Matthew: 3:16 - 4:2

I heard something interesting yesterday on the radio that ties in nicely with my teaching yesterday on knowing the Bible for yourself. A respected Christian radio station stated that the 40 days of Lent stood for the 40 days Jesus fasted before he was crucified. Now that puzzled me. I know my Bible. I know Jesus did not fast the 40 days before he died; but maybe I missed something. So I asked a couple of other people. They all said "Well yeah, while he was in the wilderness." OK, I know he fasted 40 days at that time, but that was 3 years before his crucifixion. The general reply was "It was? Well then he must have fasted another time.

While I'm not saying he didn't fast here is my proof and timeline that he wasn't fasting 40 days before his crucifixion.

Matt: 3:16 to 4:2 After Jesus was baptized, (By John at the very beginning of his ministry - Deb) He went up immediately from the water. The heavens suddenly opened for Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on Him. 17 And there came a voice from heaven: This is My beloved Son. I take delight in Him! 1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. 2 And after He had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, He was hungry.

This is Jesus talking about himself and his disciples.
Matt. 11:18-19 For John did not come eating or drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon!' 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds."

This was what some now consider Palm Sunday. His triumphant entry to Jerusalem shortly before he was crucified.
Matt 21:9 Then the crowds who went before Him and those who followed kept shouting: Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven! Then He left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.

John 12:1-11
1 Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 So they gave a dinner for Him there;

Matt 21:18 Early in the morning, as He was returning to the city, He was hungry.

This was the incident that caused Judas Iscariot to turn Jesus in to the priests.
Matt 26:6 While Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, 7 a woman approached Him with an alabaster jar of very expensive fragrant oil. She poured it on His head as He was reclining at the table.

I could probably come up with more scriptures, but I think you get the point. He obviously was eating just fine the week before he died. Now here again, this does nothing to change who Jesus is and what He has done for us, but you need to know your Bible for yourself!

What if the next thing that is blithely spouted from the radio station is a salvation issue? Are you going to know that?

Thank you all for your wonderful input this week. Don't ever hesitate to reply to a Baker. It really helps us out to know that people are actually reading the things we take the time to write. I hope everyone has a blessed Resurrection season. Because He lives, I can face tomorrow!

Sincerely,
Deborah

Acts 17:11

Acts 17:11
The people here were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, since they welcomed the message with eagerness and examined the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

Proverbs 27:17
Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.

I owe y'all an apology, and luckily I am able to give it. Normally we write our Breads a week in advance and they are sent out. However, I am running behind (as usual) and am working "current time". God causes all things to work together for good, and this week I know the good.

I had a question yesterday about Monday's Bread to the effect of "Where in the scriptures was a promise given to Terah?" I thought I knew where it said "Get ye up and go to a land which I will show you." To my surprise, when I looked I couldn't find it.

I found myself guilty of mixing past teaching with a fuzzy knowledge of scripture to come up with something that fit the message I wanted to convey. That's why you need to know your Bible for yourself. I would never knowingly mislead anyone, and the point of the Bread did not change, but if you do not search the scripture for yourself daily, you are liable to start believing misinformation.

Iron sharpens iron. We need to keep each other sharp and make sure we are not adding to this Gospel or taking away from it. That will only happen if you know what it says to begin with. Thank you to the gentleman who pointed out my error and my apologies once again. Read Your Bible!

Sincerely,

Deborah

John 15:1,2,4,5

John 15:1,2,4,5

1 "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vineyard keeper. 2 Every branch in Me that does not produce fruit He removes, and He prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit. 4 Remain in Me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me. 5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without Me.

Like Bill, I enjoy gardening. As I have mentioned before, we bought a old house that obviously had been very well taken care of at one time, but now has had years of neglect. One of the things I tackled last fall was pruning the fruit trees. The pear tree is fairly small (12 to 15 in diameter), but the apricot tree is huge. It has at least a 30 in diameter and sprawling branches that can hold 5 or 6 kids at a time.

It was full of gnarly old growth, branches intertwining and lots of small twigs. It produced almost fist sized apricots last year, but only about 12. When I started cutting away "perfectly good branches", my husband accused me of trying to kill the tree. "You're taking too much out" he said. "Why don't you just let the poor thing be?"

How many times do we tell that to God? "God, there is nothing wrong with _____! Why do You have to take that? Ouch God, this pruning hurts! Why don't You just let me be?" Or the big one...."God, I'm already producing fruit. Why do you have to keep pruning?"

God is always calling us to come up higher, become more Christlike and produce more fruit. As you mature in your Christian life, God is going to expect more. Luke 12: 47-48 And that slave who knew his master's will, and didn't prepare himself or do it, will be severely beaten. 48 But the one who did not know, and did things deserving of blows, will be beaten lightly. Much will be required of everyone who has been given much. And even more will be expected of the one who has been entrusted with more.

Yes, pruning hurts. It's not one of those things that get any easier either. But aren't you grateful that our Father loves us enough to keep working on us?

Sincerely,
Deborah

Genesis 5:25-32

Genesis 5:25-32
25 Methuselah was 187 years old when he fathered Lamech. 26 Methuselah lived 782 years after the birth of Lamech, and he fathered sons and daughters. 27 So Methuselah's life lasted 969 years; then he died. 28 Lamech was 182 years old when he fathered a son. 29 And he named him Noah, saying, "This one will bring us relief from the agonizing labor of our hands, caused by the ground the Lord has cursed." 30 Lamech lived 595 years after Noah's birth, and he fathered sons and daughters. 31 So Lamech's life lasted 777 years; then he died. 32 Noah was 500 years old, and he fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Genesis 7:6 Noah was 600 years old when the deluge came [and] water covered the earth.

Genealogies. You know, the pages that you quickly skim over; the 'begets' that you wonder why are there. As I said yesterday, I am paying a little more attention this time and finding fascinating things. Methuselah was 187 when Lamech was born. He was 369 when Noah was born. And boy, talk about the "be careful what you pray for category," I guess Noah did bring relief in a way. Noah was 600 when the deluge came which makes Methuselah....969. Wow! Did he die before the flood? Did he die in the flood? It makes you really start to think. We know that it took Noah quite a while to build the Ark. We presume and preach that he was warning his kinsfolk and being jeered by them. But where was Aunt Millie? What about cousin Susie? You would think if anyone would believe you and get on the boat it would be grandpa.

But you see, Luke 17:26-27 says 26 "Just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man: 27 people went on eating, drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day Noah boarded the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all." He had been warning them for so long that their hearts and ears had become hardened to the message.

What scares me is what verse 26 says. Just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man: It's been a long time now, and all things stay the same.....after all, people have been saying for 2000 years that they are the end time generation. What makes us special? Why should we spread the Good News?

The fact of the matter is that whether Jesus comes tomorrow or in another 1000 years, every day people around us are dying and going to Hell because we have not tried to reach them with the Gospel. Instead of sowing the seed abundantly like Jesus requested, we prejudge who will "make a good Christian" and who wants to hear about our faith.

I'm sure there had to be a period of time; whether days or hours its hard to know; when there was the unbearably horrible sounds of screams, cries and people trying to get on the Ark as they realized what was happening. Are we really doing enough to make sure that when this earth is folded up and burned those left behind are there by choice?

In His service for His glory,
Deborah

Genesis 11:26

Genesis 11:26 Terah lived 70 years and fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

Genesis 11:31-32 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran's son), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram's wife, and they set out together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there. Terah lived 205 years and died in Haran.

Genesis 12:4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran.

I love the Bible. It is such a fascinating book. I love Bible studies. Every time you read and study the Bible you find new things.

I as am reading the Bible this year, I am paying a little more attention to the genealogies. You know, the so and so begat so forth and lived so many years and begat sons and daughters. Usually we just breeze through these, but this time I actually charted Shems line out.

As I was charting out this genealogy, I discovered something interesting. I knew that Terah had taken Abram & Lot to go to Canaan. Obviously Terah had been told by God to go and feared God enough to pack his family up and move. I also knew that Terah got as far as Haran and died there, while Abram went on to Canaan. What I did not realize was that Abram left Haran 50 years before Terah died. Why?

What caused Terah to lose sight of God's promise? Was it the cares of life? Was it a physical disability that prevented him from continuing to travel? Was it just a change of heart? The Bible doesn't elaborate. It simply says he died in Haran. Obviously though, the family was still aware of the promise and Abram went on to fulfill it.

God doesn't need anyone's time, money or talents. If Jonah had still refused to go to Nineveh after the fish spit him up, God would have sent someone else. God wanted to make a great nation of Terah. Since Terah refused, he made a great nation of Abraham. It was Terah's loss, not Gods. Are there any promises that you have lost sight of? Is there something that God has called you to do that you have given up on halfway? Are you going to let someone else take your blessing?

Sincerely,
Deborah