
From Good News about Grace by Rick Warren who wrote ” The Purpose Driven Life”
Isaiah 1:18 says, “No matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can take it out and make you as clean as freshly fallen snow” (LB).
If ever there were a sin you’d think was unforgivable, it would be denying Jesus three times on the night he was betrayed. But Jesus knew Peter would deny him, and he even knew Peter would come back to him. In fact, before it even happened, Jesus said to Peter in the Upper Room, “I have pleaded in prayer for you that your faith should not completely fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen and build up the faith of your brothers” (Luke 22:32).
Jesus knew that Peter’s ministry would be more effective after his denial than it was before. And, sure enough, it was! Peter wrote two of the books of the Bible called 1 and 2 Peter. Then he shared his memoirs with a relative, and that’s the Gospel of Mark.
You may think God’s forgotten you. He hasn’t. The Good Shepherd leaves the 99 sheep to go after the one. He knows how you’ve fallen away. If you have — either by one giant step or a series of petty steps where you just slipped away and you’re not as close to Christ as you used to be — you need to pray what David prayed when he came back to God after committing adultery. He said, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation” (Psalm 51:12 NLT). David did not have to pray, “God, restore to me my salvation,” because he hadn’t lost his salvation. He had lost the joy.
And some of you have, too. Come home to Christ today.
Living Waters 