My good friend Carolyn--with a Master's in English, Drama and the Arts--keeps me straight when I misspell or use a wrong word.  I am grateful.  Because even though I go back over what I have written at least twice, I make mistakes.  Yesterday I used "iconic" for "iambic".  I read the entire blog three times and didn't catch it.  And I know the difference.

Mistakes are a part of life.  What we should never do is make one on purpose.  That is what God's Word is for.  An instruction manual for coming to the end of your life with a minimum of regrets.  It is also a guarantee  of God's promises to bless us throughout our days if we follow Him.  And he has our best interests at heart.  He loves us and has a plan for us.  Following His plan is in your own best interest.  You can't fulfill God's plan if you are reading the wrong texts.

"For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord.  They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."  Jeremiah 29:11  I certainly don't need any more disaster in my life.

Another translation puts it this way:  "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, said the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end."

You may not be thinking about Him, but He is thinking about you.  And you can only follow him if you know what He wants from you.  You have to read the instruction manual.

The most popular book of all time is the Bible--but people don't read it.  They buy it and put it on a shelf.  I don't get it.  What's the point?  The Creator of the universe is speaking.  It might be a good thing to listen, because  He certainly isn't trying to hoodwink you.

I bet most of you think I am serious all the time.  Not so.  I got a giggle today when I was going through a stack of paper from at least forty years ago.  Papers that I had put off sorting.  I didn't know what all was in the stack, so I didn't think I could just toss it.

Turned out it was poems etc. that I had written in a Creative Writing class in college.  Since most of my classes were science or math related, I took this class just for fun.  The teacher was quite elderly, but the college retained her to teach this one class every semester because of her ability to inspire.  She certainly inspired me.  I had always been rather rigid.  This class changed all that.  She said we had to let the cat out of the box.  We had to imagine.

She would give us a topic, tell us to write in iambic pentameter, haiku, or some other style, then turn us loose.  It was one of the most fun classes that I ever took.   Here is the poem I wrote that made me giggle.

There was a green tube of tooth pastey,
Which somone squeezed out much too hastey.
It split on the side,  And a gooey green tide,
Ran all down the sink, what a wastey.

I once knew a frog named Magastor,
Who fed upon old oil of Castor.
He lived in a slue, A real good thing too,
Since the next day was quite a disaster.

There.  That was creative.  Aren't we glad God gave us the ability to think.  There are three other stanzas.  If you don't make fun of me, I might share them.

I was awakened this morning a little after 5:00 by an earthquake.  Mag. 4.3 with an aftershock of 3.4 centered in Edmond very, very close to my house.   Haven't felt one that big since I left California in the sixties--and there, earthquakes were common--usually weekly.  It knocked a few pictures and a shelf off the wall and made a lot of noise.   It was the loud noises of things falling off the wall that woke me up.  The noise was worse than the shaking.

Freezing rain, gale force winds, tornadoes and earthquakes--all in a week.  Must be Oklahoma.  All we need is a hurricane or a volcano.  It sure isn't boring. 

Luke tells us that Jesus said: "Whosoever comes to me, and hears my sayings, and does them, I will show you to whom he is like:  He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock."  Luke 6:47-48.   That rock is Christ.

1.  Comes to me...
2.  Hears my sayings...
3.  And does them...

"Doing" what Christ said to do is necessary.  When we build our life on him, nothing will shake us.  Not even an earthquake.

Don't tell me what you are thinking...show me what you are doing.  Then, and only then will I know who you really are.

I started praying yesterday that my power lines won't break.  After 60-70 degree weather over Christmas week, we have been hit with another blizzard.  High winds, freezing rain, then sleet and now snow.  Freezing rain is the worst.  It collects on the power lines, becomes heavier and heavier until they snap.  I feel for all the linemen out there working to restore power.  God bless them.

This has been the craziest December in terms of weather that I have ever experienced.  Most days I didn't even have to wear a coat.  A friend in Pryor posted a picture of the water flooding Pryor.  They have had a lot of rain.  I have never seen water that high there in my life.  And tornadoes.  That's not supposed to happen until March.

My power lines are still working.  The house is warm.  This is all supposed to be over by tomorrow.  I do not like cold weather.  I do not like Oklahoma wind.  I especially don't like them at the same time.

When things go wrong here, I am reminded of the poor unfortunate people living in countries where staying warm, having enough to eat, clothing to wear, and medicines in times of sickness is a luxury that they can't afford.  We are so blessed.  God has been so good to us that sometimes we forget to thank him for our daily bread--and all the rest of his blessings.

Isaiah 55:10  For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater."

You have to love King James:  "cometh, returneth, watereth, maketh..."  I usually change those words to modern day vernacular, but every now and then, when the wind is howling like it is right now, its nice to wrap up in a blanket and read the old text and be thankful for modern translations and a warm house. 

The packages have been opened.  The paper trash has been collected.  The food has been eaten.  The children have already broken something they received.  (I remember one Christmas that Becky pulled the string out on her "Chatty Cathy" doll and cut it off.  It only took her ten minutes.  No more chat.)  And everyone is stretched out somewhere wondering why they ate so much.  It must be Christmas.

For weeks we have been looking for that special gift--for that special someone.  We've been baking cookies, making candy and wrapping presents to go under the tree.  And now the day is almost over.  And God willing, we will do it all again next year.

I am sure that in your family of friends and acquaintances that there are some who have real needs.  I am also sure that you helped them in some way.  We must remember the poor--especially at this time of year.  The time of  year when we focus on giving.

"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Luke 6:38  

I told Becky last night that she always does everything to excess.  She does.  Cooking, travel...and that includes giving.  She is always giving someone something.  Instead of one package of Turkish figs--which I adore--she gave me four.  And five or six other presents.

^"In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”  Acts 20:35

Merry Christmas.  God bless you every one.

Christmas Eve.  A world changing event happened 2015 years ago and we mark time by that date.  A child was born that would change the world.  No other person in history has had the impact that Jesus Christ has had.  AD and BC.  All time is recorded from that day.

He never wrote a book.  He never raised a family.  He never owned a house.  As far as we know he didn't even have a change of clothes--the soldiers cast lots for his robe when he was dying.  He had no place to sleep.  Of worldly things, he had nothing.

And yet.  He lived a life that the world, millions of people try to emulate.

Born to die.  Dying to save.  Raised from the dead to give us eternal life.

Oh, come let us adore him.

I don't know why I said that Jennifer was in Syria.  Probably because I had been watching the news and had it on my mind.  She is in Saudi Arabia.  I wonder how she is going to celebrate Christmas.  Christmas is not on the list of celebrations in Saudi.

Christmas.  Some people would keep the baby in the manger.  It is much more appealing than the grown man on the cross.  But God came to earth to die for us.  He took pity on us.  He humbled himself and became a man--limited in every way as we are.  Going through every stage of life just as we have.  "And (God) being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Philippians 2:8

Some people would say that  Jesus lived a perfect life because he was God.  That it was easy for him.  But he faced every temptation that we do--yet without sin.   He chose to face every temptation.  "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. "  ‎Hebrews 4:16  When Philippians 2:8 says that he became a man--it means just that.  In every sense of the word.

The thing He had that other people didn't have was God within the body of a Human.  The Holy Spirit.  But once Christ saves us--by grace--he gives us his Spirit.  So we have the power to live the life.  We are regenerated.  We are restored.  We no longer are what we once were.  Our "want-to" has been changed forever.

God has written on our hearts.

Christianity has premises:
1.  There is a God who wants to be our Father.
2.  He communicates with us in prophecy, and in His Word.
3.  There are two forces in the human world:  Good and Evil.  And we know the difference.
4.  We choose evil, and there is no way for us to undo that--no matter how much good we do.
5.  We are doomed.  God, who is righteous, placed a penalty on sin:  Death. 
6.  If we are ever to be pure, we have to totally eliminate all the bad we have done.
7.  We are incapable of doing that on our own.
8.  God devised a plan to do that.  A sacrifice for sin.
9.  He became a man and died in our place.  Jesus was that man--God incarnate.
10. He did that because for some reason, he loves us.

I will never understand why he loves us.  We are unlovely.  He loved us first--in all our wretched condition.  He took pity on us and extended mercy.  Why?  Why would He do that?

God has conditions for the forgiveness of sin.
1.  You must recognize your condition and repent from your sins.
2.  You must give him control of your life.

Romans 10:9 "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."  Believing that Christ is raised from the dead is part of it.  He is alive.

1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

He then forgives us. And gives us:  1. His Spirit, 2. Eternal Life. 3. A clean heart.  Amazing Grace!

Becky--my world traveler--got back from Istanbul, Turkey last week.  Jennifer, her daughter in law, is working in Syria and met her in Turkey.  They called it a one week vacation.  I called it scary.  But I am a chicken.  So I prayed all week that they would come to no harm.  Someone set a bomb off in the subway the first day they arrived.  I am glad Becky is safely home.  Jennifer will be able to come home when she finishes her job in Syria.  I think that will be in a few weeks.   I hope that is the end of her working  there, but I doubt that will be the case.  I am going to have to "up my game" of trusting God.  I thought I was doing that pretty well until Becky got on a plane to the Middle East.

I have been reading a few of the Facebook comments, the newspapers, and watching the television commentaries, and have found that most people want to believe that God and Allah are the same.   I personally have to reject that premise due to the fact that Jesus is God--God incarnate.  But the Muslims say that Jesus is  a nothing but a prophet.  Which is to say, Jesus is not God.

Therefore, Allah is not Jesus, and therefore Allah cannot be God.  You can't have it both ways.  The entire Old Testament is based on the prophecy that a Messiah was coming (actually I think there were 72 prophecies) and they were fulfilled, in total, in Jesus.  To reject that, is to reject the Bible as truth. 

Philippians 2:5-6 "Your attitude should be the kind that was shown us by Jesus Christ, who, even though he was God, did not demand and cling to his rights as God, but laid aside his mighty power and glory, taking the form of a slave and becoming like men...God raised him up...and gave him a name which is above every other name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow in heaven and on earth...and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord..."  (Living Bible)

That includes Muslims.  Jesus said, "I am the Way.  No man comes to the Father (God) but by me."
That pretty well sums it up.  Mohammad visited Jerusalem over 600 years after Jesus rose from the grave.  Mo. then wrote a book, declared that Allah was God and found some people to believe it.

I don't think so.    

Praise God!!!!!!!  My house in Pryor sold and we closed on Monday.  I cannot express how thankful I am that I don't have to try and keep two places up any more.  As I was driving from Pryor back toward Oklahoma City and Edmond, I was euphoric.  I kept thinking, "I'm going home.  Edmond is my home now."

But my friend Sally Casey--who just moved out of state to be near her daughters for the same reason that I did--reminded me today that Pryor would always be a dear part of our lives because of all the memories we have there.  How true.  I have many, many spiritual daughters in Pryor that I have taught and discipled through the years that are so very close to my heart.  God is good.  We have phones and aren't separated like our people were in years past.  We can talk, every day.

I moved there when I was four years old.  World War II was raging, and the government built a powder plant at Pryor to make ammunition for the war.  Men came from all over to find a job--including my father.  Ken's father was the pastor of the Baptist Church.  He and his wife, Mary Jane, changed my parent's lives.  Which changed mine.  And Ken's.  Who could have known that fourteen years later I would marry him.  I was in the third grade when he graduated from high school and I didn't even know him.  God moves in wondrous ways as he plans out our futures.

It is easy to look back and see God's hand in our lives.  While we are going through hard times, or we are suffering, it is hard to see God's plan in it all.  I don't think he causes us to suffer, but I do know that He is there, watching over us.  I know this because I can look back and see where he has led me.  Where he has planned my future.  I know because the Bible tells me so. 

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

So those are the nine things that we never would have known about Jesus if Matthew hadn't told us.  I got an email from my sweet Christian friend Amy Smith saying, "How do you know that Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem alone?  Joseph's father would have been from the house of David, as well as all of Joseph's brothers.  And there were probably many others living in Nazareth who went to Bethlehem as well."

The thing I love about the church community is that there are many members like Amy who actually read the Bible and think about what they have read.    If someone says something that they aren't sure about, they go to the Bible to check it out.  It causes all of us to be in a state of continual learning.  When you discuss things with them, they make you think.  So, I retract my statement that they were alone.  There is nothing to suggest that in God's Word.  There is also nothing to suggest that they went with a group. 

However, there is some historical evidence that people traveled in groups for safety.  Thank you Amy.

There is also some evidence that they all wrapped their waist and arms with strips of cloth so that if someone died on the trip, they would have plenty of cloth to wrap the body in for burial--a Jewish custom.  One reader suggested that this was the swaddling that Mary wrapped Jesus in when he was born.

That is a really interesting thought.  Jesus was born to die and his first clothes might have been burial wrapping.   He died for our sins, and for the sins of the world--if they accept his gift and repent. 

We are heirs of the kingdom, joint heirs with Christ because of His unspeakable gift of his life.  "And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ..." Romans 8:17a

 

#9 The great Commission.  Matthew 28:18-20

Matthew was writing his account for Jewish readers in order to validate the authenticity of the claim that Jesus was the true Messiah--the one they had been waiting for.  Matthew probably had not envisioned that Christ had also died for the Gentiles when he wrote his Gospel.  He begins his book by systematically listing the lineage of Jesus to validate Jesus' right to the throne of King David--as prophesied.  We trace Jesus from Abraham to Joseph. Each generation.  He even mentions women: Rahab--a prostitute, Tamar--a harlot, Bathsheba--an adulteress, and Ruth--a Gentile.

Then he immediately gives an account of the fulfillment of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem, and that Mary was a virgin--as prophesied.  As well as a number of other fulfilled prophesies--so that the Jews who were on the fence would know for sure that Jesus was the promised Messiah.  And believe.

And then he gives us one of the greatest passages in the Bible.  The last two verses that Matthew writes in his Gospel.  The summation and purpose of all that he has told us.  He gives us marching orders straight from the mouth of Jesus.

"And Jesus...spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.  Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.  Amen"

We are to teach.  And for all of you out there who are reading this, you can't teach what you don't know.  And knowing is not listening to preachers, priests, popes or fanatics or television, or me.  Knowing comes from the word of God.  You must read it.  You must.  We have a direct command from Jesus himself. Get with it.

#8 The bribery of the soldiers.   Matthew 28:11-15  Only Matthew tells us about this.

The two Marys went to the tomb and were told by the angel that Christ had risen.  They ran to tell the disciples that Christ had risen from the dead.  And "...when they were going, (at that same time) behold, some of the watch, (soldiers) showed the chief priests all the things that were done...and after they (the chief priests of the Jews) assembled with the elders...they gave  large money to the soldiers saying:  Say you:  His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept.  And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will persuade him, (we will lie) and secure you. "

"So they took the money, and did as they were taught:  and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day."  That is where the doubt about the resurrection started.  Tell a lie often enough and people will believe it even when the truth is evident.

Ken always said that the Roman soldier at that time was like a Marine sentry.  They would never, never have fallen asleep while on watch.  And if a Roman soldier did fall asleep, he would never, never have gone to the priests and elders to tell them about it.   It was punishable by death.

But the Jewish priests and elders had already rejected Jesus as their Messiah and didn't want anything to interfere with that decision.  It is hard to imagine such hate.  But look around you at what is happening today.  Those who believe in Jesus, Christians, are systematically being beheaded, or shot, murdered or tortured  if they don't deny him.  So much hate for the one who said, "Peace I give you."

At Christmas, we sing, "Glory to the new born King."  He will reign and we will be with Him in his kingdom.  "Peace on earth, good will toward men."

"Thy kingdom come."  Please.  Quickly.

#7  Other resurrections:  Matthew 27: 50-53  (From the Living Bible)

"Then Jesus shouted out again, dismissed his spirit, and died.  And look! The curtain secluding the Holiest Place in the Temple was split apart from top to bottom; and the earth shook, and rocks broke and tombs opened and many godly men and women who had died came back to life again.  After Jesus' resurrection, they left the cemetery and went into Jerusalem, and appeared to many people there."   It scared the soldiers to death.  They exclaimed that "Surely this was God's Son."  vs. 54

The Holy of Holies had a veil that was a number of stories high.  You couldn't reach the top of it and certainly couldn't tear it from top to bottom.  God tore it.  Up till the moment Christ died, the penalty for sin had not been paid and people didn't have direct access to God.  The Old Testament has many references written about this Holy of Holies.  Once each year, the priests cast lots and one of them was chosen to take their offerings for sin into the mercy seat.  They tied a rope and a bell to him so that if he touched the Ark of the Covenant and died, that the other priests could drag him out.  No one had access to God except this one priest.  No one could touch the Ark and live.

But when the veil was torn, God was saying, "Come on in.  Now you can be with me.  The price for sin has been paid for all time by my Son."  And at that moment, Christ stormed Paradise and "...set captivity captive."  Ephesians 4:8  "Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive..."  A similar prophecy is in the book of Psalms.  Those that had been held there after they had died, but before the Messiah had come--who were waiting for redemption--were released from the grave and arose with Christ.   They were seen by many people in Jeresulem.

That must have been quite a day.  And what a testimony to the people who had been waiting for the Messiah--to see that not only Jesus had conquered death, but he had freed those, who had died through the ages, from death as well.  They were held, having been saved by faith in God that Christ was coming.  We are saved the same way.  Faith in God.  Faith in the resurrection.  Faith that Jesus paid the price for us.  Salvation has always been by faith.   Praise God for his unspeakable gift.

Exclusive information from Matthew.  Number 6:  The dream of Pilot's wife.  Matthew 27:19
  
Jesus was a threat to the old order--the priests and scribes.  The Pharisees and Sadducees.  He made them look bad and they hated him.  Matthew 21: 12-13 "And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all those who sold (sheep and doves, etc. for sacrifices)...and overthrew the tables of the money changers..."  Then he said, "It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but you have made it a den of thieves."

I imagine there was a kickback from all the sales going on in the temple.  But Jesus began to heal the blind and the lame which came to him in the temple.  Vs. 15 "And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying the temple, and saying Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased."  I'd say they were jealous and bitter and mean.

Things went downhill after that.  Eventually the priests and elders convinced Pilot to condemn Jesus to death.  Matt. 27:1 "When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death..."

Pilot gave the people a choice of whom he would release: Jesus or Barabbus--who was a horrible criminal.  Pilot knew that they (the priests) had delivered Jesus to him because of envy. (vs. 18)  At this point, Pilot's wife approaches him:  (vs. 19) "When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him saying, Have...nothing to do with that just man:  for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him."  Pilot's wife knew Jesus was an innocent man.  I am sure she was disgusted that Pilot--who had the power to release Jesus--was too weak and afraid of the people and the priests to do so.  He didn't want an uprising.  I would have been disgusted.  Here's a man with all the power to do the right thing.  And he doesn't.  He should have listened to his wife.

Interesting how God uses people.   I think that God gave her the dream.

At this Christmas season, we can be thankful for the four things that Matthew told us about the birth of Christ.  He continues with other stories at the time of Christ's death starting with Judas repenting.

Fact number 5.  Read Mathew 27: 3-10  "Then Judas, which (who) had betrayed Jesus, when he saw that Jesus was condemned (and going to die), repented himself, and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders.   Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed innocent blood.  And they said, What is that to us?....And Judas cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself."

It is generally agreed by Bible scholars that the disciples expected Jesus to set up an earthly kingdom.  And when Jesus entered Jerusalem and didn't try to overthrow the government, they were discouraged and confused.  According to scholars, Judas was trying to force Jesus to stand up for himself and fight.  That seems reasonable in light of Matthew's account.  We don't know for sure.

We do know, thanks to Matthew who was there, that Judas realized that he had made a horrible mistake.  He threw the money back at the priests and elders and tried to undo his mistake--to no avail.  The priests and elders wanted nothing more to do with him.  He was now an outcast from Jesus, from the eleven other disciples and the priests.  And his despair drove him to suicide.

Was he saved in the long run as far as eternity is concerned?  The Bible doesn't tell us.  But it does say, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."  1John 1:9

The critical point is this:  Did Judas simply feel "sorry" for what he had done?   Or did He ask God for forgiveness.  What does "repented himself" mean?  The Bible doesn't say.  I guess we'll find out some day.

 Number 3 and 4:  (in the list of stories in the Bible that only Matthew tells us.)  The flight to Egypt and the reason for it:  Slaughter of  baby boys. We wouldn't know that Joseph and Mary and Jesus fled to Egypt and didn't go home to Nazareth if Matthew hadn't told us.  So, thanks Matthew.

Don't you know that Mary and Joseph's families were worried sick when they didn't come home.   But Joseph, Mary and Jesus stayed in Egypt until Herod died. (Also recorded in the book of Luke) Some scholars say that it was three years before they went back home to Nazareth. 

Matthew 2:13-23  (I hope you will read this yourself.)  An angel appeared to Joseph and told him to take the child and his mother and to flee to Egypt.  Herod was furious with the wise men because they hadn't come back and told him where this child-king was, so Herod proceeded to order that every male child two years old and under be killed.  Which fulfilled a prophecy given in the book of Jeremiah.  (Old Testament)  So there was a slaughter of innocent little boys by a wicked, fearful king.

When Herod was dead, an angel appeared in a dream to Joseph and said it was now safe to go back home to Nazareth.  (Which fulfilled another prophecy that the Messiah would be called a Nazarene.)

Imagine the rejoicing when they returned to their families--who must have assumed that they were dead after not hearing anything for three years.  When they left, they were only going to pay their taxes. That shouldn't have taken that long.  Allowing for the fact that Mary was ready to deliver, you might could have added a couple of months onto that.  But three years???  No way.  I'm a mother.  If I was Mary (or Joseph's) mother, I would have been beside myself not knowing where my child was.

Prophecy is what we base our belief on (that Jesus was the promised Messiah).  I've told you before, that when you take all the prophecies in the Old Testament that were fulfilled in one man, the statistical probability that Jesus was the Messiah is bigger than the number of all the people who were ever born in the history of the earth.  Impressive statistic.

The second thing that only Matthew, (and no one else) records is:  (I hope you will get your Bible and read these accounts for yourself.) 
Number 2 :  The visit of the Wise Men.  Matthew 2:1-12 "...there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east and are come to worship him."  Herod, the king, drew all the priests and scribes into his chamber to hear what the wise men said, and asked where this Messiah would be born.  They told him:  Bethlehem.

They quoted what Micah, the prophet had foretold.  Micah 5:2 "But you, Bethlehem, you are little among the thousands of Judah.  But out of you shall he come that shall be the ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."  So Herod sent the wise men on their way to Bethlehem to find the child and bring back word so that he could go there and worship him, too.  (But his plan was to kill him--he didn't need a rival ruler.)

A decree from Caesar had forced everyone to go the city of their lineage to pay taxes.  Joseph was a descendant of King David, so he and Mary went to Bethlehem.  Eight and a half months pregnant, riding on a donkey.  Mercy.  Our King was born in a barn.  Talk about humble. 

So the wise men followed the star going before them which came and stood over where the young child was. They fell to their knees and worshiped him, and gave him gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  A regular church service.  The first Christmas gifts. They (the Wise men) then had a dream warning them about Herod's intentions.  So they left and went back to their own country by a different route.

Matthew gave us a wonderful story that we wouldn't know about if he hadn't written it down.
Thank you Matthew.  

Sometimes you just need to follow your star.  Who knows what you'll find.

When Jesus was choosing his twelve apostles, an unlikely choice was Matthew.  He was hated by the Jews because he had become a tax collector--for the Roman government.   The tax collectors were notorious for taking more than the Romans demanded to line their own pockets.

But when Jesus passed by, he looked at Matthew, and chose him.  Mark 2:14  "And as he passed by, he saw Levi (Matthew) the son of Alphaeus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him. 

Jesus saw something in Matthew that others didn't.  Because of that, we have a wonderful story that Matthew wrote about Jesus that gives us at least nine incidents that Mark, Luke and John didn't.  We only have  these four accounts of the life of Jesus.  Luke wrote his account by interviewing people who knew Jesus personally.  Mark was from Jerusalem, but was usually identified as a friend of Paul, not Jesus.  Matthew wrote to the Jews.  His desire was to prove that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah.

 In the book of Isaiah it is prophesied (7:14) "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign...a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."  (Which is one name for God.)  Isaiah continues in verse 16 "...the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good..."
  
Number 1.  The first thing that Matthew shares with us that is found no where else, is Joseph's dream. Joseph was worried about Mary being pregnant out of wedlock.  Matt. 1:20-24 "...while he thought on these things, behold the angel of the Lord appeared to him...saying...fear not to take...Mary to be your wife.  That which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost...she shall have a son, and they shall call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.  Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet (Isaiah)..."

And then Matthew quotes the verse above from Isaiah 7:14.  "They shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us."  Prophesy fulfilled.

Do you have sins in your past that haunt you.  Satan loves to throw them up to you and keep you on edge.  We must remember--at times when we are discouraged about past sin--what God has promised and not be weakened by that evil power.

In Hebrews 10:9 Paul compares God's old plan to the new: (I am quoting from the Living Bible) "Under this new plan, we have been forgiven and made clean by Christ's dying for us once and for all.  Under the old agreement, the priests stood before the altar day after day offering sacrifices that could never take away our sins.  But Christ gave himself to God for our sins as one sacrifice for all time... "

This works because of the Holy Spirit.  Paul explains:  vs16-17: "I will write my laws into their minds so that they will always know my will, and I will put my laws in their hearts so that they will want to obey them."  Wow.  No more tablets of stone!!  Isaiah summed it up when he prophesied in the Old Testament:   Isaiah 36:26  "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh."

If you are a Christian, the desire to sin is gone.  You want to please God.  You have a new heart.  There isn't anything wrong with the ten commandments, but they just showed us how badly flawed we are.  I love the words, "...once and for all..."  and, "...one sacrifice for all time...".  Those words reassure us that we will never fall from God's grace.   If our our current sins caused us to be "lost" again, there was no point in Christ's death.  Instead, he would have to die over and over again.  Just like the old sacrifice of lambs, goats and doves.  "Once and for all," means what it says.

The Holy Spirit within us reminds us of what God expects.  And our new heart causes us to want to obey Him.  We are new creatures.  When we sin, our hearts are heavy.  We repent and don't do that  thing again.  If you keep doing the same sin over and over again, you need to worry.  If you have truly given yourself to Him, you won't do that.  You will keep short accounts with God.

Have you ever had a close encounter of the third kind?  When I have one of those, I try and think what caused it, where it came from, and why it happened--which can't be explained or it wouldn't be that kind of encounter--the third kind.

I had one of those day before yesterday.  Six months ago, when I moved in, I connected one of those lighted, rotating photograph picture screens--and turned the switch to "off."  It hasn't been turned on since, nor has the setting been changed in all that time--I just hadn't felt like looking at pictures--yet--those pictures that we took when Ken was alive and our children were little and growing up.  Well, I got up at five on Monday,  sat down in the recliner to read the paper and noticed that the screen was lit and pictures were scanning.  Of Ken.

No, I don't sleepwalk.  No, I didn't turn it on.  And no, no one slipped into my house during the night and turned it on.  And yes, I checked it.  It had been turned on.  I sometimes wonder if the dead are around us trying to say "hello."  The Bible doesn't cover things like that--at least not that I can find.  But I think we all would all like to think that the ones that we love are still with us in Spirit.

I don't deal in superstition.  I limit my faith and belief system to the words of the Bible.  But sometimes, sometimes, I am like you.  I wonder.  What if????

There is a God who loves us, takes care of us, and promises us eternal life--and gives us new bodies.  We trust that He will do what he says that he will do--that is called faith.  And we are saved by faith.

1 Corinthians  15:42-44 "Our earthly bodies die...but when we live again, they will be full of strength...when they come back to life, they will be superhuman bodies.  For just as there are natural, human bodies, there are also supernatural, spiritual bodies."  Like I said, I'm wondering.

I'm a piecemeal house keeper.  I've always followed the rule of never leaving the room you are in--unless you have something in your hand that needs to go somewhere else.  That way, junk that needs to be put away, hung up, or stowed is moved one room closer to its ultimate destination.  Next time I pass by it, I move it further along with me.  Eventually things make it to where they go.  Keeps me from a lot of running back and forth.   It actually works really well.  I am always "picking up"  but I never have to "pick up the house."  It's always in progress and stays pretty neat.

I told you once that I get my best work done when there is a job that "has to be done" that I really don't want to do.  I am the ultimate procrastinator.  I keep skirting around it, doing other work, avoiding the inevitable, staying busy.  I get a lot done that way.  And the job that has to get done will get done eventually--at the last possible minute.  I have that method so perfected that I am always accomplishing something.

I also rarely do anything "start to finish."  I just do a little bit.  Then stop and do something else for a little while.  I usually have six or seven things going at once.  The good part is that I am always finishing one of the jobs.  I kinda rotate through them,  piddling along but  making progress.

Ken, on the other hand, started something and finished it.  You couldn't interrupt him even if something more important came along.  He was going to finish what he started before he started something else.

Both methods work.  If you have a passion to work.  If you have a plan.

"Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." Philippians 2:12
One step at a time.  One day at a time.  A little bit here and a little bit there.

We got through Thanksgiving with not a single argument.  Everyone was sweet.  Everyone was pleasant.  All 38 of them.

I am tired of politics.  I am tired of people who believe that whoever we elect as President is going to save the world.  I've been voting since Eisenhour won back when I was eighteen.  1956.

Ken had a wonderful philosophy for voting.  He said if you had a Democratic Congress, vote Republican for President.  If you had a Republican Congress, vote for a Democrat for President.  That way, they can't get anything done.  It seems like every thing they do makes things worse.   We are further in debt.  We are constantly at war, the moral structure is falling apart...shall I go on?

The basic problem is that politics won't save us.  Only God can do that.  The reason that America is a great country is because it was founded on Christian principles.  "With liberty and justice for all."