February 23
9You are a lion’s cub, Judah;
you return from the prey, my son.
Lika a lion he crouches and lies down,
like a lioness-who dares to rouse him.
10The scepter will not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
until he to whom it belongs shall come
and the obedience of the nations shall be his.. (Genesis 49:9-10, The Jesus Bible)
Good morning family! I wrapped up my reading for the Book of Genesis, which concludes with the end of Joseph’s story. In the two verses above, Jacob, or Israel (the author of Genesis can not seem to make up his mind on what to call this important patriarch of the Israeli people), gives a blessing to each of his sons. Next to his blessing for Joseph, the blessing Israel gives to Judah is the second longest, and in the story of the Christian faith, the blessing for Judah is the most important. Here we see the first reference to the “Lion of Judah”, Jesus of Nazareth, who will become the true King the world has been waiting for.
As we all know, Jesus came to rule with love, mercy, grace, wisdom, and a power of peace. The Israeli people expected a strong ruler from the line of Judah whose scepter and staff would be one of power and might. The Israel and Jewish faith is still waiting, ignorantly, for their coming “messiah”. Well, the Messiah the world was waiting for came to Earth to live among us 2023 years ago. And in 39 days, we will celebrate the Miracle of the Cross on Easter morning, the Miracle of the Resurrection. Yesterday was Ash Wednesday as the Catholic faith marks the beginning of Lent.
A Brother-in-Christ and dear friend shared the video below with me the other day from Evangelist David Hernandez. Of Minister Hernandez’s insightful teaching, what stood out to me the most came early in his message when he speaks of the Character of Christ and living a life that mirrors such character. What is the true character of Christ? Well, I could explain it here, but what I would highly recommend is that you simply watch The Chosen. This once-in-a-lifetime miniseries truly portrays, what I feel, the most accurate portrayal of the true character of Christ. Click here to get started, and click the image below to hear from Minister Hernandez.
I have focused the first half of this week on Matthew West’s new album, and I bet most of y’all think there was no other music released last Friday? Oh no, my friends, there was a plethora of amazing new songs released, and one other fantastic full album, but I’ll get to that tomorrow. For today, I’m sharing my favorite single from the female artists. This is a great track from Ms. Rachael Lampa, click below and enjoy!
Common Sense Reborn 