“Let us all celebrate the one who was given to us all this holiday season.”-Mrs. Shaunelius L. Sterns
Jesus is the Reason For the Season!
When I think about Christmas, I think about the birth of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. I think about all of the feelings that Mary had when Gabriel came and gave her the message of having Jesus. I think about what her parents must have felt when she came back home and saw her with child. I think about all of the children that saw her and what they must have thought. I think about what Joseph must have thought when he saw her for the first time when she returned. Everyone must have been in shock and wondering how it could have happened, and who did it to her. I feel that emotions were running rampant around the village that they lived in. I feel that Mary knew that she was going to be shunned when she came back home. She broke no law, but in their eyes she had, she told the truth but no one believed her, and I feel that must have hurt her to her heart, especially when her parents did not believe her.I wonder what Joseph must have thought when after all of the time she was gone, he was building a home for them after they were married so they would have a place to live. I guess he must have thought that it was all for nothing. After Joseph made the accusation about the situation, Gabriel came to him in a dream and told him what was going to happen, then he believed.
I know what it feels like to tell the truth and no one still will believe you, it hurts you to yhour heart. Those that you knew would believe you made you feel good, but when it was the other way around you were stabbed in the back by them. It hurts when your family does not believe you, but believe the rumors that they hear from others. Sometimes people do not know the truth when they hear it, it sounds like a lie to them.
Mary did not lie about anything, she told the truth. When it was time for them to go because of the census, Mary chose to go with Joseph. It was a long hard ride getting to Bethlehem, but they made it. Who would have thought that Jesus was going to be born in a stable? I know that they would have never thought that when they arrived to Bethlehem that their son was going to be born in a stable around animals, but He was. Just think about how wonderful it would have been if we could have been there to celebrate the birth of our Lord!
Just think about all of the miles that the three wisemen had to travel, made a stop and then kept on following the star until they made it to their destination to see Jesus, the new born King.
When I think about Christmas, I don’t think about store bought gifts that only bring temporary happiness and joy. I think about the gift that God gave to us all…the only one who can bring us real joy and happiness, and eternal life, life more abundantly, the gift of the Holy Ghost, health, wholeness, and healing, and most of all everlasting love that will never grow old, that will never fail, that will never leave us nor forsake us, who is there for us when no one else is, who dries our eyes, who mends our broken hearts, who makes a way where there seems to be no way, and will stick closer to us than anyone on this earth. I think about the one who is the Alpha, Omega, Beginning and the End, the first and the last, the one who died, was raised from the dead, and is alive forever more, who is seated in honor at the right hand of the Father with all power in His hands in heaven and on earth, the one who walked on water, opened blind eyes, made the lame walk, healed, every sickness, every disease, stopped devils in their tracks, the one who spoke everything into being, the one who forgives us when we don’t deserve it, the one who loves us more than anything, His NAME IS JESUS CHRIST! He is who I think about when I think about Christmas, because if He was not born there would be no Christmas. There would be no reason to celebrate this special day.
This is what Christmas means to me. What does Christmas mean to you?
Check out this Bible Study, I hope you enjoy it, Merry Christmas.
<This month has been vey stessful>. // Things has not gone right for me, everything has been wrong>.//
//<I feel so frustrated because of all of this that I am going through trying to recover from an accident I had at work>. //I am thankful that it was not worse thatn it is>. As I am recovering I am trying to keep myself sharp by writing almost every day.//
//I am trying to teach myself how to write with code. This is just practice for me, but I just want to learn something new.// So when this is come across please don't judge. But anyway, I am going to remain in faith and in prayer until God brings me through this cicumstance. It will not last forever, but for now it sure feels like it. I am thakful that none of my bones were broken. I am thankful that God was there to protect me when it happened. I am thankful that HE was in the hospital room with me to comfort me, I just do not know what I would do if HE were not there with me.
// I am thankful that He dried my tears away. Sometimes I just wonder why I am being tested like this. I do not understand. Maybe it is to test my faith, maybe it is to make me strong to strengthen my faith...I do not know what God's plan is for me, but I am sure I will know when it is all said and done.// No matter what we may have to face or go through, God will always be there to lift us up. He will never leave us nor forsake us. Life may be frustrating at times, but we should still be thankful anyway.
We should be thankful and grateful everyday because Jesus laid down His life for us.
In this lesson, we are going to be studing the Parables of Our Lord. We are going to see what Jesus has to say to us in the parables that He taught the disciples, and how they still apply to us today. I pray that our hearts are open and ready to receive God’s Word though His Son, Jesus Christ.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing me to have to ablilty to teach Your Word, and to share Your Word with all people. I pray that it reaches people everywhere. I pray that at the end of this series of lessons, hearts will be turned to You. Thank You , Lord for all that You have done, for all that You are doing, and for all that You are going to do in the lives of all of Your people, and it is in Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
The first parable we are going to look at is called :The Marriage. This makes me think about the wedding party that Jesus and the disciples, and His mother went to Canna. That is where Jesus performed His first miracle. They ran out of wine, so Jesus turned water into wine.parable in the Bible – Bing
When we think about marriage, we know that a real marriage is between a man and a woman. It is the way God intended it to be, He said to be fruitful and multiply, that is the only way reproduction can be done, between a man and a woman. Anything other than a man and a woman being married is an abomination in the eyes of God. As we all know, times have changed, it is not the way it was before; things are totally different now. What do you think God is saying to Himself? How do you think this makes Him feel? Do we ever think about that? I for one thinks that it breaks His heart.
Now, let us look at the first lesson, which is called Joyous Response to Jesus. The occasion is to the disciples of John. Scripture References are Matthew 9:15; Mark 2:19-20; and Luke 5:34-35. Let us look at these Scriptures to see what Jesus is saying to us.
Matthew 9:15-And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be thaken from them, and then shall they fast. The children of the bridechamber are the disciples, and everyone that follows Jesus and believes in Him. Jesus is the bridegroom that is going to be taken away from them when time comes, but at this time Jesus is with them becasue His time has not yet come to depart out of the world, so there is no reason for them to fast and mourn.BRIDEGROOM IN THE BIBLE (kingjamesbibleonline.org)bridechamber in the Bible – Bing
Mark 2:19-20- And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom fast, while the bridegroom is with them? as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. (v.20.)But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and them they shall fast in those days. Once again, Jesus is telling them that the children of the bridechamber cannot fast as long as the bridegroom is with them. He is saying that when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast, but the time has not come. In other words, Jesus is telling them that it is not time for Him to be crucified so He can go away and comd back again, so as long as He is with them they do not have to fast and mourn for anything.
We all know that Jesus is the bridegroom that is coming back to rapture the church, which is His bride. This is why we all need to get things in order with Jesus, because one day it is going to be to late to make things right with Him, and those that we need to make things right with. He will be coming like a thief in the night. The angels in heaven do not even know what day that is going to be, only the Father.
Luke 5:34-35-And He said unto them, Can ye make the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days. Jesus is constantly telling them that there is no reason for the disciples to fast beause He is with them. He keeps on telling them that the time has not yet come for Him to leave. He keeps telling them this, but they are dull of understanding. Their ears are closed spiritually, so therefore they can not undestand what He is telling them. They are spiritually blind and cannot see who He really is. In so many words Jesus is telling them that it is not time for His arrest, it is not time for Him to be betrayed, but they still do not undrstand what He is saying. They still do not realize that He is the Son of Man, they do not see that He is the Messiah that was prophesied about by the prophet Isaiah. They want to see a sign, but He had already told them that there will be no sign except the sign of Jonah. They wanted Him to do things for them so that they would believe, but He did not. Fasting in the Bible – Bing
There are many people in this world who has never heard the name of Jesus. There are many places in the world that have heard the name of Jesus and does not want to have anything to do with Him. There are a lot of people in the world that think the Word of God are just stories that happened a long time ago, but what they fail to realize, they are going to have to stand before Him one day, and it will be to late to believe then, it will be to late to accept Him as their Lord and Savior. It will be to late to repent, so they will have to receive their just due. That is why we must choose who we are going to serve. This world is going to pass away, but the Word of God will stand forever.
Just reading these Scriptures, I can see what they did to Jesus when HE was arested and beat all night long. I can see how He carried the cross, and when it became to heavy there was someone to help Him carry it the rest of the way up that long dusty road to the place of the skull. I can see the Roman soldiers as they nail His hands to the cross, and His feet. I can see as the cross was lifted up and dropped into the hole as they removed the ropes from it. I can see the blood that He shed for us, how He suffered for us, how he forgave us and everyone that will ever walk the face of this earth for our sins. He said,”Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” Even on the cross, Jesus was still preaching forgiveness, that amazes me. I am amazed because after all He went through He still forgave, He still had compassion, He still loved His enemies; that is real love. Even in the agony and pain He was in, he did not hold any grudges against those that did Him the way they did. He overcame evil with good. Evil was defeated and good prevailed. If Jesus can do all of that for us, why is it so hard for to forgive those that have wronged us? Why do we hold grudges? Why do we hold on to the bitterness that sometimes causes us to hate? Why is it so hard for us to do what Jesus did? He forgave, and so should we. When we forgive, we are releasing that person and placing them in the hands of God, we are no longer giving them power over us. We set them free, forgiveness is for us so that we can let things go, because when we forgive others, Jesus forgives us, and when we do not forgive others, Jesus will not fogive us, so in order to be forgiven, we must forgive.
Peter is the main one that told Jesus that he would never leave Him, and yet he denied Him three times just as Jesus said he would; all in all Jesus still used Peter to preach the Gospel, and Peter died just like Jesus did, but with his head to the ground and his feet in the air because Peter felt that he was not worthy to die like Jesus in the exact way. Jesus forgave Peter, just like He forgives us today.
My next series is going to be on the subject of War and the different aspects of it. I do not know how long the series will be at this point, but I am just going to let God guide me through it. I believe that it is going to be a subject that we will soon not forget. So stay tuned to embark on this journey through God’s Word as He teaches us through His amazing words of life and wisdom.
Prayer:Thank You Lord for allowing us to be on this earth one more time to praise and worship You. Thamk You for allowing usto have our health and strength and to be closed in our right minds. Thank You for Your protection, guidance , and wisdom to understad Your Word. May we strive to be more like Your Son, Jesus Christ every day until He returns. Thank You for Your love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness. We give You all the Praise, Glory, and Honor,in Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
When we think about war, we think about all of the killing that it causes, the devastation that it causes, and the hurt that it brings for families that have relatives fighting in the war. War causes many problems, and I believe that it is necessary to keep our country and nation safe from our enemies that wants to deatroy us. War isn’t something new that we have never heard of before; war has been going on since the beginning of time. We are going to see what the Word says about war, and what we can learn from it.
Let us look at Exodus 13:17 to see what God is going to tell us about war. And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and return to Egypt: This tells me that God did what He did so that the people would not want to return to Egypt, because if He would have taken them the other way, they would have became afraid and wanted to return to Egypt, so He did what He did to keep them safe and unafraid togo in the direction He was taking them. Yes, He took them to the Red Sea to cross over, but they were more afraid when they saw the army coming behind them before they crossed over. When they did cross over, and the army tried to follow them, God brought back down the water on them where they drowned in the Red Sea. Just as God lead His people from the enemy, He will also lead us fom our enemies, and as He fought their enemies, He will fight our enemies for us as well.
Let us look at Numbers 21:14: Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the Lord, What he did in the Red Sea, and in the brooks of Arnon.+The book of the wars of the Lord in he bible – Bing imagesDead Sea and Arnon River – Bing imagesI looked this up on Bing because I wanted to see what the Red Sea, and the brook of Arnon looked like, but this is what was there. You can take a look around the pictures and see what it looks like.
Verse 15.-16–: And at the stream of the brooks that goeth down to the dwelling of Ar, and lieth upon the border of Moab.(16.), And from thence they went to Beer: that is the well whereof the Lord spake unto Moses, Gather the people together, and I will give them water.
Deuteronomy 24:5-When a man hath takena new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business: but he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken. It is not good for a man to go to war after he has married, that is the time for he and his wife to get to know one another, consemate their marriage, and be happy. During that time they can make plans for the future, talk about having children, and building up their home comfortably. It is a time for rejoicing for them; it is their honeymoon. It is that time for them to party and have fun with one another.
This is what marriage is supposed to look like, between a man and a woman; not the way it is going on today.
Psalm 46:9-He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire. This Scripture is telling us that God is destroying anything that is used to cause war. He is destroying the weapons that are used in war so that there will be anymore wars unto the end of the earth.
Psalm 55:21- The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords. People can talk a good game and act like they are for you, but at the same time they have war in their hearts. Someone can act like they are against war but all of the time that is where their mind and heart is set, so therefore you can’t always believe what someone say. Some people war back and forth with themselves; I mean with their flesh and their spirit, see the spirit wants to do what is right all of the time, but it is the flesh that wants to do what is wrong; such as robbing, stealing, killing, and other things that is not right in the eyes of God. Rebellious souls rebel against God because it wants to do what it wants to do to satisify the flesh instead of doing what is right and pleasing to God.
Ecclesiastes 3:8- A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war; and a time of peace. There is a time for everything that happens under the sun. Nothing just happens randomly. There is a time and place for everything that happens on earth. This is what I see in the Scripture. Let us just remember that the battle is not ours, it is he Lords.
Isaiah 2:4- And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into prunnunghooks : nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shalt they learn war anymore. When their weapons are destroyed, there will not be anymore wars, and nations will not fight against one another anymore, there will be peace.
This is what rebuke means.
I used this from Bing so you all could know what this word means, and how it is used in a sentence.
Isaiah 21:15-For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the greviousness of war.This tells me that they did not want to fight anymore, so they ran from it. They may have felt that they could not win the fight. When the other side retreats, they are giving up without a fight, and this is what this Scripture is telling me. They surrendered.
Daniel 9:26-And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and he people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. threescore and two weeks – Bingdaniel 9 26 meaning – BingThe Flood of Daniel 9:26 (creationconcept.info)I chose to look these meanings up so there would be a better understanding of this Scripture, because I did not quite understand what it was saying, but this information should be very helpful.(See also Verse 27. that says) “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. oblation definition – Bingconsummation definition bible – Bing
Matthew 24:6-And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. Eventhough there is war going on in the world, and we hear about war going on in other places, we should not be worried, because it is only the Word fulfilling itself. We know that there is going to be a war when Jesus comes back; the battle of Armageddon ; the battle between good and evil. We already know that we win!
Romans 7:23-But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.What is Paul talking about in Romans 7:23 – BingThis information will give us a better understanding of what Paul is saying in this Scripture. Paul was living a crucified life. His life was in Jesus Christ, so he did not live in sin, or let the sin in his mind take over him; he lived strictly for Christ; nothing wavering.
1 Corinthians 9:7-Who goeth a warfare any time at his won charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? Who goes to war when they want to? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat what it produces? Who feeds the flock and does not drink any of the milk they produce? Who has a flock of sheep, or goats and does not kill one and prepare it to be dressed, cooked , and eaten? It does not make since to have all of that and not enjoy it? I believe that milk means the soft part of God’s Word that we can swallow easy by drinking it in, and I believe the vineyard is the Bible where we draw our wisdom and knowledge from the Word that we may grow thereby. The meat is the solid Word that we come to understand to go deeper in the Word to learn and to know the secrets the Lord our God wants to tell us eventhough it is hard to swallow; it gives us something to chew on, to meditate on day and night. The more we drink it in, and feed our spirit the stronger in the Word we become, and our prayers will be more powerful, so when the devil tries to attack us, we can fight him with the Word of God. When we draw close to God, He will draw close to us, and He will fight our battles for us, because the battle is not ours, it is the Lords. We battle the Devil with God’s Word and through prayer to God when we give Him all that is bothering us. We will never have to fight a battle alone when we are going through Spiritual warfare. When we put on the full armor of God, nothing that the devil throws at us can harm us. The Word of God, and the Blood of Jesus defends us against the wiles of the Devil.
2 Corinthians 10:3-4- For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4.(for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds;) When we are going through something and we do not know why we are going through what we are going through, it is normally Spiritual warfare. Our spiritman is fighting with our flesh,and our mind is telling us to listen to our flesh when our spirit is telling us to listen to what God is spiritual warfare – Bin speaking to our spirit. Our spirit is willing to do what God wants us to do, but our flesh is wanting us to do what it wants us to do. Our spirit is willing but our flesh is weak. When we give in to our flesh and what it wants, that is where more trouble comes in to play, that is why we must make our flesh submit to what God wants, and not what we want in the flesh.
James 4:1- From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members. This happens when we do not get what we want from one or the other; such as husband and wife. When the wife soes not get what she wants from her husband,a nd when the husband does not get what he wants from the wife, they fight with each other simply because they both have desires that want to be met. james 4:1 kjv – Bing
1 Peter 2:11- Dearly beloved, I beseech youn as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshy lusts, which war against the soul. We do not have to give our flesh what it want. Giving in to our flesh it will most certainly cause us problems that we do not need. We should stay focused of Jesus and the Kingdom of God, and bringing more people to Jesus so they will not lose their soul. We are pilgrims passing through this world on our way to a better place not built with man hands. We are on our way to our heavenly home to live with Jesus for all eternity. We must not forget that we are going to have to give an account for what we did in these bodies whether it be good or bad, so let us stay strong in the faith and not give in to fleshy lusts that war against our soul.abstain definition biblically – Bing
Revelation 12:7-8And there was a war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels. (8.) And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. I beleive that this did not take place in heaven where the throne of God is, but in the second heaven above the earth. I believe that the dragon and his angels were thrown out and cast down into the bottomless pit of hell, in the lake of fire, so the Scripture simply states that neither was their place found any more in heaven. That was the first fight of good and evil, but the last and final fight will be when Jesus returns to set things straight and in order just as it was in the beginning. Everything will be back right, there will not be anymore sin; it will be abolished forever. (v.9.) And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
Sisters and brothers in Christ, I did not know that this lesson was going to be long, but I thought that it was going to be longer than this. I believe that God is giving us just enough to think about for right now. I am quite sure there are going to be more to this subject, but with different verses pertaining to this same subject. I say this because there are many cross references to the verses that we have looked at in this lesson. I pray that I put in enough information from the sites, and enough information that can be restudied. I hope you all enjoy the lesson just as much I enjoyed prepairing it. I am glad that God has given me the oppotrunity to be able to share His Word to all of you that comes across it. Be blessed in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, Amen. https://music. https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=qF11dv4kkGc&feature=share
www.bible.com/1/1th.5.16-18.kjv
www.bible.com/en/reading-plans/3848
www.bible.com/1/1th.5.16-18.kjv
www.bible.com/en/reading-plans/23034
www.bible.com/en/reading-plans/22813
www.bible.com/en/reading-plans/22962
www.bible.com/en/reading-plans/22862
www.bible.com/en/reading-plans/22448
www.bible.com/en/reading-plans/22191
www.bible.com/en/reading-plans/22815
www.bible.com/1/col.3.13.kjv
www.bible.com/en/reading-plans/16718
www.bible.com/1/col.3.13.kjv
www.bible.com/en/reading-plans/22246
www.bible.com/en/reading-plans/9390
www.bible.com/1/mat.5.16.kjv
Food for the Soul 
