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An Introduction to the Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ.

By Mervyn Bryan

For a fuller understanding of the Teachings and life of Jesus read the New

Testament of the Bible. Or view the web site:-

www.jesusteachings.co.uk

This presentation will introduce the reader to who and what Jesus is. The claims he makes and hopefully answer any questions you may have regarding him and why people follow him. His many followers numbering billions worldwide including people such as C S Lewis who was an intellectual giant of the 20th century who lived from 1898 to1963.

He was among many things, the author of the Narnia stories. He made this quote which should be of interest. He points out that Jesus gives us no option but to accept Him as the Son of God.

The History of His Birth

Jerusalem at the time of Jesus.

Jesus Christ was a Jew who lived in the land called Israel just over 2000 years ago. What He said and did changed the world and affects every person who has ever lived and is living today.

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The story starts with His miraculous birth.

An angel visited Mary and Joseph, who were engaged to marry, and told them that Mary was going to have a special baby whose father

was God and who is God, and that they should call his name Jesus. The angel explained that the reason for this was because Jesus was the special King promised thousands of years before, called the Messiah, who would save all people from sin which is the condition that the Bible calls what people now are. It simply means all people make mistakes and do wrong things sometimes.

Joseph and Mary had to travel about 50 miles from their home town to a place called Bethlehem to pay their taxes. The place was full of travellers and because the usual accommodation was full, they had to stay with the animals overnight. During this time the baby Jesus was born and he was wrapped in a blanket and put in straw to keep Him warm.

Some shepherds were out in the

field looking after their sheep

when an angel visited them

telling them not to be

frightened, and that they had good news for them. That the Son of God, the promised one, the Messiah had been born in Bethlehem that night, and that they should go and worship Him. The angels told them where to go, and then a whole choir of angels appeared and sang praises singing “Glory to God and peace on earth”.

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Once the angels had disappeared and the shepherds had got over the shock, they ran to the place they’d been

told of in Bethlehem and

visited Mary, Joseph and

Jesus, and praised God for

His goodness.

Naturally the visit of the shepherds to see the baby Jesus was a surprise to Joseph and Mary which enforced in their minds how special Jesus was and remains till this time and will forever be.

There were also three Godly men who had studied the Old Testament of the Bible and looking at the stars noticed something strange. A new star had appeared which they believed pointed to the birth of a new king who would save the earth. The star started to move to the west and they followed it until it reached the area of Judea.

They called at the king’s palace in Jerusalem only to be told that there was no new born king there. But someone in the king’s palace told the three men that 400 years before their time, it had been said in a prophecy that a king would be born in Bethlehem, a few miles down the road. So the three went to Bethlehem and found Jesus among the animals. The three men worshipped the baby and gave Jesus’ parents some presents of expensive perfume and gold

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Now when King Herod in Jerusalem was visited by the three men, he had asked them to let him know where the child king was. But an angel warned the men not to go back to the king, but to go straight home, which they did. Not hearing from the three men, Herod became angry and decided to get rid of this child king that the three men had told him about. So he sent his soldiers to Bethlehem to kill all the little babies in the town.

An angel came and told Joseph to take his wife and baby to Egypt where they stayed in safety until king Herod had died.

After king Herod had dies the family moved back to Joseph’s home town of Nazareth north of Jerusalem. This picture depicts what the town would have looked like in Jesus time. It was a non-descript town, not the sort of place we would expect a great leader to come from.

Jesus grew up as any child of his time did. He played with his friends and helped with the family business which was carpentry. Carpenters at that time were also builders, so he would have helped with building houses as well as working with timber.

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When Jesus was 12 years old he travelled with his parents and friends to Jerusalem. When it was time to leave and go back home, Jesus’ parents realised that Jesus was missing. They searched for him and found him deep in debate with the teachers and lecturers of the temple. These leaders of the Temple were

impressed with his understanding of the Scriptures.

When Jesus was 30 years old He left home

to start the work God had sent Him to

earth to do. Jesus went from village to

village and from town to town helping

people and telling them about God’s love

for them. Twelve men joined Jesus to help

Him, some had education and some

didn’t.

Later on, people said of these men

who were called disciples, meaning

followers that they were special and

that people could see that they had

been with Jesus. As all Christians are

supposed to do, they believed in

Jesus and did what Jesus did and

followed the teachings of Jesus.

Jesus says that if we believe and

continue to follow Him, we are

saved.

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On one occasion Jesus was teaching a large crowd on a hill, and He told them that we are all naturally attracted to doing the wrong things. That even our thoughts are wrong. He called this wrongness sin. He said that we are born with sin in us and that the only way to get rid of this sin is to accept the gift from God, which no one truly deserves, called grace, and to accept God’s own goodness, which He promised is there to cover our sin. He also taught us that His followers would have Him dwelling within us by the work of

His Holy Spirit, to help us to do the good things rather than the wrong things.

Sometimes people were afraid of what others would think and say if they knew that they had been to see Jesus, so they came at night in secret.

One such person was called Nicodemus one of the leaders in the country. Jesus told Nicodemus that God loved the world so much that He had sent His son, Jesus to the world to save the world from its own evil. That God didn’t come to judge the world but to save everyone in it. That all we have to do to be saved is to believe in Him and accept Jesus and His free gift and follow Him by being baptised into a new start in life and by doing what He did, living a life dedicated to good, helping others and caring for those we are responsible for.

Jesus said that the works of God are to

believe and trust in Jesus. That Jesus is

the way to life and the light for this

world, the truth, our comforter, and the

way for people to follow. That anyone

who loves Him will follow His

commands and do as He did and teach

the things that He had taught starting

by being baptised, being completely

immersed in water .

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Because God loves people, whenever Jesus came upon someone who needed His help, He would stop what He was doing and help them. Jesus spent His time helping and healing people. In this way He made friends and taught them about the better life He wants us all to have. He taught us how to get this better life by following Him by believing in Him and doing what He did.

One night Jesus and His disciples were on a boat on the lake of Galilee when a storm blew up and the disciples thought that the boat would sink. Jesus simply spoke to the waves, He simply said, “Be still”, and the storm stopped. The disciples were surprised that He had power over nature. So Jesus explained that He was God who had created all things, and as such did have power to tell the things He had made what to do and what not to do when He is asked to by His followers. We can ask Jesus by talking to Him, this is called prayer. He teaches us that because of what He did, people now

have the ability to talk with God just as we do other people. He said that He is always there for us, especially in our time of need.

Mary Stevenson wrote this lovely poem called Footprints in the Sand.

One night I dreamed a dream. As I was walking along the beach with my Lord Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life. For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand.

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One belonging to me and one to my Lord. After the last scene of my life flashed before me, I looked back at the footprints in the sand. I noticed that at many times along the path of my life, especially at the very lowest and saddest times, there was only one set of footprints. This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it. "Lord, you said once I decided to follow you, You'd walk with me all the way. But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life, there was only one set of footprints. I don't understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me." He whispered, "My precious child, I love you and will never leave you

Never, ever, during your trials and testing’s. When you saw only one set of

footprints, it was then that I carried you."

Jesus travelled from village to village and from town to town talking with people, explaining things about God to them and helping them. I once had a

dream that as Jesus entered a village he saw a widows home that needed some repair work. He borrowed some tools and did the work for her. The Bible tells us of some of the healing miracles that Jesus did helping people wherever they needed His help. He says that if we believe in Him and follow Him we become a part of His family and will do as He did.

As further proof that Jesus is God, He healed people from their sickness and even brought children and adults back to life. On one occasion the man Lazarus had been dead for 4 days and was smelling rotten. Jesus simply said, Lazarus wake up, and Lazarus woke up and came out of his grave alive and well. Only the creator God has that type of power.

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On another occasion Jesus had been

talking to a crowd of about 5000 men,

with women and children They had been

there for so long that they had become

hungry. Jesus took 5 loaves and two fishes

that a boy had, blessed it and made it into

enough food to feed everyone there.

Jesus often taught people things by telling them stories with a meaning. These stories are called parables.

One story was about a man who was beaten up by robbers and left to die.

People didn’t want to become involved so they kept their distance, but a

man of a difference race who people didn’t like saw the sick beaten man and

helped him, and took the sick man to a place like a hospital and paid for him

to be looked after and made well.

Jesus said that we are to love other people,

even our enemies. Another day Jesus was

teaching people and some children wanted

to go to him, but the adults told them to go

away. Jesus said, “don’t do that, we are to

love children, because God’s kingdom is

made up of people who trust God just like

little children trust their parents.” Jesus

made friends with the children and told

them stories that they liked. He always

made time for other people, no matter how

tired He was. Jesus became so popular with

the people that the leaders, the politicians and religious people became

alarmed with the success that Jesus was having, because they didn’t want

to believe Him. They wanted the Messiah to be a political leader who would

make them big and powerful. So they plotted to kill Jesus. You will find this

story in the Gospels of the New Testament of the Bible. Try reading the

Gospel of John first. The word Gospel simply means “Good News”

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Just before the religious feast called the Passover, a time we call Easter, Jesus rode on a donkey into Jerusalem and the crowds welcomed Him as the king. This made the leaders very angry and a few nights later they arrested Jesus and illegally condemned Him to be killed on a cross. They had Him whipped so that His skin was torn and made Him bleed, then they stuck a prickly imitation crown made from thorns onto His head which made His head bleed. Then they made Him carry a big heavy timber cross through the town.

Although Jesus was a strong man with good muscles, He was by now so weak that He couldn’t carry the cross any further. So they got a man from Africa who was visiting the city to help carry the cross for Him.

They stuck the cross with

Jesus nailed onto it into the

ground and left Him there to

die.

Jesus mum Mary was there,

as was one of His disciples,

John. Jesus asked John to

look after His mum Mary; and John said He would. There were 2 thieves

on crosses next to Jesus, and one joined some bad men who were

standing around the crosses, and said, if Jesus could help others, why

He couldn’t help Himself. But the other thief said that they deserved to

die because they were guilty, but Jesus was innocent and didn’t deserve

to die. This thief then said to Jesus that He was sorry for what He had

done and asked Jesus to save Him. Jesus said that because He trusted in

Jesus that he was saved that day, the moment He gave His life to Jesus.

He make this same promise to every one of us.

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The cross was a very cruel and

painful death and usually took

days to kill a person. But while

Jesus was on the cross he felt the

awfulness of all the sins of

everybody that has ever lived and

this burden killed Him.

The soldiers tested and made

sure that Jesus was dead. Only

then did they take him down

off the cross. A man called

Joseph of Arimathia a disciple

of Jesus took Jesus body and

buried it in his own grave.

The leaders remembering what

Jesus had said, that He would raise

again after three days and nights, set

a guard of soldiers over the tomb to

stop His disciples from stealing the

body and claiming that he had risen.

But just as Jesus had foretold, at the

sunset of the third day, He rose from the dead in shining glory and the light

of His resurrection was so bright that it blinded and scared the soldiers who

fled.

The risen Jesus was flesh and blood like us. Not an apparition or a ghost. The disciples touched and felt him. He ate with them, spoke with them and taught them all that the Scriptures said about Him and why he had to die. He said that he was going to heaven to prepare a place for us to live in paradise with Him forever.

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Jesus took the disciples to the hill called the mount of olives and was taken up off the ground and rose into the air into the clouds of angels and disappeared. Then angels appeared to the disciples and told them not to worry, but that Jesus would return in the same way that he had just left them. They remembered that Jesus had taught them that if they were His followers, they would do what He did. This is what Christians to this day believe and do.

All true Christians are looking

forward to Him returning which is

called the second coming and is also

known as the Second Advent.

Christians were taught by Jesus to tell

other people about His message of

hope for the world and that He will

return and take those who have given

their lives to Him to be in Heaven with

Him forever.

All of the things that Jesus said

would take place just before He

returns to take His people home to

Heaven with Him have already taken

place. Only one thing remains, God

is waiting for everyone who will give

their lives to Him to accept His gift.

He wants everyone possible to be in

Heaven with Him. Are you one of

them? If you are and you want to be

one of God’s saved people just

reverently say the following to God.

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“Dear God, thank you for sending

us your son Jesus to die for me.

Please forgive me and save me so

that I can go to Heaven. Help me to

follow Him and get to know Jesus

better. Amen”. Now start reading about Jesus in the New

Testament of the Bible, start with the

Gospel of John.

For more information go to the web site www.jesusteachings.co.uk

The Three Christian Festivals

Christmas is the time when people

think about the gift that God gave

to this world. He came to the world

as a human baby, lived a life to

show us what God truly is like and

showed us how to be nice to each

other.

It is a day after the shortest day of

the year. Each day will now get

longer and be less dark. So it is that

when we have Jesus as our friend, He takes the darkness out of our life. We

get Jesus to be our friend by finding out about Him and talking to Him.

We can watch DVD’s about Him and read

books about Him. The more we see and

read about Him, the more we will like

Him. It is not the actual day of the year He

was born, but the time when Christians

teach the story of His miraculous birth.

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Easter is the time when Jesus died a

very cruel nasty death and then rose

up from the dead, so that when we

know Him and love Him as He

loves us, He can take us to live in a

perfect place called Heaven with

Him.

The Harvest Festival is a time

when the people of Jesus, called

Christians thank God for being

kind and loving us by providing

us a harvest which gives us the

food we eat. It also reminds us

of the time Jesus promised to

come back to the earth to take us

home to live with Him forever

in a lovely land that has no

sickness, crying or pain, where

everyone and everything is

perfect.

For further information go to:- www.jesusteachings.co.uk

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