Opened Scriptures Bible Studies

Good morning everyone.  I am glad that you joined us for our final posts about the true story of Christmas.  Morning skies are gradually turning a peach and gold color and squirrels are fighting over the seed and nuts that we put out for them.  Now we return to Luke's gospel to pick up the threads from his account of the birth of Christ.  Joseph & Mary returned to Bethlehem for a census and taxation. Luke 2:1-5 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. 2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) 3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) 5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. Luke is picking up the story of Jesus' birth when there was...

God graciously grants us space to repent, just as Paul did at Corinth. 2 Corinthians 1:23-24  Moreover I call God for a record upon my soul, that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth.  24)  Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand.  2 Corinthians 2:1  But I determined this with myself, that I would not come again to you in heaviness.  Chapter divisions and verses in our Bible were added  by well meaning men and almost all the time, they help us find the text we want to read.  However, sometimes the chapter division happens at the wrong spot and this is the case here. The last two verses of chapter one flow into chapter two. This is why I included the last two verses from chapter one, to keep the flow of Paul's Spirit guided writing connected.  In verses 23-24, Paul begins giving his explanation for not visiting the church at Corinth.  His primary concern is that he would hav...

This morning is colder but we are warmed up in spirit when we continue to see the true Christmas story unfold.  God's great love for sinners is on display throughout this series and we can be grateful that He love us even when we were still His enemies.  Wise men who were astronomers at Babylon come to see the Christ Child Wise men from Babylonia came seeking the Christ child.  Matthew 2:1-6 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, 2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. 3 When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. 5 And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, 6 And thou Bethlehem, ...

  Today I have a genealogy to show the descent of Christ from his earthly father and his mother.  You can do a search for other charts but this one seemed to be the most complete one that I could find.  Luke's genealogy connects Christ to Adam and to God and connects Mary to King David. Luke's genealogy has some unique variation when compared to Mathew's and again this has to do with the specific reason for Luke's list . Luke 3:13-38 And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli, Which was the son of Matthat, which was the son of Levi, which was the son of Melchi, which was the son of Janna, which was the son of Joseph, Which was the son of Mattathias, which was the son of Amos, which was the son of Naum, which was the son of Esli, which was the son of Nagge, Which was the son of Maath, which was the son of Mattathias, which was the son of Semei, which was the son of Joseph, which was the...

  Why did Jesus have 2 genealogies? The genealogies found in the gospel of Matthew and of Luke have specific purposes to accomplish and they reveal some startling details about the birth of the Son of God.  We will begin with Matthew's list since it comes first and he is presenting Jesus Christ as the rightful heir to the throne of King David. I do not expect you to be able to pronounce all the names in this list but I do want to place the text in front of us.  Matthew 1:1-17 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren; And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram; And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon; And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse; And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been t...

  Let's review what we have learned so far.  First, we learned that the birth of Jesus Christ was something determined before man was created and before the fall of man into sin.  I think it is important to note that the sin of Adam and Eve did not take God by surprise.  His perfect wisdom and foreknowledge means that He created mankind knowing that Adam and Eve would fail the test and fall into sin. Next, we learned that it is the boundless love of God that motivated Him to have the Son of God Jesus Christ be born into a human body.  This love was illustrated by John 3:16 and Romans 5:6-8. Then we learned about the seed of the woman from Genesis 3:15 and looked at texts from Hebrews to show how this promised seed was born into this world in the Person of Jesus Christ.  In our last post we learned more detail about the birth of the Messiah Jesus Christ from the prophet Isaiah.  We read that the Messiah was going to be born of a virgin and that His name...

May this morning be filled with the grace of God flowing into us as we seek to love and serve our great God. Jesus Christ the seed of the woman born of a virgin.  Isaiah 7:14  Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.  Isaiah the prophet is going to give us some tremendous insight into the birth of the seed of the woman. A virgin is going to conceive and bear a son whose name shall be called Immanuel.  A virgin is going to give birth to a son. This ties directly to Genesis 3:15 and the special phrase the seed of the woman.  No earthly man is involved in the procreation process for the birth of Christ.  The seed of the woman is given one name in this text, the lovely name Immanuel.  The Hebrew word translated "Immanuel" means "God with us" and it is the prophetic name for the Messiah.  This sign came from the Lord Himself. Isaiah wrote the inspired words of t...