Is Jesus of Nazareth, God? Really?

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Welcome to DSI Ministries:

 Joe Average Christian Blog– a blog dedicated to the average Christian and unbelievers who might be new to the Word of God and want to understand hard topics. This blog will give easy explanations without deep theological rhetoric and terminology.

 Is Jesus of Nazareth, God? Really?

Many groups today debate, deny, and argue over who Jesus of Nazareth really was. Even Jesus asked his disciples “Whom do men say that I am? (Mark 8:27) This question was already being debated while Jesus was still living here on earth. Who was this man? He only had a ministry for 3 years. It was then, and still is now, the center of many heated debates. So what does the Bible say about Jesus of Nazareth?

So in this 4 part series, I will tackle this subject, as simply as I can, so all can grasp and defend what the Bible, the Word of God says about Jesus of Nazareth.

My own personal struggle with this question

When I was in floor refinishing, I went to work with a company who let me know that they were with a certain church that does not believe that Jesus was God. After spending some months with them, I found them to be wonderful people, loving and caring. They gave me pamphlets and told me about themselves and also invited me to their church. I was a relatively new Christian. It did not take long before I became very confused over this subject. I did not know enough of the Bible to check it out for myself. So one night at home I struggled all night over this question. I could not sleep! Who was right? I could not get this question out of my mind: WHO WAS JESUS? WHO WAS RIGHT? WAS JESUS REALLY GOD IN THE FLESH? DID GOD BECOME A MAN, OR WAS HE JUST AN ANGEL OF GOD, OR JUST A MAN?

God gave me the answer that night as I struggled and prayed.

What is in a name?

That night, God showed me this verse:

“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” (Matthew 1;20b-21)

This was Joseph’s dream from God in which an angel told him about Mary pregnancy and what to do. Until this dream, Joseph did not believe Mary. Her story was so far fetched. Joseph was going to divorce Mary secretly. Who could believe such a story that this young girl got pregnant and then claimed the father of the baby was Jehovah God!

God stepped in and clearly straightened Joseph out, and gave him some instruction for this baby boy. His name: Jesus. His purpose: “He will save His people from their sins.”

He will fulfill the prophesy concerning himself, in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” (Isaiah 7:14)

Right here we could end this article. God did it with me that night. Reading just this passage alone was ALL the evidence I needed to know who Jesus of Nazareth really was.

Lets take a look; His name is Jesus, the Savior of the World. He is also call Immanuel, the bible gives you the literal meaning of this name: God with us!

Not God resides in or God was with him. No, God with us.

I am a Christian, which means when I received Jesus as my Savior, forgiving all my sins, I became the temple of God, and God´s Spirit “resides in me”.

In no way does this mean I am God. Yes, I carry around the Spirit of God, but it does not mean I am God, Yahweh. Are you following me? Now Jesus was different, he was “God with us”, Emmanuel.

Let us look at another Old Testament prophesy of Jesus. Does it say the same thing?

A child is born, unto us a son is given (Jesus): and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God,The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6 (I added Jesus’ name to the text.)

Looking at this verse again do you see his titles? Wonderful, Counselor and Mighty God, Everlasting Father. Now you see here, and you will continue to see though out the bible; Jesus and God, the Father (Yahweh) being used with each other, interchangeably. You can see in this verse it begins with baby Jesus and then mixes in with the Father. Other times you see the name Jesus, and he will be called the “Son of God”, “Son of man”. Other times he will refer to God as His father. It can be confusing at times. But as we study this, never let us forget what His names are, who he says he is, what signs and wonders He performs, how people react to His miracles, and who others say He is.

Let us look at some more verses before we quit this section. What does the New Testament writer John say about Jesus? In John’s gospel, he opens up with something totally different from the other Gospels; not with the birth of Jesus, but something much further back and deeper then the other gospel writer:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1

John makes it clear, that in the beginning was the Word (Jesus). And John makes it clear that Jesus or the Word Was GOD! And verse 3 of the Gospel of John says of the Word (Jesus),

All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

This now is referring back to creation. It says the Word, Jesus, created all things in creation. Now let’s go way back to Genesis 1:1:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

John starts his gospel with the same opening address as in Genesis 1:1: In the beginning… To let you know that this Jesus, “the Word”, is the same person, Yahweh, God who was from the beginning of all eternity and who created all things.

In two other verses about John the Baptist, from the Isaiah 40:3 prophesy and Matthew 3:3:

The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

In Matthew 3:3 it states the same verse

For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying: The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.”

The only difference is at the end of Isaiah it says for WHOM he is making the path straight: For our God. In Matthew, we know he was talking about Jesus, in Isaiah it tells you who Jesus, this man really was: “Our God”.

I hope this blog has helped you see some things more clearly. It is not an in-depth study, but I hope it is enough to make you open your own bibles and study for the answers. So many sit back and whatever the pastor or leaders say is what they believe. Open up your word and see what the Bible says for yourself. Remember! Believe what you read and do not read only what you believe.

I will continue this study next Monday with, “What did Jesus say about himself”?

 

Church Relevancy

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John 3:17, For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Acts 10:38, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

Matt 28:19, Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

I believe the two reasons for the decline in Christianity in the US is;

1) We are no longer following the Master’s way of ministry in the local church or even missionary outreaches.

2) We are not relevant to the people or culture around us.

This revelation came to me when God called me to Guatemala. I had no idea what I was doing or what I was called to do there. I had no idea how it was going to look, but soon the Lord revealed all I needed to know.

First thing he said to me was I was to carry out this ministry “just like He did his”, I was to GO OUT and minister and see the people and to find out what there need was. The reference to Jesus in Act 10:38 says “who went about”.

Jesus did not set up shop in Capernaum and tell all the people of Israel, “the Messiah is here now, come up to my church in Capernaum and hear me preach and watch me do miracles.” But isn’t this how we learned to do church in America? Start a bible study, if we get bigger and grow, we´ll get a store front and then,  if our preacher is really charismatic and loved by the people, we can build a real church on the corner and tell all to come and hear him preach.

Yes, they may have some outreaches but for most of the common people we simply have nothing to offer. We are not relevant to them or their needs. This is not what Jesus showed us. It is even written in church history, in the book of Acts, that when the disciples got cozy in Jerusalem, God allowed persecution, in the form of the Roman army in 70AD to come in and chase them out. Then they began to do what Jesus said in the great commission, GO into the world.

Jesus traveled everywhere, He went and met the people where they were at. He found their needs, ministered to it and then shared the life changing message. Every story about Jesus says that he went out and searched for the lost.

He crossed the lake to meet the demon possessed man. He traveled to Samara to meet the woman at the well. Do you think that was just coincidence? It was not. If you read the account carefully, she was waiting for the Messiah. She even said one day the Christ will come and straighten it all out.

Jesus let her know it was HIM. I believe that woman was waiting and praying and Jesus travel all that way just to meet her. It did not matter what the need was, Jesus was there and waiting to assist them.

The disciple Matthew was a hated tax collector. Jesus, in spite of all the negative press, still went to his party and found a disciple.  Example after example, Jesus went and met people where they were and loved on them.

You see the contrast between modern day church and the way Jesus led people into the kingdom. The exact opposite, and we are getting the opposite results when we do not follow  Jesus’ example and GO….. into your families, friends and the world and find a need, be relevant to them, love them and then share the good news of Jesus’ salvation.

As we say in DSI Ministries, “THEY DO NOT CARE WHAT YOU KNOW UNTIL THEY KNOW THAT YOU CARE”

Our First Guatemala Christmas

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After I finished my schooling in Calvary’s Timothy Program, I stayed in Guatemala according to the leading that God was giving me.

Soon I began working with Maria Perez, my interpreter. It was soon after this I found five families living on a missionary project, who were not being feed or having supplies for their basic needs. Even though these women worked 6 days a week, 12 hours or more a day they had not been payed for three months. We soon began supplying food for these ladies and the children.

As months went by, we developed a strong friendship with these ladies and their children. We started doing outings and bible studies. Sunday we would hold church services at their project and the ladies would cook lunch for Maria and I.

Christmas was fast approaching and one Sunday in children class, I forgot where I was and asked the children to make a list for what they wanted for Christmas. The children had no problem making the list but I soon found out, it made the mothers very awkward.  When I asked Maria why, she told me that in Guatemala the very poor do not celebrate Christmas.

I felt embarrassed for only a minute or so. After I looked over the childrens’ list I exclaimed to Maria ” lets have a Christmas party and we will, like Santa Clause fill this list for the children!” After saying that, the ladies said “where is our paper for our list!” So all the women made their Santa wish list to.

Soon after that, Maria and I began searching how much it would cost to fill every list. I found out it would be no problem financially doing it. So for the next two weeks Maria traveled all over San Benito buying everything those kids wanted. We even found a Christmas tree and decorated it after our Sunday church service.

On Christmas Eve all the families joined me for Christmas dinner, we served chicken and all the trimmings. The Christmas tree was lit and the festivities began. You should have seen their faces after dinner when they went in and seen all the presents under the tree.

One lady, Carmen, wanted a queen size bed so her family would not sleep on the floor. Fatima wanted new baby clothes and a stroller for her new born baby, Joshua. We bought new dresses for all the ladies and every girl received a new doll and of course every boy had on their list a bicycle.

I think the only thing on their list that we did not get was a trip to the USA, which Fatima wrote. Before we open the gifts the women and children had a present for me. They made me leave, so they could prepare. They had no money to buy me a present, but instead they lit candles and sang a Guatemalan song which is dedicated normally to sing on Fathers Day to their fathers.

I was completely move. We finished the evening at midnight with a Guatemalan tradition. They light sparklers and every one in Guatemala shoots off fireworks at the midnight hour. I soon found out that for everyone there, it was the first time they ever received a gift and celebrated Christmas.