Most Viewed Religion & Spirituality Blogs (1,491)

General Bibliography

Bailey, Kenneth E. Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2008.

Biven, David. New Light on the Difficult Words of Jesus. Holland: En-Gedi Resource Center, 2007.

Bock, Darrell L. Jesus According to Scripture. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2002.

Bock, Darrell L. Luke Volume 1: 1:1–9:50. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1994.

Bock, Darrell L. Luke Volume 2: 9:51–24:53. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1996.

Brown, Raymond E. The Birth of the Messiah. New York: Doubleday, 1993.

Brown, Raymond E. The Death of the Messiah. 2 vols. New York: Doubleday, 1994.

Carson, D. A. Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and His Confrontation with the Word. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1987.

Charlesworth, James H., ed. Jesus’ Jewishness, Exploring the Place of Jesus Within Early Judaism. New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1997.

Chilton, Bruce, and Craig A. Evans, eds. Authenticating the Activities of Jesus. Boston: Koninklijke Brill, 1999.

Edersheim, Alfred. The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah. Updated Edition. Hendrickson Publishers, 1993.

Elwell, Walter A., ed. Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1988.

Elwell, Walter A., and Robert W. Yarbrough. Encountering the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005.

Evans, Craig A. World Biblical Commentary: Mark 8:27–16:20. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2000.

Evans, Craig A., and N. T. Wright. Jesus, the Final Days: What Really Happened. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009.

Flusser, David. Jesus. Jerusalem: The Magnes Press, 1998.

Flusser, David, and R. Steven Notely. The Sage from Galilee: Rediscovering Jesus’ Genius. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2007.

France, R. T. The Gospel of Matthew. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2007.

Gnilka, Joachim. Jesus of Nazareth: Message and History. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 1997.

Green, Joel B. The Gospel of Luke. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997.

Green, Joel B., and Scot McKnight, eds. Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1992.

Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology, An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. Grand Rapids: InterVarsity Press, 2000.

Guelich, Robert A. World Biblical Commentary: Mark 1–8:26. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1989.

Jeremias, Joachim. The Eucharistic Words of Jesus. Philadelphia: Trinity Press International, 1990.

Jeremias, Joachim. Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1996.

Jeremias, Joachim. Jesus and the Message of the New Testament. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2002.

Jeremias, Joachim. New Testament Theology. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1971.

Keener, Craig S. The Gospel of John: A Commentary, Volume 1. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2003.

Keener, Craig S. The Gospel of John: A Commentary, Volume 2. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2003.

Keener, Craig S. The Gospel of Matthew: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009.

Lewis, Gordon R., and Bruce A. Demarest. Integrative Theology. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996.

Lloyd-Jones, D. Martyn. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1976.

Manson, T. W. The Sayings of Jesus. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1957.

Manson, T. W. The Teaching of Jesus. Cambridge: University Press, 1967.

McKnight, Scot. Sermon on the Mount. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013.

Michaels, J. Ramsey. The Gospel of John. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2010.

Milne, Bruce. The Message of John. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1993.

Morris, Leon. The Gospel According to Matthew. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1992.





Director's Corner TFI

John 6,22-40

The Bread from Heaven
22 On the next day the people who remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with His disciples, but that His disciples had gone away alone. 23 However, boats from Tibe'ri-as came near the place where they ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 So when the people saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Caper'na-um, seeking Jesus.

25 When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give to you; for on him has God the Father set his seal.” 28 Then they said to Him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom he has sent.” 30 So they said to Him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see, and believe you? What work do you perform? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” 32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from Heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from Heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that which comes down from Heaven, and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.”

35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me; and him who comes to me I will not cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me; 39 and this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up at the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that every one who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”



Today,all things that we having,whether we've been received from our parents,or anyone else...,just be aware that God is the source of all. Therefore,for all things,we need to give God a thanksgiving.

* Just be aware that if one day (supposing),God will want to get back the hands or eyes or brains or anything of our bodies (because we are creatures of God, He has all the powers to maintain or canceling us. Just as when you created the blogs of your own,then you have your right to maintaining them or deleting them according to your wishes,right?),how terrible our fates will be!? Therefore,for all things,we need to give God a thanksgiving,right? (JMHO)

Thank you in advance for reading and commenting

be happy to any situation your going through..be happy just wait for day because GOD knows u.ur day is tomorrow en u gonna testify to the lord

“Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” -- "and the gates of hell shall not prevail (stand strong) against you." Mathew 10:16, 16:18b, & Psalm 23:4 KJV

I'VE HEARD OF PEOPLE PRAYING FOR PEOPLE and COMMANDING THE SPIRIT, WHATEVER KIND OF SPIRIT IT WAS, SAYING, "GIVE ME YOUR NAME! WHAT'S YOUR NAME?"--And they have to obey, and the mouth of the victim files open and tells the name of the spirit, what kind of spirit it is. So it's good to really nail it down and identify it and make it confess its name!--Or have someone with discernment there that recognizes the spirit and its name, and then rebuke it specifically by name in the Name of the Lord and command it to depart, because we have authority over those devils!

I THINK IT IS REALLY QUITE A MINISTRY FOR SOME WHO HAVE THOSE GIFTS and THAT ANOINTING, WHO HAVE DISCERNMENT and WHO HAVE POWER OVER EVIL SPIRITS. We all have power over evil spirits, all of us who have the Lord, but we need to learn how to exercise it and how to be specific about it and how to discern what demon or devil it is and what kind or what name, and then command it by name in the Name of the Lord to depart, with real anointing take charge of the situation and command it to depart! But if the victim doesn't want to be delivered, and their own will refuses to be delivered, then the Devil has got a real hold on them.

I GUESS YOU'D CALL IT TAKING AUTHORITY OVER EVIL SPIRITS, being specific and actually commanding the evil spirit to leave in the Name of the Lord and by the authority of the Power of the Spirit with real anointing and spiritual power, and it will depart! It's just pitiful that these Christians who have hosted these pests for years and been annoyed by them and pestered by them, oppressed by them, handicapped by them, haven't recognized it and really rebuked it by name! I think sometimes they don't want to recognize it, they don't want to admit it and confess it. We've had several cases like that. Until we virtually exposed them, they weren't even willing to confess it or admit it, Some of them hadn't even realized it until someone came along with real discernment and rebuked the demon in Jesus' name.

BUT ANYHOW, WITH THESE SERIOUS CASES OF DEMON OPPRESSION and PESTERING, THEY NEED TO REALLY GET FOLKS TOGETHER WITH REAL FAITH and POWER OF THE LORD and really fast and pray to get rid of them and recognize them and discern them and face them down specifically by name or by type or whatever, and just rebuke them in the authority and anointing of the Lord and in the Name of the Lord and command them to depart! As the disciples said, "Even the devils are subject unto us!" They have to obey when you are specific and call them by name and command them in the depart, even tell them where to go like Jesus did.

THEY ASKED IF THEY COULD GO INTO THE SWINE, SO HE LET THEM and THEY POSSESSED ABOUT 2,000 HEAD OF SWINE! That was quite a herd!--And they all ran down and fell over the precipice into the sea and were apparently killed. (Mat.8:28-34; Mark 5:1-17) So no wonder their owner their owner got mad at Jesus! To get rid of that many devils all at once and destroy his whole heard of swine was quite a scene!

JESUS WAS VERY SPECIFIC! HE WOULD TALK TO THE DEVILS and EVEN CALL THEM BY NAME! In that one case He demanded the devil's name. He said, "What is thy name?" And the man said, "Our name is Legion for we are many!" The poor demoniac was possessed by a whole legion of devils! Then as soon as they were all gone the man sat there at Jesus' feet, clothed, in his right mind and peaceful. Up till that time he had broken chains and was a wild man, violent! He was totally, instantly delivered apparently from 2,000 devils!







Deep Truths TFI

Do you want to pray to God ?
Watch this video

How many have there been? Reincarnation or fairy tales?

Poor Jesus. Just another hamster on the great wheel of karma

And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Matthew 6:29 KJV

By Peter Amsterdam Feb 23, 2015

I’ve been meditating recently on what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. A disciple is defined as a follower of the teachings of another; someone who accepts those teachings and tries to act according to them, and who assists in spreading them. So a disciple of Jesus is a person who accepts and follows His teachings, meaning that person is an active adherent, applying the teachings to his life; and he assists in some manner in the spreading of the good news of salvation—the message of Jesus.

Believers accept Jesus’ teachings as true; they believe in Him, believe that He is their Savior, and they are saved. Jesus made it clear that belief in Him is sufficient for salvation when He said in John 3:16 that “whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” It’s a wonderful thing to be a believer! It brings with it everlasting life, eternity with God.

Walking the path of discipleship means that someone makes the choice to add action to belief. It’s going beyond the acceptance of the teachings and involves choosing to follow the teachings, to apply them in daily living. That path leads to becoming active in spreading the teachings. The word disciple comes from the Greek word mathetes (pronounced ma-tay-teis), meaning a learner. In the New Testament the word disciple is only used in the Gospels and the book of Acts. It’s a word that shows the contrast between the teacher and the learner. It also implies that the learner is an adherent of the teachings of the teacher, that he accepts the teachings not only in belief but in life, by applying and following them.

Disciples are key to the spreading of Christianity, to fulfilling the commission Jesus gave to His first disciples, those originally tasked with bringing the good news to the world of their day. As disciples today, we are tasked with bringing the gospel to the world of our time.

Each instance of one person introducing Jesus into the life of another, who in turn reaches someone else, is a microcosm of the history of Christianity. Christianity continues because disciples assist in spreading the teachings of Jesus. The spiritual lineage or genealogy is carried on from person to person, generation to generation, because of those who believe, follow, and spread the teaching.

Every Christian is a distant spiritual relative of the first Christians, of those who knew Jesus, who were the first to preach the good news. They preached the gospel, they taught others, they grounded them in the faith, and then the process was repeated over and over again, century after century. Christianity exists today because those throughout history have done what Jesus taught the first disciples to do—to preach the gospel and make disciples. So the presence of disciples in the world is vital to Christianity’s continuation. Faithful witnesses can never fully know the fruit they may bear years, even generations, into the future.

A disciple is someone, famous or not, flamboyant or not, known or unknown, who believes the teachings of Jesus and strives to put them into practice in his or her life, which includes spreading and teaching the gospel in some manner. Disciples are incredibly important, as it’s through them that other people are introduced to Jesus and salvation. It’s through them that Christianity grows, that the gospel is preached in all the earth.
**
The safest place in the world for you is in the center of God's Will. No matter where you are, or how you are, or what you are, or what's against you, the Lord will keep you if you are in the center of His Will. It's a charmed circle where you live a charmed life. "The Name of the Lord is a strong tower: The righteous runneth into it, and is safe" (Pro.18:10).



Anchor TFI

The path of discipleship

When Jesus says to forsake all that you have,1 or as it says in other English translations, “any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be My disciple” (ESV); or “any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be My disciple” (NIV); or “none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions” (NAU), He’s speaking of priorities.

Jesus isn’t recorded as asking everyone who wanted to follow Him to physically leave all of their worldly possessions. Joseph of Arimathea was both rich and a disciple. From his being called a disciple, one can conclude that he placed the right priority on his material goods in relation to God. It was this Joseph who supplied Jesus’ tomb, and who also used his position and influence to ask Pilate to release the body to him for burial.

On the other hand, the call He gave the rich young ruler was different:

“One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”2

Why? Because often when a person has wealth, it’s harder to prioritize it in relation to God, especially if He does ask you to give it up completely, or to share your wealth with others. The rich young ruler couldn’t let his wealth go and he was saddened by that realization. His possessions were his priority.

When Jesus says “Follow Me,” He’s speaking to you personally. The path He calls you to follow is your path of discipleship. It’s an individual path, and each follower of Jesus has a distinct path. With the rich young ruler, the path Jesus asked him to take was to sell all that He had. Someone else’s path would be to keep the material possessions and follow God’s lead in a different manner. The principle is that the disciple belongs to God, his first allegiance is to God, and he loves God enough to do what God asks of him.

A principle of discipleship is loving God in a manner that makes you willing to follow what He shows you, no matter how steep the cost. The cost may be different with different individuals. So when Jesus said, “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple,”3 He’s talking about your own cross, your individual cross that you must carry. The call He gives you is yours, and your willingness to carry it is reflected in your readiness to give your first allegiance to God and His call for you. When He says to you, “Follow Me,” He’s asking you to put yourself into His hands, to make Him your first priority, to give up ownership of yourself, to put yourself in the rightful place in relation to God, the sovereign of all. Jesus stated the proper priority when He said:

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.4

Understanding the principle of loving God, keeping His word, and the positional relationship that God deserves in relation to the loves of this life, and the possessions we have, provides a guiding principle which can help you in the life decisions you are regularly faced with. The basic principle being that God—our Creator, our Savior, and the Spirit that dwells within us—asks for and deserves our love and the proper allegiance and place in our lives. This is the starting place of discipleship. It’s in loving Him that we take the first step of discipleship.—Peter Amsterdam

1 Luke 14:33 KJV.
2 Luke 18:22–24.
3 Luke 14:27.
4 Mark 12:30.



Anchor TFI Online [Video Posted - The Messiah Revealed!]

Doubt is something of tremendous significance. Only those who have doubted to the very end have found what truth is, what love is, what silence is, what beauty is. Skepticism finds nothing. It is utterly empty, but it makes much noise. Empty drums make much noise. And you cannot argue with a skeptic because he will go on saying no to anything, to any value which you cannot place as an object before him.
But doubt – of course, it is a long way and a hard way – goes on eliminating all that is not true. Ultimately only that which is true remains. And nobody can deny truth when one is facing it, experiencing it. Out of that experience comes yes: "Yes, Bhagwan, yes.”
It is not a belief. You have searched, gone into great anxiety, anguish, despair. There were many moments when you wanted to stop, because it looked as if the journey was endless. It is not. There is an end; you just have to keep yourself going. Doubt is surgical – it goes on cutting all that is absurd. But finally the real remains, unclouded. Doubt removes the clouds.