Said and Done! Matthew 1 &2

Just as you need to get yourself ready each morning before starting your day, so you need to ready your heart before you journey through Bod's Word. The best way to do this is to spend a few minutes in prayer. It doesn't need to be long--a simple sentence expressing a heartfelt desire will do. Each time you journey in God's Word, ask Him to open your eyes, and give Him permission to teach you.

Have you ever been amazed when something you were told would happen actually happened? How about being told 300 different things about something--with all of them coming true exactly as said? Sounds impossible. Not in this case!
Perhaps Joseph wondered if this was all a bad dream. Over and over he rehearsed it in his mind. He loved Mary. Mary loved him. They were engaged to be married. They had never done anything to be ashamed of, yet Mary said she was pregnant! It just didn't make sense!
It didn't at least, until the angel explained it to Joseph. Mary's baby was from the Holy Spirit and was one of a kind.
"You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins," the angel had instructed. That was what the angel had said, and yet the words had also been spoken hundreds of years earlier by the prophet Isaiah when he wrote, "The virgin shall bear a Son and they shall call His name Immanuel, meaning 'God with us.'"
When a census required Joseph and Mary to travel to Bethlehem, another prophecy was fulfilled. It stated that the Savior would be born in Bethlehem! These events were not merely coincidence!
On the night Jesus was born, angels joyfully annouonced the Savior's birth to shepherds, and told them to look for specific signs that would prove their message was true. When the shepherds came to the stavle, they fell to tehir knees in worship. The baby fulfilled all the signs the angels had spoken of!
The same night, wise men (who were advice givers to kings) noticed an unusual star in the sky. They knew from Scriptures what it meant and began their journey to find teh newborn Savior. When they arrived in Jerusalem several months later and asked where this newborn king might be found, King Herod became jealous. In fits of anger, he ordered a decree that all baby boys age two and under be killed! As great weeping and wailing rang out in the land, more prophecy was being fulfilled.
Joseph was forewarned in a dream about Herod's decree and fled with his family to safety in the neighboring land of Egypt until King Herod died. Upon leaving Egypt, ("Out of Egypt did I call My Son," Hosea 11:1) you guessed it--another prophecy came to life.
Herod's son was now King, so Joseph took his family to a town called Nazareth. This fulfilled the prophecy "He shall be called a Nazarene!"
Time and again Jesus' life fulfilled prophecies about a Savior who would come and save people from their sins. There are more than 300 prophecies concerning Jesus. Jesus was no ordinary person.

Anything worth having usually requires a little effort. In Climbing Onward, you will need to use a little energy. (Don't panic!) Your Bible is all the equipment needed for guaranteed success. Just look up the verse and answer the simple question. This simple exercise builds spiritual muscles and makes you strong in the Lord.
Turn to Luke 22:67-71. This is one of Jesus' predictions about Himself. Here, Jesus is standing before the religious rulers just before dying on the cross. What does Jesus say about Himself? (Do you believe it?)