Thank you for this morning. It's been a lovely time with you. Here's my notes.
Love,
I will set before my eyes no vile thing. The deeds of faithless men I hate; they will not cling to me. Psalm 101:3
Solomon is the son of David and Uriah's wife. God took David's sin and still used it to bring Jesus one generation closer. God can work through our darkest sins.
v. 17 how cool is that?? God loves doing that as well.
Joseph followed God, Mary followed God, and endured much shame for Him.
Also, I wonder that during Jesus' ministry, people didn't bring up the fact that he was “illegitimate.”
2:3 All J w/ him? Really? Crazy...
Question: Does the star that guided the magi still exist today? If we went to Bethlehem at the right time of year and looked up, would one of those stars be THE star? That would be cool. And since it's northern hemisphere, it's probably been in sight of my house, if it is bright enough. :-)
Joseph was afraid of going back, but he waited till he heard from God to go.
Jesus was born in Bethlehem. He's called out of Egypt. He's called a Nazarene. Really? Your plan is so perfect. If you can orchestrate Jesus' life like that, you can do anything with my life! God had to pick people he knew would listen and obey him because he was entrusting his (at that point) helpless son to a couple that could have botched the plan, gone their own way. But they didn't!
Right from the beginning, John the B. was attacking the Pharisees. These were strong words! And the Pharisees were seen as the MOST religious!! Ridiculous.
Jesus' baptism... I need to realize how crazy that was. No one else's baptism had this effect, and they didn't have CGI and all the crazy stuff we have today so they're not used to the idea... (media's warping our way of seeing reality). I wish Mt would tell us what the crowd and Pharisees thought about it.
Temptation of Jesus: 4 things. 1. Every time I read v. 2 I laugh. He was hungry? Understatement! 2. The Devil WILL use scripture against you to sound “right.” 3. I always thought when Jesus said, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test” that I could never use that argument because, well, Jesus is God, but I am not. Then I just realized, I have God in me! I can tell Satan not to test me, because the Spirit is in me. 4. Jesus prepared for his ministry in an impossible way. This shows the enormity of what he is going to do because he fasted for so long.
Rev 1:5 Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. ← love it!
Prov 1 Parents really should be listened to. Too often in our culture I feel like parents are something to be... not ashamed of, per se. But teens rebel. That's just how it is. Parents don't know everything, and don't know how you feel and can't help. You have to figure out stuff on your own, and anyway, you're always right. These lies have become a large part of our culture. It's sad. Parents.. yes, they are not perfect, and maybe I can't relate to other teens whose parents have checked out, or divorced, or done stupid things, because my parents are amazing. Really.
I want to listen to God's wisdom. I want to respond and listen and know. I really do. It's weird. Before this, I just wanted to chase after wisdom because that's what the bible says you have to do. But reading just that little passage, and being a little older and having experienced more life where I need that wisdom, it's something I really do want and I will chase after it. Thankfully, God is not one to dangle something in front of someone then pull it away and laugh. Hee hee. No. He wants to give it way more than I want to receive it.