Today in our world, there are many pastors proclaim that Jesus is our personal Savior. Yet, many Christian, even pastors and evangelists, may teach less on this general subject of the Gospel and would talk more on friendship of Jesus, who would help us to meet our needs, rather than the Lordship. Although Jesus is considered as our Friend, He is also our King and Lord. He is our Father to us. As I said in the previous message, He was existed before the world was born. He knows all about us individually well. I understand that this can be scary, especially those who are apart from God. But He knows us very well. Jeremiah 1:5 states that before Jeremiah was born, God knew him and what he was about to become. As we read his book, Jeremiah was a prophet of God throughout his life; and God used him to save His people from the captivity.

Although God can ignore His people from the torture until they would learn from their mistakes, He has compassion to give them another chance to fellowship with Him by using His prophets to rescue from the darkness. Even today, God uses pastors and evangelists, even false teachers, to reach the lost souls. Although false teachers sometime don’t know what they are doing, God can use them to reach the lost souls to receive them into Himself.

Who is Jesus to you? If He is just your Friend, you maybe in the dangerous situation in your Christian walk. You maybe in the situation where the devil can make more confuse you who Jesus is. But if Jesus is more than just a Friend to you, you are in a safe place where the devil cannot destroy you.

Now, let’s read our text in John 3:16-17.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

John 3:16 is very familiar verse in the entire Bible; even unbelievers can memorize this verse. But do we familiar with what the next verse says? According to John 3:17 says that God did not bring His Son, Jesus, to judge the world, but rescues the lost souls from the darkness. Now, don’t misunderstand that God would not judge the world. Yes, God will judge the world on the last day. But, in this text, it describes who Jesus is. He is the Savior of this world.

The reason we celebrate on His Resurrection Day and His birth, not because the rest of the world has these holidays, but because He is our Savior and King. Notice I didn’t say we celebrate on Easter Sunday and Christmas as Christian holidays tradition. If you thoroughly study on Easter and Christmas, you will find out these holidays came from the pagan religion, which God forbids for us to practice in our daily spiritual walk. Although Good Friday, Easter Sunday, and Christmas came from the pagan ritual, we celebrate Resurrection Day and His birth only for one reason: Our Savior came to the world to save us from the darkness and lead us to the light—the light of the Kingdom of God .

Some of us may too attach to holidays that we may forget who Savior is. As we read the first four books of the New Testament, Jesus came to the world, as a babe, lived among us in His earthly body. Yet, He was in His flesh, He did not commit sins; instead, He went through suffering to pay our sins and lead us to the Light. Jesus did not just die for our sins, but with His compassion to save us from the darkness.

Let I ask you these questions:

• What if the stranger come and asks you about Jesus Christ? Would you willing to take moment to explain him about who Jesus is to you?
• What if the stranger rebukes you with cursing you and the name of Jesus, what would do?
• What if the evangelists tells you the other ways to Jesus, such as learn the Law of Reciprocity (related to tithing) and living a Christian life by reading more, pray more, and giving more?

There may be less Christians who are willing to take the first two questions, because most Christians would not like to take the risk with the strangers. But most Christians would take the third question seriously, because they want to have more blessings in their lives. Sadly, many world evangelists teach more on worldly Christian for them to learn quickest way to receive Jesus. But there is no easiest way to get into Heaven. We have to do the groundwork, such as the first two questions above. Get dirty. Make mistakes and learn the right way to handle the situation. If you feel lonely, depress, need someone with you everyday, call your Savior, Jesus, who is going to be right there with you all the way. If the stranger asks you about who Jesus is, let Jesus speak through you to the guy.

What if the stranger asks you who Jesus is? Would you answer him or ignore his question. It’s your choice to answer his question—whether you’d fail the test from God or get an “A”. Apostle Peter had this situation as he journeyed with the other apostles to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to Jews and Gentiles. When somebody asks him a question, Peter was ready to give him the answer. Even though Peter denied three times who Jesus was, he learned from his mistakes and went forward to what Jesus called him to be. (Note: Peter was not first Pope, but one of Apostles, who first went to Gentile nations to proclaim the Gospel after Jesus ascended to Heaven.)

Are you ready to share the Gospel of Jesus to others? God calls us to be missionaries to proclaim who Savior Jesus is. Let’s do what He told us to do.

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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Most today’s people believe that there is a Supreme Being who watches over us. Unfortunately, most of unbelievers, even some Christians, don’t believe in hell and Satan. Is there really placed called Hell? Like the other, there is a very few of Christians who believe that we are getting closer to the end of the world. Although there are many people who professed to be Christians, few of us acknowledge and understand the truth and revelation of the Word of God.

As Paul says in II Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” Although the Bible is a Jewish and Christianity history book, it also teaches us about whom God is, how we need to live for Him, and shows us our mistakes and teaches us the right way of handing the situation.

In this last part of the series, we will learn about how the Christianity became a popular to the today’s world and religion than in the early church era. We will study what is the myth that today’s most Christian treasure and what is the truth from God’s view.

Before we go into study, I would like to say to you that this subject of teaching is not popular known topic to today’s churches. Since the one of the earliest popes adopted the Babylonian tradition of holidays and other ritual practices to the Roman Catholicism and added to the Christianity, many today’s churches accepted the Catholic ways to celebrate them as Christian holidays, such as Halloween, Saint’s Day, Christmas, and Easter. Although Christians have the right to create holidays as long as we’d get approval from God, it is abomination from God that we can mix holiday with Paganism.

Paul says in II Corinthians 6:14, “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?” None! Zero! Our God is a jealous God. The first three of the Ten Commandments (Deuteronomy 5:7-11) tell us that we should give honor and praise God, who created the world and everything in the world. If we worship the other gods, our God would become jealous. Think about what if you find out your husband/wife cheats on you with the other guy/woman? Would this make you jealous? This is the same way about God. He loves us very much that He chooses His Son to be sacrificial offering to pay debts for our sin. If we worship the other gods, He would become sad, angry, and disappoint to see that His children would decide to change their identities.

Not only we will look to holidays to discover God’s truth, we also will look into today’s Christian teaching, media, entertainment, and music. We need to understand what’s going on the world, so that we may not be deceived from the devil’s trap. We also need this kind of teaching in our life: to prepare the Lord’s coming; to prepare to give out the answers from whatever people ask on End Time; and to prepare for the battle against Satan.

Before I came to realize that Christmas, Easter, and Halloween are Pagan holidays, I didn’t know the real meaning of holidays rather than they were Christian traditions. Within couple months after the 9/11 tragedy, one of my Christian elder brothers began to show me and explain to me about many Scriptures about the end time and how 9/11 tragedy effected to the preparation of the coming of Antichrist. In fact, my friend and I were terrified at Recreation Center of Woodrow Wilson Rehab Center to see that our country attacked by some religious leaders on that tragedy day.

One of the passages that my friends shared with me was Jeremiah 10, one of Babylonian holiday traditions that Israelites practiced as part of worshipping pagan gods. As my friend read this passage to me, he explained how Jeremiah 10:3-4 effect to one of our modern day’s holiday tradition, which I will explain it later. As I spent search God’s Word more with the help of my friend, I began to understand that we are getting closer to the end of our age.

In the message, which I’m going to share with you, it may surprise you or make disbelief on the subjects. If that happen, I recommend you to begin search the Scripture before you’d decide to ask me some of your questions or looking for other resources of information. God has the final authority over everything.

Let’s begin to discuss on Christmas and Jesus’ birth.

Many people believe that Christmas is a time for shopping, family and friends gathering, exchanging the gifts each other, and etc. If you are a Christian you may have learned that Christmas is Jesus’ birthday. Well, this may surprise you that Christmas was not originated from Jesus Christ’s birth, but from the Pagan religion. Let’s look some points:

First, the word “Christmas” cannot be found in the Bible and in the Hebrew or Greek manuscript or picture of it from the Scripture. Many people, even bible scholars, believe that Christmas is coming from Matthew 1-2 and Luke 1-2, which is incorrect. If we split the word “Christmas,” we will come with CHRIST-MAS or CHRIST’S MASS, which the Roman Catholic’s special mass performed in celebrating Christ’s birth. “In this mass, Jesus is considered both the priest and the victim, represented by the Catholic priest who offers Him as a sacrifice each time the mass is performed. In offering this "sacrifice," the priest believes he has the power to change the bread and the wine of the Communion into Jesus' literal flesh and blood, requiring the people to worship these elements as they do God Himself. This is obviously a denial of the gospel, and thereby, a false gospel (a re-doing of the sacrifice for sin—Heb. 9:12, 24-26; 10:10, 12, 14). Yet, many who cry out all year long against the blasphemous Roman Catholic system, at year-end embrace Rome 's most blasphemous abomination of them all—Christmas!” (See Should a Christian Celebrate Christmas?)

Second, Jesus didn’t come to the earth during the winter season. If we read about the angels’ announcement to the shepherds about Jesus (Luke 2:8-14), shepherds couldn’t watch the sheep outside if it was in the winter season. Catholic Pope selected December 25 as Jesus’ birthday, because this day of the month was the celebration of Natalis Solis Invicti, the Birthday of the Unconquerable Sun. “In order to make Christianity palatable to the heathen, the Roman Church simply took Saturnalia, adopted it into Christianity, and then eventually many of the associated pagan symbols, forms, customs, and traditions were reinterpreted (i.e., "Christianized") in ways "acceptable" to Christian faith and practice. (In fact, in 375 A.D., the Church of Rome under Pope Julius I merely announced that the birth date of Christ had been "discovered" to be December 25th, and was accepted as such by the "faithful." The festival of Saturnalia and the birthday of Mithras could now be celebrated as the birthday of Christ!) The pagans flocked into the Catholic places of worship, because they were still able to worship their old gods, but merely under different names. It mattered not to them whether they worshiped the Egyptian goddess mother and her child under the old names (Isis and Horus), or under the names of the "Virgin Mary" and the "Christ-child." Either way, it was the same old idol-religion (cf. 1 Thes. 1:8-10; 5:22 -- Paul says to turn from idols, not rename them and Christianize them). Roman Catholicism's Christmas Day is nothing but "baptized" paganism, having come along much too late to be part of "the faith once delivered unto the saints" (Jude 3).” (See Should a Christian Celebrate Christmas?)

According to Lee Strobe, a Christian author of Case of Christmas, after his research on the virgin birth of Jesus, he believes that Christ was born between April 20 and May in between 6 and 3 B.C. This also can approve by Luke’s account, which I gave this above.

Lastly, Christmas tree and decoration have nothing to do with Jesus’ birth. Jesus didn’t die on the tree, but on the Cross that was made of a tree. When I read Jeremiah 10:3-4, I was first surprised about how Israelites worshipped the tree with the decoration on it, which it was the same method that we are doing over 1500 years. Having a Christmas tree in our houses is represented the nature of god that the Israelites practiced to avoid God the Almighty.

Also, we need to understand about Jesus’ earthly life and ministry is His death and resurrection, which we recognize it as Holy Week, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday. We most misinterpret His final week of ministry over 1500 years due to Roman Catholic converted to Christianity as they still carried the pagan belief system.

In KJV, the word “Easter” refers to Passover and it only mentions once in entire books of KJV Bible, which is in Acts 12:4. Otherwise, the word “Easter” in pagan term was from Eostare, pagan goddess. (See Should Christians Observe Easter)

Most of us believe that His final week of ministry began on Sunday, the week of Good Friday, which is March/April. If we read all the four Gospels, especially in the Gospel of John, there is no verse that Jesus didn’t enter Jerusalem for Passover Feast on the first day of the week, Sunday. Yes, Jesus started to go to Jerusalem six days before the Passover Feast (John 12:1), but it wasn’t on Sunday.

According to Jewish calendar, the Passover Feast was held on the fourteenth day of the month of Nisan (March/April) (see Exodus 12), which was probably on Wednesday (before the actual Sabbath began). If this is case, Jesus went to Jerusalem on the week of next Wednesday.

I believe this because if Jesus died on Friday evening (6:01 PM), this would mean that He broke the Sabbath tradition, because Sabbath is actually began on Friday at 6:01 PM and ended on Saturday at 6:00 PM. We must remember that Jesus’ death represents the Passover the Lamb and Jews cannot sacrifice anything on Sabbath day until the day is over.

Also, Jesus must meet the requirement of sacrifice the Passover the lamb. If He went to His grave on Friday at 6:01 PM and resurrected on Sunday at 6:00 AM, that meant that He was in the heart of the earth (not in hell) for 1 ½ day. Remember that Jesus said He will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights (see Matthew 12:39-41), that is full 72 hours (24-hour a day x 3 days). If Jesus went to His grave on Thursday at 6:01 PM and resurrected on Saturday at 6:00 PM, this meant that He met the requirement of Passover Lamb.

Although Christmas and Easter have many ritual practices that are nowhere we can find in the Bible, these are few errors that we still value to try to honor God in the Church. Even though we cannot recognize whether the ritual comes from God or the other religious system, God is still giving some times to us to repent from our errors.

Now, let’s go forward with this subject and discuss about teachings on the Media. By now, Christianity is on the third place of the four greatest world religions: Roman Catholicism, Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. Notice, I put Roman Catholicism as individual religious group and not in Christianity and put in the number one on the top four. Why? If you understand Catholicism, you will find there are many misconceptions on Christianity that we cannot find in the Holy Bible, such as Prayer of Rosary and Jesus hang and naked on the cross at the front of church sanctuary. Most today’s Christian holidays arrived from Roman Catholicism. Also, many people already accepted and followed Roman Catholicism as Christianity.

There are some Christian churches still carried teachings from Roman Catholicism. For example, Bruce Wilkson, a Christian author of The Prayer of Jabez. His teaching on prayer is the similar method that Roman Catholicism used: repeating same prayer for thirty straight days. It’s great that we repeat our prayer to God in different ways each day, but we should not limit our prayer into a month long and repeat same words of prayer to get our blessings from Him.

If we read Matthew 6:9-13 on Disciples’ Prayer (not the Lord’s Prayer), Jesus didn’t say that we need to repeat the words of prayer, but in this manner (Matthew 6:9 NKJV) or approach: 1) give honor and praise to God, 2) pray for other and ourselves, and 3) give honor and praise to God.

Most today’s churches teach on the subject of Christian living, such as family, marriage, finance, and gaining more blessings from God. Please don’t misunderstand and think that I am against on this subject. Even though we need to study about Christian living, there are a lot preachers who teaching on this for ourselves only. That’s self-fish.

To get better understand on Christian living, we must interpret the Scripture word for word in the Bible. We don’t need to add another word or another version of the Bible to make ourselves understand. No! There are about more than 200 new Bible versions in a year in the alone, but we may use certain Bible versions for our own understanding or belief or other reason. (I am currently used the both KJV and NKJV (similar to KJV), because they came from the original Hebrew and Greek manuscript, which was ancient, to get better understanding God’s Word. Others, such as NIV, NCV, and NLT, are from the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts, but the scribe scholars may use the latest manuscript or plain English dictionary, which it may not agree with the original meaning.) Also, we need to apply on the teaching of Christian living from God’s point of view, not from ours. That is why some churches decide to not to do the TV or radio evangelism. If the church may decide to do on TV or radio evangelism outreach, their goals may change—more focus on money to keep the business running and less on the reaching for the lost souls to Jesus Christ.

Lastly, Christian entertainment and music industries.

By now, there are millions of Christian music, TV shows, movies, and games for Christians to entertain. Some are good and some are bad. We see that many secular singers/artists are converted into Christianity and appear on the Christian channels, such as Mr. T, Tia and Tamara Mowry, M.C. Hammer, and many others. Even we see that many Christian movies are appearing on the public theaters, such as The Passion (February 2004), The Gospel (Fall 2005), and The Chronicles of Narnia (December 2005); and as a result they made some millions of dollars in profit.

Why?

They often mix Christian entertainment with their own works or other resources to go with the Bible. For example, The Chronicles of Narnia—that is based on Fall of Man (Genesis 3) and the gift of salvation from Jesus Christ. This movie was based on books by C.S. Lewis and it was made for whole family. Even C.S. was a pastor, his books are secular view. In the movie, there is twisted view of Fall of Man and the gift of salvation and it contains some witchcraft. Many people like the movies that are Christians, because the movies speak their language of words and appearances and less from God’s perspective. This is the same way about Christian music—mixed with worldly tune or beats.

There is not much of time left before God would judge the world. As we see on the media, there are a lot of bad news on the TV, radio, and newspaper. But God is holding up to bring down judgment on earth until every person would repent their sins and join with Him forever. It is up to make that decision.

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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Most historian scholars believe that Jesus was the greatest teacher in the early AD. The History Channel shows that He was the greatest prophet in the early church era. Just like Pharisees, many today’s people believe that Jesus was the one of us, but he was the greatest teacher that we had in the history. Was Jesus the greatest teacher that we had in the world history? Or He also was the God of the Bible, who came to the world and paid our debt of sins on the cross 2000 years ago? What does the Bible say about Him?

Throughout the Old Testament era, many people of believed that there will be Messiah coming down to the earth and would live among them. Moses, Elijah, Micah, and other greatest prophets of the Old Testament, even King David, proclaimed that there will be the one true Messiah will appear to the world in near future. I don’t believe that God didn’t silence during the last 400 years before the New Testament era would begin. Although we don’t have record on the last 400 years of the Old Testament, I believe that God was still speaking in each of His children individually.

Yet, some today’s Christians don’t understand that Jesus was more than a greatest teacher as He is in our generation. Most Catholic believe that Jesus was the Son of Virgin Mother Mary, but they refuse to believe Jesus is the God and there is nothing beside Him, such as Virgin Mother Mary—Queen of Heaven (see Jeremiah 44).

Let’s read John 1:1-5 and discover that Jesus is the light of the world.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

As we read in this passage, John said that there was somebody on the universe in the beginning of time. In Genesis 1:1, the book begins by saying “In the beginning God…” But here, John begins “In the beginning was the Word…” John uses Genesis 1:1 to clarify who God is. In his case was the Word. That is God’s spoken Word. The Bible says that God spoke the Word to create this world as we read in Genesis 1. His Word is so powerful to use to create us and to use defeat Satan (Matthew 4:1-11).

Now, let’s focus on the verse 2, He was in the beginning with God. In this verse, John speaks about the Second Person of Trinity, which is the Son. Now, don’t misinterpret this. I understand that some preachers have hard time to interpret John 1:2. John doesn’t say that there is another god in the Trinity. Although the Second Person of Trinity is Jesus Christ, He is the same God that we studied about in John 1:1 and in the Old Testament. We cannot separate God the Father and God the Son in two different places, because they work together, include God the Holy Spirit, as unity. I do believe that Jesus was in the beginning with God, especially when we see a capital U in the word “Us” in Genesis 1.

In the verse 3 makes clear that Jesus was God the Father’s agent involved in creating everything in the universe. Paul says in Colossians 1:16-17, “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 the author in Hebrews 1:2, “…has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds…”

Many scientists believe that there is a Big Bang Theory, which it was explored to form the universe. Although that is quite impossible to create the world by itself as evolution suggest, there was somebody outer space who spoke the Word to begin to form the universe. If there was not spoken word before the creation, why can we speak today? There is no need to have theory to approve that the spoken Word existed in the beginning of the world.

Now, let’s discuss about the Light, which is the current topic in the message.

In the verse 4 of John 1, John indicates that Jesus came to the world as Light. This is the pre-incarnate work of Christ. Why he used the word “light” to describe Jesus Christ? If we revisit the Old Testament history, God’s people were in darkness—corrupted by sins nature, so they cannot see the light of other side. Isaiah 9:2 predicted that those who walked in darkness have seen a great light, which will be the coming of Messiah, Jesus Christ. If we don’t have Jesus Christ in our lives, we would be still in the darkness of sins.

According to the first part of John 1:4 indicates that in Him was life. Jesus Christ was the life giver and He still is. He gave us life by dying at the cross. Throughout the Gospel of John, we will see that He is the life giver and the direction to the light to eternality. As we read verse 5, the darkness cannot comprehend the light. It cannot destroy the power of light, because it has so much of energy. If we close to the sun, for example, we will surely die and burn.

Also, we need to understand that the power of Light can defeat the darkness. Just as the power of darkness cannot have the victory over the light, Satan cannot defeat us easily if we close to Jesus and fight with Him.

What we do now as believers of Jesus Christ?

We understand that living earthly life for Christ is not easy to do. Look around our communities and other parts of world. There are more divorce rates in Christian home than within non-Christian homes. Many teenagers are getting lost to reach their goals because their parents are wrestling each other and decide to divorce as a result. Many natural disasters are occurring in the every year and they are getting bigger. The enemies of are preparing for war to against God’s land as the prophecy is unfold. Jesus said in Matthew 24:14, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations, and then the end will come.”

Who are witnesses in our generation before the Lord returns? We know that there are many preachers and missionaries around the globe today. But the Bible says that they are several false witnesses who proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ and deceive many. I am trying not to watch many Christian programs, but hear from God directly. We need to learn to hear from God directly if we like to become truly witnesses for Jesus Christ.

Jesus taught us to be the salt and light of the world (Matthew 5:13-16). I am not talking about becoming fame as Bill Gates or Dr. Oral Roberts, but witness for Christ. We do not need to earn Bachelor college degree or build the Bible University to become a witness for Jesus Christ. I thank God for Bible Colleges or Universities to equip us more about God’s words, but we need to be ready to share God’s Word to others, no matter what ages we are or how far we educated. God can use even a 4-year old child to proclaim His words to others.

Are you ready to be a witness for Jesus Christ to reach the lost souls? I heard that many Christian students are suffering for Christ in their public campuses, because their schools are not allowing let Christians share their faiths, except for those who are not Christians. During the Columbine Littleton High School shooting in April 1999, one of Christian girls, Rachael, died by the one of gunmen by testing her faith. She died for Christ when the gunman asked her if she believes in Jesus Christ. Although the risk was high, she received the victory for Jesus Chris.

Are you ready if Satan would come to test your faith? If you are not sure to be a witness for Jesus Christ, please make your right decision as you are alive 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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Have we imagined what would Jesus look like? Sure, many people tried to picture Jesus as one of us and make some movies about Him. Some people painted Him as America-Africa person or one of Jews. Is paining a picture of Jesus important than believe His Words in our hearts? Although His disciples and others saw Him in their time, we can picture Him as we read through Scriptures.

As we begin the new series, the Bible has all the information about Jesus. The first part of this message series is He is the “I Am.” Gospel of John has many Scriptures that Jesus said “I Am.” There are at least twenty-three verses in the Gospel of John that we find our Lord’s meaningful “I Am.” In Greek, it translates ego eimi. Throughout the Bible, God called Himself “I Am”—“I Am the Lord,” “I Am God,” “I Am the Shepherd.” God is telling us who He is. In Catholic version of Jesus is the Son of Virgin Mary, which is true in physical sense (He was born from Mary), but it’s not totally true. If we read in Luke 1, the Angel of the Lord announced to Mary that God will bring His Son through her. The Catholic version of Mother of Jesus comes from the pagan religion in Jeremiah 44 as the “queen of heaven.”

Let’s turn our text to John 14:6 and read: Jesus said to him [Apostle Thomas], “I am the way, the true, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

In this verse, Jesus explained to Thomas that He is the example of His Father. In the first four verses in John 14, Jesus gave some comfort to His disciples that He is going away from them to prepare a place for them. He didn’t say that He would go away for good. Read verse 3. He indicated that He will come back to take them home. Of course, John 14:1-4 is talking about the rapture of the Church that Jesus promised to every believer. But it’s more than the future rapture of the Church or only for His disciples. Revelation 3:20 says that Jesus is knocking the door of our hearts to live with you and me. The only He can come in each of us, we invite Him. If you like to receive the gift of peace from Him, let Him to come to your life and live with you.

Then in John 14:5, Thomas asked Jesus about where He is going. Do you hate if your friend would not tell you where he would be going? You might. But as we read John 14, Thomas missed what Jesus told him. “Lord! Where are you going? How can we know the way to reach You?” we might ask.

Then He might answer, “You know the place where I’m going. I already told you. Do you listen to Me?” Are we listening to Jesus when He would talk to each of us softly? We might think it is impossible, because of noise. Don’t blame noise to excuse yourself from the words of Jesus. There is no excuse if you are a child of God. Listen to what He said. You have the material that you need to grow in His family. You have been trained well to communicate with God.

But..

Jesus said again clearly to Thomas’ question: “I am the way, the true, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” He is the way to looking where God is going. He is the way to find the absolute truth to our questions. He is the way to find life. And there is no other ways to go to God, except through Jesus Christ. Acts 4:12 indicates that there is no other names under heaven to give us the salvation. Not Allah, nor Buddha, nor Toa.

Jesus says, “I am the answer to all your needs.” There is nothing He cannot do. Some Christian movies may show that Jesus failed down many times to get approve His embarrassment. But we have the approval that He is not a failure to get job done—the Bible. He is working on us and with us each day to go through many challenges. Even though many people are stuck in Gulf Coast by Katrina, Jesus is still doing miracles in each of them.

Even though you are in situation where you cannot free from alcohol, cigarette, material possession, etc., I would like to tell you that there is the way that you can set free from all these junks in your life. That is through only one Person, Jesus Christ. He is the “I Am.”

If you want to know the way to get to success, call Jesus and let Him show the path. If you want to find happiness in your life, go to Jesus and begin to celebrate your life with Him. If you want to find healer to your illness, go to Dr. Jesus by asking Him through prayer. There is no such person who has all the answers to our needs than through Jesus Christ. Paul says in Ephesians 3:20 (KJV), “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us…”

I know many of us watched and heard about a commercial ad on the Psychic Network. Even though this service would provide people services to resolve their issues, it’s all about money and provide fake service to the community. A founder of CBN, Pat Robertson, indicated that only one percent of thousands people received the answer from Psychic Network Reading. Why? First, this service comes from the religion of witchcraft and from the false prophet (Deuteronomy 13). Second, it’s forbidden by God’s Word. If we want to interpret our dreams or desires, then go to Jesus Christ who has all the answers. Psychic Network Reading or reading a horoscope message from the fortune cookie or newspaper does not help us to reach our destiny.

Jesus is our daily Bread of life (John 6:35, 41, 48, 51). The Bread represents as the body. When Jesus gave bread to His disciples before His crucifixion, He told them the bread symbolized for His body (Matthew 26:26). He gave His life at the cross to give us life from the darkness. Yet, we might forget why we have communion with other believers sometime. Maybe we are too busy to remember what kind of the message behind the bread as we have the Holy Communion with the church members. It’s more than Jesus gave His life for us. He gave us a new life spiritually as He died for our sins. Paul says in I Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

Do you like to change your life around as whole 360 degree? Winning your life for Jesus Christ is not easy to pass through alone. But we need to give up our wills and willing to exchange wills with God. God says in Ezekiel 36:26, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” The heart of stone is really like icicle that we cannot feel to love, how to cry, and knowing which way is doing right or wrong. But having a heart of flesh means that we can feel all of the feelings that God gave us.

Even though I don’t know all your circumstances, this message may speak to you or someone who needs Jesus Christ. There is a hope, not in this world, but in God. If you like Jesus to come in your life, just accept Him as just as you are, and surrender your life to Him by confess your sins and ask for forgiveness. You do not have to know the repentance prayer formula, because there is none.

Jesus says, “I am ______________.” Read through the Gospel of John and fill the word in the blank, and see who Jesus is.

Posted by MGJC Web Ministry at 12:01 AM EST

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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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