What it means the word “worship?” Do we know how to worship our God? Most of us it means to sing praise to our King of kings and Lord of lords. Or we think it means to raise your hands, clap our hands and sing to the Lord.

This word “worship” means more than to raise our singing voices to our God. It also means that we are fully devoted to serve our God. All the other parts, which I mentioned above, are parts of it. Prayer is another part of worship.

Before we would go further, let’s read Romans 12:1-2. In this passage, Paul explains to us how we need to worship our Lord Jesus Christ.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

In the first verse of Romans 12, Paul explains us how we need to present to our God to worship Him. The second word, “beseech,” is a Greek word that comes from a root which means “to call alongside to help.” Jesus used a related word, often translated “comforter,” in reference to the Holy Spirit (John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7). How many times we’d ask for help when we cannot figure out the problem? In this text, Paul wants to give us advice to encourage us while we are living in this corruption world.

Of course, we all need help. In the Gospel of John, Jesus gave His disciples promise that He will bring the Comforter to them after He will go to His Father, which it happened after He left them in Acts 1-2.

Why He brings the Comforter to us? Was just enough if we have Jesus? If we turn to John 14, notice what Jesus said in verse 18. He said, “I will not leave you orphans…” Then He said, “I will come to you.” He will not leave us in this corruption world. We will not be poor. If we loose all the money and job, we will not be poor, because Jesus is the solution to all our problems. The job description of the Holy Spirit is to teach us and bring us remembrance all things Jesus taught us (see John 14:26) in His Word. This is why God provided us His written Words and the Holy Spirit.

Let’s go back to our context of this topic. Now, some preachers would misinterpret Romans 12:1-2. Some preachers may teach us that we need to have more Bible reading and prayer times, more giving, helping needing to renewal our thoughts to Jesus Christ. All these activities may seem good and acceptable to Him. But we need to learn how to present ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God.

Living sacrifice: It doesn’t mean that we need to be fasted for 40 days and nights without food and drink. No! It also doesn’t require us to hang on the cross. If God want us to do these things, His Words would become useless. Although Paul said that we need to live as a living sacrifice, we need to learn how we need to help others, even if the situation is risky. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends (John 15:13).

Holy: Do we think we are worthy to be called holy children of God? What it means to be holy? The word “holy” means devoted entirely to the deity or the work of the deity, but here in Romans 12:1, it means devoted yourself entirely to God with pure heart.

You might think that this statement to be shocked: We are not holy as God without sins. Even though God knows that we are not holy or perfect as Him, He still wants us as His babes. But we need to accept Him as our Savior and ask for forgiveness all of our sins and to make as holy as His children. So we can be acceptable children to God.

The Bible tells us the only way God can accept us if we surrender our wills to Him. Some of us cannot do this; because we want do in our ways to handle our lives. If we believe all the TV evangelists surrender to God’s will and do His given tasks, we might believe them and believe what they say from their own experiences. Unfortunately, this is not the case, if we do further research on TV evangelists.

In this message, we touched the surface of this topic. On our next message, we will go more details of renewing our minds. We cannot worship God truly until we learn to surrender our wills to Him.

This message may seem uncomfortable to some of you. But God calls us to worship Him with all our hearts, minds, and strengths. God wants to us go after Him as just as we are. If you cannot afford to give Him a penny, He still wants you to be in His house and let you worship Him. He just wants you to surrender all your wills, so that He can take care and love you forever.

This message may speak to you today. I don’t have to know who you are and where you are, because there’s God who wants to take care and love you in this very moment. The purpose that I didn’t date the message is that it’s never too late to receive Jesus Christ in your life. If you read this a week from June 10, 2005, and you still are living, you didn’t miss the opportunity to accept Jesus Christ. Today, you have the chance to accept Him. If you do it tomorrow or next week, it might be too late. Accept Him today.

Are you saved? Are your love ones and friends saved in the grace of God through Jesus Christ? The purpose of this study is to help you to become closer relationship with Jesus Christ. As Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (John 14:1-3.)

If you are lukewarm in your relationship with Jesus Christ and want to know Him as your personal Savior and Lord of your life, please consider asking Him to forgive your sins and invite Him into your life. Paul says, "That if you confess with your mouth, `Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believed and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved." (Romans 10:9-10.) If you have done in your private room or workplace, then you need to tell to your friends or love ones about what you have done, so they may rejoice with you and want to have that relationship with Christ in their own life. There are many occults in the world, which do not know the love of God and His great plan for those who believe in Him. As it is written in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EST

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In the first chapter of Psalm, the psalmist tells us that there are two ways of life in this world—the godly life (vs. 1-3) and the ungodly life (vs. 4-6). How can this be? Of course, we understand that God created man, the heavens and the earth perfect within the first six days of His creation, but we see in Genesis 3, that the serpent came up to the world to tempt Adam and Eve in a calculated plan to defile everything that was pronounced “good.” Adam and Eve broke the covenant with God and decided to follow the serpent’s advice; this established an alternate way of life, giving man the choice of living a godly or ungodly life. Romans 3:23 declares that, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

If we compare history’s account in Genesis chapters 1, 2 and 3 to Revelation chapter 20, we will see that our human nature is still far from God. From Adam to today, we continue to sin against our Heavenly Father. Paul says in Romans 5:12, that through one man (Adam), sin entered the world, which resulted in death to all men.

As Christians, we don’t need to face death in the same way as unbelievers. Of course, we all have to die physically, because God limited human life as a result of Adam’s sin. The second death is for unbelievers, which is a separation from God forever, but it is an option for us to choose this death penalty. Remember this: the second death is banishing the unbelievers from God’s presence to the lake of fire and hell.

So, how can we be saved from the second death bed? What do we need to do to enter the Kingdom of Heaven ? There are so many people dying each day around the globe; and most of them might end up in hell. Unfortunately, many people choose to make hell as their permanent destination, because they refuse to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Fortunately, the Book of Romans says that God is just and merciful, that He gives us every chance to be right with Him through His Son, Jesus Christ. In fact, Romans 5:8 says, “…God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” If Jesus Christ didn’t come to the world, we would be forever unrighteous. We can never justify our sins by any works; it is by faith in God alone. Without faith in Him, our work is considered spirituality dead. In other words, we need to have faith in God and to do His will to become the children of God.

Most people believe that Jesus died for every person’s sin in this world and that in this act alone, man is automatically justified for their sins. While it is true that Jesus died for every person’s sins, repentance of the sinner is needed to activate the power of redemption. If we believe that Christ died for the world just so we could keep sinning, it would mean that there is no justice or mercy in God. This dangerous mindset communicates that one could enter the Kingdom of Heaven and live forever with unrepentant sins. It would also mean that the Bible is a fictional book, which makes God a liar. Without the preaching of the truth, how will people know the eternal life? Believing a lie will result in a death sentence, making it too late to get right with God?

Fortunately, God is just and merciful; He can save us from our sins and darkness. Although God loves every person that He created, He cannot let sinners enter His place unless they repent of their sins and ask for forgiveness and do His will.

We were considered enemies of God before we came to Him. Before we realized that we were astray from our eternal Father, we were arrested under the law of sins. We were slaves to sin instead of slaves to righteousness. There was no way out from the darkness. Our release from Satan’s prison came when we realized that we were sinners and accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.

Although our flesh will not live forever because of sin, our spirits will live for eternality; we must choose the right Master for our lives. There are so many people who are in prison because of sin and need Jesus Christ in their lives. We can see these people in the news and media. For example, many young adults commit suicide by taking drugs to end their lives. Or, seek sexual pleasures to find happiness. No matter what activities he might do outside of God’s standard, he is a servant of Satan and will end his life in hell if there is no repentance.

Even though we have a relationship with Jesus Christ, it doesn’t mean that we don’t deal with sin anymore. We all face problems in our lives, whether we are Christians or not. Because we are not the perfect image of God, we will struggle with our moral flesh everyday. We make mistakes in the process toward perfection. We like to do the things that are not good in the eye of God. Remember, we cannot justify ourselves. If we try to justify ourselves, we will make more mistakes in our lives.

Apostle Paul says that we are saved by the grace of God through Jesus Christ. Does this mean that God just covered sin in us through His grace? No! We are saved by the grace of God with a price that we cannot ever pay back. We don’t even deserve His gift of grace, He did it through His love for a lost and dying people, by dying on the cross 2000 years ago and being resurrected from the grave on the third day to prove that we have a Savior, who loves us and cares for us.

So why do we have law in our lives? Do we need to have law in order to accept God’s grace? We first need to understand that God’s free grace has nothing to do with law, but we still need the law in order to understand what sin means to us. There are at least 613 laws in God’s Word and we don’t need to memorize them all in order to define God’s standard for us, except only one law, agape love. If we understand what it means to have agape love, we will follow the remaining 612 laws. In the same matter, we need to understand the law in order to understand what we do wrong in God’s eye, so that we can understand why God gives us a free gift.

Romans 2:12 says, “For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law; and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law…” The law has an important role in our lives. If we lived without any law, we would have a miserable life. Every person would have the right to kill each other, because there is no law to protect us from murders. This is why our country has a court system and police on the streets—to protect us from harm. In the same manner, God’s laws reveal our sins to protect us from going astray.

His laws are greater than the laws of any country or nation, because God has the final authority over everything in this world. Our Supreme Court system had been leading us into many wrong ways over the last several decades. Our Supreme Justice has excluded God from the public community, because of other religious beliefs and people who hate Jesus. Our Supreme Justice voted for the right of gay marriages, because the people were asking for it, thus pulling themselves from God. As we can see, our country is becoming s Sodom and Gomorrah each day.

Although many of us believe that our country was founded by Christian principles, we can see the mistakes we’ve created for our own pleasure. Recently, we’ve seen many people terrified by the tragedies the world has experienced, causing some to turn back to God.

Do we know why our country has been faced with so many natural disasters and religious rebellion over the years? Some of us believe that they are the part of World War III, or a New World Order Plans, or that we are in the partnership with to help them to avoid from their enemies to take over their land. All these play a part of causing disasters in our country, but they are not the main cause of terror. Our country has many terrors because of our sins. God will let suffer until she realizes that she is far away from God. We need to tune our hearts into the right frequency to avoid any other terrors. The frequency of our hearts I’m talking about is God’s righteousness.

We need to learn how to be God’s holy children in order to live with Him eternally. We cannot continue to live like Sodom and Gomorrah without God. The Bible says that we will all face God’s judgment before we enter our eternal home. Some people will make their eternal home in heaven; others will choose the punishment of hell.

God wants everybody to make heaven as their eternal home and gives everyone a second chance to have their names written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EST

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If you are married to your wife or husband and have a child, do you know what is this child going to be in future? Have you wonder what your child want to be when she/he would finish high school or college? As we are living in the twentieth-first century, we have seen kids would make good or poor choices in their lives. Some of them would decide to go to the right path where God would like them to be. Or some of them would decide to go to the right path where Satan would like them to be. But their decisions of living are depending on their living with parents. It is the beginning point of their lives.

As we conclude this part of series, we will look at the question: What then is this child going to be?

Let’s read Luke 1:62-66:

“Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone's astonishment he wrote, ‘His name is John.’ Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak, praising God. The neighbors were all filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, ‘What then is this child going to be?’ For the Lord's hand was with him.”

In this passage and previous message, we see that many people wondered what’s the child’s name going to be. In Luke 1:60, Elizabeth answered them his name is to be called John. But the people refused that name (v. 61), because they did not see anybody whom carried this name among the family.

Now it’s Zechariah turn to finalize the child’s name. Since he cannot talk to everybody, due to his rebellion against the angel of Lord (see Luke 1:5-25), he wrote that “his name is John” on a writing tablet (1:62-63).

Why he called that name on his child? Zechariah had no choice rather than to follow the angel’s message. If he would call different name of his child, he wouldn’t be talking. As soon as he announced his child to be called John, his mouth was opened and began to talk (v. 64). “The neighbors were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things.” (v. 65.)

But everyone were wondered what the child would be (v. 66). Since Zechariah and Elizabeth believed the power hand of God, they would answer them this child would be the massager that would announce the people to repent and ready for the coming of the Messiah.

As we look at John the Baptist and his parents, what are our actions to be? In Matthew 3 and Luke 3, we see that John the Baptist followed the instructions of the Lord that an angel announced to his parents (Luke 1). Do you rely on God with your child’s future? God told Jeremiah that He recognized him as a prophet before he came out from his mother’s womb (Jeremiah 1:5).

What is your example to pass onto your child? It is your responsible to give example to your child that is God’s way or worldly way to life. If we are not married, it is our responsible to set example godly way to live to the other believers. Paul said, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in faith and in purity.” (I Timothy 4:12.)

Are you saved? Are your love ones and friends saved in the grace of God through Jesus Christ? The purpose of this ministry is to share with you how much God loves you and me and wants to come in our own life to take us through any obstacles in our daily life. As Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (John 14:1-3.)

If you are lukewarm in your relationship with Jesus Christ and want to know Him as your personal Savior and Lord of your life, please consider asking Him to forgive your sins and invite Him into your life. Paul says, "That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believed and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved." (Romans 10:9-10.) If you have done in your private room or workplace, then you need to tell to your friends or love ones about what you have done, so they may rejoice with you and want to have that relationship with Christ in their own life. There are many occultisms in the world, which do not know the love of God and His great plan for those who believe in Him. As it is written in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EST

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From the previous message, we looked at Luke 1:57-58 and studied about why God allowed Elizabeth to have a baby in her old age. We also studied about why the birthday tradition was not important in the Jewish community. As we studied through these discussions, we found out that God does not care how old we are rather than to have a personal relationship with each of us. Paul said there is nothing will able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:37-39).

Why?

In I Corinthians 13, Paul gave an explanation about why the “love” is so powerful tool to establish the relationship than anything else. If there is no love, how Elizabeth conceived a child and rejoiced with her family and neighbors? If we would so focus on our personal holiday, how the love of God effect in us? In I John 4:19 said, “We love because he [God] first loved us.” Because He loves us, He created the world and formed us to live in this planet to establish the loving relationship with us. Because of His love, God gave us the second chance to repent our sins and may have eternal relationship with Him. Because of His love, Elizabeth celebrated what God has done in her life.

As we continue to study about the birth of Elizabeth’s child, why she and her husband, Zechariah, gave the unique name to their child.

Read Luke 1:59-61:

On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.”

They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.”

The word “circumcision” means removal of the foreskin in males. Throughout the Old Testament, we see that every firstborn must be circumcising in the Jewish community. It is necessary do this, especially with males, to remind their convent with God. It is established by God to signify His relationship with the Israelites.

In Genesis 17:9-14, God made a covenant with Abraham to signify His relationship with Abraham’s future descendants. All male Jewish babies underwent circumcision, a sign their set-apartness as God’s chosen people. I Peter 2:9-10a said,”…you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God…”

It is important to Jew that the only priest must do circumcision the child. Since the Jewish people released from Egypt, God specifically gave this law to the priests, Aaron and his sons, because it needed to be done property and holy by whom charged the Temple. God commanded that only eight-day old males to be circumcised to recognize that this child is belong to Him.

Then in the New Testament tells us that it is not necessary to be circumcised the child, because Jesus Christ has free us from the bondage of our sins (Galatians 5:1-12). Paul said, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

“Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

“You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. ^‘A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.’ I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion will pay the penalty, whoever he may be. Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!”

Why do we baptize? The baptismal symbolizes that we born again in God’s family (John 3:1-8). It is the similar method as in the Old Testament. But, now, God let us to choose to come into His family. Circumcision and baptismal have nothing to do, but God would like to know what you would do after you have taken the first step of your new life.

Now, in Luke 1:59b, we see that the priest must name the child after the child’s father originally. But in this passage, Elizabeth refused to call her child after his father and named him John (1:60). This is strange for the priests (1:61), because she broke the tradition of family. But Elizabeth did just as an angel told her to do (Luke 1:5-25).

Elizabeth understood that her child will be special one as it prophesied in Isaiah 40:3.

What Zechariah would say about this? Did he agree with his wife about their child? If you have a child, what you would name her/him? Next week, we will conclude this study on the name John.

Are you saved? Are your love ones and friends saved in the grace of God through Jesus Christ? The purpose of this ministry is to share with you how much God loves you and me and wants to come in our own life to take us through any obstacles in our daily life. As Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (John 14:1-3.)

If you are lukewarm in your relationship with Jesus Christ and want to know Him as your personal Savior and Lord of your life, please consider asking Him to forgive your sins and invite Him into your life. Paul says, "That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believed and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved." (Romans 10:9-10.) If you have done in your private room or workplace, then you need to tell to your friends or love ones about what you have done, so they may rejoice with you and want to have that relationship with Christ in their own life. There are many occultisms in the world, which do not know the love of God and His great plan for those who believe in Him. As it is written in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EST

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What if you have a son or daughter, would you give him/her a unique name and have a big celebration with your neighbors? Probably. In this generation, having a baby shower is the most common thing to do if somebody would have a newborn child. Unfortunately, our modern day of this celebration has been quite different from what we will see Elizabeth’s baby shower in Luke 1.

1First, let’s read Luke 1:57-66.

”When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy."

”On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, but his mother spoke up and said, ‘No! He is to be called John.’

“They said to her, ‘There is no one among your relatives who has that name.’

“Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone's astonishment he wrote, ‘His name is John.’ Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak, praising God. The neighbors were all filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, ‘What then is this child going to be?’ For the Lord's hand was with him.”

In this passage, we see that God gave Elizabeth and Zechariah a boy, just as an angel announced them in earlier verses (Luke 1:5-25). Luke 1:57 explained that there was a time to conceive a child. When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby...

Why God waited later of Elizabeth’s time to give her a son? This question is not for Elizabeth to hear God to answer. It’s not for Elizabeth to worry how she could take care her son. As we read about Abraham, God gave him a son for His purpose. It doesn’t matter to God about how old we are, because He knows about us before we born (see Jeremiah 1:5).

Nowadays, we felt that having a birthday is so important to our lives. Throughout the Bible, we see that any of people didn’t celebrate this kind of traditional holiday, except two kings from the Paganism, King Pharaoh and King Herod.=

God has time to do everything in our personal life; such as He has time for Elizabeth to give a child.

Are we having time for God to allow intervening into our lives? When you look into your mirror in the morning, what do you see inside of yourself? When it was time for Elizabeth to have a child, her neighbors and relatives came to her to rejoice with her, because they understood what the Lord had shown her was a great mercy (Luke 1:58).

Are you ready to celebrate with God in His kingdom? In Matthew 25, Jesus told a story about what happened to ten virgins when they aimed for a wedding ceremony. The first five virgins made to the party because they understood what this is all about, but the last five didn’t make to the party due to laziness. The purpose of this ministry is to share with you how much God loves you and me and wants to come in our own life to take us through any obstacles in our daily life. As Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (John 14:1-3.)

If you are lukewarm in your relationship with Jesus Christ and want to know Him as your personal Savior and Lord of your life, please consider asking Him to forgive your sins and invite Him into your life. Paul says, "That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believed and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved." (Romans 10:9-10.) If you have done in your private room or workplace, then you need to tell to your friends or love ones about what you have done, so they may rejoice with you and want to have that relationship with Christ in their own life. There are many occultisms in the world, which do not know the love of God and His great plan for those who believe in Him. As it is written in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EDT

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In Luke 1, there are two songs recorded, Mary and Zechariah’s songs. These two songs were dedicated to the coming of the Messiah. Their songs were praising to God. A song is an expression to give thanks and praises to God. It is the most powerful tool to write a letter to Him. Psalm 144:9-10 says, “I will sing a new song to you, O God; on the ten-stringed lyre I will make music to you, to the One who gives victory to kings, who delivers his servant David from the deadly sword.”

Before we look to the song of Mary, let’s turn to I Samuel 2:1-10. In this text, we see that Hannah’s prayer to give an expression to God for her son, Samuel.

Then Hanna prayed and said: “My heart rejoices in the LORD; in the LORD my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance. There is no holy one like the LORD; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God. Do not keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak such arrogance, for the LORD is a God who knows, and by him deeds are weighed. The bows of warriors are broken, but those who stumbled are armed with strength. Those who were full hire themselves out for food, but those who were hungry hunger no more. She who was barren has borne seven children, but she who has had many sons pines away.

“The LORD brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up. The LORD sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts. He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor.

“For the foundations of the earth are the LORD’s; upon them he has set the world. He will guard the feet of his saints, but the wicked will be silenced in darkness. It is not by strength that one prevails; those who oppose the LORD will be shattered. He will thunder against them from heaven; the LORD will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.” (I Samuel 2:1-10.)

From I Samuel 2:1-10, we see that Hanna was rejoicing over her unborn child. It was not just because she wanted to be a mother of child, but because God loved her and her action toward Him was filled with a great amount of faith to trust Him (see I Samuel 1:5-20). The relationship between Hanna and Mary is trusting God faithfully and thanking and praising Him for the answer.

In this session of the life and teachings of Jesus, we are going to take in-depth of Mary’s prayer or song. Let’s read in Luke 1:46-56.

And Mary said: "My soul magnifies the Lord,

And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant;
For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
For He who is mighty has done great things for me,
And holy is His name.
And His mercy is on those who fear Him
From generation to generation.
He has shown strength with His arm;
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
And exalted the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
And the rich He has sent away empty.
He has helped His servant Israel,
In remembrance of His mercy,
As He spoke to our fathers,
To Abraham and to his seed forever."

And Mary remained with her about three months, and returned to her house. (Luke 1:46-56 NKJV.)

This prayer hasn’t related to the kind of the religious ritual prayer, but it was prayer for giving thanks to God, the Creator. Of course, some churches may take this passage or The Lord’s Prayer into their ritual traditional service since the early AD. Begin in 300 AD, the Roman Catholic Church prayed for the dead. In 394 AD, the Catholic Church started to have Mass as a daily service. In 600 AD, the Catholic Church started to pray for Mary and saints and so on. These events are not in our history books, because of the religious doctrine that the Paganism practiced over many years before there were the Roman Catholicism developed and it arrived to the Christianity. Even Jesus predicted these kinds of activities to Christianize them. Jesus said in John 14:30, “I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming.” The prince of this world is Satan. As he is in the world, he can try to make many Christian designations and confuse them with creating many new ritual traditions. But he can’t control those who are truly saved by the grace of God through Jesus Christ.

In Luke 1:46-47, Mary began her prayer by praising God and rejoicing with Him. This verse of the passage is the most important scene of portraying Mary. She said, “My soul magnifies the Lord,

And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.” Her soul was beginning to overflow with glorifying and rejoicing in God, because the Holy Spirit touched her life.

Romans 8:26-27 says, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us to groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.”

You and I can sing a song as Mary if we let the Holy Spirit intercedes for us in accordance with the will of God. As we see in today’s Christian evangelists and churches, many people want to have answers to their prayers and needs by going to Christian convention events, such as Billy Graham Evangelism Crusade and the Promise Keepers. Why do many people depend on the church and evangelism leaders than God the Almighty? Do they think human can heal them? Although they seem to praising God at the convention events, people are so caught up with the leaders. If you want to have more exploration on Christian convention events, then consider reading Revelation 17-18 and the Cutting Edge Ministries Website. You may find the behind the plan of the Christian convention event and the New World Order Plan.

Read Luke 1:48 carefully. This verse may cause us to confuse to come up with the statement. In the pass eight months, I read and studied on the Roman Catholicism. As some Christians know little about this Christian denominational group and Mary as the Mother of God or Queen Heaven. If you read Luke 1:48, the phrase “He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant.” In the NIV says, “…he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.” This is what the phrase means. God has selected one very person who could serve Him by taking care of His Son, Jesus. As He saw Mary, He chose her to do His given task. In Luke 1:48b, Mary said that all the generations would call her blessed because God’s Son came to us through her divine appointment with God. But not as blessed through Mary, it’s blessed through God. God had been planning for this young woman, Mary, that she may obey Him and to involve with His plan.

Mary indicated that God had been working His plan for her life (Luke 1:49). Unlike Mary, today’s world indicated that getting a miracle is working through our efforts. Even humanist teaches us that there is no other gods than ourselves. The Bible said clear that someday some of us fall from the faith and follow the demon teaching (I Timothy 4:1). If we look at October 31, noticed that many people are celebrating the Halloween night, which has been forebidden by God, and it’s related to the Paganism and Satanism. But in the case of Mary, she was celebrating the birth of the Messah with God the Father of the universe.

“And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation (Luke 1:50).” Since the beginning of the world, God didn’t loose His loving character to His people. Yet, over the years, after the death of Moses, God’s children have forgotten the mercy of God in them. Throughout the Old Testament, God had been testing His people to trust Him. Exodus 34:6-7 says, “THE LORD, THE LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.”

Mary knew that God provided everything in His power (Luke 1:51-53). She didn’t need to be afraid because of the power of God. Nor she didn’t need to be hidden herself from an angel of the Lord because she understood that God has been faithful to her. If there is the one thing missing from today’s people’s need. It is because some of us may have closed the door from hearing God. We have all the resources that we need to survive on earth, but we may don’t know what we have missed in our spiritual lives. Paul declared that he can do anything through Jesus Christ who gave him the strength (Philippians 4:13). The angel said to Mary, “with God nothing will be impossible” (Luke 1:37).

You and I can do anything possible if we trust God through Jesus Christ. There is only way to have successful life, that is trusting in God and His power. The Lord said, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways [than] my ways” (Isaiah 55:8, emphasize is mine).

The angel said to Mary, “He [God] has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy, As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever.” And Mary remained with her [Elizabeth] about three months, and returned to her house. (Luke 1:54-56.)

Are you saved? Are your love ones and friends saved in the grace of God through Jesus Christ? The purpose of this ministry is to share with you how much God loves you and me and wants to come in our own life to take us through any obstacles in our daily life. As Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (John 14:1-3.)

If you are lukewarm in your relationship with Jesus Christ and want to know Him as your personal Savior and Lord of your life, please consider asking Him to forgive your sins and invite Him into your life. Paul says, "That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believed and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved." (Romans 10:9-10.) If you have done in your private room or workplace, then you need to tell to your friends or love ones about what you have done, so they may rejoice with you and want to have that relationship with Christ in their own life. There are many occultisms in the world, which do not know the love of God and His great plan for those who believe in Him. As it is written in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EDT

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What if your friend visits you with great news? Your friend would have news about her/his marriage, new baby, or new job promotion. Whatever is, your friend wants to tell you about the news. Does your friend tell you good news of his/her life? Do you love your friend when he/she has great report? What if your friend has bad report, do you still have that same love in your friendship? In Proverbs 17:17 says, "A friend loves you all the time…"

You can love your friend even though your friend can’t agree with you for some of the time. You can love your boy- or girlfriend even though your relationship isn’t working out. Jesus gave us a command: Love each other (John 15:17). Even though, your family is like your friend, love each other. In I Corinthians 13, Paul announced that the greatest gift of all is love. Why do you think Mary visited to see Elizabeth to announce the birth of the Messiah?

In Luke 1:39-45, we will see how Mary and Elizabeth welcome each other. Also, we will discover why God gave these women the blessing among of all women. Please, read with me Luke 1:39-45.

At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!" (Luke 1:39-45.)

In Luke 1:39-40, we see that Mary went to Zechariah’s house to greet her relative, Elizabeth (1:36). Mary was spent to travel to Judea for many days, because it was the great distance to Judea from Nazareth. Of course, we know that there was no car or electronic transportation. They only have farm animals, such as donkey. But Mary took the risk to go and meet Elizabeth with the great news.

What if you receive the great news of your life, would you decide to go and visit your friend and tell about it? Nowadays, we have many technologies are available to us to touch with our friends from the great distance. We might use the Online Messenger to chat with our friends or e-mail or telephone. If you like to visit your friend, there are many ways to visit your friends. Why Mary decided to go to Elizabeth by donkey or other animal to meet her relative? In a few moments, we will see the dramatic action when Mary went to see her relative.

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, there was something miraculous appeared from her. As we read in Luke 1:41, Elizabeth received an unborn baby as soon as she heard Mary’s arrival. The Authorize Version of the Bible said, "And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb…" This unborn child will be called John the Baptist and he will be prepared the road for the Messiah. We will see this person’s duty and his faith as we go through the baptism of Jesus. Also, notice that Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit in that same verse. John 14:17 said that anybody cannot receive the Holy Spirit unless the Counselor lives in that person through Jesus Christ.

How? You must believe in Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord. You may go to Sunday worship or mass service and listen to what the preacher is saying; and go to your regular schedule. God didn’t call us only for the Sunday event, but He called us to have the personal loving relationship with Him through our daily schedules. In Luke 1:5-38, the angel called Zechariah and Mary to explain what God would about to do’ through their lives. Exodus 34:6-7 explains that God is a compassionate and merciful God and wants to have the relationship with you. That is why Jesus left us a gift of the Holy Spirit with us, so we can communicate with Him daily. In a case of Elizabeth, the Holy Spirit will lead her to God’s promise.

In Luke 1:42-45 (NLT), we see that Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary. "You are blessed by God above all other women, and your child is blessed. What an honor this is, that the mother of my Lord should visit me! When you came in and greeted me, my baby jumped for joy the instant I heard your voice! You are blessed, because you believed that the Lord would do what he said."

Why Elizabeth thinks that God blesses Mary among all other women? Before I take you this question, let’s look back to women in the Book of Genesis. Even though God only gave Adam to have dominion over Garden of Eden, He also created Eve to accompany the man (Genesis 2:20b-25), so he didn’t had to be lonely. Yet, throughout the Book of Genesis, God gave women the blessings among the nation. For example, God gave Sarah Isaac in her old age. Then He gave her and her family the blessing among the nation. Although God didn’t gave women the same rule as men received, He used women for His purpose for the family. No wonder why Paul said that there are two different rules among the husband and wife in I Timothy 2.

Why God blessed Mary? Even though Mary was born from the sin nature (Rom 3:23), why He blessed her? Although the Bible does not show about Mary’s childhood, God even can use the foolish things of the world to accomplish His plan and His prophecy. (See I Corinthians 1:26-29.) Because God loved Mary as His child, He gave Mary an assignment to take care His Son, Jesus, while He was on the mission for His Father. In Luke 1:45 says, "Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished."

Do you believe God is working in your life? Being Christian, it doesn’t mean that we need to find certain denominational group to believe that God is real in our lives. There are so many different ways to learn about the Christianity of the world, but we only need to know the true basic of the Word and Character of God—the gospel of Jesus Christ and His characters toward to the other people and us—and have fellowship with Him in our daily schedules.

Are you saved? Are your love ones and friends saved in the grace of God through Jesus Christ? The purpose of this ministry is to share with you how much God loves you and me and wants to come in our own life to take us through any obstacles in our daily life. As Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (John 14:1-3.)

If you are lukewarm in your relationship with Jesus Christ and want to know Him as your personal Savior and Lord of your life, please consider asking Him to forgive your sins and invite Him into your life. Paul says, "That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believed and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved." (Romans 10:9-10.) If you have done in your private room or workplace, then you need to tell to your friends or love ones about what you have done, so they may rejoice with you and want to have that relationship with Christ in their own life. There are many occultisms in the world, which do not know the love of God and His great plan for those who believe in Him. As it is written in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EDT

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Have you ask God, “How will this be since…” Everyday we face the problems in our lives. But sometime, we might receive bonus from our jobs with or without surprising announcement. Even when we struggle in our lives, God knows we need some extra hands to resolve our circumstances. His answer to our prayers might or not be surprising to us. God answers our prayer in three ways:

1) God answers our prayers on what we exactly need from circumstances, but we need to surrender our wills and turn to His.

2) He answers our prayer might be much greater than what we expected. Hebrews 11:40 declares that He had planned something better for us (NIV). We need to wait for God to answer our request.

3) He answers as no. This is the most difficult for us to accept, because we usually have something to desire. Yes, God gave us to desire something in our lives. Psalm 20:4 says, “May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.” But He has much greater idea for our lives. He says, “My thoughts are not like your thoughts. Your ways are not like my ways.” (Isaiah 55:8.)

As we continue study through the tradition of Christmas and Christianity, we will discover about what God is going to do with Mary. Last time, we looked in-depth through Mary and Paganism. I also discussed about the tradition of Christmas. In Jeremiah 10 and 44, we see these kinds of religious practices from the people of Israel. If you read through those two chapters in Jeremiah, we will see the comparison of that time era and today period which we are living.

Now, let’s turn to Luke 1 as we continue on the series of The Birth of Jesus Foretold. Read with me in verses 34 through 38.

"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"

The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God."

"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her. (Luke 1:34-38.)

In this passage, Mary was wondering about the birth of the Messiah. In Luke 1:34 reveals that Mary was a virgin. Since the angel told her about what she is going to receiving, she wouldn’t know what to do about the situation. Mathew tells us that Joseph was going about to divorce Mary because of her pregnancy before their deep relationship (Matthew 1:19). What if you are in this situation and you do not know what to do? Our country shows that there is a greatest amount of divorce couple from the marriage. We see many young teens are taking action to have sexual relationship without knowing their risks. Unlike Mary, many people are seeking their ways to have the love, pleasure, and power in their lives.

If we look closely in Matthew 1 and Luke 1 on the account of Mary, we will see that she and her husband, Joseph, had conversation with God’s angel to see this is the right thing to do. In Hebrews 12:4 says, “Marry should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all sexual immoral.” If your marriage keeps pure, then God will pour the blessings on you and your household. If you are single as I am, God will be your friend, mate, counselor, and so on.

Then the angel said Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” (Luke 1:35a.) Please, be careful as you read this verse. In a moment, we will look to the pagan way to teach about Mary. As we read this first part of Luke 1:35, it does say the Holy Spirit will come upon Mary. In contrast, Jesus promised to His disciples that He will ask His Father to give them another Counselor or Holy Spirit to be with them forever (see John 14:16-17a). The Holy Spirit is usually does is helping you to keep in stay with God. The pagan way to teach with Mary and other disciples are controlling themselves to take over God’s seat and the Holy Spirit is another god in God’s family (not all three together to make One Trinity).

The second part of Luke 1:35a is “the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” The term “Most High” used as a king. In Hebrews 4:14-5:10, the writer recognized Jesus as the greatest high priest as Melchizedek (Genesis 14:17-24). There is very little detail about Melchizedek in the Old Testament. He was a king of Salem (Jerusalem) and was a priest of God Most High. In fact, the Bible has no family record of Melchizedek. The author of the Book of Hebrews wrote that Melchizedek was the foreshadowing of Jesus. In Mathew 1, Jesus came from the son of David, the son of Abraham, and Melchizedek was lived during the time of Abraham. So what this means is that Jesus was stilled existed since the beginning of the world. The power of the Most High will overshadow Mary to be born, so He can show the light of the Gospel to us.

He will be called the Son of God (Luke 11:35b). Throughout the books of Gospel, Jesus gave demonstration that He is at lower level of God’s seat, so we may know He was and is God, who loves and cares us. There is no other gods like Him. He is the part of Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—to make One Unity of Jesus Christ. This event appeared when Elizabeth was bare a son, John the Baptist, for six months (Luke 1:36).

How and why is God doing this to young and old women? Does He know about the situation they are in? Caesar Augusta tried to take over the Rome and King Herod was ruling the land of Judah. What is it possible for Mary and Elizabeth to have their own child? What if this situation was yours? Do you believe that God can do anything in your life or doubt about His plan for your life?

“For nothing is impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37.) An angel of the Lord said there is nothing that God can’t do. If you are in a bad situation, just ask Him in His name, and He can do anything for you. Paul said, “I can do everything through him [Jesus Christ] who gives me strength (Philippians 4:13).” You try to quit your life, but God is calling you to gear you up. When your life seems to be boring, God wants you to be enjoying your life. When your household crashes down, God wants to put your life back together.

But what is your response to God’s desire for your life? This is what Mary’s repose: “I am the Lord’s servant… May it be to me as you said.” (Luke 1:38.) Is your response like Mary? Do you give let God chance to know you? If you like to have more experience with God, let Him to come into your life.

Are you saved? Are your love ones and friends saved in the grace of God through Jesus Christ? The purpose of this ministry is to share with you how much God loves you and me and wants to come in our own life to take us through any obstacles in our daily life. As Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:1-3.)

If you are lukewarm in your relationship with Jesus Christ and want to know Him as your personal Savior and Lord of your life, please consider asking Him to forgive your sins and invite Him into your life. Paul says, “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believed and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” (Romans 10:9-10.) If you have done in your private room or workplace, then you need to tell to your friends or love ones about what you have done, so they may rejoice with you and want to have that relationship with Christ in their own life. There are many occultisms in the world, which do not know the love of God and His great plan for those who believe in Him. As it is written in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EDT

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What if you have an unrespecting guest while your house in mess? You would probably have quick greeting and shut the door. Or you may invite the person in your house and would say that you are sorry that the house is in mess. What if this guest is a person from the church who likes to share with you the love of Jesus Christ?

In this series, we will look to many aspects of Christmas tradition and the Christianity. But also on this series, we will look to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and today’s Church. Before we read the passage, consider to these questions. Why we celebrate the birth of our Savior? What was the earliest church tradition of Christmas? And how we celebrate this holiday today? We may not go through all three questions at once, but we will go into them through this study series.

Please, let’s read Luke 1:29-33 together.

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." (Luke 1:29-33.)

In this passage, we have found that the angel was going to announce great news to Mary. But Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be (Luke 1:29). Why she felt greatly trouble in her heart? I think that she was afraid because God would judge her. Or she was filled with fear because she never had been seen one of God’s angels in her life. We do not know why Mary was greatly troubled in her heart, but she let the angel to speak.

In our generation, some of us have fear of God as Zechariah and Mary did. But the most people might have the fear of something else, such as the school board administration, government, and court. Nowadays, many school students can’t spend their time with God in the campus. ACLU has refused the name of God in many schools and prohibited the sexual education in the public school. To have successful life before we enter the eternal life, we need to pay attention to God as Mary did.

In Luke 1:30, an angel of the Lord began to say Mary that she doesn’t have to be afraid, because she has found a favor with God. What favor? God gave this woman a favor to be the mother of Jesus. This doesn’t mean that Mary began to reveal her divine nature of the creation. Most today’s Paganism teaches on the Holy Mother Mary as the Mother of God, which the people of Israel practiced to worship their gods (Jeremiah 44). Throughout the research on the pagan religion, this is the most common misinterpretation about Mary in the Roman Catholic Church. There is no scriptural reference about God asked to be His mother. I am not trying to criticize our sisters and brothers of Christ in Catholic Church rather than telling you the truth of the Word of God and the Christianity.

Listen when the one of Catholic members asked about Mary: I would like to know why the Bible doesn't tell much about Virgin Mary. This question came from the Website is called Just for Catholics. It is the Website that would help those who want to know the difference between the Roman Catholicism and the true concept of the Christianity. This is what Just for Catholics (www.justforcatholics.org) response to the question:

“It is true, the Bible does not say much about Mary - though it tells us enough about her that we should know. She is the virgin mother of our Lord, whom God chose by His grace. And for the unique privilege she will ever be called blessed by all Christians.

“The Roman Catholic doctrines about Mary, namely, the perpetual virginity, the immaculate conception, the ascension to heaven, Queen of Heaven, mediatrix, and others are conspicuously absent from the Bible.

“Why so? Simply because the Bible is a book about Another person, who was chosen and appointed by God to be the mediator and savior of the world. That person is Jesus Christ.

“’The Lord Jesus said: “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” (John 5:39). The Bible is the Book about the Lord Jesus Christ. “

God called Mary to be in His favor, not because creating another religion, but bring Jesus to save His people from the bondage of their and our sins.

Read Luke 1:31. The angel says that Mary will be with child and give a birth to a son. In Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah prophesied this before the coming of Messiah, which is Jesus Christ. The name Jesus came from the word Joshua, which it means Savior or Justus. In the Bible, the name Jesus mentioned as Joshua twice and 1,975 times mention for Justus, which it means the word just or justice. He is the justice God among all nations. You and I can have God who is the justice and love us. There is no other gods like Him.

In Luke 1:32-33, the angel announces that Jesus will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; God will give Him the throne of David and He will rule over the House of Jacob forever. In Psalms 2:7, God said, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father.” In 2 Samuel 7:14 and 1 Chronicles 17:13, He said, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son.”

The word Christmas has nothing do with the birth of our Savior, because it came from the people own idea to make a worldwide holiday. If you read Luke 1 and 2, there was no fancy decoration around the barn. If we turn to Jeremiah 10, the people of Israel decorated the tree to turn against God. According to the historical document, Christmas was originated from the Paganism and it Christianized by the Roman Catholic Church in about between 300s and 440s AD.

As we read in Jeremiah 10, the people of Israel made themselves gods through the decoration of tree. But the celebration of Jesus’ birth has brought the meaningful in our own life. He came to the world, so we may be saved to the eternal destiny that where God wants us to be. Again, it is God’s grace through Jesus Christ to you to be saved. It is not our choices to live in His kingdom, because Jesus said clear that He choose us to be set apart from this world (John 15:19). If we love the world, then we are not His (John 15:19a). Do you belong to this world or to God’s kingdom? Once you make the decision of your life to accept Jesus Christ, you will see the huge difference from your old to new life.

Are you saved? Are your love ones and friends saved in the grace of God through Jesus Christ? The purpose of this ministry is to share with you how much God loves you and me and wants to come in our own life to take us through any obstacles in our daily life. As Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:1-3.)

If you are lukewarm in your relationship with Jesus Christ and want to know Him as your personal Savior and Lord of your life, please consider asking Him to forgive your sins and invite Him into your life. Paul says, “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believed and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” (Romans 10:9-10.) If you have done in your private room or workplace, then you need to tell to your friends or love ones about what you have done, so they may rejoice with you and want to have that relationship with Christ in their own life. There are many occultisms in the world, which do not know the love of God and His great plan for those who believe in Him. As it is written in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EDT

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Before the births of John the Baptist and Jesus, Isaiah prophesied that there would be Messiah coming to the world to show the light of truth. Throughout his book, Isaiah explained and characterized this Messiah and His life and death. For example, in Isaiah 52:13-53:12, he gave us the future description of the suffering of God’s servant, which is the death of Jesus Christ that explained in the four books of Gospel. But before that, Isaiah prophesied on the virgin woman that we are going to look in Luke 1.

In Isaiah 7:14 declares, “The Lord himself will give you a sign: The Virgin will be pregnant. She will have a son, and she will name him Immanuel.” The word “virgin” is the Hebrew term means “a young woman.” It often means a girl who was not married and had not yet had sexual relations. As we read in Luke 1, we find that this virgin has to be Mary from the town of David. Again, we have known that Mary is a virgin and received a son is called “Immanuel.” Some of the Bible translations in the New Testament are written as Emmanuel. The word “Immanuel” or “Emmanuel” is simply meant, “God is with us.” As we read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, God was with His people at their trials of life and He explained us His love and mercy by dying at the cross and resurrected to Heaven. And we read in the final chapter of His plan that He will come back to us again and take us His home, and then He will destroy all the armies of Evil One to put them into Hell.

Read with me in Luke 1:26-28.

In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored. The Lord is with you.”

In this text, in the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent Gabriel to Virgin Mary to announce the Good News. This message was going to be blast to the whole country of Israel, because throughout the Old Testament, the people were waiting for the Messiah to come. Of course, they didn’t recognize when He came to the world as John 1:11 declared. Why? Why they didn’t recognize Him as their Father and King?

Look into today’s world. We didn’t know what would happen to World Trade Center before the 9/11 airplane hijackers crashed. Did we prepare to meet our enemies before that day? Why we so focused on our daily schedules and haven’t focused on God’s plan? If we follow God’s ways of human’s life, we wouldn’t miss the target of our enemies. If the Israelites obey the words of prophets, they wouldn’t miss the Messiah. They would celebrate His coming with Mary and Joseph. What if we do not recognize the Second Coming of Jesus and miss Him before the beginning of the Great Tribulation? What would we do?

In Luke 1:26, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth. There are two kinds of angels living between the heaven and this world. One of them is belonged to God and another is belonged to Satan. One of the days, God’s angels are going to battle against the armies of Satan. As we are living, the enemies of Christ gather to plan against the land of Israel. Now, the people of the world are planning to make One World Religion as the part of New World Order Plan through many national projects, such as the New Jerusalem Covenant Project through many Jewish and Christian denominations. About certain percentage of the world population will die because of the world tragedies, especially in Israel.

Throughout the Bible we see the people were struggling against their opponents. Good vs. Bad. In this case of Luke, Gabriel was a messenger from God. He was with Daniel when he explained the interpretation of Daniel’s vision (Daniel 8-9). He was with Zechariah when he delivered God’s message about John the Baptist (Luke 1:11-17, 19-20). Now, Gabriel is talking to Mary, a virgin who pledged to be a wife of Joseph, who came from David’s family.

As we see in Luke 1:26, this miraculous had taken place in Nazareth. It is located at farther north from Jerusalem and Bethlehem. As we read in Matthew 2, Joseph and Mary went down to Bethlehem to receive their Son. Micah prophesied this before the birth of Jesus: “But, you Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.” (Micah 5:2; Matthew 2:6.) According to genealogies of Jesus (Matthew 1:1-17; Luke 3:23-37), He came from the family of the Old Testament. Matthew recorded the family of Jesus since the son of David, the son of Abraham. In contrast with Luke, he drew the family line since the day of Adam’s birth. As we look in John 1, there was the Word and the Word was with God in the beginning of His creation. We read in Colossians, Paul wrote, “He is the image of the indivisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things were hold together.” (Colossians 1:15-17.)

In II Samuel 7, God promised to David that his son, Solomon, will build a Temple for Him. Also, God promised to David that his house and his kingdom will endure forever before the Almighty God. His throne will be established forever. God blessed David and anointed as a king of Israel through Samuel. Jesus is the Lion of Judah, because He came from the Tribe of Judah and David. That is the word form as Jewish. Most of Jewish people do not accept Jesus as their Savior, because they only depend on the Old Testament way to understand God’s character. Do you have the real picture or understanding of Jesus Christ’s character in your life?

The next verse, in Luke 1:27, is that a virgin woman, Mary, pledged to marry Joseph, who came from a descendant of David. If we look into Mary and Joseph, they were planning to divorce because he found that she was pregnant before their sexual relationship (Matthew 1:18-19). The NIV Student Bible said that is considering to Matthew 1:18-20, “Jewish custom in Joseph and Mary’s day recognized a state called ‘betrothal’ that feel somewhere between our modern commitments of engagement and marriage. A betrothal was binding than an engagement: It could only be broken with an act of divorce. And if a betrothal woman became pregnant, she was regarded as adulteress.” But an angel of the Lord said, in Joseph’s dream, which he considered not to divorce Mary because she found God’s favor in her (Matthew 1:20-21; Luke 1:28).

As we look at the beginning of Jesus’ life, what we, as Christian, would do when God calls us for His favor. There are so many ways to apart ourselves from God. Our entertainment schedules are becoming the most important activity in our own life. According to the search I’ve been doing, Dr. James Dobson, from the Focus on Family, and Chuck Colson promote the movie, Henry Potter, to the family leisure activity. All the magical and action movies are considered as the family activities. From the biblical aspect on the this and other movies that are related to witchcraft and fantasy, God warned us to apart from these activities (Leviticus 14:26; Deuteronomy 13:1-11). Instead, He called us to be His children and live in His kingdom with Him in love and peace, forever.

God called us to be in His family. According to Galatians 6:10, Paul said, “When we have the opportunity to help anyone, we should do it. But we should give special attention to those who are in the family of believers.” These believers could be your family, friends, neighbors, and/or employers, who believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savor. In Hebrews 2:11 says, “Jesus, who makes people holy, and those who are made holy are from the same family. So he is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters.” Do you have close family and/or friends who close to you and close to Jesus Christ? “It is time for judgment to begin with God’s family. And if that judging begins with us, what will happen to those people who do not obey the Good News of God?” (I Peter 2:17.)

Are you saved? Are your love ones and friends saved in the grace of God through Jesus Christ? The purpose of this ministry is to share with you how much God loves you and me and wants to come in our own life to take us through any obstacles in our daily life. As Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:1-3.)

If you are lukewarm in your relationship with Jesus Christ and want to know Him as your personal Savior and Lord of your life, please consider asking Him to forgive your sins and invite Him into your life. Paul says, “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believed and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” (Romans 10:9-10.) If you have done in your private room or workplace, then you need to tell to your friends or love ones about what you have done, so they may rejoice with you and want to have that relationship with Christ in their own life. There are many occultisms in the world, which do not know the love of God and His great plan for those who believe in Him. As it is written in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EDT

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Have you asked God an awkward question about why this and why is that? Have you refused to listen to someone and you miss the opportunity? We all had experienced some rejections or miss the opportunity in our own life. From Luke 1:18-20, we will see how Zechariah misses the opportunity and needs to face the punishment until his son’s birth.

From the last two studies, we looked at John the Baptist’s family background and what an angel of the Lord had spoken to Zechariah. In Luke 1:13-17 says, “But the angel said to him: ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord. And he will go before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteousness—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.’”

Remember Malachi prophesied that there was going to be a messenger before the Lord (Mal 3:1). The angel prophesied that this messenger will be a joy and delight to Zechariah, and many will rejoice because of his birth (Luke 1:14). Also, he will be filled with the Holy Spirit and power of Elijah to make ready a people prepared for the Lord (Luke 1:15-17). But there was a conflict in the heart of Zechariah. Let’s read in Luke 1:18.

“Zechariah asked the angel, ‘How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”

In this verse, Zechariah asked the angel a good question, but he blew it by adding how old his wife and he was. Let’s begin with his question: How can I be sure of this? When Moses climbed up to the burning bush and met the Lord, he asked Him how he could bring the people of Israel escape from Egypt. “How can I be sure of this is You, Lord?” Moses would ask. As we read in Exodus 3-4, we see that God gave Moses some of the signs He made. In Luke 1:13, an angel of the Lord said to Zechariah that his prayer has been heard. God will answer your prayer if you put your faith and trust in Him.

But we cannot argue against God. Paul asked us a question of arguing against God, “Does not the potter have the right to make out the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?” (Romans 9:21.) It is hard for us not to argue against our families for what is the best for us as individual. As in Luke 1:18b, we find some excuses not to obey our parents. But do not mix with Matthew 10:34-36 on gaining God’s messages to our own life and obeying our own people. As God said, we need to honor our parents (Deuteronomy 5:16).

Do you know why the American families have created many problems? One of the reasons is that they do not have the relationship with the One who created of this world. We could worship Buddha or Hindu, but does he give the answer to our problems? How is our material thing? Do they give the solution to our financial issues? Buddha, Hindu, or other gods from any otherworld religions can’t answer the prayer of our needs. Even some Christian denomination groups worship the idols, such as the Mother Nature of the creation, rather than God, by misinterpreting the Scripture. Only Jesus can answer to our requests, because He proved Himself to be our God by showing us His resurrection and His love and justice. The only way He can answer to our prayers is that we don’t need to excuse ourselves from Him.

Read Luke 1:19-22 and see why Zechariah can’t speak. He rejected the Word of God’s promise by excusing himself. In this text, Zechariah saw a vision—a vision from God. We do not know how long he was in the Temple, but we understand that he saw a messenger of the Lord.

Now he can’t speak to his people for days rather than making signs (Luke 1:22). But look when Elizabeth became pregnant. “When his time of service was completed, he returned home. After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and five months remained in seclusion. ‘The Lord has been done this for me,’ she said. ‘In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.’” (Luke 1:23-25.) Are you the one of them, who wants doing God’s favor in your life? Take a break time from your regular hours and give your time to Jesus Christ.

Are you saved? Are your love ones and friends saved in the grace of God through Jesus Christ? The purpose of this ministry is to share with you how much God loves you and me and wants to come in our own life to take us through any obstacles in our daily life. As Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:1-3.)

If you are lukewarm in your relationship with Jesus Christ and want to know Him as your personal Savior and Lord of your life, please consider asking Him to forgive your sins and invite Him into your life. Paul says, “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believed and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” (Romans 10:9-10.) If you have done in your private room or workplace, then you need to tell to your friends or love ones about what you have done, so they may rejoice with you and want to have that relationship with Christ in their own life. There are many occultisms in the world, which do not know the love of God and His great plan for those who believe in Him. As it is written in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EDT

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On the week of August 29, 2005, the category between 3 and 5 Katrina Hurricane hits the most of southern states of United States, such as in New Orleans, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Many millions of people lost their home and their loved ones on that week. About 80 percent of land in New Orleans covered with water as if it happened on the day of Noah (Genesis 6-9). Many people who were in the southern coast are trying to survive with no where else to go and no food to eat.

Now, after this tragedy storm, many governments, churches, construction workers, and others around the United States are trying to help the victims with providing them to travel to shelters in other places, food, drink, medication needs, blankets, beds, money, and etc. Many news reports are gathering in southern states to inform us what's happening in the wealthiest lands.

Have you wondered why this country has many hurricanes during summer and other natural disaster? Have you why God let the people suffer from the natural disaster on innocent people? If we look back to what happened in Washington, DC and Pentagon, on September 11, 2001, many people were hurting, suffering, and worries, because some Islamic leaders were trying to hurt the United States.

Although some of us may understand why God allows this country suffer from many natural storms, earthquakes, and rebellion religious leaders, He does this for good reasons. Some storms may create from Satan and try to destroy us, but God is trying to reach to us to bring us to Him.

Read with me in Matthew 24:7.

Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

In Mathew 24, Jesus told His disciple about what kind of judgment that God will bring on earth on the last day. For us, in this chapter of Matthew, it tells us what happened in past, what's happening now, and what will be happening in near future. Matthew 24 is the miniature book of Revelation.

I understand that many prophecy teachers use Matthew 24 to predict the future events, such as the wrath of God. But I'm not going to talk more on the last day of prophecy; instead I would like discuss what's happening on the world right now and how we can survive from any storms and God's wrath.

A son of Pat Robertson, Gordon (Vice President of CBN) said, "The storm can happen at anywhere in anytime."

We all have to face storms in our lives sometime. Having storms in our lives can teach us life lessons and help us to increase our faiths in Jesus Christ. If you don't like to face the problems, it doesn't matter, because they will come to you. Look what Peter did to increase his faith when he saw Jesus was walking on the water (Matthew 14:22-33). Even though Peter was scared to walk on the water to Jesus, he tried to challenge himself to increase his faith. Unfortunately, he doubted the challenge.

The storm that the southern states had was like what Peter tried to do the challenge. Even though many people dead or survived from the Katrina, God was there in the midst of the storm.

The storm was their wake-up call from God. As the tragedy of 9/11, God was trying to call us to wake up from our dreamlands and it's time to surrender our wills to Him.

Some today's preachers proclaim that God will not judge this wealth and bless country, United States of America. I have a bad news for those who believe this. Although this country was founded by the foundation of God's Word, our country will not escape from God's wrath. If we look back from the history of America earliest time through now, we see many things have changed from the Christian value that our forefathers had. Nowadays, many Christians cannot have freedom to pray and read the Holy Bible at the public community; and the other religious people can free to express their religious values in anywhere. Since we let the other religions have the freedom in this country, our Christian value becomes weaker.

The Bible says that God will begin to judge those who are in His house (I Peter 4:17). He will not judge us according to our works, but He will judge us according to what we have done with the gift of salvation.

Let me ask you this question: What would you do if the hurricane hit your house? Although our country seems to be the most success nation, the storm is still going to hit our land and God will test on us with the storm.

Are you and loved ones ready for the return of Jesus Christ? If you are already have insurance to the eternally, are you ready to meet the people who are victims of Katrina Hurricane and/or who do not know Jesus Christ as their Savior and introduce them the Lord Jesus Christ?

Katrina Hurricane 2005 may seem to be end of southern states history, but God is not going to end of people's breathe. This may be the beginning for the people to have a second chance to live their lives for Him. God would like let people to have revival in their lives by turning their hearts to Him.

How's about you? Are you ready to have a revival in your life? We do not have much time to live in this world. God will count down to the final day of our human history; then He will bring the judgment to the earth to wipe out all the evildoers and unrepentant persons before He would take us to the New Earth to live with Him forever.

Are you saved? Are your love ones and friends saved in the grace of God through Jesus Christ? The purpose of this study is to help you to become closer relationship with Jesus Christ. As Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (John 14:1-3.)

If you are lukewarm in your relationship with Jesus Christ and want to know Him as your personal Savior and Lord of your life, please consider asking Him to forgive your sins and invite Him into your life. Paul says, "That if you confess with your mouth, `Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believed and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved." (Romans 10:9-10.) If you have done in your private room or workplace, then you need to tell to your friends or love ones about what you have done, so they may rejoice with you and want to have that relationship with Christ in their own life. There are many occults in the world, which do not know the love of God and His great plan for those who believe in Him. As it is written in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Are you saved? Are your love ones and friends saved in the grace of God through Jesus Christ? The purpose of this study is to help you to become closer relationship with Jesus Christ. As Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (John 14:1-3.)

If you are lukewarm in your relationship with Jesus Christ and want to know Him as your personal Savior and Lord of your life, please consider asking Him to forgive your sins and invite Him into your life. Paul says, "That if you confess with your mouth, `Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believed and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved." (Romans 10:9-10.) If you have done in your private room or workplace, then you need to tell to your friends or love ones about what you have done, so they may rejoice with you and want to have that relationship with Christ in their own life. There are many occults in the world, which do not know the love of God and His great plan for those who believe in Him. As it is written in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EDT

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From the previous study, we looked at the background of John the Baptist’s parents, Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah, and his wife, Elizabeth, a descendant of Aaron (Luke 1:5). Zechariah and Elizabeth were “upright in the sight of God” as Luke reported. Of course, we looked to their marriage and how we could have successful single and/or marriage life in Jesus Christ as priesthood. In I Peter 2:9 says, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priests, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession. You were chosen to tell about the wonderful acts of God, who called you out of darkness into his wonderful life.” That’s from the New Century Version. Revelation 17:8 tells us that whose names are not written in the book of life since the beginning of the world. What is this mean that God keeps record what we did with the salvation of Jesus Christ, while we are on the earth, and He will judge us according to that gift of salvation. If God didn’t find one of our names in the book of life will go to the eternal death.

Read with me in Luke 1:11-17.

“Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him [Zechariah], standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord. And he will go before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteousness—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.’”

Luke 1:11 tells us that angel was appeared to Zechariah at the right side of altar of incense. To me, it seems that Zechariah was in the Temple of the Lord. From the Old Testament, the Temple was the Israelites place of worship. It was the most magnificent by King Solomon. As we see at the end of II Chronicles, the Babylonian destroyed the Temple, because the Israelites turned against God. From the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, we see that the people of Israelites began to rebuild the Temple.

As we see in the verse 11 in Luke 1, an angel or messenger of the Lord appeared to Zechariah at the right side of the altar of incense. This is the most significant of phrase. Throughout the Bible we read about the right hand of God. In the Book of Revelation said that Jesus is sitting at the right side of God. But, wait, what is on the left side? Do this mean people, who use their left hands, would directly go to the Hell? I don’t think so, because Jesus said that God so loved the world that He gave us His Son to save us from the world (John 3:16-17). He prayed at the last moment of His life before the crucifixion, “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.” (John 17:15.)

As we see Zechariah’s emotion in Luke 1:12, he was afraid when he saw the angel. We will see how Mary responds to the angel with this kind of emotion. The NIV Bible says that Zechariah was startled and was gripped with fear. What if you had a nightmare on the End Time, would you be scared? Daniel said that he became weak and sick for several days after he saw the vision of End Time (Daniel 8:27a). There is no doubts about we are living at very last day of our breaths. As we look at the events around today’s globe, we see many tragedies in Israel, the land that God puts the foundation of the world.

Look in Luke 1:13. The angel said to Zechariah that he does not be afraid. We do not have to be afraid when it comes to the crisis. Isaiah 55:8-9, the Lord says, “My thoughts are not like your thoughts. Your ways are not like my ways. Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” Do not fear when it comes to crisis in your or my relationships. The word fear means afraid or setting our emotions in awkward situation. It also can be as in painful situation, especially in broken relationship, for at a certain amount of time. Do not fear when your or my business has been crashed down. Because on the second part of Luke 1:13 says “your prayer has been heard.” God has a great plan for each of our life (see Hebrews 11:40). He also said that He has a future and hope for our own life (see Jeremiah 29:11). We can’t go wrong, if we put God in our lives and trust Him and not lean under own understanding way in life (see Proverbs 3:5-6), because God told us so.

Read Luke 1:13c and see what God would do for Zechariah and Elizabeth. From Luke 1:13-17, the angel said to Zechariah that God would give you a boy in their old ages. In Genesis 21:1-7, we see how God had promised and gave Abraham and Sarah a child, Isaac. Isaac means laugher. Here was when God gave the first Patriarch a son, Isaac. As we continue read through Genesis, we see that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were the Patriarch of the land of Israel, which it forms to twelve tribes of Israel from twelve sons of Israel or Jacob. This will lead to the 144,000 of Israelites that God will save before the Antichrist will show himself to the media (Revelation 7:1-8), plus those whose are living for Jesus Christ will be saved. But let’s go back to John the Baptist. Now we come to the description of John the Baptist that an angel is going to announce. (Next time, we will finish on this message series before we look to Mary and Elizabeth.)

As we read in Luke 1:14-15a, the angel of the Lord prophesied that John the Baptist will bring such a joy to the people and he will be great in the sight of the Lord. According to John 1, Matthew 3, and Luke 3, John the Baptist was preaching God’s message to the people by repenting their sins. Look in the second part of that verse, John will not drink any alcohol and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit (as Luke wrote about the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2:1-13). In John 14:16-17a, Jesus promised His disciples that He will ask His Father to bring the Holy Spirit upon them, which will be fulfilled in Acts 1. Do you have the Holy Spirit in your present life? I’m not writing this message from my own idea, because the Bible declares that no one can contact with God unless the Holy Spirit would agree with God. We have the three persons inside in us. They are the soul, the spirit, and the living God. In the marriage, we would have God or material things, mate, and ourselves in our life. To have successful marriage, each of us needs God first.

In Luke 1:16-17, the angel declared that forerunner for Messiah will bring the people to God and he will go before Him to prepare the coming of Christ. “See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.” (Malachi 4:5-6.)

Are you saved? Are your love ones and friends saved in the grace of God through Jesus Christ? The purpose of this ministries is to share with you how much God loves you and me and wants to come in our own life to take us through any obstacles in our daily life. As Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:1-3.)

If you are lukewarm in your relationship with Jesus Christ and want to know Him as your personal Savior and Lord of your life, please consider asking Him to forgive your sins and invite Him into your life. Paul says, “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believed and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” (Romans 10:9-10.) If you have done in your private room or workplace, then you need to tell to your friends or love ones about what you have done, so they may rejoice with you and want to have that relationship with Christ in their own life. There are many occultisms in the world, which do not know the love of God and His great plan for those who believe in Him. As it is written in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EDT

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Before the coming of the Messiah, there was a prophecy about the messenger, who was going to prepare the way for the Almighty One. In John 1, every person thought he was Elijah or the Prophet (John 1:21) when he preached the Good News of God’s Kingdom. As it is written in the Old Testament, "I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way—a voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him." (Mark 1:2-3 from Malachi 3:1 and Isaiah 40:1.) That person was John the Baptist. In the Gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we will see his character and mission for the Messiah to come. But before we look to John the Baptist’s characters, we need to look how he was arrived to this physical world.

As every person in the world came from their parents, John the Baptist came from the loving and godly people named Zechariah and Elizabeth. In today’s text, we will look to his parents’ background and how does this passage can be related to our society. If you have Bible on the side of you, turn to Luke 1:5-10; otherwise, you can read the passage that is next two paragraphs.

"In the time of Herod of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commandments and regulations blamelessly. But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren; and they were both well; along in years.

"Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside." (Luke 1:5-10.)

In this passage, we found that this event happened during the reign of King Herod. Also, it was a time of depression in the land of Israel, because they were begging for the Messiah to bring the peace. In the next chapter of Luke, Caesar Augustus issued decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world (2:1), which caused everyone went to his town to register (2:3).

In Luke 1:5, there was a priest named Zechariah, who lived during the reign of King Herod in Judea. As we look at Zechariah, he was a faithful man and priest, who came from the division of Abijah. Abijah means "God is my father." As we read in the Old Testament, there was Samuel’s corruption son (I Samuel 8:3) and a descendant of Aaron who led the eighth division of service in David’s sanctuary (I Chronicles 24:10). Also, Zechariah had a wife named Elizabeth, who was also a descendant of Aaron (Luke 1:5c). In Luke 1:6 says that they were upright in the sight of God, observing His commandments and regulation blamelessly.

As we look to their marriage life, let’s look into our world point view on the marriage. When I was at Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center, I met couple Christian people who shared with me their pass marriage life. As we discussed on the issue, they demonstrated me what they missed in their lives that caused in broken relationship with Jesus Christ. As we see on the media, many people would want to have marriage life because of the lack of love. Hebrews 13:4-5 says, "Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and sexually immoral. Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’" If you are single as I am, don’t pressure yourself to try to find your mate, because God said that He will take care of your needs and He will celebrate the wedding feast with you in His place. Is the Church, which it represents as His bride?

In Luke 1:7 tells us that Zechariah and his wife had no children because of their old ages. Why God didn’t give them children? As we look Abraham and Sarah, God them a son, Isaac. But when the couple are faithful to God daily, He does not leave in one place. Instead, He waits until they are ready for a child. For instant, when I pray to God, He waits until I am waiting to receive His answer. Maybe you have a situation where you are not getting the answer to your needs.

But nowadays, some couples would decide to have long-term relationship and decide to astray from God. We see the news about the number of the people who decide divorce from each other or to have abortion—a murder of unborn baby. Yes, the baby came from God, and He will answer to your needs, but abortion is not an option. It will take a time. Even Zechariah and Elizabeth can refuse the waiting period that God is going to give a child, but they obeyed the Lord, as we will go further to see in Luke 1.

From Luke 1:8 to 1:10, we see that Zechariah was on the duty before God as being as priesthood. The Greek word for "priesthood" is hierateuma. It denotes "a priesthood" (akin to hierateuo), "a body of priests," consisting of all believers, the whole church (not a special order from among them), called "a holy priesthood (1 Peter 2:5.)." It’s "a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9)," the former term is associated with offering spiritual sacrifices, the latter with the royal dignity of showing forth the Lord's Excellencies.

As in Luke 1:9, Zechariah was chosen by lot and according to the custom of the priesthood. In the Old Testament, God chose the people of Levite, a descendant of Levi who serve God and worked in the temple. Priests were Levites, but not all of them, some had lesser duties. "And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside." (Luke 1:10.)

In the New Testament said that those who believe in Him is called a holy priest. "But you are a chosen people, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession. You were chosen to tell about the wonderful acts of God, who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." (I Peter 2:9.) Even Jesus gave us the Great Commission to tell about the Good News of His kingdom (Matthew 28:18-20). In the household, we are called to serve each other.

When we come to the marriage, there is a different rule between the husband and wife to live God’s way. In I Timothy 2, Paul said that a man should be ahead of his household. The woman does not allow to teach or to have authority over a man, but to listen quietly (I Timothy 2:12). But the women should be reverent in the way they live (Titus 2:3a). As we read Titus 2:3-6, Paul told us that the job description for women should be supposed to do in the family. Nowadays, there are some marry women go out to work and make salary for families. From Genesis 1 to Genesis 2, God created the universe with His mighty hand and He created Adam, the first person that He ever created. Adam was a man, who lived in the Garden. God called Adam to have dominion over the earth. Then He created a woman, Eve, from the one of Adam’s bones. God didn’t call Eve to have the same right that Adam received. But when we see in Genesis 3, the serpent tricked Eve to understand what’s good and what’s bad, which caused Eve received the same right as Adam. To have successful marriage life as in priesthood, we need to let God gives us the duty assignment of household.

Are you saved? Are your love ones and friends saved in the grace of God through Jesus Christ? The purpose of this ministries is to share with you how much God loves you and me and wants to come in our own life to take us through any obstacles in our daily life. As Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (John 14:1-3.)

If you are lukewarm in your relationship with Jesus Christ and want to know Him as your personal Savior and Lord of your life, please consider asking Him to forgive your sins and invite Him into your life. Paul says, “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believed and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” (Romans 10:9-10.) If you have done in your private room or workplace, then you need to tell to your friends or love ones about what you have done, so they may rejoice with you and want to have that relationship with Christ in their own life. There are many occultisms in the world, which do not know the love of God and His great plan for those who believe in Him. As it is written in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EDT

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In the first four books of the New Testament (NT) of the Bible is on the life of the Jesus. The books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are four different eyewitness accounts of Jesus’ life. Although they each tell about the same person, in the same location, during the same time in the history, they each told their stories from their unique perspective.

Some biblical scholars think the four books of the Gospel are for four main geographical regions of the world. As Matthew published his book on Jesus, his book was for the Jewish audience, this links the OT (Old Testament) and NT (New Testament). His view on Jesus as the Messiah ("Anointed One" or "Christ") and King promised in the OT. Matthew emphasizes Jesus’ authority and power.

The Gospel of [John] Mark would probably be written for those were pragmatic Roman readers. His Gospel stressed action and gave a straightforward, blow-by-blow account of Jesus’ work on earth.

John has a different, more reflective style than the other Gospel. Its author selected seven signs that pointed to Jesus as the Son of God and wove together everything else to underscore to that point. His Gospel would probably be written those were non-Jews or Christians. Many church leaders pointed that this book is good starting point to walk with God in the daily basis for the young Christians.

Lastly in between the two books of Mark and John, Gospel of Luke. Luke was also a fine writer of the NT period. He was a doctor or some kind of research specialist. He stressed the births of John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth. In Luke 1:1-4, he said, "Many have undertaken to draw an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty things you have been taught."

The next several weeks, we will study and deal with the first two chapters of the Gospel of Luke. There are several theories of behind of this Christmas story. Some researchers might think that it is all about the symbolism of planets, religions, mythical goddess, and/or tight into the end of the world. But, here, I would like to share the story of Christmas with you in christianology, direct information from the Word of God, not from the human point view.

All the four books of the Gospel are about the Good News of Jesus Christ. They tell us that God brought His Son, Jesus, to save us from our sins in once for all. Although Dr. Luke wrote the second volume of the Gospel, Book of Acts, he emphasized the importance of the Church (Greek word for katholikos or in English word for catholic or the universal church) world after Jesus went to the Heaven.

In the books of the Gospel tells us about how Jesus came to the world as baby in a manger, but in the Book of Revelation gives the description of how Jesus Christ will come again as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Rev. 19:16). In the books of the Gospel, Jesus faced many sufferings and trials while He was on the earth, but as we read in the final chapter of the Bible, He will come back to defeat Satan and his armies. In the books of the Gospel, He went back to the Heaven and be with His Father, but in the Book of Revelation, He will come back to take us His kingdom as He promised in John 14:1-4. Jesus said, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." (John 3:16-17)

But, sadly, in our modern day of the Church, many of us have really focused on the things in this world and have little thought about the kingdom of God. We might usually hear the word of our preachers about Christian family, marriage, financial issues, and our cultural issues, but we might do not hear about His kingdom and/or hell as often.

Yes, many church leaders might have the fear of teaching of the true identity of the Gospel, such as in Matthew 10:34-36. If your family or mine do not gain the truth of God and still follow their tradition ways of the Christian life, and you or I have received the truth from God everyday, then we have to choose to determine to follow our people or God to live in Christian life. We cannot live in two ways of life for God while we are still living with our family members. We can try to witness them by our actions. Jesus didn't say that He came to the world for not bringing peace to the world, but a sword (Matthew 10:34). In Hebrews 4:12-13 says, "For the word of God is living and active. Shaper than any double-edge sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account."

As we conclude this portion of the study series, let us think in which ways that we can live for God. So many of us would think that we are living in a right way and preaching the Good News of Jesus and His kingdom in a right way, but at the bottom line is that we do in wrong ways to pass God's Word to the other. Since the tragedy of 9/11, I wanted to know what this tragedy had to do with the End Time. As I spent with one of my Christian friends and searched the Scriptures and other resources from the Internet during my last 8 months at Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center, God gave me more understanding of the Holy Scripture on the world event since the 9/11. Once I have the absolute truth of God, I cannot stop growing from my spiritual life. Yes, there is a time when Satan tempts me, but I cannot stop searching for the Scripture, because of God. And I cannot stop to share God's Word with you, family of Jesus Christ. His Word is the true way to live in the physical world.

Are you ready to meet the Lord Jesus Christ when He would return to rapture members of His Church? Are your family and your friends ready to meet the Savior of their lives? If you are lukewarm with your relationship with Christ and want to have that relationship back, please consider confessing all your sins to Him and He will forgive your sins at once for all and will give you the rest.

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EDT

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Have you noticed in today’s American world that which sex of human does have the most of house and outside duty? If we look into the business world, we would see that the most of women would sit in the office and work for her family. According to the study of psychology that one of what woman need within marriage is the financial support. As we will see in Genesis 3, the problem of marriage would spread it out.

But, first, we need to look at the duty of man. The word “man” comes from the Hebrew word for Adam or human being. Throughout the first couple chapters of Genesis, we will see several words of man use. Starting verse 26, the human life begins. The first 25 verses in Genesis were that God was preparing for human to have life before He would create one.

In this session, we will discuss the importance of a man and his duty before we changed the first principal of how man should live in this generation. Turn to Genesis 1 and read with me verses 26-31 as we conclude the first chapter in the Bible.

Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all^[a] the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

And God said, "See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food"; and it was so. Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

As we look into the first part of Genesis 1:26, we see that God was speaking to somebody. He may be speaking with His angels, Holy Spirit, or His Son, Jesus. I suggest Jesus because we read in the books of Gospel and said that He is the same as His Father. In fact, Jesus said in His prayer, “…that they may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You…” (John 17:21.) In Hebrews 1:6 (quoted from Psalm 97:7), God said to His Son that let all of His angels worship Him. And Paul said in Colossians 1:15-18, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.”

Then God said to His Son that let both of them to make a man or human being in Their image. Now, look into the verse 26 closely. God and His Son first created a man, just like them. It doesn’t say that They created a woman, although we will see that God created a woman after all in the next verse. But, in verse 26, He first created the man on the sixth day of His creation

In the second part of verse 26, God let them to have dominion over every creature on the earth. Wait a moment. How strange that second part of the verse said them and not him. Please don’t misunderstand that God created more than one man. But the second part of this verse may be the summary of what Adam and Eve were doing in Genesis 2.

In fact the next verse says, “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

If we look back in verse 26, God gave a man some responsibilities while he lives in this earth. This is the first principal of man duty within marriage and business. We misunderstand this over the centuries. God created a woman for a man and not for herself. Nowadays, we see that many women are going out of their house and do outside jobs for families. Or women who charge over the church. Why? There are many men would take care over their houses while their wives do all the hard work during the day. As we see in Genesis 3, a man was not totally wake while his woman decided to listen to the serpent. Since the event occurred in Genesis 3, most of our men would become weaker than women. Men have a lot of emotional stress. If he saw his wife cheats him, he immediately to chance to have emotional stress.

If we, as men, to have successful life, we need to know that God called us to be the head of our families under Him.

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EDT

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Have you wonder why God created different kind of animals? Have you wonder if animals have souls and would go to the Heaven with the rest of believers? Although there’s no reference if animals have souls or would enter the kingdom of God, God created them for us to enjoy with them while we are living in this temporary home.

Let’s read Genesis 1:20-25:

Then God said, "Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens." So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind"; and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

The Bible gives us some information about animals. As we read in this passage, God created creatures on the fifth day of His creation (Genesis 1:20-23). These creatures are included the extraordinarily large one, included all sorts of fish and mammals, even dinosaurs. There are only few people who believe that the dinosaurs weren’t in the Noah’s ark when God brought rain for forty days and nights, so they concluded that the dinosaurs were not existed.

According Genesis 1:25, God created the beast or wild animals (NIV) on the fifth day. The word “beast” or “wild animal” can also refer to dinosaur. If we don’t see the exact word in the Bible, it doesn’t mean that God didn’t create the dinosaur.

Not only God created the living creatures for our enjoyment, He created them for our physical health. In Genesis 9:2 says, “And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand.” And in the next verse says, “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs.”

God gives us which animals that we should eat or not to eat:

• Leviticus 11:9: These you may eat of all that are in the water: whatever in the water has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the rivers--that you may eat.
• Leviticus 11:3: Among the animals, whatever divides the hoof, having cloven hooves and chewing the cud--that you may eat.
• Leviticus 11:21: Yet these you may eat of every flying insect that creeps on all fours: those which have jointed legs above their feet with which to leap on the earth.
• Leviticus 11:22: These you may eat: the locust after its kind, the destroying locust after its kind, the cricket after its kind, and the grasshopper after its kind.
  [If you are fan of Fear Factor TV show, eating insects, the contestants might know what they are doing.]
• Deuteronomy 14:11: All clean birds you may eat.

God blessed them to be fruitful and multiply on the earth, so every creature can live life with us and provide us food for our strength.

Are you saved? Are your love ones and friends saved in the grace of God through Jesus Christ? The purpose of this study is to help you to become closer relationship with Jesus Christ. As Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (John 14:1-3.)

If you are lukewarm in your relationship with Jesus Christ and want to know Him as your personal Savior and Lord of your life, please consider asking Him to forgive your sins and invite Him into your life. Paul says, “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believed and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” (Romans 10:9-10.) If you have done in your private room or workplace, then you need to tell to your friends or love ones about what you have done, so they may rejoice with you and want to have that relationship with Christ in their own life. There are many occults in the world, which do not know the love of God and His great plan for those who believe in Him. As it is written in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EDT

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Before we would go farther with our study on Genesis, let’s revisit Genesis 1:5 for a moment. Verse 5 is important to understand about the 24-hour period began. Most of us think 12:01 AM is the beginning of the next day. But in Jewish time, the next day begins at 6:01 PM and it ends at 6:00 PM on the next day.

Why?

If we read Genesis 1:5 carefully, it doesn’t say “…morning and the evening were the first day,” but it’s reverse. Also, in Genesis 1:2, there was darkness covered the earth before God created the daytime. This is the important to know if we study on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Now we will read that how the day actually began. Let’s read Genesis 1:14-19:

Then God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth"; and it was so. Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

In this passage, it explains that how God separated from darkness to light. If we go back to early session, God provided the light since there wasn’t anything to give the earth light. Now on the fourth day of His creation, God created the two great lights to rule the day and night. One of them is the greater light, which is the sun; and another is the lesser light, which we call it moon. Also, He made stars.

God created the sun to rule the daytime. Now, the sun is located on the center of our galaxy. The earth is the third planet away from the solar system or solar energy (sun). Nobody can make it to the sun, because the sun is very hotter than furnace, stove, and regular fire. God created the sun to give earth the light. The energy that we use is from the sun. It has great light source and has a great duty over the earth.

Unfortunately, some people use the sun as god. If we look Catholic Church, we would see the sunshine over the Virgin Mary as she held onto God’s Son, Jesus Christ. This practice was appeared since the ancient Egyptian time.

God created the moon to mark off the seasons (Psalm 104:19a). Throughout the Old Testament, the New Moon appointed the feasts of the Lord that He wanted let them to have (see Numbers 10:10; 28:11-15; 1 Chronicles 23:31; 2 Chronicles 31:3; Ezra 3:5) In Paganism, it symbolized the Queen of Heaven (see Jeremiah 7:18; 44:7-19, 25), which the Roman Catholicism version of Virgin Mary as their goddess.

Genesis 1:14 tells us that the moon and sun be for signs, seasons, days, and years. Although we understand the seasons, days, and years, some of us may misunderstand what signs mean. The word sings in Genesis 1 does not only mean the End Time. We must understand that God created the world for His pleasure.

God let sun and moon be the sign for this reason:

1) Weather (Matthew 16:2-3)

2) Testimony to God (Psalm 8; 19; Romans 1:14-20; 3)

3) Divine judgment (Joel 2:30-31; Matthew 24:29)

4) Navigation (Matthew 2:1-2)

After He created all these things that day, God saw that it was good. If He dislikes idea, He wouldn’t create anything on earth. We must realize God created things on Earth for His pleasure and not ours.

Are you ready to be the witness for Jesus Christ? Most today’s scientists are trying to study the light and may not realize where it actually comes from. Unfortunately, we have the answer from God’s Word.

Are you saved? Are your love ones and friends saved in the grace of God through Jesus Christ? The purpose of this study is to help you to become closer relationship with Jesus Christ. As Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (John 14:1-3.)

If you are lukewarm in your relationship with Jesus Christ and want to know Him as your personal Savior and Lord of your life, please consider asking Him to forgive your sins and invite Him into your life. Paul says, “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believed and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” (Romans 10:9-10.) If you have done in your private room or workplace, then you need to tell to your friends or love ones about what you have done, so they may rejoice with you and want to have that relationship with Christ in their own life. There are many occults in the world, which do not know the love of God and His great plan for those who believe in Him. As it is written in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EDT

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Have you wonder how many galaxies are outer spaces? There maybe billions of galaxies are outer space that we cannot come up with. Even though we cannot name them all, God knows every galaxy that He ever made. Two of them are the Heaven and Earth. God created the Heaven and Earth.

As we are continuing studying in the Book of Genesis, we already have discussed about the foundation of the universe. In Genesis 1:1-2, we discovered that Jesus was in the beginning of the world. Also, in Genesis 1:3-5, we discovered that God was the resource of light. As we read in the Gospel of John, Jesus declares that He is the light of the world (8:12). If there is no light, we still would be in the darkness. In fact, we wouldn’t be alive because of lightless. Since God is the resource of light, He gave us breathe to live on this planet.

Now, let’s go deeper of earth creation. Read Genesis 1:6-13:

Then God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters." Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.

Then God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear"; and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth"; and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the third day.

Beginning verses 6 through 8, we see that God created Heaven in the midst of the waters. The word “firmament” in verse 6 means the portion of God’s creation named “heavens,” that which man saw when he looked up, i.e., the atmospheric and stellar heaven.

In the Bible, there are three layers of heavens. First, God created heaven that is on the atmosphere of the earth, which we are living now. Second heaven is a place for dead people can have rest until their time to go to the eternal home, which was called Paradise. Unfortunately, this Paradise does no longer exist after the resurrection of Jesus. Before the New Testament era, every dead people entered this Heaven for short time until Jesus raised them from the dead and took them into His place. And third heaven is a place that God created for us to stay in until He will take us to the New Earth.

In Genesis 1, God created the Heaven, sky, on Earth, so we can enjoy His creation. Later on Genesis 1, we see that God created something else on the Heaven as a sign of time period. Also, notice, God separated the Heaven from the water, which we can tell that the Earth was fulfilled with water in the beginning of the word. Although we don’t know how God would take on the second day to create Heaven in the midst of the water, God created this beautiful heaven on the Earth for His sake.

On the third day of His creation, God created land and seas on the earth (1:9-10). As we studied on this, we must understand what the formation of earth was like before God brought the rain for forty days and forty nights. Currently, most scientists indicated that this planet has covered with 70 percent of water in this time of period.

If we read Genesis 8-9 on the account of after flood, we read that Noah was having a hard time to find a dried land. With this account, I may believe that the earth was almost covered with land before Genesis 6. Also, we know that the New Earth will cover with 100 percent of land.

God created a land for not only we or other creatures can walk on the earth, but God also can provide us food, trees, and fruits that we can enjoy in our lives. He doesn’t left things out before He created us. If He created us on the third day, how can we eat or live? That’s why Jesus said that He’s going to the Father to prepare a place for us and He will come back to take us with Him (see John 14:1-4).

After He created all these things that day, God saw that it was good. If He dislikes idea, He wouldn’t create anything on earth. We must realize God created things on Earth for His pleasure and not ours.

Are you ready to be the witness for Jesus Christ? Most today’s scientists are trying to study the light and may not realize where it actually comes from. Unfortunately, we have the answer from God’s Word.

Are you saved? Are your love ones and friends saved in the grace of God through Jesus Christ? The purpose of this study is to help you to become closer relationship with Jesus Christ. As Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (John 14:1-3.)

If you are lukewarm in your relationship with Jesus Christ and want to know Him as your personal Savior and Lord of your life, please consider asking Him to forgive your sins and invite Him into your life. Paul says, “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believed and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” (Romans 10:9-10.) If you have done in your private room or workplace, then you need to tell to your friends or love ones about what you have done, so they may rejoice with you and want to have that relationship with Christ in their own life. There are many occults in the world, which do not know the love of God and His great plan for those who believe in Him. As it is written in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EDT

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Have you wonder how God created the Heaven and Earth? If you wonder how God was able to created living things, the first five verses in Genesis tell us that God spoke His Word to the universe and it formed as the Earth and Heaven. John 1 tells us that God was the Word and the Word became flesh and dwell among us (see John 1:1-3, 14). God’s Word is so powerful that He can create the world.

Before we would go to further discussion, let’s read in today’s text as we go and explore on God’s creation.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness wason the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day. (Genesis 1:1-5)

We already studied Genesis 1:1-2 from the previous section, but I would like to revisit and discuss how these verses can connect to the next three verses. Genesis 1:1-2 is the beginning of how the earth appeared. Before God created the Heaven and Earth, there wasn’t any form of God’s creations, except God’s kingdom for Him. We don’t know what events have taken place before the creation of the universe. Only God know what it took place.

Genesis 1:2 says that there was no form of Earth, except the globe with no creation on it. The earth was totally dark until God created the light—a bright light. Some today’s scientists believe on the Big Bang Theory—a universe explosion from nowhere. But, in Genesis 1 says that God created the Heaven and Earth and not exterritorial from somewhere on the outer space. There was a beginning point of the universe, that is, God began to create the Heaven and Earth. God spoke His Word to create all things that we can enjoy and honor Him as King of kings and Lord of lords.

First thing that God created was light. It would be the sun, but that is in verses 14-19. Here, God was the provider of light (II Corinthians 4:6). This light will also be the eternal source of light. John says in Revelation 22:5 as he had a vision about the New Heaven and New Earth, “There shall be night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.” Would we be great that we can be in His kingdom? This light is the same as what it’s written in Genesis 1:3.

We might wonder why God created the sun on the fourth day since He is the provider. Although He is the light of the world (John 8:12), God knew one of the days that we would decide to refuse Him as the ultimate light. He said in Isaiah, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways (55:8).” God knows everything before we would ever sin.

On the first day of His creation, God created the morning and evening. God created this day period, because He knows we would need rest during the 24-hour period. Although we don’t know how the time system work on that day, God gave light during the day and lesser light during the night.

As we see in later chapter 1, Adam and Eve were on the Garden of Eden. They might tell the time according to direction of the sun.

As God is the light of the world, He calls us to be in His light and spread to others. He would like us to be the light of the Gospel for the loss. As Jesus says in Acts 1:8, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

Are you ready to be the witness for Jesus Christ? Most today’s scientists are trying to study the light and may not realize where it actually comes from. Unfortunately, we have the answer from God’s Word.

Are you saved? Are your love ones and friends saved in the grace of God through Jesus Christ? The purpose of this study is to help you to become closer relationship with Jesus Christ. As Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (John 14:1-3.)

If you are lukewarm in your relationship with Jesus Christ and want to know Him as your personal Savior and Lord of your life, please consider asking Him to forgive your sins and invite Him into your life. Paul says, “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believed and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” (Romans 10:9-10.) If you have done in your private room or workplace, then you need to tell to your friends or love ones about what you have done, so they may rejoice with you and want to have that relationship with Christ in their own life. There are many occults in the world, which do not know the love of God and His great plan for those who believe in Him. As it is written in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EDT

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