Search For Jesus

Jon Straumfjord asked:


Copyright (c) 2007 Jon Straumfjord

Faith was an everyday occurrence in Jesus’ life. Take for example the very first miracle He performed at the marriage feast in Cana of Galilee (John 2:1-12). Jesus commanded the servants to fill the pots with water, and water was taken to the head of the feast where it became wine. It never even occurred to Jesus that the water would not be turned into wine, He simply expected it to happen.

There are many other instances of miracles that were performed in Jesus life, such as the ruler’s daughter being raised (Matthew 9:18-26; Mark 5:21-43; Luke 8:40-56), or the time He commanded Peter to catch a fish and take a coin out of its mouth (Matthew 17:24-27), or when He cursed the tree that immediately died (Matthew 21:18-22; Mark 11:12-24), or when He walked on water and commanded Peter to also walk on water (Matthew14:22-33;Mark 6:45-52; John 6:15-21). In each of these cases, He simply expected to see happen whatever He had commanded to happen. He never doubted; He never worried; He simply expected it to happen. Faith was simply an every day characteristic of Jesus’ life.

Faith also played a very important role in Jesus’ death on the cross. Jesus went to the cross with the complete and full expectation that He was going to rise again from the dead three days later. Not only was that the command He had received from his Father which He accepted at face value, but He was also thoroughly convinced that He had the authority to claim His own resurrection:

“Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.” (John 10:17-18, NKJV)

While there were several resurrections recorded in both the Old and New Testaments, none had ever involved the simple faith of the dead individual. Every time someone rose from the dead, it was at the instigation of the faith and command of another individual. This time, however, Jesus was laying down His own life on the cross, deliberately at His own volition, and then commanding His Own resurrection. Even though it had never happened previously throughout all recorded history, Jesus was thoroughly convinced it was going to happen this time, simply because that was what His Father had said. It had apparently never even occurred to Him that it wasn’t going to happen exactly as His Father had said it would. That is powerful faith!

There were, however, limits to what Jesus’ faith could accomplish. Since God can only act from a position of unity, the Holy Spirit could only move when others exercised faith in agreement with Jesus’ faith. Take for example, the resurrection of Lazarus (John 11:1-44). at least twice Jesus encouraged Martha to believe, apparently, so the miracle could occur:

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26, NKJV)

Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” (John 11:40, NKJV)

In fact, unbelief limits the very power of God Himself:

Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He marveled because of their unbelief. (Mark 6:5-6a, NKJV)

If we ever expect to see God working in our lives, performing miracles, or simply answering our prayers, we need to walk in faith without unbelief!Only then will we witness the power and glory of God.



Harry

Arnold Ahlstrom asked:


The records of Jesus’ prayers constitute a priceless document of one perfect being expressing himself to another.

Though Jesus must have been involved in prayer all the time, all we have in the Bible is six prayers of Jesus.

There are three kinds of prayers, and we know for sure that the mortal Jesus was involved personally in two of them. The three types of prayers were:

a. Personal prayers, offered by an individual in seclusion.

b. Public prayers, where one person acts as the voice of the group.

c. Set prayers, offered up only in connection with sacred ordinances, such as the ordinances of the temple.

Jesus taught us how to pray in public, and we know that prayer as “the Lords Prayer”. “Lead us not into temptation”, “Give us today our daily bread”, etc, are givaways that it is a public prayer.

There is not one single mention of first person in singular, showing that it is, in deed, a public prayer.

But we will not look at the public prayers of Jesus in this article. We shall look at the two privately uttered prayers that we have in writing.

We do have a couple of private prayers that was uttered in public, but we must consider them as teachings of the crowds, and testaments to the history of man, as much as personal prayers.

The two genuinely personal prayers that we have access to are his intercessory prayer, offered shortly before he entered into the Garden of Gethsemane and his heart-rending plea to his Father that the cup, if possible, would pass him by.

The intercessory prayer we appear to have in its fullness, but Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane must be but a fragment of the entire prayer (remember that there was time enough for the disciples to fall asleep).

Why do we have one prayer from A-Z, and only a fragment of the other prayer? In order to answer that question there is one thing we must realize.

Since Jesus was all alone when he offered up these two prayers, there was no-one present to record them for inclusion in our Scriptures. If no-one was present to record the prayers, how come we still have them today?

In order for us to have access to these two prayers of Jesus today, God must have revealed the content of them to someone who was worthy to view these holy moments, and who could be trusted to accurately record the occurrences.

No doubt, this trusted man was a prophet, seer and revelator. This prophet was obviously permitted to view and record the entire intercessory prayer of the Lord, and recorded it to our benefit.

The content of this prayer is doctrinally important, since it declares how the Father and the Son are one, and that every believer can become one in the exact same way.

There is no room for a dissection of the entire prayer in this article, but it can be found in John 17: 1-26.

Whether the prophet who was invited to view the personal prayers of the Master was permitted in his revelation to witness the entire suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane we know not, but it is clear that only a small portion of Jesus’ prayer was public domain;

“And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt”. (Mathew 26:39)

Perhaps the words of the suffering God were so poignant that we could not bare to hear them.

Perhaps such a moment is too sacred to be had among the children of men, who will not shun to make light of the most sacred of things.

Perhaps we should rejoice that the words of that pivotal moment never could become part of “The Life of Brian”.



Frank

Yummy cookies asked:


Jesus acted completely different than God and Eve wanted to know good from bad too, and good people are to be sent to hell if not Christians.

But God punished Eve, yet spared Jesus, but both Jesus and Eve are his children.

But Eve at least knew what to not do.
Good people all over the world however have no proof that God ever existed so they are NOT told to believe in God, they are simply given a hint and plenty that oppose it.

Antonio

Peter asked:


Jesus Christ is the Word of God and image of the invisible God. The most important is that he is the only salvation and the Eternal Life. This is Jesus, who is the first born of all creations  and also the first born from the dead in the kingdom of God.

Jesus christ is the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, according to the Word of the Lord. Following are some verses from both OT and NT  which justifies:

 

“I am the Alpha and the Omega ,” declares the Lord God, “the one who is, who was, and who is coming, the Almighty.”

 

- Revelation 1:8

 

“And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last :I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.”

 

-Revelation 1:17-18

 

“Listen to Me, O Jacob, even Israel whom I called; I am He, I am the first, I am also the last.“

 

-  Isaiah 48: 12

 

And these are the words spoken by Messaiah  that  he is from the beginning  :

 

“Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I : and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me.”

 

- Isaiah 48:16.

 

“Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.”

 

- John  8:58.

 

To make it clear let us read this  Word of God from Isaiah 48: 12-16:

“Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last

Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together

All ye, assemble yourselves, and hear; which among them hath declared these things? The LORD hath loved him: he will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.

I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him: I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.

Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me.”

From the above Word of God it is clear that Messiah is speaking to us that he is the first and the last and he existed before all things, ‘The Only Begotten of the Father’ through him and for him all things were created!

Dear readers this is my first article about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and is just an introduction about the Savior to show that He is from the beginning, on my coming articles i will make you known about Lord Jesus in more detailed way.

“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.”



Nicholas

Leshia Zion asked:


I have a few… Jesus is a positive influence for good towards are neighbors and friends. Jesus is still the name that carries our nation to do good for one another. How has Jesus made America a better place to live in the twenty first century?

Adrian

Ernie Fitzpatrick asked:


If Jesus did not die (which is the first misconception) then Jesus did not die for my sins. While the church might scratch it’s metaphorical head on my first statement, it would take my head off for the second statement. Killing someone (in the name of God) is LOVE of course. Since I believe in original blessing and not original sin, I’ve automatically reduced the need for an ancient Old Testament sacrifice that Christianity adopted. We simply must get over and past the scrificial blood demanding paradigms.

Embracing life within the Christian community and not seeing the need for Jesus to be “sent to die for my sins” is tatamount to radical heretical synthesis. But, let me get back to my primary point which may help explain the secondary one- if possible. Remember, one has to “suspend DISBELIEF in order to BELIEVE”. If we could only comprehend that we are ONE and we are not separated from our Source! Death cannot separate us because there really is no death!

Jesus did not die!

Neither was there a reversal of death (neither resusitation, nor resurrection).

Simply stated Jesus just transitioned His state of consciousness. He de-materialized His more dense state (we are dense in many ways!) and reappeared in a lighter state. And then once He had demonstrated a higher resonating vibratory pitch, He transitioned once more into the pure light frequency that took Him back to the Source from which we all came, and to which we are all headed.

Religion need not be mediated, at least not the way the modern-day church goes about it! We do all need a spiritual community though.

The challenge and question is simply how REAL can we be here in this third dimension? How much of a higher, more true resonance of our “angels of light” that we are can we attain while in these dense matter bodies that we inhabit. Jesus showed us that we have a CHOICE. We have FREE WILL. Ledt me use the words of Greg Braden who said, “Jesus, the Christ demonstrated that there is NO JUDGMENT from creation itself against any one individual for actions or deeds resulting from the use of CHOCIE and or RFEE WILL. There is no day when the weight of SIN will prevent an individual from moving into a higher form of expression or heaven”.

That statement affirms my “God is Love : Hell Is Not” concepts.

Each of determines our own hell on earth (can you say karma?) and Jesus came to show us the WAY. Jesus came to show us the TRUTH. And Jesus came to show us the LIFE that never, ever ends (but just transcends). Jesus did not die. Jesus IS ALIVE!



Keith

Ernie Fitzpatrick asked:


There are so many things to LIKE about Jesus and quite a few to NOT LIKE as well, especially if you think that life should be FAIR! Most people who follow almost every or any brand of religion subconsciously falls prey to the FAIRNESS CODE only to find out that God isn’t FAIR. GRACE is not FAIR!  

The story in John, chapter eight, quickly does away with any fairness issues.

Here we have a woman caught red-handed by several witnesses. The God-fearing and self-righteous Jews who discovered her sinful act needed to ahve their VINDICTIVE theistic God do something. They believed in a reward-punishment paradigm. This woman had clearly been caught in the act of a great moral compromise that demanded punishment. There was just one problem.

Jesus didn’t see God as vindictive! Neither do I.

Jesus saw God as love. So do I!

Jesus saw God as love (fancy that!). Jesus not only SAW, but He KNEW God as compassionate, forgiving, and merciful. So, regardless of how you want to spin the story on how she got off Scott-free, she felt the hand of grace in her life regardless. God didn’t need to punish her, but love her. Can you hear that? The very religious simply cannot hear it at all.

Why, if someone isn’t punished, what’sin it for them? Why should they toe the line, heed the law, and miss out on all the fun if there’s no retribution. Bring on the punishment lest it tempt them to so indulge as well. Paul Tillich called such a potential attitude as “the vengeance of the denied possibility.” Think about that one.

Ultimately our view of God will determine how we see life, see others, and live life. We will either be FREE or we’ll live in some sort of self-imposed slavery to various laws and thoughts. Jesus knew Abba Father as FREE and so Jesus was FREE and therein FREED others.

What’s your view of God?

Are you FREE?



Jeanne

Nancy Williams asked:


The focus of my article today is on the skin care in by the Bible. There are tales of in the Bible of a healing Aloe Vera plant. When Jesus was removed from the cross on the mountain of Golgotha, his body was wrapped in Aloe Vera leaves and myrrh, as noted in John 19:39. Some versions of the great book denote that his body was wrapped in aloes completely upon removal from the cross, because the Jews learned about the healing power and cosmetic qualities of Aloe Vera which they were help capitive by the Egyptians.

The first mention of Aloe Vera in the Bible is In the Psalms (45-8) where it is written that the “garments of the King are perfumed with mhyrr and aloe”. Aloe Vera in the Bible is reffered to as the “bitter herb” because of its smell, and there are over a dozen passages in the Bible that note that Jesus’s body was anointed with bitter aloes before being placed into the tomb. Here is an excerpt from that great passage:

“Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs.” John 19:38-40

Since then, Aloe Vera especially combined with Myrrh have held special relevance in the Christian world. While the Old Testament describes ancient burial practices, it is really about how are lives are changed and shaped by Jesus.

My family and I choose to lead a life like that of Jesus Christ. Instead of consuming harmful chemicals and pills to change our mood or appearance, we try to mirror that of the Bible and Jesus Christ. My first recommendation would be to visiting http://www.madefromearth.com/ for a holistic and healthy skin care products. Please do not use any chemicals in your food or skin care routines.



Roberto

ctea asked:


I read so often where christians say “jesus is god”
but wasn’t jesus supposed to be gods son. So how can jesus be both the father and son.

Georgia