Jesus' Life-Birth- Mary (Rabbi Series)

Luke 26-38 Summary- Next time will look at verses 39-56

Again we are going to be in the book of Luke 1 to continue the events of Jesus' birth.

Starting in verse 26 and going too verse 39 we read about Mary. What do we learn about Mary in these verses?

Mary was a virgin and she lived in Nazareth. She was engaged to a man named Joseph. God had sent to her the angel Gabriel in order for Mary to receive a message from God. But when Mary saw the angel she became afraid. Gabriel comforted her with these words, "Don't be afraid afraid, Mary, for God has decided to bless you. You shall become pregnant and have a son and you are to name him Jesus. He is going to be very great and be known and called the Son of the Most High. And God will give him the throne of David. He will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!"

Mary asked the angel how this would happen as she was a virgin. The angel toward her that The Holy Spirit would come upon her and the power of the Most High would overshadow her. The baby born will be holy and called the Son of God.

Mary responded by saying, "I am the Lord's servant, and I am willing to accept whatever he wants.May everything you have said come true."

Intro To Jesus Birth

Most of you who are reading my blog know the story of the birth of Jesus. It still seems like a good time to review it.

I like to start our birthday story with the birth of John the Baptist first. Please turn to Luke 1. First we see an introduction of the life of Jesus written by Luke. He is writting a letter to Theophilus. Luke wants to reassure Theophilus about the events that have taken place with the disciples and the promises that God had made. Luke has done a careful investigation of all the facts and assures Theophilus all facts given are true.

First we read the account of Zechariah, a Jewish priest, and his wife Elizabeth. We read that they both were righteous in the sight of God and now is rewarding them by allowing Elizabeth to be able to have a baby in her old age. This is told by the angel Gabriel to Zechariah as he is serving is duties in the temple. Zechariah doubts the angel. Gabriel tells him that he will not be able to talk until after the baby is born. And that is what Zechariah does. He tells the people around him that is son John is going to be a prophet of the Most High and he will prepare the way for the Lord. He will tell the people how to find salvation through forgiveness of their sin.

Next time we will look at Mary's story. She also was visted by the angel Gabriel.

Heaven's Child

I was listening to a Christmas song this morning, "Heaven's Child" sung byThe Martins. As I listened to the words the thoughts going through my mind were what it was like for Mary. She knows she is holding her Savior. It's cold, they are in a stable. The shephards come. They realize who Jesus is...but will others know.

Joseph looks down in awe of this tiny baby born. He too knows who Jesus is. What a respondibility it will be to raise the Son of God.This is when his faith would carry him though.

Then there was Jesus. He left His home in heaven to come to earth and be nine months in a womb. He would become human and have a human body forever.

When He became old enough He became the Rabbi that all who believe in Him and leave everything and follow Him day and night. Jesus chose twelve men to train. We read their story in the Testament.

So in the coming year we are goinb to be looking at the life of Jesus and the men He chose.

Disciple And His :Master

Matthew 10:24 (NKJV)
A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.

Hearing Person's Meaning (Strong's  Exhaustive Concordance Of The Bible)
Greek Word Disciple: someone who learns, understands.

Apply
As we look through the verses in the Bible that talk about being a disciple, those who are disciples themselves and how they lived, and other books that we use to show us about being a disciple ourselves, my prayer is that we will better understand and learn all that we can and put into practice what we learn.

DEAF meaning (Random House American Sign Language Dictionary
Disciple: is a follower or adherent of someone's teachings:masters's disciples.

Other Words: (The New Roget's Thesaurus In Dictionary Form)
Adhere: cleave, cling, stick
Adherence: devotion, decation, faithfulness, loyalty, obedience

Conclustion
A learner is not greater than their teacher.

Prayer

Dear Jesus for believers You are our teacher. May we not think that we are above You. Help us to learn how to be a better disciple.

In Your Name I pray this

 

Prayer

Jesus Name pray believer understand, learn more behavior disciple.



Book Review: Discovery Guide In The Dust Of The Rabbi

Since this blog is called Disciples Nook I thought I would share more on the book which I referred to in an earlier post called, Discovery Guide In The Dust Of The Rabbi by Ray Vaner Laan he tells his readers on how a person became a Rabbi (which is the teacher) and then how one becomes a disciple.

Education Of A Rabbi is first step as a disciple must follow their Rabbi which is their teacher.

• Five years old: a child was fit to for the Scriptures. This included boys and girls.  
• Ten years old: the oral Torah interpretations would be learned. 
• Thirteen: the fulfilling of the commandments was next.
• Fifteen: the Talmud (making rabbinic interpretations).
• Eighteen: the bride-chamber.
• Twenty: pursuing a vocation.
• Thirty: having the authority to be able to teach others.

All teaching by the early rabbis attempted to explain, interpret, and apply some portion of the Hebrew Bible. Those who heard the rabbi teach would recognized that he taught with authority. Jesus did become a rabbi at thirty.

A disciple would be those who did not become a rabbi, but they would follow the rabbi wherever he went. Stayed with him and learned all they could from him.

Also we read in the book by Mr. Vander Laan,  what it meant when Jesus said, "Follow Me!" (page 60-Fact File)

• To walk after was an invitation to join him wherever he went and especially to do whatever he did.
• This meant they walk hundreds of miles and face danger, difficulty, and oppostition.
• Often times the men did not know where they were going, how long it would take, or whether they could do it.
• Through everything they needed to trust their rabbi with their lives without being able to evaluate their capability to do what he asked.
• They needed to know that he knew where he was leading and that there was a purpose in doing so.
• He would never lead them into a situation that they, by God's grace, could not handle.

Thought
 Today we still have Jesus as our Rabbi through reading the Bible and learning His ways.

A Challange
Our we (including myself) willing to learn God's ways?

Question
How is the best way that you learn things? You can add your comments at the bottom of the post. Love to hear from you and maybe by sharing your way will help others.

Rewards

Today I listened to a radio program on my favorite radio station WPEL which is located on the FM dial at 96.5. Back To The Bible was the program I listened to. I don't usually get to hear this program, but I felt that today the Lord had me have the radio on at this time.

The subject of the program was rewards. God gives us rewards for doing His work. We shouldn't do His work just to receive these rewards. We should do His work out of love for God.

I had never thoght about getting rewards for doing good. But working for God can be hard work at times.

Now the rewards we receive are not always given to us here on earth. They are recorded in heaven. So when we meet Jesus He will know what rewards we will receive.

Isn't God so good to us?

Listening To Child Play

Today was a work day for me. Around 10:00 a.m. my little story-time girl game in. She came up to me and gave me a big hug. She stayed near me as I worked. Then she got some puzzles out while she was waiting for story-time to start. She would dump them on the floor then say she needed help doing them. Her mother was right there so they all got put together. Then it was story-time.

This week was on Thanksgiving. We had a turkey puppet and once the little girl saw it she wanted to have it. So everywhere we went in the library and in our library room for story-time she and the turkey were together. She got a mat out for it so the turkey could set next to her as I read the story. When we colored she would get a crayon and match it to what color was on the turkey. It was just a precious time. When we did the song "Shake Your Sillies Out" and it was time to clap she took the turkey's feet and was clapping them together.

Later on when story-time was over another child came into the library and was playing in our play area.  She was so happy. She began to sing a song. I am not sure if she was making it up as she was going along or if it was a song she might have learned in preschool. But it was a joy to listen to her sing.

I am so glad that the Lord tells us to be like children when it comes to trusting in Him. For children are so trusting. And they love so easily.