Who is this Man?

Read the following, and see if you can figure out who is being described.
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But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me. Then I said to them, "If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them." And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver. Then the LORD said to me, "Throw it to the potter"--the lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD, to the potter.

I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.

More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause; mighty are those who would destroy me, those who attack me with lies. What I did not steal must I now restore?

For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet-- But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people.

All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; "He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!"

They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink. In return for my love they accuse me, but I give myself to prayer.

And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned--every one--to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.

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Did you figure out who it is? Yep. It's Him.

So, get ready for the hairs to stand up on the back of your neck:

Not a word of what you just read was written any less than 400 years before that man came, and died for our sins.

 

Were you ready for that? Amazing, isn't it. He sure does love you.

-Daniel

Verses (In Order):

Micah 5:2; Isa 7:14; 9:6-7; 53:3; Ps 41:9; Zech 11:12-13; Isa 50:6; Ps 69:4; 22:16, 6-8, 18, 69:21; 109:4; Zech 12:10; Isa 53:4-9; Ps 16:10

[Don't] Keep Your Mouth Shut

We were sitting at the dinner table, eating our dinner. Our conversation had being going well up until that point. And then I saw the tears in my wife's eyes.
We had been talking about being evangelistic. I asked my tender-hearted wife why she was crying. Then she made a statement that knocked the wind out of me.

"If someone came up to me and said, 'Jesus loves you,' you know what my first thought would be? They aren't a member of the church of Christ."

Wow. Let that sink in. She's right, isn't she. To add some credibility to this, my wife didn't grow up "in the church," either. She knows. And deep down in your heart you know, too.

Throughout the ages, Satan has been crafty. While we rail against "political correctness" in the church, and pride ourselves in being "incorrect" politically because of our stand for the truth, have we missed something just as serious?

When I was growing up, I was told not to be "showy" with my religion. After all, that's what charismatic, denominational people do. Passages like Matthew 6:2-18 and Matthew 23:5, as well as Jesus' parable about the pharisee and tax collector in Luke 18:9-14 as "proof" of this concept. A good Christian isn't ostentatious, and doesn't make a scene in order to be seen. No one wants to be thought of as being a hypocrite, like the ones we read about in the scriptures. But when preached and taught, it all comes across (whether it was intended this way or not) as one clear command: Keep your mouth shut about God.

And so to a certain extent, I have. You probably have, too.

So, when I see a yard sign, or a cross on the side of the road, or a bumper sticker of a fish, or a person wearing a shirt with the phrase "Jesus Loves You," do you know what I think? They probably aren't a member of the church of Christ. And I'm usually right.

Tell me, in all that time, who has been winning? God, or Satan?

In our attempt to keep from being associated with charismatic denominations, or to be "respectful," or whatever it might be, thus keeping our lips tightly closed in public, who has been winning? In waiting for the "right time" to talk about Jesus to someone, how often did it ever come?

There is such a thing as being so afraid of losing that you don't take the first step toward winning. How can we be more evangelistic if we are afraid of being perceived as being evangelistic? Sometimes we're so afraid of looking like the enemy that we end up looking more and more like him every day.

Here's my challenge to you: Tell someone, some random person, each day this week to remember that Jesus loves them. Say it. They may look at you weird. They may think strange things about you (which you would never know anyway).

Or it may just be what they needed to hear.

How will you know unless you try?

~ Daniel

"How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?" - Romans 10:14, ESV

LOOPHOLE - [One Word #6]

Although the word "loophole" itself isn't in the Bible, the concept is. So what is it? And how could it cause you to shipwreck your faith?
http://youtu.be/iGH6lC4j-zU

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Make Bible "Margin Notes" in Evernote - [T3]

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