"He pressed them, "And how about you? Who do you say that I am?" Matthew 16:15

Jesus first question to His disciples was, "What are people saying about who the Son of Man is?" their response was some say John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, one of the prophets. Then looking straight at His disciples He said; "And how about you? Who do you say that I am?"

Imagine with me; picture Jesus walking the streets of New York, San Francisco, New Orleans, Denver, Dallas, Palm Springs, DC, Wichita, anywhere USA, and the year is 2011! As the crowds quickly surround Him as they surely would because we know that wherever Jesus went crowds gathered and followed. He opens His mouth, and the crowd is silenced, He slowly turns around and makes eye contact with everyone in the crowd, His penetrating gaze misses no one, not even the children. Are you with me, have you placed yourself in that crowd, are you experiencing the feelings and wonder of the people? Can you imagine locking eyes with Jesus Christ? Now it is just you and Him and everyone there feels the same way for once you look into those eyes everything and everyone fades quickly from view.

He begins with a question; "Who do people say that I am?" From the back a man yells out a great teacher, another says, the Son of God, a child jumps up and down, pointing to Him and screams, Jesus, Jesus! Then a dark accusing voice eerily high pitched, false prophet. Several voices tumble over one another; Allah, Mohammed, then an old man speaks up, you are the King of the Jews, a woman steps forward and declares, you were a great prophet. The rest of the rapidly growing crowd is doing their best to stay hidden from His eyes like little children in school who don't do their homework and don't want to be called on.

Now Jesus turns and looks directly at you again, "How about you? Who do you say that I am?" How would you respond? I would respond, You are Jesus Christ my Lord, the Son of God, my Savior and my Redeemer! That is true, yet Jesus is so much more!!

Do you know Jesus in any capacity other than Savior? Can you say with full assurance and faith; You are the Christ and You have gone to heaven to prepare a place for me that where You are I may be with You forever? Could you say; You are that Light of my life, the Joy of my heart and my soul finds Satisfaction in You alone? Could you say; You are my Peace, my Shelter, my Strong Deliverer, You are Absolute Sovereign over the entire universe and over me? Could you say; You are the King of kings and Lord of lords as you humbly bow before His Majesty? Could you say: You alone are my Source, You are my Shield, You are the Shade at my right hand, You are my Comforter and Your blood cleanses me from all unrighteousness? Jesus Christ desires that we know Him, that we continue seeking to know Him more everyday of our lives, He longs to reveal Himself to us and He does so in His Word the Bible. He is waiting for you on every page...what are you waiting for?

"This mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." Colossians 1:29

Christ in you have you ever really considered just how wonderful that is? I know we all think of salvation which is a gift that defies description, yet there are so many other gifts of grace that flow from Christ because; "for all the promises of God find their Yes in Christ" 2 Corinthians 1:20 Sometimes we get so caught up in the monotony of life, the sorrow of trials etc. they we need to be reminded of just some of God's great and precious promises to His children. Be prepared to be encouraged, thankful and grateful, pass them on, we all need encouragement. And nothing encourages like the Word of God!

Promise of Security
"I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand." John 10:28

Promise of Heaven
"Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?" John 14:1-2

Promise of Sanctification
"Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth." John 17:17

Promise of Choosing
"You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He may give it to you." John 15:16

Promise of God Hearing
"Call to Me and I will answer and show you great and mighty things that you do not know." Jeremiah 33:3

Promise of God Answering
"I am praying to You because I know You will answer, O God. Bend down and listen as I pray." Psalm 17:6

Promise of Gods Everlasting Love
"I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued My faithfulness to you." Jeremiah 31:3

Promise of Forgiveness of Sins
"I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins." Isaiah 43:25

Promise of Gods Comfort
"I,I am He who comforts you..." Isaiah 51:12

Promise of Gods Steadfast Love & Mercies & Faithfulness
"The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness." Lamentations 3:22-23

Promise of Gods Strength & Help
"Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10

Promise to Never Fail or Forsake
"Be strong and courageous. Do not fear...for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you." Deuteronomy 31:6

Promise to Set Us Free
"If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free." John 8:31-32

Promise that God is For Us
"What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?" Romans 8:31

Promise God is With Us
"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

Promise God is Absolute Sovereign
"The LORD has established His throne in the heavens, and His Sovereignty rules over all." Psalm 103:19

Promise Nothing Can Separate Us From God's Love
"For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39

Any questions?

"Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Matthew 7:3

A person with a critical, judgmental spirit is the most unpleasant person you will ever have the misfortune to be around. And if you are that person, you would be shocked to know that everyone else is on to you but you! For the judgmental creature has laser sharp vision to pick up on the faults of others while because of the deception of sin they remain clueless to their own faults.

I was one of those people until the Lord set me free by a truth found in His word. "Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things." Romans 2:1 The truth is that the things that irritate you in others are the very same things you have within yourself. That is hard to swallow but if you are willing to intently look at your natural face in the mirror of God's Word, and you don't just walk away and forget what you saw, if you are willing to do and act on what God's Word says, scripture says that person is blessed. James 1:23-25

Jealousy and envy quite often are the motivating accelerants that fuel the critical spirit. They are unhappy with themselves so they put others down in a vain effort to boost their own ego, all to no avail. No one is immune from being critical of others and I am completely dependent on the Lord to keep me from slipping back particularly when I am feeling down on myself. That is the time that I quote out loud; "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Romans 8:1 The truth will dispel a lie any time!!

The Lord revealed the real condition of my heart when I read "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick." Jeremiah 17:9 Our hearts are desperately sick, because of sin we are capable of anything, yes, anything and it is only by the grace of God that we as His children have been set free from the death grip of sin! Now when I have a critical thought regarding another I have only to remember my own sin and the truth of my condition, who am I to judge the servant of another?

We have been set free; free to to obey Christ's commandment to love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind and with all our strength. And love your neighbor as yourself. Loving beats judging hands down!

"But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must necessarily believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him out." Hebrews 11:6

Faith is absolute trust in God, trust that could never even imagine that He will ever forsake you. The Bible puts it this way; "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1, and in John 20:29, "Jesus said, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." If you are a born again believer in the Lord Jesus Christ you are blessed because you have not yet seen your Savior face to face. But you know and are assured that one glorious day you will!

Faith is not found in reading secular books or even religious books, it is not found in any one particular denomination, you don't receive faith by osmosis we don't get it through our genes, just because your parents or grandparents are believers that doesn't count as your faith. And if you are looking for faith in the world you will really be confused and disappointed, people put their faith in the strangest things; in a religion, in nature, in a man, in money, in a company or in their IRA, in horoscopes, in fame, power or wealth, or in ourselves, none of which are worthy of our faith. The Bible tells us exactly where we find faith; "So faith comes by hearing what is told, and what is heard comes by the preaching of the message that came from the lips of Christ the Messiah Himself." Romans 10:17 Amplified Bible

It is through the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, that is how by faith we are born again by putting our faith and trust in Christ alone; His death on the cross for our sins, His burial, and His resurrection from the dead. "Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." Romans 10:9-10,13

Now our life of faith truly begins, how then does our faith grow? We grow when we as believers grow in the wisdom and knowledge of Jesus Christ, when we explore His love, the depth, the height, the length and the breadth of that love and while we can never plumb the depths we can come to know the One who died for us. There is only one way to know Christ and that is through His Word, the Bible. Please don't settle for just hearing what someone else (pastor, teacher, friend, writer etc.) knows about Jesus, know Him, seek Him for yourself!! It requires time, there are no shortcuts, daily time in His word and in prayer, when you seek Him with all of your heart He promises you will find Him and He is a man of His Word! Jeremiah 29:12-13 As wonderful as it is, please don't settle for salvation and never know your Savior, what a tragic waste that would be!

Another way our faith grows is through testing. We can have a mind full of faith but until it is tested it is only head knowledge. To get it into our hearts, to really own it we must be tested. For instance, it is easy to quote; "My God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19 Until you have been without a paycheck and had a mortgage, and children to feed, you don't truly know from experience the full truth of that scripture. If you can quote Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." Can you witness to a stranger or a family member with boldness? Can you know the joy of the Lord in the midst of your deepest sorrow? Can you forgive the unforgivable? Can peace reign in your heart when the market keeps dropping, when prices keep going up and your income is stationary? If you have experienced these things or others like them you can truly know the truth of Philippians 4:13,19 for it has been tested, you have experienced God's provision, His strength, His peace, His joy when under the circumstances none of it should have made any sense. Faith that isn't tested will never stand. "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness." James 1:2-3

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." Matthew 5:6

I honestly have no idea when I first heard or read the beatitudes found in Matthew chapter five, I must have been a child. All the words of the Bible seem so simple to a child yet little did I know that the first time I ever read anything in the Bible that is the least I will ever know or understand! Every time we hear, read or memorize any scripture in the Word of God it hides itself away in the recesses of our heart and mind. And we aren't even conscious of it. The Holy Spirit is the One who brings to our remembrance all of the Word of God that we have hidden away in us, just as Jesus promised, in John 14:26; "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you." When little children are taught to memorize scriptures, they never forget them, they only think they have but get any group of adults together of all ages and start quoting well known passages like the 23rd Psalm and most will be able to quote them even if they don't remember memorizing them! That is the work of the Holy Spirit!

While I don't remember when I learned certain passages in the Bible I am very aware of those times, which are all most every day, that the Holy Spirit of God brings them to my remembrance and makes application of them to my or someone else's life circumstances! No longer do the scriptures remain simple as when I first read them, now I was stunned to know and realize what Jesus was truly teaching and how that effects the way I look at my circumstances, my view of the world and my reaction to it is totally turned upside down! Then the next time I return to these now familiar passages additional truth begins to surface, Jesus means what He says, the sermon on the mount wasn't just an outline of a lofty goal that was that was completely unattainable. Far from it, that is exactly what He meant and with that understanding my Teacher, the Holy Spirit made known to me that if I was ever to live that way there was only one way and the first truth I must realize is no matter how fervently I try, I never will! But on the heels of that first truth came the next truth; namely that the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ living within me could live that way through me!

The first time we read a scripture is the least that we will ever know...every time we return to it we will know more, the simple becomes impossible, the difficult becomes known and in the circumstances of our lives the application reveals itself.

Start reading the living Word of God and never, ever, stop it will transform your mind, change your life and show you great and mighty things that you do not know.

"Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink." Matthew 14:29-30

I love the disciple Peter, he always seemed bigger than life, when he blew it, it was big but he had a passion for the Lord Jesus that is to be admired. He was the first of all of the disciples to realize who Jesus really was; You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Then not long after he rebuked Jesus when Jesus told the disciples what would soon happen to Him. Peter was way out of line rebuking his Master and he was thinking not of God's purposes but his own. Jesus strongly rebuked Peter and said "Get behind Me, Satan! You are a hindrance to Me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God but on the things of Man. There are so many wonderful stories of Peter and the Lord and so many life applications for all of us. Is my mind set on the purposes of man or God?

One passage in scripture I have always treasured because of what it reveals about the Lord Jesus in His dealings with Peter and by application we who believe and follow Him today, in 2011. Just before the Lord went to the Garden of Gethsemane on the night He was arrested he said to Peter; "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; And when you have turned again strengthen your brothers." Luke 22:31. Simon aka Peter responded that he was willing to go to prison with Jesus and even to death to which Jesus responded; before the rooster crows you will have denied even knowing Me three times. Which Peter did. Look again at what Jesus said to Peter, knowing what would happen, He told Peter I have prayed for you. He didn't pray that Peter wouldn't sin, He prayed that Peter would not lose his faith for Jesus knew how Peter would feel after he denied Him. He is more concerned with our faith, our repentance, (turning) and that we get on with the ministry or purpose that Jesus has called us to, (strengthen your brothers). God forgave Peter before he sinned, and He didn't change His plan for him He prayed for him and that is the way He deals with us! Jesus forgave our sins on the cross, His plan for our lives has never changed, and He intercedes for us that our faith may not fail! There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, Hallelujah!

The night that Jesus walked on the Sea of Galilee all of the disciples saw Him, yet Peter alone asked Jesus to bid him come to which Jesus replied; Come. Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water towards Jesus but then he looked at the waves and the wind and terrified he began to sink, he cried out; Lord, save me! And Jesus stretched out His hand and pulled Peter up. Again so many life applications for believers today, Peter walked on water, the others stayed in the boat, we too need to get out of our safety zone, get out of the boat. Peter took his eyes off of Jesus and looked at the storm and immediately the fear caused him to doubt and go under. When we are in a storm we can choose to keep our eyes locked on Jesus and walk on top of our storm or we can focus on the storm, lose sight of the Lord and go under, the choice is ours. Peter cried out to Jesus, he didn't cry out to his buddies in the boat and Jesus immediately took hold of him. When you start going under because you have been looking at your storm and not the Lord, cry out to Him, He will hear and He will answer and grab hold of you. Are you in a storm? You can walk on top of your waves, eyes locked on Jesus or if you are going under cry out to Him now and He will pull you to safety!

"Jesus answered, "You're off base on two counts: You don't know your Bibles, and you don't know how God works." Matthew 22:29

Years and years ago my pastor at the time said something I will never forget; "You will never know Jesus better than you know His Word, the Bible." At the time I really didn't have a clue exactly what he meant but the Lord burned it into my memory, that is how important the Word of God is to a believer in Christ. Our bibles are the revealed heart, will, purpose, of our infinite God, and we His creation are finite therefore when we study God's Word we must ask for understanding to grasp the wonder of this Holy Book. "Call to Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things that you do not know." Jeremiah 33:3. What an incredible invitation from our Creator, ask Me and I will reveal Myself to you, I will take you places in the pages of this book that you never even knew existed! I will begin at the beginning and make known to you the end of the world as you now know it! Only a fool would ignore this precious Book that God has provided His children. His Book is alive, and the words contained within it give life, and hope, peace and joy and most important of all they reveal the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ! The Word of God is a gift of God's amazing grace that is beyond measure, it gives to those who seek and is the only mirror that we should ever concern ourselves with, because it reveals not only our Lord but our true selves as we immerse ourselves in the truth of it's pages. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness. His invitation stands; Call to Me and I will show you... O taste and see that the Lord is good, nothing else will ever satisfy like He does, Lord make us a people of one Book. Caution: the Bible is highly addictive, but all the side effects are good!!