Jesus lived in a Jewish colony where some believed He was indeed the promised Messiah. Every Jew awaited the day God would come to the world, born of a virgin, to live like a human, despised and rejected of men, just like the prophet Isaiah had written. To many, Jesus was the Messiah. To others, He was a liar.
"My Father and I are one," he said, claiming unity with God, the Father. "That's blasphemy!" unbelievers cried.
"I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by me." Cynics cried out all the more. Whispers were all over town.
Sure, He preached to thousands who believed He healed many people through His miracles. Yet when He claimed, "I am the Resurrection and the Life. He who believes in me shall never die," even they could not deny the rumors that He claimed to be the Messiah. Jesus had the courage of His convictions. He knew the truth and did not sway from it.
Jesus drew His courage and strength from God, the Father. And He did it through prayer.
Positive Prayer Produces powerful possibilities.
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10:36 AM
' 'Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?' Jesus said to him, 'I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.' ' - Matthew 18:21,22
Carefully study Jesus' life. Psychoanalyze His acceptance into society - the way people put Him down, misinterpreted Him, and criticized Him. He was a sure candidate to grow up emotionally deprived, prone to violence, soaked with frustration, and destined to be a reactionary - a revolutionary who would lead the guerrillas out of the desert to attack the Romans at night. He'd be a radical terrorist with a cause of liberation that would build an army of men to march through the streets and assault Pilate's camp in Jerusalem. Jesus could have easily turned out to be a terrorist.
Jesus, the Man who had all of the negative stimuli within His psyche that could have turned Him into a negative radical reactionary, went through His thirty-three years as anything but that type of man.
Most of us would have to admit that we have not been subjected to as much negative stimuli as Jesus. Then compared to His life, ours hasn't been all that bad. We need to get off the 'me' and onto the 'He.' He is our example. He is The Way.
Forgiveness frees me to live positively, enthusiastically, even in the midst of a storm. "
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10:33 AM
"I will tell of thy name to my brethren, in the midst of the congregation I will praise thee." - Psalm 22.22
Jesus belonged to a family with no prestige or high-ladder connections. They were on the low social rung. His father was a simple carpenter. His mother, a peasant woman. Some said His mother conceived miraculously. Others disbelieved, and said, in fact, He was conceived out of wedlock. The rumors He heard, the people He met, the language He was exposed to, was the gossip and crudity of the Nazarenes.
The Greatest Possibility Thinker Part II ---"I made known to them thy name, and I will make it known, that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them." - John 17:26"
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9:37 AM
And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.--- Romans 13:11-12"
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5:14 AM
Daily Manna from the 'Net for Wednesday, August 18
And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, 'I love God,' yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother. 1 John 4:16-21
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6:25 AM
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: 'Rulers and elders of the people! If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. He is the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.' Acts 4:8-12 NIV
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9:15 AM
Positive Minute---Creative Competition Part IV
: "But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumph, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. - II Corinthians 2:14"
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7:33 AM
Positive Minute--Creative Competition Part I
: "Creative Competition Part I
'Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.' -Hebrews 12:1,2
The key to happiness and peace of mind can be found in today's Scripture. You will "
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5:56 AM
MovieMinistry - See The Truth | Hundreds of Sermon Illustrations From Major Movies
Thursday, August 12, 2004