HOPEful girl

          So far, in the gospel of Matthew, we’ve seen a God who was born in a manger, feeding trough for his bed no less.   We see a promised King takes on a posture of repentance and get baptized and now in the first part of Chapter 4, after 40 days of fasting, he will be tempted.   I can’t help but think of Jesus as someone who comes to us, a God who comes down to our level, who really wants to identify with us.     I see a savior King who meets us where we are at.   For so long, raised in the church, I had this image of God or Jesus as this far away diety.  I never thought that Jesus is someone I can have a personal relationship with.  Here in the second part chapter 4, we see the beginnings of Jesus first relationships. I mean besides with his parents, and God and his cousin John the Baptist. Ok so first relationships outside his relatives.  Why did Jesus get tempted?  Gods plan for our salvation incl...

  Christmas rejoicing brings us the  promise of a king, but where there is a king, must be a kingdom.  In this next chapter of Matthew , we see this term, ‘kingdom of heaven’ come up  but what exactly is this ‘kingdom of heaven’?  It really isn’t a physical place per se, but something more than that.  Some sources describe the kingdom of heaven as the gracious rule of God in our hearts.  The kingdom of heaven includes those who have converted or repent and those who profess.  Convert means to turn from your sin and accept Jesus into your hearts. Profess simply means to share this with others. To repent means to radically transform our lives, completely change direction (not much unlike the Wise men did after they saw Jesus) from selfish unbelief to humble, sincere faith that recognizes our sins that condemn us and then turns and looks to God’s Son, Jesus Christ as our Savior.  For some people, this can happen in a single moment. For othe...

  Week 2, Matthew chapter 2 The Nativity scene debunked.  Let us keep in mind, There are about 400 years separating the last book of the old testament and the first book of the new testament, Matthew.  Jesus who is supposedly from the royal line happens to be born under a cruel tyrant King Herod, King of the Jewish nation. King Herod was actually a descendant of Esau and if you can remember the story of Esau, weknow that he was a traditional enemy of the the Jews, so why is he here as a king of the Jewish people? It is believed that he converted to Judaism for political reasons. Who were these visitors from the east? These wise men also called the Magi were not kings, as the Christmas song puts it.  The were well educated advisers to the kings.  They were high ranking with power and influence. The were from Eastern lands or other nations.  Some sources say they were representatives from different nations. We see wise men frequently in the Book of Daniel; in...

  Matthew study week 1, part 2.  I have a confession to make.  One of my few guilty pleasures is binging on the Netflix show, ‘the Crown’.   Yes, I am one of those American cliches absolutely fascinated with the royal family.   I wouldn’t say I obsess over the tabloids, but I do pay attention and besides there is history that comes through in the show that I just find fascinating.  I think the reason I find it so interesting is  that you see these lives who were placed into these high positions not on their own accord by any means. They were born into it.  Yet we soon  learn amidst the gossip and scandal, they are not much different from us mere mortals.  And this is where Matthew begins, with the royal line of Jesus.  The book of Matthew begins with the genealogy of Jesus.  Whenever I come to a genealogy section in the Bible, my eyes would just glaze over.  So many names and what’s the point anyway?  Well there’s act...