Devotional Song: Go to this link … Please go to this video link to see/hear the group, Hillsong, singing - with lyrics, He Is Lord, proclaiming the truth that Jesus is our Lord … AND HE LIVES … And then to this link to hear the same group, Hillsoung, singingFor Who You Are, which proclaims that our worship of Jesus is properly for the worthy One for HE IS LORD!!!
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Highlight Passage – NKJV: Matthew 16: 15-16 [NKJV] …
15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” …
16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
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Highlight Passage [Context] – NKJV: Matthew 16: 13-20 [NKJV] … Go to this link …
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Reference Passages #1and 2: Matthew 22: 41-46 [NKJV] … Go to this link …
My Journal for Today: This is the week that we Christians call HOLY WEEK, culminating on Easter Sunday where we joyfully – from hearts of faith – declare, “JESUS IS ALIVE!!!” And we will come together in swelled numbers Sunday to worship this Jesus, the One Who came our of the grave (see attached photo), declaring that HE IS LORD!!!
However, … there will be many people on Sunday who will not be worshipping this very same Jesus as their Lord. And why is this? Well, it’s because they don’t recognize Jesus for Whom He was – and IS? If you were to ask these non-believers this week, “Who was the Jesus whom the Bible describes?” You might get some clueless souls who would deny even Jesus’ existence. For some Jesus was merely a good man or a moral teacher; or maybe they’d say that He was a rebellious character in the first century.
But as many writers have pointed out, as did Josh McDowell in his book, More Than A Carpenter, there are only three possible answers to the question, “Who was this Jesus of Nazareth Whom the Bible describes?” He is ether a liar, a lunatic, or the LORD! … And those were the choices which were even presented to Jesus’ inner twelve disciples on a hill overlooking Caesarea Philippi in the book written by the Disciple, Matthew (see the Matt. 16 link above), where Jesus asked His twelve followers, “Whom do the people say I am?” And Peter, the impulsive one, got it right in the moment; but later we know that Peter’s faith in his own recognition failed when it was tested by Jesus’ arrest as Peter saw His Lord being arrested and led to the cross.
Jesus even asked the religious leaders of that day whom they thought was “the Christ” and who was the Messiah’s father. Knowing the Psalms, especially Psalm 110, these leaders said that David would be the ancestor of their Messiah; to which Jesus asked why then would David call the Messiah his LORD [see Psalm 110: 1]. And to this these challengers of Jesus’ identity were silenced.
So, as we move into this HOLY WEEK, where many of us (I for one) will declare that JESUS is the Christ; and HE LIVES in the hearts of those of us who declare Him LORD. Who do you say He is? Is HE really our LORD?! Does He rule in our hearts? Will we celebrate Sunday in worship of the One Who came out of the grave, having been crucified to save us from our sins? Or will we merely say that this Jesus, whom the Bible describes, was merely a good man, whom many of us have falsely claimed to be The Messiah, … The Christ, … or … our LORD?!!
My Prayer for Today … Oh, dear Lord, You are THE MESSIAH, … the Lamb of God, … the Christ; and You live in my heart forever. HALLELUJAH …HALLELUJAH!!! And I pray that any who read here will proclaim that truth this week to any who will listen. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread [TGIF], distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you’ll find a link to read the Our Daily Bread blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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