Old Jerry

A “Branch” is something that is supported by the root. So the fruit comes from the branch and the thing that nourishes that branch is the root.

The chief priests and scribes were angry with the little children when they referred to Jesus as “Son of David” because they thought themselves to be the greatest priests on earth. The “Son of David” signifies that Jesus the king that the Old Testament prophets were talking about when they said that the son of David would be on the thrown forever.

Peter believed that Jesus was the Messiah. He came to believe this because of all the miracles that He did and the way that He preached. Jesus commanded his disciples not to tell other that he is the Messiah because the Pharisee would have had him put to death before his time. Jesus would not have been able to teach his disciples that they needed to know.

This is my favorite messianic prophecy. "My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees." This tells me that Jesus is going to be retuning and we will all be at one with him. That Jesus is going to be his one shepherd.

The meaning of “Christ” and “Messiah” is just the title that Jesus had. The Davidic Covenant that influenced messianic expectation in Jesus’ day was they thought that the Messiah would restore Israel to its original power.

Jesus is sitting at the right hand of God and is interceding for us. When we ask a minister or saint to intercede for us it is removing that personal relationship that we are to have with the Father. We are no longer speaking to the Father ourselves but letting somebody else do that for us. We are an advocate for the powerless in the community because we are praying for them all the time. We function as a reconciler, mediator, and peacemaker as I serve Christ by praying for those that are in need for prayer.

Jesus can be the Man of Sorrow because of his believers. They don’t seem to believe in him and that makes him very sorrowful. He can find joy in his Father because he knows that the Father will make thing good again. We can experience sorrow when the Christian world looks like it is falling apart. But we don’t have to let it dominate our world because we also know that there will be a day when we will see Jesus.

The implications for me is that I need to obey and worship Jesus because He has the power and we should be glorifying him at all time. We need to do all things in Jesus will.

The “one like a son of man” that is in Daniel’s prophecy has the attributes of someone that resembles a man, comes from heaven, approaches the Ancient of Days, a figure that represents God, Receives authority, glory, and sovereign power, worshipped by the people and possesses an everlasting kingdom. The divine elements is that he is representing God. He has authority over all the people. We know that Jesus identified himself with this Son of Man in Daniel because Jesus had all these attributes.

Jesus’ truth seems to be almost the opposite of the dearly held “truths” of our culture. If we would follow Jesus’ wisdom then we wouldn’t have all this conflict in the world. We would all be in harmony and could love one another. The only way that I know to hold on to Jesus’ truth and wisdom is by Bible study and being with other Christians.

Jesus is called the “true and faithful witness” because he never wavered from his mission here on earth. He witnessed to the one and only God of this universe. As a disciple the degree that I am a “true and faithful witness” is that I tell others what God has done for me in my life.

Jesus is the Word of God because he is God. According to John he is the one that spoke the world into existence. Jesus made everything that was made. John called him the Word of Life because if we believe in him we will have life ever after. The importance of hearing, meditation on, and internalizing Jesus’ words is to say that we are internalizing God’s words. Since Jesus is the one that brought the world into existence we should be listening to Him.

My relationship to Jesus as my Rabbi is that of the Bible. I am reading the Bible daily learning more about him and I do Bible study courses to learn more about Him. I come to Jesus daily for him to teach me. I receive his teachings by getting up early in the morning and having my time with him without any interruptions. I don’t know how teachable I am because it seems like I forget what I just learned right after I stop my lessons.

Jesus’s disciples casted out demons using his name. I don’t know if we have that kind of authority but I suppose we do. I just haven’t seen it done but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been done. We can ask for anything in Jesus’ name and it will be given to us as long as it is his in will. So by using Jesus’ name that shows that we have power of attorney. I suppose that we are sometimes afraid to speak or act in Jesus’ name because we are afraid of being ridiculed. Hearing his voice about a particular matter would alleviate all that fear.

When we pray “in Jesus’ name” we are asking God to do something that we know that Jesus would approve of. Praying “in Jesus’ name” limits us because we have to be sure that Jesus would approve of what we are praying about.

Some of the elite or highly educated people like to say that we are pretty dumb following Jesus. So in their eyes we have been opened us up to shame and persecution. Some of the examples that I have experienced is that some of the talk shows will say how dumb we are. Some actions that might show that a Christian is ashamed of Jesus is that we say nothing when these things are said about us. We should stand up to our beliefs and refute what is being said.

Jesus means that He will save us. His mission was to take on the sins of the world. He fulfilled his mission by telling everybody about God and then dying of the cross for our sins. He fulfilled his mission in my life by saving be from my sins.

The thyme in the verses above have common thyme is that we have all been invited to the banquet table to celebrate with the Lord. As far as can tell, the wise men were gentiles and they were lead to the Messiah which means that we have all been invited to be with Jesus. Knowing that Jesus has invited us we should also invite our friends.

The Magi knew that Jesus was somebody important and they also thought of him as the King so they wanted to bring Him the best that they had just like any other king. You could tell that their hearts were in the right place because of the extravagance gifts. The gifts that are appropriate for us today is our gifts, tithes, offerings and our time.

The Magi prostrating themselves before the child Jesus indicates to us that we should also bow down to our King Jesus. They knew that they were seeing the King of the Jews. We can emulate this kind of worship be being respectful to Jesus at all times.

The Star of Bethlehem that the Magi saw was what let them to the Christ Child. I think the reason that the Magi came to find the Christ-child when they saw the star was because they thought that something very important was going to happen and they wanted to be there. Prophecy knew when this event was going to take place and God foretold it those who would listen.

I think that Jesus’ birth was announced to the shepherds first because they were a disrespected people. Jesus was put here on earth to save the lowly like us and He must have thought that the lowest of the lowest was the best place to start. Jesus was born in a stable so that he could relate to the people that He was sent to save from their sins. I think that God’s point was that Jesus was sent to save all people no matter their status in life.

I think that all the above is present in my life when I hear the good news. They show themselves in the things that I do.

The three titles of Jesus was Messiah, Jesus, and Christ the Lord. Each title is telling us that He has come to give us the news and save us from our sins.

The journey to Bethlehem was difficult for Mary because she was pregnant and was about to have the baby. I think that the suffering that Mary was putting up with proves that pleasure is not a sign that we are going God’s will. As an example for my life is going on mission trips. They were usually pretty miserable but I knew that I was doing God’s will. I don’t think that I can argue one way or the other on whether being a Christian causes more hardships then just going with the flow. I know quite a few people who went with the flow and they have had more hardships then I have. Then there are those who have had quite a great life.