The amazing book of Isaiah

I am overwhelmed with grateful praise as I start the study of this amazing book. The book of Isaiah  has been my favorite part of scripture for many years. There are so many things written in this book that have touched my life deeply. I pray that you will be able to say the same by the time we are finished with this study. 

After starting my reading with many stuffy commentators, I encountered men who had diagrammed, dissected, presented the arguments about authorship and clarified some of the original language.
 I realized that for me, this book has always been full of God. 

the lion and the lamb

It is a way to see Him as He relates to us. His care, His sweetness, the things that do not please Him and His unchanging desire to reach us.  

In this book, we will see how God's word,  has reached the human race with passages so familiar that people with no connection to the church will speak of things in this book, having no idea where the subjects came from or what they actually mean. 

 Our Decembers are full Christmas quotes from Isaiah....

"a virgin shall bear a son and she will call His name Immanuel "Isaiah 6:14

"For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us and the government will rest upon His shoulders, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor , Mighty God, Everlasting father, Prince of Peace " Isaiah 9:6

This book is about more than a prophet and his prophesies. It is a record of the life of a faithful man. A man devoted to the Lord and full of the Holy Spirit, at a time when it was  sparingly bestowed on only the most faithful of his day. The commentators say that he was about 20 when he began  to speak as the Lord spoke to him. He lived with, and counseled, four kings. He faithfully spoke and recorded words from the Lord that brought about change in world history and left the record for the world to see. He tells us of what will eventually happen to our earth and he recorded an accurate account  of the death and burial of our savior 700 years before it took place. 
There are many prophecies that allow us to look into our future but, there are also incredible details in fulfilled prophecies that are already in the world's past. 

We will study through the history he recorded with 4 of the kings of Judah. These passages will remind us that he was just a man. A human being just like us. When he speaks of mans frailties and sins, he knows what he is talking about. He had a wife and 2 kids. This means that he lived a life very like  the lives our husbands live. Historians believe that his prophesies probably span as long as sixty four years. It seems his whole life was devoted to the calling that God had for him. He started his ministry at about 20 years old and finished his life at approximately 90 years when, credible tradition has it, he was sawn in half by the wicked king Manasseh. 

I am looking forward to this study. As with Matthew, I am going to try to apply the memory tools.  Read the chapters over and over again. There is no rush. The goal is to know the book of Isaiah when we are finished. I will be praying for all of you! 
Love
nancy








 

Matthew Chapter 28

A day of eternal significance dawns as we start chapter 28 and finish the book of Matthew. 

This chapter has Matthews version of what transpired after Jesus was put in the grave. I think it is important to read all of the accounts of the resurrection from all of the Gospels.

The grave wasn't opened to let Jesus out. It was opened to let us in!

In Matthew it's obviously chapter 28. In Mark it is chapter 16. In Luke it's chapter 23:55-56 and chapter 24. In John it's chapter 20 with an extra bonus of Jesus by the sea to end the book in chapter 21.  

The accounts are all so different that we need  to read them with the wisdom of the Lord. By giving the people of these narratives the humanness of real people and allowing for the facts of living within the actual constraints of  the hours of the day, we can put together an interesting time line of the events that took place from the time that Jesus rose from the dead until He ascended into heaven.

The most noticeable thing about all of the accounts, is that Mary Magdelene was indisputably, the  first one to go to the tomb and discover Jesus missing, also she was the first one to see Jesus after He was risen.  
 This woman had seven demons cast from her. If there was ever a story of redemption and forgiveness it's the story of Mary Magdelene (Luke 8:2, Mark 16:9) 
                                                                                          
                                                                                              It is widely believed that Mary Magdelene

was a prostitute. Many people think she was the immoral woman in Luke 7:36-39, but the scripture does not support this view. No where in scripture does it say that the woman in Luke 7, is Mary Magdelene.
 (more about this later)
Another thing I want to point out about this chapter is that  in verses, 28:11-15, we have the account of what happened with the soldiers that were guarding the tomb. We only get the details of this important information here in this last chapter of Matthew. 

**We are going to use the information about the soldiers to remember this chapter.** *Learn this little rhyme* **Matthew 28 has 20 verses, the soldiers lied to pad their purses* I know that this may seem a little silly, but there will be people who will tell you that Jesus's disciples stole Him in the middle of the night. At least you will know where the truth is located in scripture. Of course, you will want to be able to remember that the resurrection is here and that this is the last chapter in the book of Matthew.

We will finish this book by looking at the last 2 verses in this chapter.  There are only 2 sentences here. Many times we see the part of this where Jesus says "and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matt 28:20) This is a wonderful promise, but taken in context, we see that Jesus calling us to share our faith. Of course living a faithful life is a wonderful testimony to the grace and sweetness of our Lord. But, I think Jesus is calling us to more.  He says "go". He wants us moving forward with the goal of sharing Him, "make disciples" and encouraging baptism of the new disciples. "teaching them" We should be studying God's word with the goal of seeing people saved and taught His word. We should be teaching even as we share with them the grace and beauty of what the Lord has for them and their need for the Lord Jesus. It is in this context that He says "lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" Matt. 28:20. What is it that we should be teaching them? "all that I have commanded you"....The words of Jesus, the bible. 
Time to study girls! The world needs Jesus!

The Lord will bring the people who He has prepared to hear about eternal life and salvation in Jesus and you will be full of God's word and His Holy Spirit and you will be ready to speak. Ready to teach, one person at a time! 

One Last thing.... Back to Mary Magdelene. Of course we all know that it was by God's great design that it was a woman who had seven demons cast from her, who became the person who discovered our Lord's empty grave and saw Him first in His  resurrected body. She was living proof that there is no one too entrenched in evil to be saved by our Lord. There may be people that you or I may judge to be  beyond our reach as far as accepting what we have to say about Jesus. **** there is someone out there called to share Jesus with them*** PRAY FOR THAT PERSON! PRAY FOR THEIR EQUIPPING AND FAITHFULNESS****and be prepared because that person might be you. 

 
God Bless all of you ladies! Thank you for walking through the book of Matthew with me! I hope and pray that you are so inspired by God's word that your heart sings every time you sit before Him with your bible open. I will continue to pray for all of you. Believe it or not, the ladies at church want to work through the Book of Isaiah next. I hope you will join us. 
much love,
Nancy 

Matthew Chapter 27

Chapter 27 starts with the day of the crucifixion.
In the morning the Chief Priests and the elders make a final declaration of the decision that they had held for at least a week. Jesus was to be put to death. It was not legal in the Jewish law to condemn someone to death in the middle of the night. So, to honor the law, they  waited to make the formal pronouncement of death until the morning. Then they took Him to Pilate the governor.

According to Eerdmans, it is possible that Jesus was taken to Herod's palace to  see Pilate.  Pilate frequently stayed there when He had business in Jerusalem.  He was there for the great festival. His other choice to stay would have been to stay in the Roman barracks in Jerusalem but His wife was with Him, (Matt.27:19) so it is probable that  he was staying in Herod's palace. So when Matt. 27:2 says He was delivered up to Pilate. Jesus probably had a strenuous  journey to get to Pilate.

path to the palace

Verses  27:3-10, is the account of Judas regretting what he had done. Judas tries to give the money back. He confesses that he has delivered an innocent man to them. It is probable that Judas did not realize that Jesus would actually be killed once He was arrested. Judas probably thought that he could make some quick money and Jesus would be released after some questioning because, after all, Jesus was innocent. Judas new Jesus had done no wrong. It did not occur to him that the religious leaders would actually have Him killed. Notice in verse 27:4, Judas says " I have betrayed innocent blood" not "I have betrayed the Messiah" Judas did not believe that Jesus was the Christ.
if he had truly believed in Jesus as the Messiah, he would not have despaired to the point of taking his own life. He had no hope in the spiritual  kingdom of Jesus. Peter had betrayed Jesus too but Peter knew who Jesus truly was and he was waiting, in hope, to see what would happen next (Luke 22:31-34).

Judas throws the silver into the temple and goes away to hang himself. Eerdman's says he probably did it with his own girdle. Their waste bands, or girdles, would wrap around many times. The girdle was also the place where he had probably carried his bag of silver before he threw it away. He had gone to someplace high and had hanged himself, the girdle broke, causing his body to fall head long, probably some distance to cause his guts to gush forth.  According to Eerdmans, in one of the fragment writings of Papias, Judas fell upon a road after trying to hang himself and a wagon ran over him, causing his bowels to gush out.

Papias was born in the same era as Josephus, around 70 ad. He considered his calling from the Lord to be to carefully preserve the sayings of Jesus. He describes himself in one writing as a hearer of the apostle John and a companion of Polycarp. When the disciples were writing their gospels he reportedly helped them to remember what they had told him was said by Jesus in the early days. He kept careful notes of everything. Only fragments of his writings have survived ,but he, like Josephus, is proof that our faith has ancient, historically documented  roots.

Roman coins

Notice, one more thing. The Chief priests were still very careful to keep the law.  The silver  that Judas was paid, was probably not shekels . Only shekels could be taken  as an offering in the temple. That's why there were "money changers" in the temple courts (Matt. 21:12)
Judas was probably paid in Roman coins which bore the images of emperors and battles fought by the Romans.  The Priests would not "defile" the temple with the wrong coins but they were willing to put an innocent man to death, and in so doing, they committed murder  

(Exodus 20:13).
Just something to think about; when Jesus yielded up His spirit as he hung on the cross, the veil in the heart of the temple, was torn in two from top to bottom. (Matt. 27:51)  

In verse 27:11, Jesus is standing before Pilate. I think that it is important to read all of the gospel accounts of Jesus being sentenced to death.
In Matthew 27:11-26, Jesus comes before Pilate and Pilate's wife sends him a note telling Pilate to have nothing to do with "that innocent Man" (In something called, The second homilies of Matthew, it is recorded that she was a convert to Judaism and became a Christian after the death and resurrection of our Lord)

In Mark 15:1-15, we find out that Pilate was onto the Priests and Scribes and knew that Jesus was delivered to him out of envy. He knew Jesus was innocent.

In Luke 23:1-25, we find out that Jesus was sent to Herod after His first meeting with Pilate. Which would make sense of the fact that Jesus probably walked a long way, after being up all night, to each of the palaces that Pilate and Herod were staying ,and before being beaten by the whole Roman cohort.
No wonder He couldn't carry His own cross. Also Isaiah 52:14; So His appearance was marred more than any man and His form more than the sons of men. ...He was so marred from the lashing and beating from the Roman cohort that He did not resemble a man anymore.

  In John 18:28-40 and 19:15, we get a longer more detailed account of Pilate and the time he spent with Jesus. We do get a dialog between Jesus and Pilate that we don't see in the other Gospels.  Jesus tells Pilate of His heavenly kingdom.
It is interesting that in John 18:38 Pilate says to Jesus "What is truth?" John 14:6 Jesus says,  " I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father but through Me."

Once Pilate can not resist the crowd any longer, he has Jesus whipped and delivered to the Roman army to be crucified. (Matt.27:26) 

Matthew 27:27 and Mark 15:16 both tell us that Jesus was delivered to the "whole" Roman cohort. According to Wikipedia, that would have been a total of 480 men.  480 men ,mocking, beating ,and spitting on Him. He was stripped of His clothes and they put a scarlet robe on to His bleeding flesh. They wove thorny vines into a crown and pressed it into His head which was probably already bloody from the beatings.  Remember Isaiah 52:14.   ( The crown of thorns was supposed to represent the laurel leaves that Caesar wore because Jesus was claiming to be a king.)  
 Matt. 27:30 ,says that once they put the crown of thorns on Him, they beat Him on the head. When they were done, they put His clothes back on Him and lead Him to be crucified.
 

Matthew 27:32, tells us that the Roman guards forced Simon of Cyrene a man "coming in from the country ", to carry the cross behind Jesus as He walked. They did not do this out of kindness for Jesus. They did it because, after being up all night, possibly walking  between the palaces in Jerusalem and being beaten beyond human recognition, Jesus could not walk and carry His own cross. The Roman soldiers were aloud to force people who were not Roman citizens to go with them 1 mile to carry a heavy object for them or in this case, the cross of Jesus. That is why in Matthew 5:41 Jesus tells them that if they were  forced to go one mile, go two.

 Luke is the only Gospel that tells us that Jesus was followed by a great multitude of people. There were massive amounts of people in Jerusalem from all over the country. They were there to celebrate the Passover.
Luke 23:27 says And there were following Him, a great multitude of the people, and of women who were mourning Him and lamenting His fate. The same people who had hailed Him as Messiah only 6 days earlier were now following in a procession to the cross. Some were mourning and some were following just to see what was going to happen.

Matt. 27:33 tells us that when they got to the place where He would be crucified, they tried to give Him wine mixed with gall. Commentators actually believe that this was wine mixed with murr. When these two things are mixed together, they produced a very bitter liquid, gall means "bitter". This liquid was also an analgesic which would relax the person and dull the pain. Hanging on the cross to die was very painful and could be a very long experience. They were trying to be kind to Him. Eerdman's says that it was probably the women who were mourning for Him, who brought the liquid. The soldiers obviously allowed this attempt to reduce Jesus's suffering. There are many speculations about why Jesus refused the mixture that could have saved Him some suffering . I read from one commentator that He wanted to be able to have a clear moment when He could say "it is finished!". I like that Idea but I can't forget what He said in Matt. 26:29 " I will not drink of this fruit of the vine until that day that I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom".(Matt.27:34). He didn't drink the wine. 

As He hung on the cross, they went on to divide up His clothes and sit down to watch Him.  (I find it incredible that they could want His clothes. They must have been covered with blood.)

AND NOW WE COME TO THE VERSE WE WILL USE TO REMEMBER THIS CHAPTER... MATT. 27:37 "THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS" THIS PHRASE HAS 27 LETTERS...If you can remember this phrase, you will remember that this is the chapter where Jesus is crucified..

John 19 says it was written in Hebrew, Latin and Greek

 
From Verse 27:39 through verse 45, we get an account of the mocking and humiliation that Jesus suffered as He hung, dieing on the cross.

In Verse 27:45 we find out that at noon the day went dark and remained that way until 3pm.

Think of how long those hours were as Jesus hung there suffering and dieing.

At 3pm He cries out the first verse of Psalm 22. (Matt.27:46) EVEN IN HIS SUFFERING, HE CLAIMS HIS RIGHT TO THE THRONE OF DAVID. HE SHOWS HIMSELF TO BE THE FULFILLMENT OF THE OLD TESTAMENT PROMISES.

 With Matthew 27:50 Jesus's earthly suffering is finally ended. This verse says "He yielded up His spirit"

The verses 27:51-53 are incredible!!! The veil in the temple was torn top to bottom. This veil was many, many feet high and about 9 inches thick. It must have made an incredible sound as it tore all the way down! The temple, which the Priests had tried to protect from Jesus, was now in crisis. The Holy of Hollies was completely exposed for all to see. The veil protecting it from any human eyes was now destroyed and when the people were allowed to see in, the most holy place was empty.. The  Arc of the Covenant with the Mercy seat was gone, the budding rod of Aaron was gone. There was nothing there. God had departed from that place long ago.
The earth shook, the rocks split, AND THE TOMBS WERE OPENED AND MANY BODIES OF THE SAINTS WHO HAD FALLEN ASLEEP WERE RAISED; AND COMING OUT OF THE TOMBS AFTER HIS RESURRECTION THEY ENTERED JERUSALEM AND APPEARED TO MANY!!! Matt.27:51-53

The sad thing about these incredible verses is that the world is obsessed with zombies, or at least here in America we are. I think the enemy has done a good job of preparing the world to see the walking dead. But instead of it being an amazing thing attributed to God, it will appear as an evil to be conquered. The two witnesses spoken of in Rev.11, will not be welcomed as a call to repentance. They will be feared, attacked and ultimately destroyed with a celebration to follow that will be felt around the world. People will give eachother gifts like it's Christmas!

In Verses 27:54-56 we have the events of the minutes  that Jesus hangs lifeless on the cross. We read of a few faithful women who were there for His actual passing.  John 18, tells us that John was the only disciple present at the foot of the cross.

In the last verses of Matthew , (27:57-66) We have the record of Jesus's burial. A rich man, who was a disciple of Jesus, came forward to claim the body of our Lord. Actually, we learn from John 19, that Nicodemus, from John chapter 3, was also there (read Isaiah 53:9)   Joseph of Arimathia and Nicodemus a pharisee and a ruler of the Jews, were both rich men. They were men whose courage failed them while the Lord lived. But once He was dead, their faith that Jesus was who He said He was grew, and they were able to stand for the Lord and honor Him in His death. While the Priests and rulers were hoping that Jesus would be cast into a dishonorable grave, and Jesus's own disciples were too distraught and afraid to care for the body of our Lord, these two men stepped forward and spent their own resources to honor Him in His death. They would now be unclean for the Passover and probably were to be forbidden to worship in the Temple ever again. I am looking forward to meeting these men in heaven.
 (Isn't this a process for us too? As the eternal becomes more important to us, we become more able to see that honoring the Lord should be our top priority, above our fears, above our comfort, above worrying about our future.)

 Matt. 27:62-66, the day after the crucifixion, the Jewish leaders went to Pilate and told Him of the claims Jesus made about rising from the dead. They wanted Pilate to order his guards to guard the grave, But Pilate told them to use their own guards and make it as secure as they wanted.  These guards were professionals. They new they risked death if they failed. We know that no grave could hold Him!!!

REMEMBER CHAPTER 27'S, REMEMBERING TOOL IS 27:37
"THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS" 27 LETTERS...tHIS IS TO HELP YOU REMEMBER THAT THE CRUCIFIXION IS IN THIS CHAPTER   

To find out what Happened to the guards and the grave, start reading chapter 28. We are almost finished with the book of Matthew!!!

God is good!!! Keep reading, read 28 over and over again. Practice your remembering tools... you should now be able to impress your kids, your husband and really, every one you know, with your knowledge of the book of Matthew.    

Keep holding on tight ladies. We live in a scary, disappointing world. Nothing shows that more clearly than what was done to our Lord. He bore  the suffering willingly for us. He was so faithful to us, it's time for us to be faithful to Him. 

God Bless you ladies, it will be awhile until 28 is posted. We have a women's conference coming up and then Christmas and New years will be here. I am praying for every one of you!!!

be faithful, be brave  ,
LOve NaNcy 

Matthew Chapter 26

This chapter is full of familiar occurrences in the bible. Peter's denial is here. Judas's betrayal is here. And, Jesus's  communion  with the disciples is here. 
I want to make sure that you have your bible out as you start to read this. You will need it to look up the  additional scriptures that we will use for this study

We  start this study as Jesus is winding down the last week of His earthly life. In verse 26:2, He tells the disciples that He only has 2 days until He is crucified. We find out in the next 2 verses that the chief priests, together with the elders and the high priests, were plotting to kill Him. They feared the crowds so they  were going to have to be creative.

In verses 26:6-13, we have the account of Jesus having dinner at the home of Simon the leper. If you want to read John 12, you will see that a similar dinner takes place. Some people believe that these are the same dinner, but I do not. They both take place in Bethany. We know that Lazarus and his sisters lived in Bethany (John 11) but apparently so did Simon the leper. We know that Jesus was using Bethany as a place to stay the week before His crucifixion (Matt. 21:17). The dinner in John 12, takes place 6 days before passover, while the dinner at Simon's house takes place 2 days before. In John 12, Mary pours the pure nard on His feet and is very demonstrative in wiping His feet with her hair. In Matthew 26, we read that the woman just pours the perfume on His head with no further explanation. It is probable that Matthew was an eye witness of this dinner and would not have confused Mary (Lazarus's sister) with a stranger.Some thing else that is interesting about this is, in verse 26:13, Jesus says that the woman is anointing His body for burial. It was actually Nicodemus (John 3) and Joseph of Arimathea who anointed Jesus's body for burial (John 19:38). Some time between Jesus telling Nicodemus that he must be born again (John 3) and Jesus being anointed for burial (John19:38), Nicodemus was born again!!!

We now move on to 3 short verses that explain one of the greatest events in history, Judas betrays Jesus. We don't know a lot about Judas, but we do know that He was motivated by money. In John 12:6 we are told that he protested the anointing of Jesus's feet with the costly oil, not because he cared for the poor, but because He was in charge of the groups money box and He was stealing from it.

Notice that Judas had already taken the 30 pieces of silver from the chief priests when Jesus said in, Matt. 26:24, that it would be better for the man who betrays Him to "never have been born". Imagine how that felt.

For more on 30 pieces of silver, read these verses**** Exodus 21:32...(it was the cost of replacing a SLAVE gored by an ox)
                                                   Zechariah 11:12-13 ( The Lord said "Throw it to the potter, that magnificent price at which "I" was valued")..."I" hmmm... was Jesus talking to Zechariah?

Starting with Matthew 26:26, we have the account of the last supper with His disciples. Jesus breaks the bread and says " take this and eat, this is My body". After taking a cup and giving thanks He says, " Drink from it, all of you; for this is My  blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many, for the forgiveness of sins"(Matt. 26:27). (it is in Luke 22:19 that He says "do this in remembrance of Me")

IT IS THIS VERSE THAT I WANT TO USE TO REMEMBER THIS CHAPTER***
** MATTHEW26:26  ***" TAKE EAT THIS IS MY BODY"***

I want to use this verse because I believe that if the Lord is going to use you to lead other women to grow stronger in their faith, you need to know where the verses are that speak of communion. I have had communion with  small groups of women at bible study, in the room of a lady who lives at a rest home and large groups of women at retreats. It is necessary to know this. This is not the only place where we find the account of this precious dinner, but this is a good starting place..This will get you through if something unexpected comes up. You will know where to find  scriptures for communion.

ONE MORE SMALL INTERESTING THING. IN VERSE 26:29, JESUS SAYS THAT HE WILL NOT DRINK OF THE FRUIT OF THE VINE AGAIN UNTIL HE DRINKS IT WITH HIS DISCIPLES IN HIS FATHERS KINGDOM. THIS IS ONE OF THOSE VERSES THAT IS A GLIMPSE INTO THE ETERNAL. WE WILL EAT AND DRINK WITH HIM! 

***More of the Lord's supper ** Mark 14:22, Luke 22:17, ** 

The next 10 verses (Matt. 26:36-46)  are so sad and hard to read. Jesus takes ,Peter, James and John with Him, and begins to be grieved and distressed. He then tells them that His soul was grieved to the point of death. He told them to keep watch. In verse  26:39, we are told that he goes a little beyond them, falls on His face and begins to pray.    Luke 22:44 says that He was sweating great drops of blood....Hebrews 5:7-8.. says, He offered up prays with loud crying and tears... (please read it)..

This information makes this passage in Matthew all the more sad and hard to read. He was in GREAT distress and the disciples were sleeping.  He was literally asking them to pray, and they were sleeping.  I believe that the Lord is still asking His disciples to pray and we are still sleeping.

In verses 26:47-56 we have the betrayal and arrest of Jesus. Judas kisses Him and he is taken into custody. In verse 26:51 we learn that one of the disciples cuts off the ear of a slave who was present. Luke 22:50 tells us that Jesus put His ear back on. Luke is the only one to give us that information. Maybe because Luke was a doctor?..John is the only gospel that tells us that it was Peter who did the cutting (John 18:10).. 

In verses 26:52-54, Jesus makes it clear that He goes willingly with them into custody and to the cross.  Read John 10:17-18.... we sometimes get confused and think that this was something that Jesus had no control over... not so.

Then ALL the disciples left Him and fled... Matt. 26:56.  

In verse 26:31, Jesus is taken to the high priest, Caiaphas. That was actually his last name, his first name was Joseph (according to Josephus) but, he was addressed and referred to as Caiaphas. He was the son-in -law of Annas (Acts 4:6).

We read about Caiaphas in John 11:49-57. This is the same time period as Matthew 26. It gives us more  about what was happening during the last couple of days of Jesus's earthly life.

The most interesting thing about this passage in scripture is that Peter went to the courtyard of the high priest with Jesus and sat by the fire to keep warm,(luke 14:54), denied Jesus to the servant girl, swore he never knew Jesus, then began to literally curse and swear that He didn't know the Lord before the rooster crowed and he would run from the place weeping at his betrayal of the Lord.(Matt.26:75)
 He got a second chance. In Acts 3 and 4, we see Peter and John entering the temple in Jerusalem. Peter says to a beggar that he has "neither silver or gold". (some of us can relate to that) He grabs the lame beggar by the hand and raises him up healed and whole. (this is the guy who jumps and leaps and praises God, you know, the song!! and as another side note.
This happened at Solomon's Portico (Acts 3:11). The same place where Jesus told the  man to take up his palate and walk (John 5:2-8).Probably less than a year later, Peter heals a  lame man  in the same place that Jesus had healed a lame man less than a year later. Maybe some of the same people were there to witness the same kind of miracle in the same place. Acts 3:11 says all the people ran together to Peter and John and the healed beggar, who was now clinging to peter's leg.  At this point Peter is given the chance to share the good news of Jesus's death and resurrection. The bible says that about 5,000 people came to faith that day.
 But, that wasn't his second chance. As Peter was preaching to the crowd, the priests, the Sadducees and the temple guard came and arrested Peter and John, and took them to the same place that Jesus had stood . The same cast of characters were assembled , the elders, rulers and scribes, Annas (John 18:13-18) and Caiaphas. (Matt. 26) . In Acts 4, Peter boldly stands and addresses his accusers and Jesus's murderers. He tells them that "there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved" (acts 4:12). When Peter is given his second chance he is no longer denying Jesus. He is filled with the Holy Spirit and can now face his accusers with power and confidence in the Lord! 

We can clearly see the growth and change in Peter.The Lord wants to work that same way in our lives! Ask Him for a filling of the Holy Spirit like Peter had! We want that kind of change and confidence in our lives and the lives of our husbands and children! The Lord wants that for us too. 

AGAIN, TO REMEMBER THIS CHAPTER, WE WILL USE MATTHEW 26:26 "TAKE AND EAT, THIS IS MY BODY"******

We are getting very close to finishing this book! God is so faithful! Start reading Chapter 27 if you haven't already. Keep reading it if you have. The more you read the more you will know! 
Blessings, blessings and more blessings to all of you ladies! I wish that I could know every one of you personally on this earth but I will have to settle for knowing you in heaven. Know that I am praying for every one of you. God Bless.
Love
Nancy