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Jesus Christ is the basis of Christianity.  The foundation of Christianity is rooted in the belief that Jesus is the Lord and Savior of the world.  Jesus lived a perfect life, died for the sins of all, was resurrected from the dead, and will returned one day to reclaim his people.  Who ever believes in Jesus will be saved and will have eternal life.  ”For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:16-17).

Birth

Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea during the reign of King Herod the Great.  He was the son of Mary and Joseph ( a carpenter).  Mary and Joseph were from Nazareth and one night Mary was visited by the angel Gabriel.  Gabriel told Mary that she was chosen to be the mother of the Son of God.  Before Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph had to leave Nazareth because of the Census of Quirinius.  So, they traveled to Bethlehem.  When they arrived in Bethlehem, there was a shortage of rooms.  When Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph had to use a manager in place of a crib.  Mary was a virgin and gave birth to Jesus by the miracle of the Holy Spirit.

Three wise men brought gifts to baby Jesus.  They followed a star that they believed was a sign that Jesus had been born.  King Herod heard about the birth of Jesus.  King Herod felt that his reign would be threatened by the birth of the King of the Jews, so he ordered the deaths of all male children in Bethlehem under the age of two.  Mary and Joseph fled to Egypt to avoid the massacres.  They remained in Egypt until Herod’s death and then they settled in Nazareth. 

Baptism

Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist.  John was preaching and he was baptizing people.  Jesus went to John and asked to be baptized.  John replied, “I have need to be baptized of thee” (Matthew 3:14).  Jesus answered, “Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15).  John went on and baptized Jesus.  When Jesus came up from the water the heavens opened up and Jesus saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove.  God spoke from heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17).

Temptation

After Jesus was baptized, God led him to the desert.  While in the desert, Jesus fasted for forty days and forty nights.  While in the desert fasting, the devil appeared to Jesus and tempted him.  Jesus was very hungry and the devil asked Jesus that if he was the Son of God, command that the stones be turned into bread.  Jesus answered, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).  The devil then brought Jesus to the holy city and he set him on a pinnacle of the temple.  The devil told Jesus that if he were to jump off of the pinnacle that God would send his angels to save him.  Jesus responded, “It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God” (Matthew 4:7).  Finally, the devil took Jesus to a mountain and showed Jesus all of the kingdoms of the world.  The devil told Jesus to worship him and he would give Jesus all of the kingdoms.  Jesus replied, “Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve” (Matthew 4:10).  The devil departed from Jesus and angels came and ministered to Jesus.

Ministry

Jesus ministered to all about God.  He spoke about God’s love, God’s character, salvation, forgiveness, repentance, etc.  He found apostles and ministered to them so that they may minister to others.  He also performed many miracles.  His miracles include:

 (http://www.bcbsr.com/survey/jmrcls.html)

Arrest 

Jesus was betrayed by Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples.  Judas betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver.  Jesus knew he had been betrayed.  In fact he prophesied it.  ”Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified” (Matthew 26:2).  During the passover dinner which was the last supper, Jesus told the disciples that one of them would betray him.  All of the disciples questioned Jesus, each asking “Lord, is it I”. 

After the last supper, Jesus took his disciples to Gethsemane where Jesus went to pray.  Jesus was sorrowful about death.  He asked God if there was a different way.  ”O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matthew 26:39).  After Jesus finished praying, Judas came to him.  However, Judas did not come alone.  Judas was with a great multitude of people that had swords.  Jesus was arrested and taken away.  Jesus was charged with blasphemy.

Death

Jesus was brought before Pontius Pilate.  Jesus was asked if he was the King of the Jews.  Jesus answered “Thou sayest” (Matthew 27:11).  Jesus was being accused by the chief priests and elders.  Jesus did not answer to there accusations.  Pilate asked Jesus if he had heard the accusations.  Pilate marveled at the silence of Jesus.  Pilate did not want to have Jesus put to death, so he let the people make the decision.  He decided to release a prisoner of the people’s choice.  There was Barabbas, a notable prisoner and there was Jesus, King of the Jews.  Pilate asked the people who they wanted released.  The people asked for the release of Barabbas.  Pilate asked the people what should happen to Jesus.  The people called for Jesus to be crucified.  Pilate washed his hands of the death of Jesus.  ”I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it” (Matthew 27:24).  The people responded, “His blood be on us, and on our children” (Matthew 27:25).

Jesus was then taken into the common hall.  A crown of thorns was put on his head.  He was spit on, mocked, and beaten.  Jesus also had to carry his own cross.  He carried his cross to a place called Golgotha.  They set a written accusation over his head.  It read, “THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS”.  The people mocked him.  They said to him that if he was the Son of God then he should save himself.  They said that if came down from the cross, then they would believe.  Jesus cried out “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me” (Matthew 27:46).  Jesus cried out again and died.  When Jesus died, there was an earthquake.  Graves were opened.  The body of Jesus was taken and laid in a tomb.

Resurrection

Mary and Mary Magdalene went to see the body of Jesus.  There was a great earthquake and an angel from heaven came and rolled back the stone from the door of the tomb.  The angel told Mary and Mary Magdalene, “Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.  He is not here: for he is risen, as he said.  Come, see the place where the Lord lay” (Matthew 28:5-6).  The angel also told them to tell the disciples that Jesus Christ had been raised from the dead.  They left the angel and went to tell the disciples.  As they were on their way, they met Jesus.  They fell by his feet and worshipped him.  Jesus said to them, “Be not afraid: go tell my brethen that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me” (Matthew 28:10).

Jesus is alive and well.  He is waiting to return and save us.  He wants to give us the gift of eternal life.  In order to be saved though, you must believe.  Jesus died for us all.  He paid the ultimate price for our salvation.  Tell all about the goodness of Christ.  Take care, be well, and God Bless!

People Of The Bible Bible, Jesus Christ, joy of jesus, Lord and Savior, Love Jesus, Son of God, Son of Mary

Today has been an adventure to say the least.  The devil has been busy.  I woke up this morning to start my day.  I planned to finish my laundry, iron my clothes for work tomorrow, and write an entry to this site.  Nothing happened according to my plan.  First of all when I got of bed today, I flipped the light switch to the on position and there was no light.  I quickly flipped the switch off and then flipped the switch on again.  Still no light; the power was out.  Immediately, I called my wife to see if the power was on before she left for work.  It was.  Next, I called our apartment complexes emergency hot line to see what happened.  The guy who answered didn’t know anything and told me to call the power company.  My wife called me back to inform me that over 2,000 people in the area had lost power.  The power would not be restored until 4:00 pm.  It was 11:45 am; what was I going to do for four hours with no electricity?  I was furious!

That’s not all folks, the devil wasn’t done messing with me yet.  I decided to go to my parents house so that I could get my mail.  I got married recently and I didn’t change my mailing address.  Since I was going to be out, I also wanted to go to my mother in law’s house to pick up our Christmas tree.  I called my wife back to let her know what I was going to do.  She said that she was getting off early and suggested that we run those errands together.  So, I went to wife’s job so that we could have lunch together and then run our errands.  I let her know I was on the way.  She said that she would be ready by the time I got there.  I should have known better.  I arrived at her job, went in, and I noticed that she was at her desk with what looked to be piles of paper stacked up.  Her eyes were glued to her computer screen.  “Let me finish writing up this report”, she said.  I asked her long it would take.  “Give me about fifteen minutes”, she replied.  I walked out and waited in the car.  Fifteen minutes passed, twenty minutes passed and she still had not walked out.  I grew impatient and irritated.  I went in to get her and there she was.  Talking to co-workers!

After she completed the conversation with her co-workers, we finally made it to the car.  We got in, I tried to start the car and nothing happened.  I waited a minute or two and tried again, still nothing.  I tried with the remote starter and it didn’t even make a sound.  I was already upset that my wife wasn’t ready on time, now this.  I popped the hood to see if I could diagnose the problem.  I didn’t see anything that was out of the ordinary.  Sometimes my starter freezes up, so I grabbed my snow brush and tapped on the starter with the handle of the brush.  Ah ha, that did the trick.  We went to lunch.

After lunch, we were headed to my parent’s house when I noticed that my temperature light came on.  My car was overheating.  I was worried because I just put a new engine in my car for this very reason.  The shop that replaced my engine is closed on Sundays so I had to find a place that could possibly put coolant in my car.  I found a place and they told me that the coolant I had in my radiator was very clear, like water.  They “topped off” my coolant.  YES!  The problem was fixed, so I thought.  Well, a little bit later, my “low coolant” light came on.  How could this be?  I just got the coolant refilled.  Then my temperature light came on again.  So, I pulled over immediately.  Thank God that there was another service shop down the road.

The service shop was about five minutes away.  So it was extremely frustrating when it took me 45 minutes to arrive at the shop.  Stop and go, stop and go was the way I coaxed my car down the road.  When we finally arrived at the service shop, I could not believe my ears.  Like the last, I was told that my coolant was clear like water.  They recommended that I get the system flushed out.  So I plan to take my car back to the shop that replaced the engine.  I was very angry to say the least.  We decided to go home.  The trip home was long.  The temperature would come on after a couple of minutes of driving.  I drove for a while, the temperature light came, and I pulled over so it could cool off.  This happened about a dozen times before I made it home.  When I made home the lights were on.

The devil was busy today, but the Lord was even busier.  The Lord kept us safe through all of my trouble.  I prayed that we find out the problem to my car issues and make it home safely.  Although, the cause to my car trouble is inconclusive, I am faithful that I will find out the answer tomorrow.  We made it home safely.  I got angry a lot today.  I got angry that the power went out, I got angry when my wife wasn’t ready, and I got angry due to my car trouble.  Through it all, God was with me.  The devil had me down a little, but overall, he could not steal my joy.  I am happy for the blessings that God has given me.  I am happy that my wife and I are safe, I am happy for life, and I am happy to be a servant of Christ.  Remember that no matter how hard the devil tries to steal your joy, you always have something to be thankful and happy for.  The Lord loves us all and he wants us to be joyous for what he has done for us.  “But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy” (1 Peter 4:14).  God Bless.

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