Tag Archives: Jesus is Messiah

Is Jesus King Of Your Heart?

Last week we saw Jesus take two small fish and 5 little biscuits, and feed above 5000 people. This was a critical point in Jesus’ ministry. He had told the Pharisees that:

John 5:46-47 … had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me. 47 But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?

Moses – whom God moved by His Spirit to write the first five Books of the Bible (2 Peter 1:21) – wrote of Jesus, the Messiah. Before Moses died, that old Prophet told Israel:

Deuteronomy 18:15 The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto Him ye shall hearken

Jesus was the prophesied Messiah, the Savior of the world. Consider the comparisons between Jesus and Moses:

– Moses came to lead Israel out of Egypt. Jesus would come to lead His people out of the world.
– Moses came to bring the law of God to Israel. Jesus would come to bring the Light of God to His people.
– Moses saved Israel from slavery to Egypt. Jesus saves His people from slavery to sin.
– Under Moses, God sent temporary manna from Heaven (bread) to Israel daily to feed them. For the Church Jesus IS God’s permanent Manna from Heaven. We feed on Him daily.
– Under Moses, Israel attempted to obey God’s Law in their own power. Under Jesus, we follow God’s commandments through His empowering and indwelling Spirit.
– Under Moses, God’s people followed God by pillars of fire or cloud. Under Jesus, God’s Holy Spirit guides us internally.

Following Jesus’ miracle feeding of the 5000, we read:… Continue reading

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Being Equal To God

John 5:1-4 After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. 3 In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. 4 For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.

We start with the words “After this”. In John chapter four Jesus presented Himself as Messiah to a Samaritan woman of Sychar. The woman went to Sychar and told others that she met the Messiah. This in turn led the populace of Sychar to invite Jesus to come and stay with them. Revival broke out. Jesus left Sychar, and entering Cana of Galilee our Lord met a nobleman whose son was sick unto death.

Faith follows God. True faith does what God says do. Faith does not add to or take away from God’s Word, but glorifies God by obediently following Him.

We have seen what faith looks like. Now we see the faith of Jesus. We read:

John 5:1 After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Though Jesus Christ is “God with us, Emmanuel” (Matthew 1:22-23; Isaiah 7:14), when He entered humanity He became subject to the same God that we are subject to. God told Moses to tell Israel,… Continue reading

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Under The Fig Tree

John 1:43-48 The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me. 44 Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. 46 And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! 48 Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.

Jesus Is Looking For Searching Hearts

Word Study: When Jesus meets people, He reaches out and meets all different types of people. In our text today Jesus meets Philip. Who introduced Philip to Jesus? If you read your text, it’s no one. The Bible says “Jesus … findeth Philip”. The word “findeth” is the Greek heyriskō (pronounced hyoo-ris’-ko), which means “to search for, to seek out to find something of value”. When Herod met the wise men, he told them

“Go, and search diligently for the baby Jesus – when you FIND (heyriskō) Him, come and tell me where He is ..” (Matthew 2:8, author’s paraphrase)

Jesus told us “seek, and you shall FIND (heyriskō)” (Matthew 7:7). Though Heyriskō may mean to stumble upon, it is often used to describe the results of diligently searching for something or someone of value. Jesus was diligently looking for Philip. Why is that?
I believe God is looking for those whose hearts are seeking Him…. Continue reading

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Wise Men Look For The True King

Matthew 2:1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem

WHEN was Jesus born? When we celebrate the holiday we call “Christmas”, we are celebrating the unique birth of the Son of God. First off, we do not know exactly when Jesus Christ was born. The Christian History Institute notes:

“{Church Pastor} Hippolytus, writing around 200, set 25 December AD 8 as Christ’s birthday, but he mentioned no celebration. Early in the third century, {Pastors} Africanus and Evodius both gave 25 December {as His birthday}. Apparently the date {of December 25th} was already an old tradition … Around AD 350, {Roman Catholic} Pope Julius I declared December 25 the official date for Christmas.”

December 25th is a tradition the that most of the Church follows. I believe this is a good tradition. America needs more of Jesus, not less. When we celebrate Christmas as Christians, we are not celebrating the birth of Jesus as we might celebrate your birthday or my birthday.

What we are celebrating at Christ is called “The Incarnation”

The word “Incarnation” speaks to “when the Holy Son of God became Perfect Human”. Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, is like no other Man who has ever lived. The Apostles believed that Jesus was – prior to His birth – co-equal and co-eternal with the Godhead. The Scripture says:… Continue reading

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The Judgment Seat & The Wedding Of The Lamb

We’ll be in two texts tonight. The first will be in Revelation 19:6-10, and the second is in 1 Corinthians 3:9-15. Turn to Revelation first.

Last Wednesday we saw the Apostle compare the Church to a garden and to a building. We also talked about how Jesus had no wife as we do while He walked this earth.

Jesus does have a Bride. The Bride is His Church.

The Apostle compared the Church to a Bride in:

Ephesians 5:25-27 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

In 2 Corinthians 11:2 the Apostle said the Church was “betrothed or engaged to Jesus”. In Revelation 19 we see that one day the Church will be married to the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. This is a spiritual marriage, a legal binding together of the body of believers in Christ with Jesus Christ Himself. It is our Covenant Union with Jesus Christ that gives us an inheritance with Jesus in eternity. The Bible says:

Ephesians 5:23-24 … the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body. 24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.

Following the Rapture of the Church, the works of all believers will be judged, and following this judgment we will be part of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. … Continue reading

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Jesus Will Whip You

John 2:13 And the Jews’ Passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem …

Pastor Tony Evans told this story:

“A man once robbed a bank in Ottawa, Canada, stealing $6,000. But the interesting part of the story is this: When they arrested him and took him to jail, they discovered he’d used a 1918 Colt revolver to commit that crime. Now, anyone who knows anything about guns already understands the point of this story. This gun was valued at more than $100,000, yet this man robbed a bank for only $6,000. He could have simply sold the gun and walked away with more than ten times what he got in the robbery. But he didn’t sell the gun because he didn’t know the worth of what he held in his hand.”

When Jesus came to this earth on Our Father’s mission, He came to open our eyes to what is most important.
We are to love God our Savior, and love one another.

We often forget this great truth and, when we do …. Jesus will get your attention. In fact, if you are his, Jesus will whip you!… Continue reading

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Unto Us

Turn with me to the Book of Isaiah, often called the Old Testament Gospel of Christ. If you’re looking for it, go to the middle of your Bible to Psalms, the Hebrew Hymnbook. From Psalms go to Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, ISAIAH. While you’re turning there, I want to talk about the state of our world in 2020.

If I remember 2020 for anything, it will not be for the Coronavirus (a world-wide pandemic), nor for who won or lost the Presidency. What will make 2020 stand out in my mind is the incredible divisiveness and pettiness that I have seen from all of America.

I am told a local Church near us had a “split” the other day over the wearing of “masks”. That’s foolish. How are you going to explain that to Jesus on judgment day?
(And yes, even Christians will be judged).

People are fighting about masks. They are fighting about politics. They are tattling on one another at the bequest of the state. I have read of people turning in other people to law enforcement because they had “too many” over for a family Thanksgiving meal. The Bible teaches us that we are to love God and love our neighbor…. Continue reading

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Jesus Is The Christ

What we call “The Christmas Story”, the conception and birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, is only found in two books of the New Testament. It is found in the Gospel of Matthew, a Jewish Tax Collector who became an Apostle of Jesus Christ. More of the Christmas Story is found in the Gospel of Luke, a “beloved Gentile Physician” (Colossians 4:14) who was a companion of the Apostle Paul. We’ll talk about Luke’s account this coming Sunday night at Riverview. So turn with me in your Bible to Matthew chapter 1.

Matthew 1:1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham…. Continue reading

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Who Is Jesus To You?

Jesus was actually heading into the various villages and towns that made up Cæsarea Philippi. This area is only mentioned twice in the Bible (see above), but it’s an interesting area. First, the area is Gentile territory. No Jews went into the area because of the idolatry that was so prevalent there. Cæsarea Philippi was the location of the cave of Pan, the Pagan god of sexual pleasure. Ryan Fraser wrote an article for the Jackson Sun called… Continue reading

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Social Distancing (Red Letters #17)

In the midst of this Covid-19 pandemic we are being encouraged to “practice social distancing”. Humans are social creatures, and Christians are even more so. I know few Christians who do not appreciate a warm handshake, a pat on the back, or a hug with “I love you” attached. The Christian faith is all about love, not distance. … Continue reading

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