Is Jesus the Christ?

  Is Jesus the Christ?

In Mark’s gospel we read,

“Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, "Who do people say I am?" 

They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets." 

"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Christ.'”Mark 8:27-29.

It is clear from this portion of scripture that the disciples. Men who knew Jesus intimately. Men who witnessed all that He did, believed Jesus to be the Messiah.

This was something Jesus never shied away from. 

In John’s gospel we read,

"My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand.  

I and the Father are one." 

Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, "I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?" 

"We are not stoning you for any of these," replied the Jews, "but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God." John 10:24-33.

Notice here that Jesus even when threatened with being stoned to death never denied He was one with the Father.

As we approach Christmas this is something we need to decide for ourselves. Thus the choice is yours. Do you believe Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah or not.

Please think about it.

Call on the name of The Lord

 Call on the name of The Lord

The apostle Paul writes,

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 

and are justified freely by his grace 

through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”  

                                                                      Romans 3:23,24.

Paul goes on to write,

"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.    Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.  

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!  

For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!  

Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation" Romans 5:6-11.

We all have sinned in one way or another. Sin is falling short of Gods ideal for our life. Sin separates us from God, and no matter how hard we work at trying to be good, our good works cannot reconcile us to God.

In the book of Ephesians we read,

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—  not by works, so that no one can boast." Ephesians 2:8,9.

Salvation is a gift freely offered by God to us through belief in Christ Jesus. The apostle Paul writing,

“...Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord

 will be saved.” 

                                     Romans 10:13.

Have you called on the name of the Lord?

Please think about it. 

Ambassadors for Christ

 Ambassadors for Christ.

The apostle Paul also wrote,

  “We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.” 2 Corinthians5:20.

I think that many Christians overlook this verse of scripture. They forget that we are Christ’s ambassadors. An ambassador is diplomatic. 

The Oxford dictionary defines an ambassador as, “a diplomat sent by a state as its permanent representative in a foreign country.”

An ambassador does not try and impose their will or the will of their country on another country. They simply present what their country believes. 

This is how we as Christians, as true believers in Christ Jesus need to be aware of. We are to present to the world around us what we believe. Leaving it to the people listening to them to decide for themselves if what is being said is true or false.

Question; If you consider yourself a true follower of Christ Jesus, are you a good ambassador for Him?

Please think about it.

 God’s fingerprints

The Psalmist wrote,

“The heavens declare the glory of God; 

the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 

Day after day they pour forth speech; 

night after night they display knowledge. 

There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.” 

                                                                                  Psalm 19:1-3.

I firmly believe that science done right will point to the fact the universe and everything in it was created by God.

Dr. Arno Penzias 1978 Nobel Prize winner in Physics

"Astronomy leads us to a unique event, a universe which was created out of nothing, one with a very delicate balance needed to provide exactly the conditions required to permit life and one which has an underlying (one might say ‘supernatural') plan." Dr. Arno Penzias

William Philips another Nobel prize winner in physics said,

“I believe in God more because of science than in spite of it" William Philips Nobel prize winning Physicist.

The way I look at it. When I see everything, from the smallest subatomic particle to the greatest galaxy. I see a universe that is designed specifically for us. Even Stephen Hawing said, 

Stephen Hawking 

"It would be very difficult to explain why the universe should have begun in just this way, except as the act of a God who intended to create beings like us," Stephen Hawking.

God’s finger prints can be seen throughout creation. It’s just a matter of honestly looking for Him.

So my question to you dear reader, are you sincerely looking for God?

Please think about it.

My hope is in God

 My hope is in God

In the book of Lamentations we read,

"The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

"The LORD is my portion" says my soul, "therefore I will hope in Him"Lamentations 3:22-24.

Is your hope in God? Can you say with the author of Lamentations “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases?

Is your hope truly in God, or is it in your own strength, or your wealth or some other thing?

Can you truly say “my hope is in God”?

Please think about it.

So what do you believe?

  So what do you believe?

The Psalmist writes,

"The heavens declare the glory of God; 

the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 

Day after day they pour forth speech; 

night after night they display knowledge. 

There is no speech or language 

where their voice is not heard." 

                                                   Psalm 19:1-3.

William Philips said,

“I believe in God more because of science than in spite of it" William Philips Nobel prize winning Physicist.

Werner Heisenberg said,

“The first gulp from the glass of natural science will make you an atheist, but at the bottom of the glass God is waiting for you" Werner Heisenberg father of Quantum Mechanics Nobel prize in physics

Even Stephen Hawking noted,

"It would be very difficult to explain why the universe should have begun in just this way, except as the act of a God who intended to create beings like us," Stephen Hawking.

These are men far better educated than me. Yet they all point out that Science points us to God.

So what do you believe?

 Your bet

The Psalmist writes,

"The fool says in his heart, 

"There is no God." 

                                        Psalm 14:1

The apostle Paul writes,

"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, 

but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." 

                                                                                                1 Corinthians 1:18.

Do you believe in God? Many refuse to believe in God because He doesn’t conform to their way of thinking. They don’t believe that God could enter into His creation in the form of Christ Jesus. They don’t believe that God would allow Jesus to be crucified for the sins of the world. 

Many simply don’t believe in God because they can’t see Him face to face. They fail to see God in the creation around them.

The Psalmist writes,

"The heavens declare the glory of God;

 the skies proclaim the work of his hands." 

                                                             Psalm 19:1.

Blaise Pascal wrote,

“Belief is a wise wager. Granted that faith cannot be proved, what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves false? If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation, that He exists.” Blaise Pascal.

So are you willing to bet there is a God?

Please think about it.

An Important choice

 An important choice

In Luke’s gospel we read,

"One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!" 

But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence?  

We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong." 

Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.'" 

Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." Luke 23:39-43.

These two criminals had the same choice to make as you or I. We can call on Jesus to make himself known by doing something for us. Or we can believe that He is the Son of God the Saviour of the world, confess our sins directly to Him and be forgiven.

The apostle Paul tells us,

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”  Romans 3:23,24.

So have you received God’s saving grace that comes through Jesus Christ?

Please think about it.

Concerning the Word of life

 Concerning the Word of life

The apostle John writes,

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.  

The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.  

We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.   We write this to make our joy complete” 1John 1:1-4.

Here the apostle John who walked with Jesus, is clear. He states that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah. Who was from the beginning of creation.

When someone reads this you can only come to one of two conclusions, either John is lying or he is telling the truth.

C. S. Lewis states,

"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God. 

That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. 

You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. 

You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

So the choice is yours. Who is Jesus?

Please think about it.

Do you have Peace?

  Do you have peace?

The Psalmist writes,

“You have searched me, Lord,

 and you know me.”

                                          Psalm 139:1

When we read the above portion of scripture. We can either read it and be at peace with the knowledge God understands why we are the way we are, and that we have accepted Christ as our Lord and Saviour. 

OR 

we can read it and be afraid of God’s judgement. Knowing that we have not accepted Christ as our Saviour and that the good in our life may not outweigh the bad things we have done.

Christians do not believe that when you stand before God on the day of judgement that He will put the deeds of your life on a scale and if the good outweighs the bad you will get to heaven. 

Quite the contrary. Christians believe that we cannot be good enough to stand before God. C. S. Lewis wrote,

"The Christian does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us."  C.S. Lewis.

The apostle Paul said,

"That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  

For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame."  Romans 10:9-11.

The apostle Peter said,

"And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'" Acts 2:21

The apostle John wrote,

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.  

If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives." 1John 1:9-10.

So the question becomes; Do you have peace in your heart that you have had your sins forgiven and are on your way to heaven?

Please think about it.

Why do you believe

 Why do you believe

The apostle Paul writes,

"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth."  2 Timothy 2:15.

To many believers do not know why they believe what they believe. Rather they simply trust the pastor, evangelist, or teacher they are listening to at a given time.

There is nothing wrong with questioning a pastor, evangelist, or Bible teacher about their beliefs and how they back those beliefs with Scripture.

An honest Bible teacher will always be willing to tell you how he come to believe what he does. 

That being said I firmly believe that individual Christian have a duty to study the Bible for themselves. Praying and asking God to show them the meaning of what they are studying.

So my question to you dear reader is, 

Do you study the scriptures for yourself or do you solely rely on the people you are listening to?

Please think about it.

In whom or what

 In whom or what

In Psalm twenty we read,

"Some trust in chariots and some in horses, 

but we trust in the name of the LORD our God." 

                                                                      Psalm 20:7

The in Psalm we read,

"I lift up my eyes to the hills— 

where does my help come from? 

My help comes from the LORD, 

the Maker of heaven and earth."

                                                  Psalm 121:1,2.

So where is your trust?

We living in the twenty-first century may not trust in chariots or horses but most certainly do have the twenty-first century equivalent. Those being money, and material possessions.

Now there is nothing wrong with having material possessions or being wealthy. The problem comes when those things become more important in your life than God.

The apostle Paul said,

"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." 1 Timothy 6:10.

Notice Paul states it is the “love of money is a root of all kinds of evil”.

A true believer in Christ Jesus is called to love God. 

         When asked,

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 

Jesus replied: " ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 

This is the first and greatest commandment." Matthew 22:36-38.

So if you consider yourself to be a Christian in whom or what do you trust?

Please think about it.