JustJeff

By becoming impregnated by the Holy Spirit Mary was able to carry the God child without having forfeited her virginity. By Yahweh being incarnated in the form of His Son, He became Immanuel. We then received all the fullness of God, bodily.

Jesus or Yeshua means "Yahweh saves" indicating that God the Father had now appointed the time for Him to provide for our redemption, to save us from our sin. Adonai always confirms His word. In Deut 17:6, 19:15 and Matt 18:16 He commands that all such revelations be established by two or three witnesses. Mary and Joseph are two, thus confirming that it was God who named the baby Jesus.

Mary's options were extremely limited. She risked being stoned to death, living as an outcast and discraced. As they say in Hebrew, Joseph was a tzaddik, a righteous or just man.

Jesus would learn to work with the wood. As a carpenter He would let the wood take shape as He applied the tools of His trade to it turning it into what He had planned for it to become. This experience would show Him that not all wood is alike. Hardwood, difficult and time consuming to work with, requires patience. Other wood is soft and when handled harshly it could break and be destroyed. Still there is wood that is exactly what He needed, to be exactly what He expected it to be.

Mary is blessed to have been a chosen vessel to be the mother of God. I do not hail Mary anymore than I do any other chosen vessel of God. The Lord didn't (see Matthew 12:46-48, et al). Besides, too many people do deify Mary as it is. Members of one faith seek to set her above the Lord Himself. Mary was chosen by Yahweh to perform a marvelous task. So too was Joseph and every other saint that has and will go through hardships and difficult circumstances for Jesus. I'm not trying to be combative or disagreeable. I think we just need to keep things in perspective.

Mary completely submitted herself to God's will, without thought or fear of consequence. We learn that in order for Yahweh to fully accomplish that which He would do in us we too must give ourselves over to him, totally. Being satisfied by Gabriel's answer to her question Mary allowed herself to be impregnated by the Holy Spirit. As we submit to the Lord we allow the Holy Spirit to fill us thereby walking in His will, not fullfilling the needs of the flesh or the desires thereof.

The virgin birth illustrates to us that Jesus is wholey devine and devinely holy. By His Immaculate Conception and incarnation we have the basis of our faith, confirmed by His word with signs following.

Mary's question to the angel was one of naivete' and innocence as opposed to Zechariah's which was of doubt thus Mary went unpunished while Zechariah was disciplined. I believe that, in the end, both where rewarded as Zechariah and Elizabeth had the child that they previously unable to conceive.

Mary's question to the angel was one of naivete' and innocence as opposed to Zechariah's which was of doubt thus Mary went unpunished while Zechariah was disciplined. I believe that, in the end, both where rewarded as Zechariah and Elizabeth had the child that they previously unable to conceive.

Gabriel told Mary that the child she was that she was to bear was to be the Son of the Most High God, El'Elyon. And, by naming Him Yeshua (the equivalent of Jesus in Hebrew) she was also told that He would be God's salvation as Yeshua means "Yahweh saves". He would become great, inherit the throne of His forefather David and rule the house of Jacob eternally.

When we are brokenhearted David has assured us that the Lord is near to us and we must seek Him to be comforted. Through the incredible sacrifice of His Son, the Lord God paid the price that He Himself charges for sinners to return to Him. The blood of the Lamb was that price and we are redeemed. By trusting in Jesus and walking in that faith, we cannot be condemned.

We must praise the Lord continually because we are His praise. We were created to praise Him. When we negelect to do so we are walking in the flesh which usually leads to self glory. The two cannot coexist. Continual praise is uplifting to the human spirit. When we serve our purpose we fully function in the manner in which we were created. It's a beautiful thing. The only way I know how to learn to praise God continual is to just do it. It is a discipline and one that must be self imposed. It is important to remember that we are to praise Him in the good times and the bad as our life is in the Potter's hands. All pottery must go through the fire. It makes it perfect.

Jesus is the cornerstone of our faith and by rejecting Him, they rejected the foundation of the New Testament. To the Father, this cornerstone set in place a way back to Him that has stood firm for two thousand years. It is marvelous in His sight. Verses 25-27 have everything to do with the Messiah. Verse 25: He is Jesus, God's salvation. By Him we grow spiritually, true prosperity. Verse 26: He came by the Father's will, in His name and was blessed by the Father. We lift up holy hands in our assemblies and bless His Holy Name. Verse 27: Jesus is Lord, God made manifest in the flesh as the Son. He is our sacrifice, bound to the altar of the cross.

The overwhelming and incredible emotion in Psalm 100 is joy, joy, joy. This joy compels one to offer sacrifices of thanksgiving to the God of all the universe who cares for us as our heavenly Father. He evokes such great love for Him that it is impossible to contain one's self. We praise Him as our creator, His chosen generation, our Great Shepherd. He is good, merciful and He is Truth. This Psalm commands us to offer Him thanksgiving continually, shout praises to Him, sing to Him, worship and adore Him. On Thanksgiving week we humbly thank our One Provider for giving our small mission over 225 turkeys and trimmings for needy families who cannot care for themselves. We too thank Him for our Thanksgiving Day buffet, to feed the poor and homeless who come to the only true love that they have, Jesus Christ.

A broken and contrite heart is the result of great sorrow and pain for the hurt that is afflicted on God when we have sinned and are dismayed because we did. It becomes increasingly difficult to function normally as the tremendous sense of guilt weighs heavily on the heart. There is great loneliness because of the separation from our beloved Father. We become keenly aware that without His presence in our lives we are lost and our need for dependency upon Him is urgent. Being sorry for sin is lip service. It does not come from the heart. A broken and contrite spirit is humilty as humility to God is our complete surrender to His will.

Once we sin, any sin, great or small, as all sin will be judged alike, we are defiled. Our hearts are no longer clean or, we are not pure hearted. As long as we retain our sin we will be burdened or convicted of that sin. Our bones will be broken, spiritually. A pure heart is on that can stand before Yahweh guiltless, without sin. Since our heart, or inner self cannot serve two masters, an undivided or united heart is one that is fully commited to either Jesus or the devil which means we are either absolved of sin or the servant of sin. Only by the blood of the Lamb can we be purified and sanctified by repentance for the redemption of sin.

Personally, in the strictest sense, I don't believe that we sin against other people. I believe we violate, hurt, trespass, deceive and commit other great pains to our fellows but it is against God that we sin and that is what David meant.It is God who has established what He considers to be unholy and it is He only who is wholey holy. We are born into sin. David confession is that he has a natural inclination to sin, as do we all.

Deceit means we deceive ourselves in to believing that we are in control when in fact we are not. It is sin that is reigning in us, causing us to do things we know that we should not. Addicts are a good example as they spend years in denial while the devil is having a heyday with them. I was one and I know. Once one admits that they have sinned we are able to allow the Lord to deliver us, take the burden from us. This give us the ability to repent, to turn to God. Pride causes us to overlook that which we believe to be a shortcoming. The truth is, we are all human and we are all subject to sin, no matter how long we serve the Lord. Oftentimes it takes someone who truly loves us to make us see. That most likely could be the Word, the Holy Spirit or a true brother or sister.

Being God the Son and the Word, Jesus, by the Holy Spirit, inspired David to prophesy His perfect sacrifice, with all of the horrific details in order to confirm Himself. From before the fall of Adam, to His bodily death and resurrection, until His return and beyond, the Father has a plan and Jesus is the implement. The entire bible is the plan and as it carefully unfolds before our very eyes it is good to remember that God is in control. Always has been and always will be. Therefore, David did what the Spirit told him to do, not knowing that he was speaking of the Messiah. The message should have been clear to the Jews when the Gospel came but sadly, between David and Jesus, their hearts became hardened, their ears deafened, their eyes blinded. So now, all is written and at that appointed time, all will see what believers know, Jesus Chrsit is the Messiah.

I believe that at the moment Jesus Christ called out the words in Psalm 22:1 God the Father had turned His back on His beloved because it was at that precise time that our Savior took upon Him the sins of the world. For that brief moment, the Lord was detestable to God because of our sin and the Father turned away from Him. The pain of His Father turning His back to Him was far greater to Jesus than the pain and shame of the cross. When His precious blood flowed down Calvary's hill and Christ gave up the Ghost, it was then that the perfect sacrifice was made complete and He, along with all believers who repent of their sins, was redeemed. His reward was His resurrection to a new and incorruptible body, forever to assume His seat at the right hand of the Father.

The Pharisees then, as does the Jewish state today, view the Messiah as a man from the lineage of David who will free them from their oppressors The, the Romans, today, certain of the Arabs. Jesus was trying to show the Pharisees that the Messiah is spiritual, not fleshly. The Lord always made the point that God wants to saves us from our sin, not our human conquerers or enemies. Jesus is King of Kings. That means that He, as ruler of all is the administrator of and yet, as our High Priest He must minister to all. In order to bring peace it is necessary for Jesus to deal with those who are opposed to it. He is and will finish what He has started when He returns with His army of saints.

Psalm 2 teaches that every knee will bow and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. The apostles were witnesses to the Lord, they heard the Word. With this testimony committed to their spirits it was quite simple for them to put two and two together. When He returns He will rule the nations with a rod of iron. It is far better to serve Him now, willingly, than later.

Love and trustworthiness are the base principles of God and reflect His character. Without either, He would not be who He is. The Old Testament prophets make this abundantly clear in every chapter of the books. Great detail is given in order for the reader to understand that even in His great wrath, His love abounds and when He has completed His chatisments, He is trustworthy in His promise to restore us to an even higher plain. The New Testament uses the terms love and faithful, though the KJV replaces charity for love in some instances (see 1 Cor 13, eg,). Some of the many scriptures are: for love: John 15:9, John 15:13, Rom 5:8, 1 John 4:8, et al. Faithful: 2 Tim 2:13, Heb 10:23, Rev 1:5, et al.

His love and faithfullness are more meaningful to me than anything in the world. The fact that the Almighty can love me so that He would scarifice His only begotten for me is uncomprehensible to my feeble little mind. That He would never leave me or forsake me, no matter how much I mess up, is equally mind boggling. Every creature, great and small does praise Yahweh, save mankind. It is most needful for us to praise Him as that is why creation exists. Everything around us and in us must glorify Him as we are His strength and power. By this I mean that by our adoration our God feels our love and is lifted up by it. When we fail to give Him His praise, we let Him down. I praise Adonai as often as I can, whenever I can, externally and internally.

To me, mercy and grace are the standout characteristics of God. Without either, I would cease to exist as a man, a man who has reason to live a righteous life. I don't know that Israel's Exodus did much of anything to give them a foundational understanding of God. Moses, Joshua and Caleb did get it. The rest perished in the desert. Why? Moses put it down for all the generations to read and yet, do they understand? Not according to Isaiah, 6:9-13. I speak as a Jew and my prayer is that all Israel would be saved. There is no limit to God's forgiveness, execept perhaps blaspheming the Holy Ghost.