From that time on, Jesus began to preach,
"Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand."
And His invitation was, "Come, follow Me, and I will make you Fishers of Men."
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were written to show us how and what Jesus did for his three and a half years with and for the people He met and spent time with. They wrote at the direction of the Holy Spirit so we can know how to be a follower and disciple, teaching others what He teaches us.
It is my intention to write here to explain what these writings tell us about how Jesus went about teaching people about this Kingdom of God and how it is available to us today.
Having spent sixty-six years and six and a half months reading the Bible Jesus has given us, (following the example of Ezra 7.10), I want to record what I have learned for the benefit of any who may take the time to consider my words.
{Ezra prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.}
First things first, I will review the purposes and leadership of Jesus from Mathew 5-7, known as the
Sermon on the Mount. I will review the introduction, known as "The Beatitudes," first.
The "Beatitudes" is a list of seven (7) positive "attitudes" that Jesus lived and taught.
These are the values that we must incorporate and develop in our lives if we want to follow Jesus and lead others to follow Him, too.
These followers came to be called "disciples" because they were "learners from the Teacher," of whom the Twelve were selected as Apostles to go and teach others throughout the known world.
These Twelve plus a hundred or more followed Jesus day by day to learn from Him, instructed, coached, corrected, encouraged, rebuked-whatever it would take for them to better understand His ways and purposes.
Peter is the prominent leader, follower, and most corrected in the entire group.
But it is Peter who gives us the information not included in the Beatitudes as to the processes required to attain and develop each level and quality into our heart, soul, mind, and body ("strength"), as required by Jesus in order to become the fully developed followers who would reach the goal of "Love one another, as I have loved You." (John 13.34)
In learning to Love each other we fulfill the greatest command which is to Love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength (Mt22.37-40) and then be able to Love others as we are loved by Jesus.
Peter later--2 Peter 1.2-11-- gives us a way to develop each of the Beatitudes.
Peter's instructions take us through a step by step process that we must follow for each of the Beatitudes.
2 Peter 1.2-11 is an amazing identification of God's provision for our spiritual growth and development.
At the end of his Epistle, 3.18, he makes the following promising admonition: "Grow in Grace and Knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."
But returning to ch. 1.2, we are told to begin our journey to becoming the Light and Salt
God wants us to bring to others so they can enter the Light of the Glory of God with us.
We are to focus our faith on the great and precious promises of God, as Peter tells us.
But we must understand that Peter's instructions has James' instructions as backup to his own,
James tells us to "Look intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continue to do so, not forgetting what we find, but being obedient in order to experience the blessings promised and intended by the Lord Jesus.
Promises abound.
Google to find anything You desire from God.
Focus meditation and thoughts on the promises You find with journaling Your thoughts, motives, desires, fears, regrets, hopes, dreams...and anything else you need to clarify for God's grace to lead you in the way you need to take to move satisfactorily to the goal of your prayers.
Peter's instructions are how Romans 12.2 works for us--"Be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may receive the good, pleasing. and perfect will of God."
Remember, the sacrifice of righteousness required of us is the time it takes for our meditations to accomplish the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God for our eternal life of love, joy, peace....." Romans l2.1
Note--Ps 119.6-10 tells us that "considering....learning...and obeying" will empower us to stay of the path of the Beatitudes. Journaling the ideas of this Blog into your own understanding will result in the will of God and His love for you being worked into Your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
