“God with Us”
BIBLE MEDITATION: Matthew 1:23; ““Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated,
“God with us.”
ENCOURAGING WORD:
There are religions throughout our world that are constantly rejecting the fact that Jesus Christ is God. They find various verses in the scriptures that they take out of context and then apply to mean something totally different than what the verse truly means. The reason this seems complicated, as I have mentioned many times, you won’t understand the scriptures of the Bible until you are Spirit filled which means (Born-Again) If you are not indwelled by the Holy Spirit, you won’t understand the depth of the scriptures, you will only read words. I going to share some Bible verses where it is obvious that Jesus is God. Jesus, Himself said He was God, and for those of you that say, He never said He was God.
Listen up!
John 14:8-11.
Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” “Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.
Here is another verse that we are all very familiar with, especially during the Christmas season.
It is written in Isaiah 9:6; “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given. And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Mighty God and Everlasting Father sounds to me like He is God the Father as well as The Son of God. This is where it gets very hard for our brains to understand, but we can read why in the following Bible verse,
Proverbs 3:5-6; Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”
We try to understand God, but there is no way possible for us to know how God thinks as we read in,
Isaiah 55:8-9; “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.”
If our God was small enough for us to understand, then He is not Big enough to be God.
Sometimes we just have to say, God, I don’t understand everything that is written, but I do believe everything the Bible teaches, even when it is impossible for me to comprehend. There will be a day when those of us who enter heaven will understand everything, but until then, we must trust and obey, because it is the only way! There is no way for us to comprehend just how huge our God is. He could end every one of our lives with a thought. He could crush the world with His fingertip. The problem lies within our own minds. Most people think of God as just some force of nature that lives way out there somewhere. Know this, God lives in us and with us through the Holy Spirit. He is present in our everyday lives. God is more real than you and I and anything that we can see or touch. The Earth that we currently occupy is a very small simulation of a much bigger reality. The world is temporary, and Gods kingdom is forever. Gods’ kingdom is more real than the blue earth that we occupy daily. If people really understand who God truly is, they would certainly live their lives much different. Even people who say that they believe in God, really don’t believe it in their heart.
Its only words.
They really don’t believe that God truly exist. But one day, when it is too late, and our choices have been made, we will all stand before Him in Judgement. Nobody will escape judgement, you will either stand before Jesus at the Bema Seat Judgement of Christ where believers will receive their rewards for everything that they did for Him once they were born-again, Or you will stand before Jesus at the White Throne Judgment where you will be judged and sentenced for every sin that you ever committed and then, you will be sent to the Lake of Burning Fire for all eternity.
There are no other choices.
Let me share this next verse with you that makes it about as simple as it can be,
Mark, 16:16; “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.
First of all, notice that it does say, believe and be baptized, it doesn’t say, be baptized and believe. Just something to think about as most denominational churches baptize infants.
So, you either believe and then get baptized or reject the truth and be condemned. We should be dedicating our young children to God and when they are old enough to choose whom they will serve, that they would get baptized the way the Bible teaches. There is no place in the scriptures where there is a baby baptism. Whether you believe the Bible or not, it doesn’t matter, what is written in the Bible will come to fruition no matter what you believe. Here is something for you to ponder, if you don’t what to live for Jesus now, what makes you think you will want to be with Him for all eternity. I’m pretty sure that is also how God looks at. If you serve Him now in this life, you will be with Him for all eternity, if you reject Him and live outside of His commands, then Jesus will reject you when you stand before Him in judgement. Just so you understand, He is not going to send you to the Lake of Burning Fire because it is His will, He is going to give you what you chose, and if you chose to reject Him, there is only one more alternative as to where you will end up.
We read this fact in 1 John 2:23; “Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.”
Pretty simple, why do people choose to reject the truth when it is written in the pages of God’s Word, The Bible? The Bible actually does tell us why, Here are a couple of reasons that are written in the scriptures.
2 Corinthians 4:4; “whose minds the god of this age (Satan) has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.”
See, if you reject the truth of the scriptures, you will be blinded from all truth by the god of this world (Satan), so there is no way for you to understand and be saved. If you ask Jesus into your heart and become born-again into the Holy Spirit, it is then that the blinders will be removed, and the scriptures of the Bible will jump out at you like never before. Until then. It will be like explaining the colors of the rainbow to a blind man. This is why there are so many different religions with different doctrines, it is because they have to interpret the Bible the way they understand it rather than the way it was meant to be understood, because they are not indwelled by the Holy Spirit. In other Words, they have not been born-again.
Listen to what the following Bible verse has to say. 2 Peter 1: 20-21; “knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”
So, everything written in the Bible was Spirit filled, for those of you that say, it was only written by a bunch of men. So, Unless you have the Holy Spirit as your guide as you read through the scriptures, you will by no means understand what is being said.
Let me share this next Bible verse so you know where I am coming from, John 3:5-8; Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
What did Jesus say, ‘You must be born again.! Read the whole chapter of John 3. Read it over and over until it sinks in. My question is this, why is this not taught in the Mainline Denominational churches of today? It’s because they themselves are not born-again. If you are not born-again, you will not understand the Words of God. Religions teach just that, Religion. For those of you that don’t realize this, Jesus was the most unreligious person to ever walk the earth. He didn’t teach any religion, He taught from His own knowledge and from scriptures of the Bible. The religion of His day was Judaism, and he rebuked the religious hierarchy for their lack of Biblical knowledge. The Bible is the most powerful tool to get us through life and almost everybody has access to one, yet very few read it. Maybe that is why the Bible says, “Few will be that find the way” The only way is through the Scriptures and if you choose not to read Gods Word, how can you find the way? I don’t know how anybody can know absolute truth without reading the Bible. If you hear it from someone else, it may not be absolute truth. Only if you read it for yourself, can you be certain that what you are hearing is truth. I personally believe that what I am teaching is truth, but you don’t know that for sure. When The Holy Spirit gives me a message to share, I make sure that I back it up with Bible verses so that you can check out for yourself if I am telling you the truth or not.
Refer to Acts 17: 11; where is says, “These (The Bereans) were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.”
This verse is basically saying, don’t take any bodies word for it, but listen with all readiness and search the scriptures daily to make sure that what you are hearing is the truth. Only a fool will trust someone else with their salvation. My goal is to tell you what I believe the scriptures teach, but more importantly, I want to arouse your curiosity to get you interested enough to read the Bible for yourself. I am not responsible for your salvation, I just hope to guide you in the right path, but it is up to you to take that step of faith and trust in Jesus Christ for salvation, only He can save. So, remember, God is with those of us who have chosen to serve Him during this short time on earth. Before I end today’s message, I want to share a Bible passage that I believe goes right over everybody’s head, including most pastors and priests.
John 8:48-59. Then the Jews answered and said to Him, “Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon? Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. And I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks and judges. Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word, he shall never see death.” Then the Jews said to Him, “Now we know that You have a demon! Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and You say, ‘If anyone keeps My word, he shall never taste death.’ Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Who do You make Yourself out to be?” Jesus answered, “If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God. Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him. And if I say, ‘I do not know Him,’ I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad. “Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham? Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, goingthrough the midst of them, and so passed by.
Do you know why they picked up stones to throw at Jesus? Because, when He Said, “I AM”, He was claiming to be the voice of the burning bush that spoke to Moses on mount Horeb. He was claiming to be God and that was blasphemy to the Jews, so that is why they picked up stones to throw at Jesus. So, if anybody tells you that Jesus never claimed to be God, show them these verses. We all have heard that there are three Gods in one, which we call the Godhead, they are God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. For those of you that might not understand, it is God, The Holy Spirit that is currently at work gathering a bride (The True Church) for Jesus, the Son and it could be very soon. God the Father will decide when it is time for Jesus to take us home to be forever with Him.
What a day that will be!
If this doesn’t excite you, then there is a good chance that you are eternally lost. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, that is why I am sharing Gods truth as much as I can, with as many people as I can, because I will not be responsible for anybody that I care for, for ending up, apart from God for all eternity.
Friends, I hope you hear this and hear it good. I care more about you than you can know, and one day you will know for sure just how much I really care!
But then, it will be too late.
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