Walking With Jesus – Matthew Chapter Four Verses One to Ten

 

1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.

4 But he answered, “It is written,“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,

but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,’

and

“‘On their hands they will bear you up,

lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

7Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.

10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,

“‘You shall worship the Lord your God,

and him only shall you serve.’”

11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

When: The beginning of Jesus Ministry between AD 27 and AD 33.

Where: This event is most probably set in the wilderness near Judea where John the Baptist was preaching at the time and where Jesus was baptized by John.

Why: The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tested by Satan. Jesus, fasted for forty days and forty nights at the end of which time he was very hungry and then He faced the test by Satan. I would surmise that Jesus fasted and prayed to prepare for the test by Satan and to condition himself for the time of His three and one half year ministry.

What:

Verse 1:The verbs in verse one are led and tempted. Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit. He was tempted by Satan.

Verse 2: The verb in verse two is fasting and the time prepositional phrase is forty days. We can infer from this that he took no food and probably fasted in preparation for prayer and meditation.

Verse 3: The verbs in verse three are came, said and command. It says the tempter came and said to Jesus. “If you are the Son of God command these stones to become bread.” In this verse we see that Satan has arrived in the wilderness with Jesus. We learn that the first test will be to tempt Jesus with the idea of food hoping that His hunger will drive him to sin. There was also implied the temptation that as the Son of God He could use His power to find a solution to his hunger.

Verse 4: The verbs in verse four are answered, written and comes. Jesus answered the temptations of the devil with a scripture, saying it is written (in scripture), “You shall not live by bread alone but every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

Verse 5: The verbs in verse five are took and set. The prepositional phrases are Holy City and Pinnacle of the Temple telling us the location of this temptation. One derives the impression that the idea was to frighten Jesus in the process of trying to unsettle him and force a mistake.

Verse 6: The verbs in verse six are said, throw, written, command, bear and strike. Satan said to Jesus “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down for it is written that He will command His angels concerning you and they will bear you up on their hands lest you strike your foot against a stone.” Realizing Jesus may be hungry but will not easily make a mistake because of His hunger. Satan once again appeals to Jesus vanity as a member of the Godhead. Satan demonstrates his knowledge of the scriptures and is very concise with his words.

Verse 7: The verbs in verse seven are written and put and the prepositional phrase is Lord your God indicating the direct object is God and the subject is the test. Jesus defeats Satan’s argument by negating it with scripture and a law. “It is written, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” Underlining the importance of knowing the Word of God.

Verse 8: The verbs in verse eight are took and showed. The prepositional phrase “very high mountain top” and the verb took applies to Satan taking Jesus to a place with an outstanding view of the nations of the world. Here Satan showed Jesus all of his wealth.

Verse 9: The verbs in verse nine are said, give, fall down and worship. Satan told Jesus you can have all of these if you fall down and worship me. Satan hoped that the Son of Man would be foolish enough to accept his gambit and give away the crown of Yahweh.

Verse 10: The verbs in verse ten are said, gone, written, worship and serve. Then Jesus told Satan to be gone because it is written that you shall worship Yahweh Elohim and He only shall you serve.

Verse 11: The verbs in verse eleven are left, came and ministering. Interestingly, Satan left and then the angels came and then they ministered to Jesus. One wonders whether the angels were near by watching proceedings but afraid to approach while Satan was still there?

How to apply what we have found out? First what does it all amount too?

Jesus was led into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan but first he fasted for forty days and forty nights. So malnourished and generally run down he faced the enemy. The forty days and forty nights were used to pray and meditate and so spend time with the Holy Spirit and the Father.

We learn the Satan has no conscience and will exploit every advantage to break us down as he attempted to wear down Jesus knowing that he was tired and very hungry. He will always encourage us to do things that separate us from God. So we need to know the word of God thoroughly.

Satan tries to get Jesus to use His position as the Son of God to get the Father to save Him but Jesus will not put the Father to the test. To throw himself down to the ground for no good reason Jesus knew to be sin and that He would be testing His Father for no purpose. With God’s Word He was able to defeat Satan once again.

Satan will offer us wealth and power even if it is not his give and at the same time he will try to intimidate us and distract us from seeing his goal. The devil will try another tack if he perceives he is not making progress using the current one. He is very deceitful and will try to appeal to our pride and vanity and to arouse our ego to get us away from the safety of God’s embrace and the sure promises of His word.

Jesus shows us time and again that God’s Word is powerful and that the devil is no match to the strength and truth of God’s Law. This event shows a shift in the balance of power from the Prince of this World back to the King of the Universe, in this case Adonai Elohim or the Son of God the Son of Man. We are to worship the Lord our God and Him alone shall we serve. In God can we trust and when we face the devil we need to remember that we have no need to face him alone. Even the angels tell him “the Lord rebuke you.” (Jude 1:9).

Interesting that the angels waited until Satan had left before they came to minister to Jesus after the temptation. Also worth noting that on His worst day Jesus could put the devil to flight. I guess a final thought is that before we go into battle we need to prepare and to fast and pray is a good start. It is what the Holy Spirit led our saviour to do.

Salvation or Not - Romans 10 verses 8 - 10

 

Romans 10:8-9

“But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” ESV

Friends, in the West we live in a culture that has developed over time to reject the Creator God – Jehovah. A culture which initially seeks to supplant the gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ with a form of rationalism that is based on a refusal to accept anything that cannot be seen or felt. Even though the evidence for Creation is indisputable and one only has to look around to see that without Jehovah and His creation as described in the Bible. There would be no Earth, nor any of the species that have inhabited it and continue to inhabit it.

The reality is simple. It is a choice, to accept the Creator, Jehovah, and to believe on Christ Jesus His only Son as your Saviour or, to reject Him and bare the consequences of your sin. God has made a path to salvation. Jesus bore your sins on the Cross at Calvary, died and rose again that by believing on Him. You also might die once and rise again to eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.

The time will come when all who have lived will be raised from the dead. Either to eternal life with Jehovah Elohim in the Kingdom of Heaven or, to eternal damnation and the second death. It is up to you my friends. Choose wisely.

Walking With Jesus – Matthew Chapter Three verses Eleven to Seventeen

 

Matthew 3: 11- 17 “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him. When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

 
A major theme in this passage and throughout the gospels is repentance. Both John and Jesus disciples, baptised to the repentance of sins before the crucifixion of Jesus. Repentance is not something that is preached as strongly in our time as it was by our Lord and Saviour. 

To repent according to Miriam Webster is: to turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the amendment of one's life or, to cause to feel regret or contrition. Concisely, it is to turn from sin unto righteousness. It could be said that to repent is to make an 180° turn from walking in the world and to walk toward Jesus Christ. In its simplest form it is as Jesus said to the adulterous woman in John 8:11 “Go and sin no more.” This is true repentance.

 
Another theme is humility. Jesus came to John as the Son of God and yet also as the Son of Man. In his capacity as the Son of Man he was required to be baptised, ceremonially cleansed, by immersion in the waters of the river Jordan. John was the Prophet of God at this time and the one who prepared the way for the Messiah. Thus it was only appropriate that Jesus the Messiah should come to be baptised by John. This was a great honour for John but, it was also a model to us all that it is desirable before God to humble ourselves and to be obedient to the will of God in order to fulfil all righteousness. 

As Jesus said in Mark 9:33-35 “And when He was in the house He asked them, “What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?” But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest. And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” 

So even though Jesus was the King, he was a humble servant to all men, completely obedient to the will of His Father in Heaven

.
The third and final theme is the need to believe on Jesus (John 3:16), and to be baptised as it says in Acts 2:38 “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

 
As we accept the gospel of repentance in Jesus name so we need to be baptised. Jesus had no sin as the Son of God. When He was baptised the Holy Spirit alighted on Him as a dove. This signified His empowerment for His three year ministry to the nation of Israel as their Messiah.

 
For us salvation comes when we hear the gospel, and the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sins. We have a need to believe on the redemptive work of Christ Jesus on the Cross, that we might be washed clean in His shed blood. Then as it says in Acts 2:38, we must receive baptism for the forgiveness, of sins and to receive the Holy Spirit. This anointing with power enables us to serve the Lord Jesus Christ as his disciples.

Is this the Last Conservative Government in New Zealand…

 

Looking at the political landscape in New Zealand. We seem to be in a real state of agitation where there are entire secular groups feeling undervalued, unlistened too and disenfranchised. The question arising from this is "Can this conservative government pull these groups back together and save our democracy?"

 

The Three Wisemen in this situation. Christopher Luxon, David Seymour and Winston Peters have only managed to drive the left of politics into an activist frenzy during the first two hundred days of their coalition government. Luxon seems well meaning but lacks the cohesive leadership to rally the public behind the team. Seymour it appears is disinterested in talking to people who do not share his political and world view. Winston seems so confident in his elder statesmanship abilities that he feels sure he can fix this. I am not convinced he knows what this is?

 

Māori are feeling excluded as a result of the pull back from the co-governance strategy which the previous government completely supported. The coalition have misunderstood how important this is to keeping Māori at peace and as a partner within the democracy. They needed to talk with Māori during this term and slowly negotiate change to the co-governance structure to create a system that would see the country stabilised. An outcome where neither party felt threatened by the implications for the future of an element of Māori autonomy.

 

The Green Party are, I believe, a subversive far left Communist organisation. They claim to be motivated by Climate Change but their polices seem to be more aligned with unrolling Communism in New Zealand. They attack politicians that they see as a threat to their agenda. Even using violence to intimidate in the Halls of Parliament. They are big important party members and you better get out of their way and let them do what they have to do because they know best.

 

They attack the pillars of the economy and rejoice in unemployment and a dysfunctional civil service where the public are dissatisfied with the lack of medical care and ruined roading networks. They have actively supported the idea of an emancipated Māori where the rest of New Zealand would in many ways be subservient to Māori in an apartheid style system. They lauded the previous governments funding of gangs and essentially the arming and training of the gangs. At the same time the nation's military has been reduced in capability. Doubtless with some future coup in mind to drag Aotearoa into a Communist state.

I do not believe that the coalition realise how dangerous this organisation is or if they do? How to deal with them. They need to work out a way to take the impetus out of the this growing left wing juggernaut. Many who have joined the Greens have done so because they see them as the only way to secure the future. Unfortunately, I fear they will discover they have been deceived and caught up in a revolution. As to the Coalition, they had better work how to redirect this group of malcontents before they no longer have the ability to do anything to them. Which leads us to the next question. "What can we the public of New Zealand do to rectify this situation?"

 

Well, you do not have to believe me but I would advise you to look and see if what I have written here makes sense. If it does then I would suggest you tell others about what you have found out. The next election result will quite possibly determine whether the country remains a democracy. Those who think they have the liberty to support whomever they will in the next election may find that they were wrong.

 

Personally, because I am a Christian I will continue to watch and pray. The only way out of this situation that I can see is if the people of this land repent. If we turn back to God and believe on His Son, Jesus Christ. God will hear our voice and heal the land. It is the only way to effect a lasting solution.  My Thoughts.

What if God Took the Short Option...

What if...

In Genesis 3: 16-19 God said this to the man and the woman after they were deceived and disobeyed God falling into sin. “To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply, Your pain in childbirth, In pain you shall deliver children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.”

Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; With hard labour you shall eat from it All the days of your life.

“Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; Yet you shall eat the plants of the field; By the sweat of your face You shall eat bread, Until you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”

This section of Genesis shows God’s judgement on mankind for falling into sin but this is a New Beginning when it could so easily have been an ending. If I were God I would have thought “If I make the man and woman infertile then this will be the end of mankind in one generation. If I shorten their lives to seventy years they will be a memory in only seven decades.” Experiment failed and experiment over.

Given the hard lives that sinful men live, the frightful way they treat each other, their propensity to sin, wickedness and war. Why did God decide to be merciful to mankind. Why did He let us live? Understanding how God hates sin and wickedness why would he fight so hard to bring about a pathway that would rectify the fall into sin? Why would He tolerate the carnage of mankind in sin as he laboured to save a remnant of mankind for another age?

Can it be that He loves mankind, that he feels responsible for us even though our ancestral Father and Mother chose to sin and disobey Him? Is it truly a case of the end justifies the means. to bring a chosen people out of sin, out of darkness and into His glorious light? To sacrifice a part of Himself, Jesus coming and living as a man, performing a ministry of truth and miracles, being rejected, beaten and crucified unto death and resurrected unto Eternal Life. That those of mankind who believe on Jesus Christ may receive eternal life themselves.

Then the Father sending not only the Son, but at the behest of the Son then sending the Holy Spirit to dwell within those who believe on Jesus Christ, still sinners, enabling the new believers to be baptised into the remission of sins and the newness of life with Christ Jesus. Hidden with Christ in God.

So we go from the possibility of a short life as a race, because that is what could have happened if God had taken the short option on mankind. To a covenant and pathway to restoration into the family of God. We are redeemed, unfallen and people of God’s own possession. A people belonging to God.

What an amazing God we have. Who so loved us that He gave His only Son, Jesus Christ, that whoever believes on Him; shall not perish but inherit eternal life. For we have all sinned, all fallen short of the glory of God. There is none righteous not even one. For the wages of sin is death but the freely given gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. Hallelujah!

A Good Defense

 

1 Peter 3:15 "But in your hearts honour Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect…"

 

I was listening to a sermon the other day where the preacher was speaking about the falling away of so many people in this time and noting that Church Attendance in Europe was below ten percent. He also noted this this trend was occurring across the Western World. At the same time secularism and atheism are on the rise and becoming more militant and anti-Christian.

 

In the United Kingdom and Europe Atheists are placing advertisements on buses and there is a common theme that Christians are bad people. The preacher I was listening to was saying that He believed that this is because Christians are not ready to mount a defense of the Word of God and to preach the gospel. This struck me at heart as I am not good at talking to people about the Word or sharing the gospel. As a result I tend to be more of a keyboard warrior and probably much less effective as an evangelist than if I simply shared with people.

 

I have to say I'm not great with Church Attendance either. I can only promise to try to do better on that front. So, thinking about it, what does a defense of the Word of God look like. Well, it means that I am a bible believing Christian and I need to make a defense of my faith and God's Word is a part of that. The Word of God is inerrant which means it's all true, such that, I believe everything in the Bible is true including the following:

 

• In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth.
• He created Man in His own image.
• He drew the rib bone from Adam and from that He fashioned Eve as a helpmate to the man.
• Adam and Eve listened to Satan and fell into sin.
• The sin of mankind was great and God sent a great flood on the Earth to destroy man.
• Noah and his family survived the flood by building and Ark at God's behest which God also filled with animals.
• God has instituted covenants with mankind by which their sins are forgiven and they can follow God's plan of rescue from sin unto eternal life.
• God formed a covenant with Abraham and promised him a descendant who would save mankind from sin and usher in an eternal Kingdom of God and of peace and righteousness.
• Abraham's descendants found themselves captive in Egypt and God sent His servant Moses to rescue them from Pharaoh.
• God sent plagues upon Egypt and caused Pharaoh to expel God's servants the nation of Israel.
• God parted the Red Sea so that Israel might cross on dry ground and escape Pharaoh's pursuing army.
• God gave Israel under the leadership of Moses the Ten Commandments and the rest of the Law.
• God led Israel in the desert for forty years because they were disobedient and followed false idols.
• Joshua the son of Nun succeeded Moses and led the next generation of Israelite's into the promised land which is where the nation of Israel dwells today.
• Israel dwelt there under the rule of the Judges although the people complained that they wanted a king.
• David became King of Israel in 1000 BC.
•  Israel disobeyed God they were eventually taken into captivity by the Assyrians and the Babylonians circa 722 BC for the Northern Kingdom and Judah in 597 BC.
• They allowed to return under a decree of Cyrus the Persian around 556BC.
• Under the direction of Ezra and Nehemiah the Jews returned to Jerusalem and work started on the rebuilding of the City and the Temple.
• The Bible contains a lot of prophetic information relating to past and present empires in the Books of the Prophets. The Old Testament contains the books of the Major and Minor Prophets. Prophecies relate to the coming of the Messiah (Jesus Christ). The regathering of Israel in the End Times and the time of the Great Tribulation which is beginning to happen in the present time.
• The New Testament begins with the birth of Jesus who is of course the promised Messiah. The four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John describe the birth and early life of Jesus and then cover his three year ministry which culminates in His death, burial and resurrection. Matthew ends with Jesus Great Commission of the Church to take the gospel to the nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He then ascended into Heaven.
  
• The writings of Paul and the Apostles contain guidance about salvation and the Christian life and the bible is concluded by the book of Revelation that leads on from the Old Testament book of the Prophet Daniel that describes the World Empires of Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome ending in a reborn Roman Empire that is the brittle strong alliance of Europe in our time. Revelation addresses the Churches of the First Century and moves on to describe the change of batten from the Church in the Age of Grace to Israel in Christ Jesus during the Time of Judgement (Seventieth Week of Daniel - The Tribulation).

 

So this is what a bible believing Christian believes - This is what I believe.

 

As to the gospel? Well in this time there are many who say they believe only what they can see with their eyes and touch with their hands. However, as the bible says in Romans 1: 19-21  "For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honour him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened." Look around you there is plenty that cannot be explained without Jehovah the Creator God.

 

Closer to the heart. If you desire eternal life after this life on the Earth. Then that can only be found in Christ Jesus. John 3:16 says this “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." Believe on Christ Jesus unto Eternal Life. Come Lord Jesus.

 

Reference List

 

1 Peter 3:15 From <https://www.openbible.info/topics/a_good_defence>

 

John 3:16 From <https://biblehub.com/john/3-16.htm> 

 

Romans 1: 19-21 From <https://biblia.com/bible/esv/romans/1>

When Statesmanship Died in Aotearoa

 

I don't know if you have looked at what has been happening in New Caledonia over the past couple of weeks. The indigenous started to revolt against the French government because they do not have the same rights as French nationals living in their land. So they starting burning cars and taking the law into their own hands. Then big planes arrived from France with soldiers and weapons on board.

 

Here in New Zealand Maori had a hui last week to decide how to progress their aspirations for a separate government for Maori. David Seymour who was with, Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon in Parliament, when questioned by the news media about the Maori hui merely laughed and joked that as long as they didn't tax him he couldn't care less.

 

He doesn't seem to mind that his lack of statesmanship could result in similar political unrest to that in New Caledonia. If he doesn't listen to voice of the Maori people and seek to negotiate with them. Is this more evidence of the current culture of Ideology over common sense. I believe X so I don't care what you say because you believe Y. If so, are we destined to plough into civil war for the lack of the maturity to enter into a dialogue?

 

You may have noticed the previous government made a huge financial contribution to the gangs of New Zealand Aotearoa. If you have seen the gangs in the media lately you may have noticed that they are looking very buff. They seem well exercised, well disciplined, able to march in columns. In fact, they look absolutely military and positively warrior like.

 

Are we on the verge of an uprising or is there something slightly more medium term in the wind. The recent political polls showed that the current government had already done enough to scare away the left leaning swing voters that supported them through the election. May be, the gangs are waiting a change of government and the support of a coalition of the far left to bring our democracy to an end. To replace it with a one party system with which the left can better control the population and address the climate change issues and other global Mother Earth concerns. While allowing a modicum of self determination to Maori.

 

I guess how this right wing government respond to the resolutions of the Maori Hui to bring in Maori self rule will give the public an idea of what is actually going on in the halls of power. I got the distinct impression from the last Labour government that just as the President of the United States isn't the true center of power in the USA. So, the ruling coalition in New Zealand doesn't seem to be the true locus of power either. It's just entertainment for the viewing public while the global elite control the day to day running of the country through the Civil Service.

 

It will be interesting to see what happens as the next few years play out. I suspect their will be bigger fish to fry. Will World War 3 and a general move in the West to a war status impact on the political status in New Zealand Aotearoa. Will the agenda's of the United Nations and the World Economic Forum unfold like an anti-Christian cloud of darkness as their occultist insanity attempts to reduce the World's population and save Mother Earth. Only to be stopped in its tracks by the Time of Jacob's Trouble and the rise of the Antichrist. Well not stopped so much as the same agenda for a different cause.

 

However, it is time to state things as they are. Yahweh, the Hebrew, Christian God is in control as we move into the last days and the beginning of the Time of  Sorrows. As to what happens in New Zealand Aotearoa and the World as a whole. A time of judgement is coming and the most important message to those who do not know Jesus Christ is this. A time is coming where you will not be able to buy or sell outside of the Antichrist System with out a mark on the back of your right hand and on your forehead. A time to choose Jesus Christ and eternal life or short term gain and eternal damnation. Maranatha - Come Lord Jesus.