Someone To Believe In: A Simple Look at Jesus's Life, Death and Resurrection

By Susie Bunt

In this book, I wanted to give you, the reader, a different perspective on Jesus's life and resurrection through the four gospels. My perspective is coming from a prodigal child of God""someone who grew up going to church and knowing about the Bible but never truly knowing what it really meant. In the last few years of my life, I have come to know God through Jesus, and I wanted to share that knowledge. I have found similar books, but they are from professional pastors, evangelists, theologists, and so on. I have yet to find a book on Jesus's life, death, and resurrection from a simple Christian in simple language. Throughout this book, I have gone through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and gave you my understanding of Jesus's teachings. Everything is biblical. My hope is for the reader to have that aha! moment while reading this book. I pray that the reader gets a better understanding of who Jesus is and what He has done for us (His lambs), for He is truly the Son of God, the Messiah and our Savior!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: May 19, 2020
• ISBN: 9781098022372

Book preview

1

Jesus

Jesus! What can I say about the one perfect person that ever walked this earth? He is the only person to walk this earth completely sinless. He is perfect and holy. He is God’s one and only Son sent to save us from our sins in a nutshell. Jesus was a fulfillment of a promise. God loved us so much that He sent His only Son to save us from our sins (John 3:16). To redeem us. Because of the fall of man in Genesis, we owed God a debt, and Jesus paid that debt with His life. Jesus, the man, was a rabbi/preacher way before His time. He challenged the teachings of the Pharisees. He was sent to teach us the love God has for us to take away our sins.

God created man to walk with Him. It was man that chose to defy Him. Thus, we are sinful. Some of the religious leaders of the time thought that He was leading the people astray, but this was not the case. He was guiding the people toward God. Jesus was teaching the truth. This is something that He is still doing to this day. He is the one true living God that humbled Himself to come and live among us. The difference between Jesus and the Pharisees was that He was teaching to all people, not just one group or race. He showed love for all people—rich, poor, sick, healthy, young, and old. He primarily spoke to the Jewish sect, but He also encouraged the pagans and Gentiles as well. Jesus teaches us that the only way to the heavenly Father is through Him (John 14:6). He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last (Revelations 22:13). He is the vine (John 1:17). To reject Jesus is to reject God. Jesus is appointed by God as the Prophet, High Priest, and the King of kings.

2

A Little about Me

I am a simple country girl living in a small country town of Manvel, Texas, on the outskirts of Houston with my loving husband, Jason, of eighteen years. We love our quiet community. We love walking out on our back porch and listening to the owl’s hoot in a nearby tree or the coyotes howling at the moon while they are on the hunt. You can really get a sense of God’s creation out in the country. We were never blessed with children which we have come to believe that God has a different plan for our lives.

We are, however, parents to four beautiful rambunctious dogs and three very snooty cats. It seems every time we talk about children, we find another dog or cat that needs a home. We have pretty much stopped talking about children. I laugh every time I think about it. Jason and I are simple but lucky people. We work day in and day out from Monday to Friday at jobs we both enjoy. Our house is paid for, and our bills are paid every month. We live near or not far from our family. We enjoy a few luxuries here and there. It may be simple luxuries, but all the same, it is something we enjoy or like. God has blessed us in our lives, and He continues to bless us every day.

It has taken me quite a while to write this book. I started out trying to write about the New Testament, then I shortened it down to just Genesis. By the way, the book of Genesis is one of my favorite books of the Bible. The creation week, the fall of man, Noah and the flood, and the story of Abraham—all this absolutely fascinates me. I have tried working on just the words of Jesus, let me tell ya, Jesus has a lot to teach us in the New Testament. I have settled on writing on His life and teachings from the four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). Hopefully, you will get a different perspective from this book or maybe even a better understanding of Jesus to help strengthen your faith in Him or to introduce you to Him if you are a new believer.

3

A King Is Born

We have all heard the story. It has many titles. The most popular being The Christmas Story, Mary and Joseph, and The Greatest Story Ever Told. No matter the heading of the book or movie, it all starts the same.

Mary, a virgin from Nazareth, a city of Galilee, is visited by the angel Gabriel. And the angel came unto her, and said, ‘Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women’ (Luke 1:28)!

Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call His name Jesus (Luke 1:30–33) and is told that she is chosen by God to have a very special baby (the Messiah, the King of kings, and the child that will save the world: Immanuel). That’s a lot for not only a baby but a young mother as well. Let’s not forget Joseph and how he felt about a woman he is about to marry and she is already pregnant! Nowadays it is common to see young unwed mothers. Most people don’t think about it. In the first century all the way up until I do believe the twentieth century, it was pretty much forbidden. It was punishable by being disowned by your family, rejected by the community, or worst: death.

I want to touch on a subject that someone brought to my attention one day while discussing Mary and the birth of Jesus. I was once told that God raped Mary (What!). Let me just say no! This is not true! For one, even though Gabriel had told Mary that she was favored and will have the Messiah, it was her choice to accept or deny being the mother of our Savior. Then Mary said, ‘Behold, the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.’ And the angel departed from her (Luke 1:38). Secondly God did not have sex with Mary. His Spirit shadowed Mary, and she was pregnant. There was no physical conception.

The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God (Luke 1:35).

For with God nothing shall be impossible (Luke 1:37). It wasn’t a physical impregnation. It was a spiritual impregnation. Meaning, God being who He is only needs to speak the words, or as it is written in Mary’s case, His shadow passed over her. I believe people tend to forget just how powerful and mighty God is.

Let me touch on another misconception about God and how He wanted women treated. God did not mean for women to be degraded or become man’s servants. We were created to be man’s partners. Men and women both have their roles in life. Granted it has become a lot more intermingled today. Man’s role in the family was and is to work, take care of the house finances, and be the protector of the family as head of the household. The man is the spiritual leader of the house. As Jesus is the head of the church, man is the head of the house.

Now man being the head of the household does not mean he only makes the rules or anything like that. Women were and are to create life and keep the house, make sure the family is fed, and make sure the children grow up safe and loved. I’m not saying that women’s roles in the family was or is less important. She also has a say in what goes on with the family and the house. Man and woman were to work together as one. Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh (Genesis 2:24).

It wasn’t until after the fall of man that woman became subservient to man, but he is to love and cherish woman as Jesus loved and cherished the church. The same goes for woman to man. Here is some more evidence on how husbands and wives should be toward each other (1 Corinthians 7:1–16; Matthew 19:4–6; Deuteronomy 24:5; Ephesians 5:22–33; Proverbs 30:18–19, 31:10; Colossians 3:18–19; Hebrews 13:4–7; Mark 10:6–9).

Before we go back to the birth of Jesus, let’s start with the birth of John the Baptist. He was to prepare the way for Jesus from birth (Luke 1:5–17). God sends an angel to Zacharias a priest and Elizabeth his wife. They were the aunt and uncle of Mary. The couple were faithful to God and prayed for a child. Then an angel tells Zacharias, Fear not, Zachariah: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. We