The Book of Matthew! An explanation of chapters 1 and 2

Hello everyone! As mentioned in my last blog, yesterday was a very powerful day for me. I experienced Jesus in a way I never had before. Because of this, I was interested in his life from when he was a baby to his crucifixion. I decided to read a few chapters of the book of Matthew, which tells the story of Jesus's life, each day. And why not share what I have learned with my blog? So each day I will summarize what I have read and try to make it easy to understand for new believers or even those who just need an explanation.
The book begins by listing all of Jesus's ancestors, and trust me, there is a lot! You can read all of these names in Matthew 1: 1-16. If you are a new believer or a young child, I'd suggest reading an NIV or NIRV just to get a better explanation of the list. But to summarize this list, there were 14 generations from Abraham to David, 14 generations from David until the exile of Babylon, and 14 generations from the exile to the birth of Jesus, the Messiah.
Verses 18-25 describes the birth of Jesus. Mary, the mother of Jesus, had been promised to Joseph in marriage. However, Mary became pregnant by the Holy Spirit before the marriage. Joseph wanted to call off the marriage because being pregnant before marriage was looked down on during this time. An angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him, "Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for she is pregnant by the Holy Spirit and you shall call him Jesus." When Joseph woke up, he as he was told.
In chapter 2 verses 1-12 tells about the wise men visiting Jesus. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, where the current king was Herod. When Herod found out about the birth of the Messiah, he secretly called the Wise Men to get a little more information on this Messiah that was born. Keep in mind that this wasn't right when Jesus was born it was actually a few years later. They followed a star that led them right to Jesus's house. They offered Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. If you want to know what these things are and what they represent, let me know and I can do a separate blog on that. Back to the story, God warned the wise men in a dream not to return to Herod. So they went another route back home.
Verses 13-18 in chapter 2 are very interesting. God appears to Joseph in a dream and tells him to escape and flee to Egypt as soon as possible because Herod intended to kill Jesus. He said to stay there until he told them it was safe to leave. Joseph got up immediately and began the flee to Egypt that night. Herod realized that the wise men had tricked him and became very angry. So he sent out soldiers to kill every boy in Bethlehem that was two years old and younger. This passage ends by quoting a prophecy that was predicted by Jeremiah that came true. (This prophecy describes what Herod did to the children.)
In verses 19-23, we find out that Herod is dead. God appears to Joseph in a dream again and tells Joseph the go to Israel with the baby and his mother because everyone who had tried to kill him was dead. However, Joseph was afraid to go because Archelaus, the son of Herod, took the throne of his father. But Joseph listened to God and left for Galilee. They made there home in a city called Nazareth. Many of the prophets said that Jesus would be called a Nazarene, which came true.
So that was the end of chapter two! I hope that everyone understand what these chapters were saying and I hope that if you have any questions you will comment them below. I hope everyone has a blessed day!

Jesus has Risen!

Hello everyone! I hope that everyone has had a great Easter Sunday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I was recently in an Easter play at my church. I was the light that removed sin before Jesus was born. However, my father played Jesus. The music and acting was so realistic, I could barely watch the scene where he is captured because it my dad. Then I realized, Jesus is our father too. And now watching all the videos that people have posted today and the videos at church, I can barely look at them without bursting into tears. Why? Because I realized that he is my heavenly father and I don't know what I would do without him. I love him so much! Even writing this blog makes me want to cry because I have never appreciated what he did for me this much ever in my entire life. One of my favorite Easter songs is "You Thought of Us." I really encourage you to listen to it. It describes my feelings right now perfectly. It goes:

"You thought of us, everyone of us, and all your love for us caused you to stay. You could have spared your life, and still had paradise. But even all the pain we put you through became too much, you thought of us."

If you don't know Jesus's story, I really encourage you to ask a pastor or a friend. It is the most beautiful and saddening story and really will affect your heart. If you do know the resurrection story, share it with those who don't and lead them to know Jesus.

Dear Lord,
I can feel your presence right now and I know, I know, I know that I am not the best follower of you. I pray on this Easter Sunday that you will lead me out of sin and guide me to your light. I also want to thank you for what Jesus did for me and for everyone on this Earth. I know some people do not appreciate it but Lord, please help them. They need to experience your love like I have just a few moments ago. Lord help those who are needy, sick, and need your presence. You know who they are, help them be leaded to the right path.
In your name I pray, Amen.

Obadiah

Hello everyone! Today's blog is going to be really short because I'm writing it ten minutes before July 6th (because I've been at church all day) and because I haven't had much inspiration. Anyway today in church we read Obadiah. Obadiah is the shortest book in the bible with one chapter and twenty one verses. In this book, Obadiah is having a vision of the consistent battle of Edom. The Lord is describing what the people have done and what will happen if they continue to do these things. I really suggest reading it if you want to learn a little bit more. Well that's all I have today. Goodbye until tomorrow. 

With love, 

Madison

Temptation

Hello everyone. In today's blog post I wanted to talk about temptation. I looked up the word temptation and its definition is a desire to do something, especially something wrong or unwise. Of course, the bible says a lot about temptation and its evil ways and that is what I want to describe in today's blog post. I want to focus mainly on James 1:13-15. It says, "When someone is tempted, he shouldn't say that God is tempting him. God can't be tempted by evil, and God doesn't tempt anyone. Everyone is tempted by his own desires as they lure him away and trap him. Then desire becomes pregnant and gives birth to sin. When the sin grows up it gives birth to death." Now I'm going to break down these verses and make it just a little easier to understand. Verse 13 is saying that God doesn't tempt us and he can't be tempted by evil. I know several people think that God tempts us. I always think that Satan tempts me but God allows it to happen, which is basically the same thing. But verse 14 and 15 changed my mind about that. It is saying that our wants is what tempts us. Our wants and wishes soon become sin which becomes death. Thinking of everything that tempts me is very hard because there are so many things. But I think one big temptation for everyone is smartphones. Even when I am trying to read scripture, my phone is calling my name. Our society has become so addicted to these things, and I am definitely guilty of it too. But when we are tempted we are to turn to God and he will guide us. I challenge everyone who reads like to do the see you in seven challenge. This is where you stay off social media, computers, phones, etc. and spend more time with God in his word. I am going to try it and you should to because it could really change your life. I hope that I explained everything correctly and that you got something out of this post. I am always here if you need to talk about something. 

With love,

Madison

More scripture about this topic: 1 Corinthians 10:13

Friendships

Hi everyone! Welcome to my new blog. As many of you know last week I went to Cragmont Youth Camp and I had a wonderful time meeting new friends and becoming closer to God. This was my third year attending this camp, and it was definitely my favorite year so far. We had wonderful lessons and sermons but one that stood out to me was about friends. The topic is "Are your friends real friends?" There is soooooooo much scripture about friendship which I will include throughout the blog. In our class, we talked out how important it is to surround yourself with Godly, Christian people. This is because whoever you surround yourself with is how you will act. I've noticed in my life that I had not surrounded myself with people that will strengthen my relationship with Christ. Proverbs 13:20 says, "Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm." I want to change who I surround myself with, but I'm not sure how. It is something that I have been praying to God about so he can guide me in the right direction. We also discussed what a true friend is. True friends love at all times, weep with you, rejoice with you, encourage you. This part of the lesson hit me hard because not only did I know people who haven't done this to me, I also haven't done this to others. Romans 12:15 says, "Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn." This verse describes what a true friend does for others. In class we also discussed two categories that our friends are out into to determine if our relationship with them is a Christian relationship. The first category is a lampshade. This is a friend who knows who God is, but covers his light. The second category is a light post (which is what everyone should strive for.) This is someone who knows about God and isn't afraid to show his beautiful shining light. As I was listening to the lesson, I thought to myself "I think that I am a light post, but is that what others think of me." This was stuck in my head the whole day. That night we had a wonderful sermon about how we could become a Christian friend. We discussed 4 things you must do to become a Christian influence on others. The first thing is to know who you are. My first thought is, "How would I not know who I am?" But it turns out that you must know who you are when it comes to your walk with Christ. The second thing was to know whose you are. This was describing and making sure that everyone knew that we are God's beautiful children and we must make sure that everyone knows this. The third thing was probably the most obvious one, which was to surround yourself with Christians. I know that many people don't go to Christian schools, so I know it can be hard to do. I know, because I'm in the same boat. But it is important that you make sure that non believers don't have an influence on you. I was thinking in my head how many non believer friends I have and wondering what to do. But then the fourth thing answered my question. The fourth thing was to also surround yourself with non believers and become an influence on them as a Christian. The past three years I have been at my new school I just now realized how much of a terrible influence I have been on others. I want to conclude with John 15:13, "Greater love has no one than this; to lay down one's life for one's friends." In the end the two most important things to do for a friend is to guide them through their walk with Christ and be loving. I hope this helped anyone who is struggling. Because it definitely helped me. 

With love, 

Madison

Here is some more scripture about this topic: 1 Corinthians 15:33/ Proverbs 12:26/ Proverbs 27:17/ Proverbs 17:17