I.
Introduction
Jesus had a hand in
the creation of the physical universe, of space and time:
So He, The
Father, and The Holy Ghost have a different nature than the
universe .. they are spirit.
For reasons unknown
(maybe they were lonely) they created angels having the same
nature – sprit.
This turned out bad –
half of them had an unfriendly attitude, they wanted to take
over.
Nothing daunted, the
trio created the makings of the physical universe and
started the process, through evolution, of developing a
form of life (us humans) which have the moxie to love and be
loved by them.
That too did not work
out too well.
Most of us, like the
angels, have an unfriendly attitude, we want to take over.
The “Old Testament”
is one long story of our falling short.
So, here we are, it’s
around year one A.D and the creator of the universe is
going to give us another chance.
II. Birth
and Early Life of Jesus and John the Baptist
There
are just hints that John will preach the need for repentance
and that Jesus will die on the cross to pay the penalty for
our sins.
The nature of
Mary’s baby consisted 100 % of partials of the universe.
We all have a
“spirit”. Jesus had a special one – the spirit of God.
He must have also
had a soul. There again a special one, It existed
before the creation of the
universe.
To be 100% human,
Jesus must have come with a human brain
made 100% of particles of the universe.
Nevertheless, it seems superhuman. He knows
scripture quite well at twelve, can read mines and
perform miracles.
III.
Ministry of John the Baptist - c. A.D. 25-27
John, like
Jesus, did not learn his mission until he was thirty years
old.
John
clearly tells everyone his call to repentance of sin is not
enough. They must look to his cousin Jesus to pay the
penalty for their sin:
IV.
Ministry of Jesus - Beginning - c. A. D. 27
Jesus himself admits He needs
the baptism of John.
He repents of His sin, and
wishes to be baptized in the
Jordan by John as a public declaration of His repentance.
After He and all the rest of
those in the crowd who repented were baptized by John, Jesus
prayed and this triggered His second baptism, His born again
experience, His baptism of the Holy Ghost.
God's
voice from heaven let's all know Jesus is now the perfect
sacrifice for all sin.
Jesus
learns of his mission to die for our sins during forty days
of fasting.
He does not
reveal this mission publicly, only in private.
V.
Northern Ministry of Jesus - A. D. 27-29
Jesus
performs all thirty seven recorded miracles to establish
himself to all who witnessed them that he was their
predicted Messiah.
It was time
for a change. The Messiah was needed.
The currant
temple leaders were a generation of vipers; they were
not doing their God given job of teaching and preaching God'
word.
Jesus' reason for holding back
the revelation of His person and message to the Jewish
religious leaders was that the
more He reveals, the more they seek to kill Him. But
the time for his sacrifice on the cross had not yet come.
It will
take two years of training before his twelve apostles
are ready to be sent out with the complete message of God's
plan of salvation for the entire world.
For two years they will be
taught with parables which will takes special spiritual
discernment to understand, will witness miracles which
confirm the divinity of Jesus, and they will witness His
death, burial and resurrection.
And at the end of their training period, as a graduation
ceremony at Pentecost, they will receive the indwelling of
the Holy Spirit.
VI.
Southern Ministry of Jesus - Oct. A.D. 29 - A.D. 30
Now Jesus is shouting His
message of salvation not just in private to individuals, to
His chosen ones, His disciples and apostles.
Now He is shouting it to all Jews
in hearing distance.
VII.
Final Week at Jerusalem - Spring A. D. 30
Jesus devotes His last words
to His disciples to strengthen their courage through His
death, burial, and resurrection.
He tells them:
1. He will care for them and
prepare a place for them in heaven.
2. God will meet their needs
through prayer.
3. They will have the
indwelling of The Holy Spirit for their constant guidance.
4. They have been specially
selected by God to perform their duties as disciples.
5. The Jewish religious
leaders will have completely revealed their hatred for God
and His Messiah.
6. Shortly after His death, He
will resurrect and teach them not with parables but with
words of meaning clear to all.
Now the guilt of the high
priest is complete. He has received it right from the Son's
mouth that He is what He claims to be and the high priest
has rejected Him.
Just as with the high priest
Caiaphas, the rest of the council proves their unfitness for
their jobs. They reject the very God they were appointed to
serve.
The fact that God the Father
would forsake God the Son as He died on the cross was
predicted by David a thousand years before the event.
This is just one of dozens of examples of how Jesus
fulfilled Old Testament prophesies for the coming Messiah:
Psa 22:1
VIII.
The Resurrection though the Ascension - A.D. 30
The
resurrection is the most important event in the
Gospels.
Without it, as Paul says:
"...your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins."
After reestablishing
fellowship with His Father, Jesus is quick to return to
earth to begin the process of spreading the Good News.
Jesus teaches two ordinary disciples how He has
fulfilled Old Testament prophesy concerning the Messiah.
These two immediately relate their experience to the
apostles. This is a living
example to His apostles and to all His missionaries of what
and how to teach the world.
And just after we might have
thought that Thomas deserved the title of world champion
doubter, we have it from Matthew that some apostles
continued to doubt their very own eyes that Jesus had
conquered death. But the hope of
the world rests on those who do believe, accept the power as
promised, and go out and teach as instructed.
((By the way, the
trio (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost) at the same instant of
starting the makings of our home – earth, also started the
makings of billions of other such suitable homes. Possibly
planet earth is a training ground for missionaries to
inhabitants in other galaxies. ))
(Another
"by the way" :
Dark matter produces
an attractive force (gravity), while dark
energy produces
a repulsive force (antigravity). Together, they make up 96
percent of the universe—and we can't see either. Astronomers
know dark
matter exists
because visible matter
doesn't
have enough gravitational muster to hold galaxies together.
No doubt,
God's missionaries to
inhabitants in other
galaxies will find all this
dark energy
and
dark matter
quite handy.)
HOW TO BE SAVED
God LOVES you and offers a
wonderful PLAN for your life. (John 3:16; John 10:10]
Man is SINFUL and SEPARATED from
God. Therefore, he cannot know and
experience God's love and plan for his
life. We must ask God to forgive our sins
and turn away from them (repentance).
(Romans 3:23; 6:23,1 John 1:9)
Jesus Christ is God's ONLY
provision for man's sin. Through Him you can know and
experience God's love and plan for your life. (Romans 5:8;
John 14:6)
We must individually RECEIVE Jesus
Christ as Savior and Lord; then we can
know and experience God's love and plan
for our lives. (John 1:12, Ephesians
2:8-9; John 3:1-8, Revelation 3:20)
You can receive Christ right now by faith.
God knows your heart and is not so
concerned with your words as He is with
the attitude of your heart. If this is
the desire of your heart, we invite you to
pray right now and ask Christ to
come into your life.
Want to grow as a Christian?
Read your Bible, pray every day.
Find a good Bible believing church and go to it.
Do you need more information,
amherstbiblechurch.org/
northwestbaptist.com
fallsbc.org/