Hello, John and Doves,
You may be saying to yourself, “How did I get in this nutshell?...What kind of a nut has a shell like this?” – Austin Powers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKMK3XGO27k&feature=kp
Another point of view:
http://www.storypick.com/short-film-captures-spirit-mumbai-local-trains-less-3-minutes/
It is written,
The rich and poor have this in common: The LORD made them both.
Proverbs 22:2
And why did Christ have to die on the Cross at Calvary for rich and poor alike?
It is written,
As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
Psalm 103:12
Again, it is written,
I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.
Isaiah 43:25 KJV
You say, “Such a deal! How do I get a piece of the action?”
It is written,
Christ Is Our High Priest
1Here
is the main point: We have a High Priest who sat down in the place of
honor beside the throne of the majestic God in heaven. 2There he ministers in the heavenly Tabernacle, the true place of worship that was built by the Lord and not by human hands.
3And since every high priest is required to offer gifts and sacrifices, our High Priest must make an offering, too. 4If
he were here on earth, he would not even be a priest, since there
already are priests who offer the gifts required by the law. 5They
serve in a system of worship that is only a copy, a shadow of the real
one in heaven. For when Moses was getting ready to build the Tabernacle,
God gave him this warning: “Be sure that you make everything according
to the pattern I have shown you here on the mountain.”
6But
now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far
superior to the old priesthood, for he is the one who mediates for us a
far better covenant with God, based on better promises.
7If the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need for a second covenant to replace it. 8But when God found fault with the people, he said:
“The day is coming, says the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel and Judah.
9This covenant will not be like the one
I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
and led them out of the land of Egypt.
They did not remain faithful to my covenant,
so I turned my back on them, says the Lord.
10But this is the new covenant I will make
with the people of Israel on that day, says the Lord:
I will put my laws in their minds,
and I will write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
11And they will not need to teach their neighbors,
nor will they need to teach their relatives,
saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’
For everyone, from the least to the greatest,
will know me already.
12And I will forgive their wickedness,
and I will never again remember their sins.”
13When God speaks of a “new” covenant, it means he has made the first one obsolete. It is now out of date and will soon disappear.
Hebrews 8 NLT
Thus is it written,
1There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. 2After
dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we
all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are
evidence that God is with you.”
3Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
4“What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”
5Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. 7So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ 8The
wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t
tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how
people are born of the Spirit.”
9“How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked.
10Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things? 11I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony. 12But
if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can
you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven. 14And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.
16“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
18“There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. 19And
the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world,
but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions
were evil. 20All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. 21But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.”
John 3:1-21 NLT
Yeshua told these parables, among many others, of the Kingdom of God: http://biblehub.com/nlt/matthew/13.htm
Commentaries on the parables are at the bottom of this page: http://www.gotquestions.org/Jesus-parables.html
~Blessings,
Mike