Tag: Matthew

  • Blessed be God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ

    Blessed be God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ

    PRAISE & WORSHIP GOD! (as faithful worshipers have blessed God and been blessed by God for generations…)

    • Genesis 1:21 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
    • Genesis 5:2 Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created.
    • Genesis 9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
    • Genesis 14:19-20 And he [Melchizedek] blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
    • Exodus 18:10  Jethro said, “Blessed be the LORD, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh and has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.
    • Exodus 39:43 (after the building of the Tabernacle for worship of the LORD) And Moses saw all the work, and behold, they had done it; as the LORD had commanded, so had they done it. Then Moses blessed them.
    • Leviticus 9:22 Then Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them, and he came down from offering the sin offering and the burnt offering and the peace offerings.
    • Deuteronomy 12:7-9 And there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the LORD your God has blessed you. “You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes, for you have not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance that the LORD your God is giving you.
    • 2 Samuel 6:18 And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of hosts.
    • 2 Chronicles 2:12 Hiram also said, “Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, who has given King David a wise son, who has discretion and understanding, who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal palace for himself.
    • 2 Chronicles 30:25-27  The whole assembly of Judah, and the priests and the Levites, and the whole assembly that came out of Israel, and the sojourners who came out of the land of Israel, and the sojourners who lived in Judah, rejoiced. So there was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem. Then the priests and the Levites arose and blessed the people, and their voice was heard, and their prayer came to his holy habitation in heaven.
    • Nehemiah 8:6 And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.

    Psalm 34:8

    Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!
    Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

    Matthew 21:9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

    Worship the Lord your God!

    2 Corinthians 1

    English Standard Version (ESV)

    Greeting

    1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

    To the church of God that is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia:

    2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

    God of All Comfort

    3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

    1 Peter 1

    English Standard Version (ESV)

    Greeting

    1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

    To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:

    May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

    Born Again to a Living Hope

    3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

    Ephesians 1

    English Standard Version (ESV)

    Greeting

    1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,

    To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:

    2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

    Spiritual Blessings in Christ

    3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known[c] to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

    11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

    Thanksgiving and Prayer

    15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

     A doxology (from the Greek δόξα [doxa] “glory” + -λογία [-logia], “saying”) is a short hymn of praises to God in various Christian worship services.

    Doxology – worship video & music of David Crowder

  • Closer to Hell than Heaven

    Closer to Hell than Heaven

    A descent of God from the Throne of the Third Heaven, down to the heavens seen by man, and down to the clouds of the first heaven above us in this earthly atmosphere; even down to the dust and ashes upon which we walk is a great humility for the Living God Who created it all.

    As if Jesus being born of ‘adam (Mary, betrothed to Joseph of Nazareth) is not humility enough – as if crucifixion for our sins is not humility enough; Jesus descended into Hell before He was raised to His former glory.

    Ephesians 4:9 In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth?

    We walk closer to Hell than the Third Heaven of our Lord God. We are nearer to perishing than to salvation.

    Romans 3

    English Standard Version (ESV)

    “None is righteous, no, not one;

    11     no one understands;
    no one seeks for God.
    12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
    no one does good,
    not even one.”
    13 “Their throat is an open grave;
    they use their tongues to deceive.”
    “The venom of asps is under their lips.”
    14     “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
    15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
    16     in their paths are ruin and misery,
    17 and the way of peace they have not known.”
    18     “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

     23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.

    Pompeii2mount st helensDo you recall the devastation of Mount St. Helens in 2008 A.D or Mount Vesuvius burying Pompeii in 79 A.D.?  Certainly the power and wrath of God are in evidence in current disasters: hurricanes, typhoons, earthquakes, even the eruption of mountains spewing out hot lava from the depths of the earth.

    Can you think vertically? We walk nearer the bowels of the earth than to the Third Heaven of God.

    God can wash the sea upon us, crack the earth beneath us or cover us with the ashes that were once a mountain.

    Why do the nations not worship God? Why do the people refuse to follow Christ Jesus, our ONLY hope for eternal life?

    Think horizontally for a brief moment in these last days:

     Genesis 1:1-2 KJV

    In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

    OR to put the beginning in a context of Christ:

    John 1

    English Standard Version (ESV)

    The Word Became Flesh

    1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

    Matthew 1 provides a genealogy of the Son of man, Christ Jesus, beginning from Abraham, the descendant of Adam. We refer to this horizontal timeline as B.C., that is: Before Christ.

    2013 A.D. (from the Latin) means in the year of our Lord.

    We have no problem projecting horizontally into 2014 A.D., 2030 A.D., even perhaps a time beyond our certain death like 2100 A.D.

    Think ahead.

    Think of Jesus Christ as the center of the Cross of grace for you. HE has descended into the depths of hell from the heights of Heaven.  HE was before the beginning. HE was before His incarnation, His own death and His resurrection. HE IS.

    HE was before you and I were born. HE IS now. HE will be after our death.

    Jesus Christ will be after the end.

    What must we do for eternal life?

    Worship the Lord and bow down.

     

  • The Trumpet of the King

    The Trumpet of the King

    Isaiah 18:3

    All you inhabitants of the world,
    you who dwell on the earth,
    when a signal is raised on the mountains, look!
    When a trumpet is blown, hear!

    From the futility of our earthly existence the inhabitants of the world look to our own devices and forget the God of Heaven above.

    We forget that we are of dust and to dust we will return. We forget to give thanks and worship to the Lord God for the very breath of life He as breathed into our lifeless flesh. We fail to bow down to the King of the Highest Heaven above, our God Who came down to His own and laid down His Holy Life on a lowly Cross for your sins and for mine.

    He IS the King of Creation, the God of all creatures, the first born ‘adam of sinlessness.

    Jesus Christ IS risen into the place of His former glory.

    He has promised His faithful the eternal salvation of His Heavenly Home.

    Further, He will awaken all souls from the dust of our demise. He will call up the souls of all the inhabitants of the world to justice and judgment for every past sin, every unaccounted transgression. He will burn away the iniquity of the dead in the pit of eternal torment, as the forgotten faithful receive our full reward forever more.

    He IS the Lamb of God, His Blood the Sacrifice of the Cross for the victory over sin and death!

    Revelation 6

    English Standard Version (ESV)

    The Seven Seals

    6 Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, “Come!” 2 And I looked, and behold, a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer.

    You, O earth, have not given the Lord His glory.

    You have not bowed down in worship to the Lord your God.

    You have not acknowledged the Sacrifice of His only Son for your sake.

    You do not look to the Highest Heaven and bow down to the Throne of His glory.

    The people and the church do not hearken to the signs of the trumpet soon to sound.

    Repent!

    O you peoples, you who claim His Holy Name!

    Matthew 24:

    English Standard Version (ESV)

    The Coming of the Son of Man

    29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

    Raise ear to the sound of the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords!

    From on High a trumpet will sound.

    Where, O sinner, will you put your trust?

    Where, O sinner, will you hide from His wrath?

    Shofar

    Revelation 8:7 The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.

    Revelation 8:8 The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood.

    Revelation 8:10 The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.

    Revelation 8:12 The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night.

    Revelation 9:1 And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit.

    Revelation 9:13-14 Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God, saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.”

    Revelation 11:15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”

    Let those with ears to hear, hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.