Welcome to Kendra Graham’s Online Bible Study! This is a place where we can come together and share in our journey towards Scriptural truths and spiritual maturity. We pray this will be a safe, respectful, resourceful place to come and discuss God’s Word…to discover What it says…What it means…and What it means to you!
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Kendra Graham notes from : Matthew 1:21
“She will bear a Son, call His name Jesus, He will save His people from their sins.”
THE FACTS: She will bear a Son, call His name Jesus, He will save His people from their sins.
THE LESSONS: Merry Christmas! Jesus has come! The Gospel has been born and has been fulfilled! I’ve been reading a great book by Timothy Keller called, Hidden Christmas, and it has captured my mind and thoughts about Christmas like never before. The book delves into the genealogy of Jesus, and has brought things to the surface that I’ve not ever really thought about.
We always hear that Jesus is the “Son of David,” meaning, King David! Well, Jesus–being the King of Kings, it only makes sense that He would come from a kingly line, right? In Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus, King David is mentioned but he is mentioned in a way I always kind of skimmed over, “David, the father of Solomon, by Bathsheba, who had been the wife of Uriah” Matthew 1:6.
The one thing David probably wanted everyone to forget about him (adulterous affair which lead to the murder of Uriah), is actually in the geology page of Jesus. King David, needs a Savior.
Who else is on the list? Well, there is a Canaanite woman who was a prostitute…Rahab–saved in Jericho…then, there is a Moabites–Ruth, and don’t forget Tamar, who tricked her father in law into conceiving a son with her. This is the bloodline of Jesus! The great grandmothers of Jesus, are in desperate need of a Savior.
It’s amazing that Matthew even included women in the list, because in that day and time the culture did not recognize women in their ancestry at all, it only went through the men! What a pedigree Jesus has! Herod the Great was known to actually blot certain people out of his genealogy because he was ashamed of them and didn’t want people to know there was any relation, yet here, Jesus, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, claims them all, regardless of what they had done! Praise God!
Jesus was not coming to prove His worth to anyone, or pad His resume so He could advance up the ladder of power and wealth. Jesus came for a very real and messy problem, and that problem was sin. The Bible says, “All fall short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23. This verse could not be more clear than by the very bloodlines of Jesus! The closest relatives of Jesus, needed Him desperately to save them from their sins.
I love that the family of Jesus included both Jew and Gentile. We are all God’s hand made creation which started in the Garden of Eden, and He loves us more than anything. God loves us so much, that He came Himself, not trusting us to anyone else, “…. for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.” God came Himself, “… and they shall call His name Immanuel, which means, “God with us”- Matthew 1:22-23.
We need Jesus, pure and simple. Our bloodlines and our lives are just as messy, if not messier than the ones listed here in the beginning of Matthew, but know this: THERE IS HOPE and His name is Jesus! Jesus was born of a virgin, Mary, and grew in wisdom and stature and favor with God and man. Jesus lived a perfect life, and performed many miracles, but that is not the reason He came. Jesus came, to die, to save us from our sins. Jesus came to bring peace between God and man where there had been enmity.
God loves you too much to leave you to your own devices, so He came and poured out His extreme wrath on Himself since you and I were not created to carry such a burden. Jesus died so we can live. “The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” Romans 6:23.
In this season of gift giving, I pray that you would receive the greatest gift of all, and that gift is the very forgiveness of God. It can be hard to receive because we like to be the giver, we like to be in control, but this gift will always be out of reach and cannot be earned. There’s no buying it with your Amazon Prime membership, so God has freely given it, and it is Himself. We are created to walk with God, to know God and to need God–it’s not a design flaw. Oh that this Christmas you would accept that gift found under the tree, the tree of life, which is the cross.
The reason for the season is that Jesus came to save us from our sins. May this acceptance of the precious gift of God be forever in your bloodline from here on out.
APPLY IT: Do you know your desperate need for a Savior to save you from your sins?
When have you received the gift of God? Have you ever asked Jesus to forgive your sins? Did you realize that sin was the entire reason Jesus came?
Will you receive this gift today? Now?
LIVE IT OUT: Today I will stand amazed at the love God has for me! Oh that He came Himself, not trusting me to another, to live a perfect sinless life, to die a sinners death, and then to rise from the grave! Today may I count my blessings that I know Jesus!
Today, if you have never accepted that free gift of God, pray a simple prayer today, “I believe You came Yourself, God with us, and Your name is Jesus. I pray you forgive me for my personal bloodline full of sin. You lived a perfect life, died a sinners death for me and then rose from the grave! Thank you for forgiving me! Teach me to walk with You. Amen.
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What Scripture are you studying now? What have you learned? How has the Lord spoke to you? Share with us in the comments section.
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If you’re in the local area and can attend our free annual Women’s Bible Study at The Cove, here in Asheville beginning in January 2017, we’d love to see you.
Registration is open and you can sign up online for Kendra’s evening study or by calling 1-800-950-2092. (Click here to sign up for the morning study with Jane Derrick.)
Watch, as Kendra shares what you can expect from her study on the book of Esther: