jr4624

The main thing they all have in common is to share the Good News with everyone. Most of the passages also seem to say that if the people you come to first don't want to hear, you should move on to someone else. The wise men were the first of the gentiles to hear the Good News. That it was very early in the life of Jesus seems to suggest that God did not intend for His message to only be for Jews from the very start.

They recognized the baby Jesus as a king or the King of Kings. It was an accepted practice in that day for visiting dignitaries to bring kings extravagant gifts, so that is what they did. They brought expensivw and rare gifts that were representative of the most precious things available in their home countries. This showed how highly they esteemed Jesus. That, and the way they humbled themselves before Him, may show that they were placing themselves, giving their lives, in service to Him. First and foremost, we should give our lives to Him completely. We should give Him the very best we have to give. We should use all the gifts He has given us, and everything in our power, to His glory, in His service.

They believed that He was someone worthy of worship, and they were showing their commitment or submission to Him. They knew many (most, perhaps) of the prophecies concerning messiah. They seem to be showing that they believed Him to be the savior and ruler of the universe. By completely submitting to Him. We need to lay our lives at His feet and make Him the Lord over our lives. We need to give Him each day as it comes and go where He leads us, one day at a time.

It was a sign from God that messiah was to be (had been) born. The people of Israel needed a supernatural sign that it was happening-- a sign that was visible even to the people who had been scattered far away. They knew the prophecies concerning messiah because of the scattered people of Israel who lived among them. They knew it was a (the) significant event in the history of the world. They wanted to learn exactly what was going on. Balaam spoke of a star that would come out of Jacob, a scepter that would rise out of Israel. Combined with other prophecies the magi must have known about, they reasoned that a great king of the Jews had been born, or perhaps even the savior of the world.

I try to make all of these things a part of my daily walk. I try to always have an attitude of worship, praise, and thanks for the great love and many blessings God gives me constantly. I am constantly amazed and thankful that He seems to think so highly of me--that He thinks that I might be a useful tool that fits His hand. I am always curious to find out more about God and to deepen my experience in my daily walk with Him.It seems to me that the area where I fall the most is in telling others. I always think I could/should be doing a better job. It is through the reading of Scripture and meditation on God's Word that He communicates with us most. If certain things are lacking in our lives, it is through prayer to Him and meditation upon His Word that we are most likely to find our answers. If we pray in the power of the Holy Spirit through our Lord Jesus Christ, God promises to give us what we need.

Savior, Christ and Lord. Savior means "one who rescues, deliverer." Christ is "the annointed one, messiah." Lord means "owner, master, or ruler." He is the one we were told about. He is the annointed one of God who is come to reconcile us with the Father, save us from sin, and reign forever as King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Sovereign Ruler of the Universe.

I believe the message came first to shepherds, the lowest of the low, to make the point that Jesus came for all men. Jesus is God. He had spent eternity as/with the creator and ruler of the universe. To be born as a poor, helpless human baby is as far as He could have humbled Himself. The point seems to me to be that God's plan of redemption is for everyone, no one is excluded, whosoever means you or anyone else, too. Jesus is sent as servant and savior of everyone. He is the mechanism of redemption for all creation. No one/nothing is excluded.

Clearly, a journey of several days' length, both walking and on the back of a donkey, would be a physical hardship fraught with difficulties for anyone, let alone a pregnant woman close to full term. Mary also would be experiencing tremendous emotional turmoil because of her situation. Her only hope would be her faith that God would do as He promised, and just like us, sometimes it's hard to have as much faith as you need to have. Pleasure is not an indication of whether we are in God's will or not. God doesn't really care much whether we're happy or not as much as He cares about our obedeience. I believe that many times, His plan for a person includes lots of unpleasantness. The trials that James speaks about(James 1:2), are often the way that we become the people we need to be to carry out the jobs God wants us to do. I recently experienced a succesion of serious and life-threatening health problems which I now realize had the effect of bringing me closer to God, strengthening my faith and starting me on the path to vocational ministry. I would not be where I am now (which I believe to be right in the center of God's will), except for the experience of trials and lots of unpleasantness. Jesus told us many times that following Him would be a hard road and we would often experience setbacks and persecution for His names' sake. We need only look at the life of the apostle Paul to see the truth of it. Paul had the courage of his convictions and stuck to his message through ridicule, stonings, imprisonment, and ultimately death for the sake of the gospel.

He names the rulers to accurately place the events of which he speaks in their proper place in space-time. He is making the point that the things and people of which he speaks are real, historical occurences. These stories really happened and the people in them really lived.

We know he is good man, godly and righteous by Jewish standards, maybe more so than most as shown by his willingness to do as God commanded. Joseph was of the line and the city of David, In his adoption and naming of the baby Jesus, he extended that same ancestry to him, just as if he was his natural child.

These are the things that God said, through His prophets, that He was going to do. Even though he was not actually named Immanuel, he was indeed "God with us" by being at once all God and all man.

Jesus (Yeshua) means "Yahweh saves," and having the child named thus signified his life's mission of being the savior of all creation. So that each knew what God wanted and the likliehood of it being done God's way was maximized.

Mary's options were few and mostly not very attractive. She could throw herself on Joseph's mercy and ask him to accept her anyway (not very likely), or hope for a quiet divorce with fewer legal ramifications, or trust that God would take care of her in her willingness to be His obedient servant.The last seems really the only viable option to me. He showed that he was a kind and merciful man, not vengeful or vindictive, a man interested greatly in treating other people right and doing the right thing.

He would have learned all aspects of his father's work. He would have learned wood, tools, negotiating skills, architecture, design, work ethic, and anything else that is part work and commerce. He also would have learned all the farming skills, engineering skills, and other skills necessary to support a family in 1st century Palestine. He would probably have met and dealt with people from every social strata at various times. He would have gained valuable insight into the dynamics of interpersonal relationships. He would have seen and learned much about the work of other artisans who were his contemporaries. All these things and others would combine to form his unique skillset. These are the things that made him such an effective preacher and teacher, and a person who related so well to many (most) different groups and types of people.

Elizabeth said to her "Blessed are thou among women" and "the mother of my Lord." Both of these titles would then be appropriate for Mary. Many would want to be careful not to exalt her above Jesus in some way, and also to make sure that she isn't herself an object of worship.

The essence of Mary's response was submission to God as Lord of her life. When we claim Jesus as Lord of our lives we need to be ready to do whatever God asks whenever He asks it. We should trust that He knows what's best and will work everything out to the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose. As I said above, she could and we can be confident that God knows and desires what is best for us. We consent to allowing God to make any claim He wants to on our lives, any time He wants to do it.

By being conceived on a human virgin girl, we know that Jesus, conceived by supernatural means only available to God through His Holy Spirit, is at one time fully human and fully God. It is the central fact of the Christian faith. Without the virgin birth there would be no sinless example for us to follow as disciples, no atonement, and no salvation for all of us who choose to accept God's great gift.

It seems that Zechariah was asking "how do I know that what you say is true and how can such a miracle really happen?" Mary's question is more like she believes the angel but wants a little information about the mechanism by which the miracle would happen. Mary was rewarded for her belief in God and His messenger, while Zechariah was punished for his unbelief and his asking for proof.

The angel told her that she would have a son who would be the Son of the Most High God. He would be named Jesus. He would inherit the throne of David and rule over the kingdom of Jacob forever. His kingdom will never end.

Yes. I think not. They may think that the truly believe, but if they aren't strivng to obey and follow Jesus to the best of their understanding and ability they aren't true Christians probably. Jesus is talking about total obedience to Him, about completely trusting Him and handing over every aspect of our lives to Him. True obedience comes from true faith, the kind we are saved through by grace. If we have that kind of faith, the good works that God prepared for us beforehand (verse 10) will flow from it.

I believe that people decieve themselves all the time into believing that they are something that they aren't. They also delude themselves that things they see in others are not present in their own lives. I believe that people need to constantly examine themselves and their motives to be sure they are really following Jesus and not just their or someone else's ideas for some self-centered reason. We often try to figure out on our own some service that seems to be for God and then ask Him to bless it and us instead of trying to see what He's already doing and joining in. If people do all kinds of good works thinking that they are the way to get to heaven, they aren't doing the work as the result of their inner change, their turning away from worldly things to follow Jesus. It is the desire to serve, the laying down of one's life for others that is the evidence of a true heart change to following Jesus. It is that change rather than the works themselves by which we gain The Kingdom of God.

There are many things that are bad fruit and can expose someone who might lead people astray. One of the biggest things to watch out for is people who might be more interested in their own status than in doing the work of the Kingdom. When people seem to be thinking more about being in charge of things or trying to lead the church in a direction that seems contrary to Scripture or the leading of the Holy Spirit, that is the kind of fruit that shows that they are going astray and trying to take others with them. Galatians 5:22-23 lists these things as fruit of the Spirit: "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." Anything that is contrary to these things might be considered bad fruit. Some examples might be unforgiveness, gossip, fault-finding, envy, or intemperate speech.

I do believe it, and I am motivated to always evaluate my daily Christian walk to see that I am walking what I talk. It is important not only for myself and my own salvation, but for everyone I meet as well. I can help believers to mature in their faith and unbelievers to come to faith. It is all in my witness to the world. I am called, with all believers, to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. This passage especially affects the way I try to reach unbelievers. 2 Peter tells us that God desires that no one perish. That is my desire as well, and the only way to make it happen is to make sure we bring the Good News to as many as possible. This passage clearly goes hand-in-hand with John 14:6, and if Jesus is the narrow gate, and "the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.", then universalism can't also be the truth.

The most obvious way is that Jesus' saying "do to others as you would have them do to you" is almost exactly the same as "love thy neighbor as thyself." "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind" does not seem to be as evident on the surface, but it seems to me that we can't love our neighbor or ourselves without first loving God. God is the inventor, the originator, of love in the world. Without His love of us, and our reciprocal love for Him, we wouldn't care about doing what He wants us to do, including showing the love of God and telling about His Good News to people who don't know Him.

They teach that God wants to give us good things, great blessings. If we recognize how much we, as imperfect, human parents want good things for our children, then how much more so for God, who is the father of all and the one from whom all goodness comes? More cynical views of God would probably say that He is cruel, or that He expects too much from us, or that He gives terrible punishments for diobedience. These things are not focused on the great love He has for us, the personal love relationship He invites us each into with Him. It is only in a relationship based on His perfect love that we can have the right kind of faith for our trust in Him to be perfected.