James 2:13
As an adult, I have a new appreciation for The Book of James. The People who grew up knowing Jesus as a Child! Come On! Tell me more!
When and how did my interest in James and Jude? During the 5-year trial, of wow. The James Ossuary Trial for 5 Years in Israel. Ossuaries are small chests in which the bones of the dead were placed after the flesh had decayed. Sarcophagi are body-length coffins made of stone.
Lots of controversy, the ending basically unpublished.
and
If you happened to see bing's video "10 Highly Disputed Religious Artifacts" you are going to experience more of what you already know. People Cannot Agree What These Objects Are. And as a result we see them with faith, or we don't. No artifact in the world will give faith.
Christianity makes an astonishing claim. Jesus Christ is God's only Son.
Jesus Christ fulfills the many, many requirements of the Old Testament, even into the hundreds. The Gospel went forth in an age without multimedia capabilities and, in 16 years, the Roman Emperors were putting people to death, for almost 300 years, over belief that Jesus Christ is who He says He is and does what He says and returned in triumph over death.
What would be the proof of Jesus returning from the dead? It isn't secret. It isn't hidden. This is right there in the open. People risked death for hundreds of years, millenniums, even today, to spread the Good News. Lives are changed. People are strengthened. Everyone in life has a story of someone who died in a remarkable way (my grandmother, as she was dying, saw all the people she knew and was shaking hands and oh-my-ing). We all have a story of knowledge of used electric heart paddles, they've come back with something to say. Someone who had a miracle. An Act of God. Something they think of and... there it is.... faith. God loves you and cares.
There are real artifacts of the Bible, undoubtedly. http://www.bible-history.com There are hundreds of history books to support the Scriptures. The FBI says the parts they can determine are real. The head of antiquities for the Louvre says it is real. The government’s star witness, Yuval Goren, former chairman of Tel Aviv University’s institute of archaeology, was forced to admit on cross-examination that there is original ancient patina in the word “Jesus,” the last word in the inscription that reads
“James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.”
Judge Aharon Farkash has wondered, out loud, how to judge when even the experts don't agree - has told the prosecution to consider dropping the case. After 5 years, they did.
Mercy, Mercy, Imagine being told to decide for ourselves.
James lived in a time he knew to be dangerous.
John lived, expressing the evil he'd been an eyewitness.
James knew what it was to be the brother, Jesus said, "Whoever does the will of God, is my brother." And James is recorded in the Book of Acts as repentant and daily gathering with the disciples and his mother Mary to pray daily. James is recorded as being one of the ones JESUS appeared to after His resurrection.
Mary had real opinions in Luke 1 about the wealthy, the proud, the hungry and the Promises of God. Mary had social, economical, religious and soul-based opinions. She wasn't milk toast or always smiling. In the Book of James and Jude, we find men raised with thinking opinions and flavored with Jesus sitting at the breakfast and dinner, leaning back to eat, couch and table.
How many times did someone at the Holy Family dinner table with brothers and sisters throw up their hands and pretend to nap at the dinner table and couch?
Too often, we throw up our hands and forget to pray for our loved ones.
Too much separation. Too little respect. We let Luke 12 be the Word of God we place upon our families. Yet, we have forgotten something important. The first century lived this division, we do not need to repeat it and sigh. Rather, sigh in the Holy Spirit and pray, pray, pray. I was challenged to pray for a portion of my family in 2009. So I started to every day. Just praying the Lord's Prayer and "Jesus, please" while picturing their faces. And Dear God. It got So much worse. And I told our Pastor, Thanks for that (figuratively speaking!). And he replied, "Yes, that happens frequently with real prayer. Keep doing it." (okay, great....) And I have to tell you, the results have been rather outstanding to me. And then not that. I pray for my family in its entirety when I take a vitamin. I pray for their whole (holy) health.
I have a dear friend at Church, I've seen her take her adult child's children each weekend. The adult child was not living a godly life. Using, I suspected, soft drugs, living with a man who wouldn't legally marry her or put his name on their children. Driving a far direction to get the kids. And giving them all their love and support. Taking the kids each week to our Church and Church special events. That blended family has bloomed. A marriage, children who glow, an adult baptism, children's baptism, parents who went forward in Church to say "I will love the LORD", grandparents who feel blessed beyond compare. Because they lived LOVE. Did the adult child honor her and love her for these years? Not really. But they lived the LOVE anyway. The results are only of GOD.
♔ Lord Jesus Saves †
Thank You Lord Jesus
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