[The first seventeen verses of Matthew consists of Jesus' family tree

Download 1.1 Mb.

Page	18/46
Date	16.08.2017
Size	1.1 Mb.
	#32745

1 ... 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 ... 46

Chapter 4

Chapter 3

1. Now during the fifteenth year of Tiberius as President, while Pontius Pilate was governor of Georgia, and Herod was governor of Alabama, his brother Philip being governor of Mississippi, and Lysanias still holding out over Arkansas; while Annas and Caiaphas were co-presidents of the Southern Baptist Convention, the word of God came to Zack’s boy, John, down on the farm. And he went all around in the rural areas preaching a dipping in water–a symbol of a changed way of life as the basis for getting things straightened out. This was based on a passage from the book of Isaiah the prophet:

"A voice shouts: Make a road for the Lord in the depressed areas, and make it straight.

            Every low place shall be filled in,
            And every hill and high place shall be pushed down.
            And the curves shall be straightened out
            And the washboard road scraped smooth.
            Then every human being will share in the good things of God."

7.         Here's what he was saying to the crowds who were coming out to get dipped by him: "You sons of snakes, who put the heat on you to run from the fury about to break over your heads? You must give some proof that you've had a change of heart. And don't start patting one another on the back with that ‘we-good-white-people’ stuff, because I'm telling you that if God wants to, he can make white-folks out of this pile of rocks. Already the axe is lying at the taproot of the trees, and every tree that doesn't perform some worthwhile function is chopped down and burned up."

10.         And the crowds were asking him, "Then what shall we do about these problems?"
             He answered, "Let him who has two suits share with him who has none; and let him who has food do the same thing."
             Then the politicians came out to join up, and they asked, "Honorable Teacher, what shall we do?"
             He said to them, "Cut out your grafts and bribes."
             The service men too were asking, "Now how about us? What shall we do?"
             He told them, ""Don't ever use violence on anyone, and don't take advantage of native people–be satisfied with only your government check."

15.         Now the people were very excited, and were really searching their hearts about all that John was saying. Some were wondering if perhaps he were the long-awaited Leader. John put a stop to this, saying, "It's true I'm dipping you in water; but somebody is coming who is much stronger than I, whose shoes I'm not worthy to shine. He shall dip you in Holy Spirit and fire! He's getting ready to thresh the wheat, and he'll store the grain in the barn and burn up the chaff." With a lot of other sermons like this he was pushing his evangelistic crusade.

19.         But when John jumped on Governor Herod for marrying his brother's wife Herodias, and for all the other wicked things he was doing, the governor added even one more item to his list–he locked John up in the jail-house.

21.         So it happened that while the people were getting baptized, Jesus too was baptized. And as he prayed, the sky was split and the Holy Spirit in the shape of a dove came down on him. And from the sky came a voice, saying, "You are my dear Son; I'm proud of you."

Now when Jesus started his ministry, he was about thirty years old.¹

Chapter 4

1.         So, on fire for God, Jesus returned from his baptism. Then in this spirit he was moved to go into the back woods for forty days, where the Confuser took some cracks at him. During that time he didn't eat anything, so he was hungry when the time was up. Then the Confuser said to him, "So you're God's man, huh? Well, then, tell this rock to become a pone of bread."
            Jesus answered back, "A man can't live on bread alone."

5.         Then the Confuser took him up and showed him, in the twinkling of an eye, all the countries of the civilized world. And he said, "Look here, all this power and glory has been turned over to me, and to anybody I want to share it with. Now if you'll just let me be boss, I'll put you in charge and turn everything over to you."
            Jesus shot back, "The scripture says, 'You shall let the Lord your God be your boss, and you shall give your loyalty to him alone.’"

9.         The Confuser then brought him into Atlanta, and put him on the steeple of the First Church, and said, "Okay, you're God's man. Now jump down from here, because you know the scripture says, 'He will give orders to his angels to keep close watch on you,' and also, 'They'll carry you along on their hands to keep you from stumping your toe on a rock.’"
            Jesus told him straight, "It also says, 'Don't make a fool out of the Lord your God.’"

13.       So when the Confuser got through giving him the works, he left him for a while. Then Jesus, spiritually invigorated, returned to south Georgia, and the news of him spread through the whole area. He was speaking in their churches, and the people respected him. But he went to Valdosta, where he had grown up, and as he was in the habit of doing, he went to church on Sunday. They invited him to preach, so he got up to read the scripture and found the place in the book of Isaiah where it says:

"The Lord's spirit is on me;

            He has ordained me to break the good news to the poor people.
            He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the oppressed,
            And sight for the blind,
            To help those who have been grievously insulted to find dignity;
            To proclaim the Lord's new era."

20.         Then he closed the Bible, and handed it to the assistant minister. The eyes of everybody in the congregation were glued on him. He began by saying,
            "This very day this Scripture has become a reality in your presence."
            They all said, "Amen," and were amazed at the eloquent words flowing from his mouth. They whispered to one another, "Can this really be old Joe's boy?"

23.         Then he continued, "Surely some of you will cite to me the old proverb, 'Doctor, take your own medicine. Let us see you do right here in your home town all the things we heard you did in Columbus.' Well, to tell the truth, no prophet is welcome in his own home town. And I'm telling you straight, there were a lot of white widows in Georgia during the time of Elijah, when the skies were locked up for three years and six months, and there was a great drought everywhere, but Elijah didn't stay with any of them. Instead, he stayed with a Negro woman over in Terrell County. And there were a lot of sick white people during the time of the great preacher Elisha, but he didn't heal any of them–only Naaman the African."

28.         When they heard that, the whole congregation blew a gasket. They jumped up, ran him out of town, and dragged him to the top of the hill on which their city was built, with the intention of pushing him off. But he got up and walked right through the middle of the whole mob and went on his way.

31.         And he came to Macon, the county seat of Bibb County. And he was speaking there every Sunday. They were quite amazed at his teachings, because there was a note of authority in his words. One day at church there was a man who had the spirit of a filthy devil, and he bellowed out as loud as he could, "Hey, Jesus, you Valdostan squirt, what you got agin us? Have you come up here to stir up trouble for us? I know who you are, you Holy Joe."

35.         Then Jesus rebuked him and said, "Shut up and come out of that man." And the filthy spirit convulsed him right in front of everybody, but came out of him without leaving a scratch.
              A wonderment came over all, and they whispered back and forth, "Well, what do you know about that? He orders the filthy devils around as though he has a right to, and they come out!" And news dispatches about him went out to all parts of the country.

38.         So he left the church and went home with Simon. Now Simon's mother-in-law was sick with a high fever, so they spoke to him about her. He leaned over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up right away and started waiting on them.

40.         As the sun set, all those who had loved ones who were sick with various diseases brought them to him. He put his hands on each one of them and made them well. Even devils were coming out of a lot of them, calling and crying out, "So you're God's man, huh?" He got after them and wouldn't even let them say a word, because they really knew that he was God's man.

42.         When day came, he left and went to a remote place. But the crowds were looking for him and came to where he was. They held on to him to keep him from leaving them. But he said, "I've got to spread the good news of the God Movement to a lot of other cities. This is what I've been sent to do." And he was preaching in the churches of Georgia.

Download 1.1 Mb.

Share with your friends:

1 ... 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 ... 46