John 7:25-29~Another Perspective
25So some from the people of Jerusalem said, “This is whom they are seeking to kill, is it not? 26And look! He speaks freely, and they say nothing to Him. Perhaps the rulers came to know that this One is truly the Christ? 27But this One-we know from where He is. When the Christ shall come, no one knows from where He is.”
28Then Jesus cried out in the Temple, teaching and saying, “Both know Me and know from where I am. And of Myself I have not come, but the One having sent Me is dependable, whom do not know. 29Know Him because I am from Him, and that One sent Me.”
Good Day Child of God! "Father? Your Will Be Done!" You and I are Students together. I say that so you do not believe that the teaching is from me. Certainly something I have in experience makes it to the page, but as we go along, what is given to me to say, that is what goes into the Study.
Why bring this up now? Because it is exactly what Jesus is explaining above. Not that I am a Holy man or Prophet of any sort, nor should be thought of or written of in the same sentence with the name of Jesus, but to show that, like Jesus, I follow the Father's Lead. He knows what the lesson should be about at this time, and how the meaning is needed at this moment in the life of some brothers and sisters. Keep in mind, the teacher learns more than the Student in nearly all cases. This is an important Truth I want you to remember. I share the Studies so that you know the right way to have a relationship with our Father. The Father has given me genuine epiphanies as recently as the last few days. It's more exciting for me than anything else to present the Studies because I am privileged to share the deeper meaning in God's Word with you! It makes me want to scream and shout with joy when something that is supposed to be, isn't what is taught. There is great joy in understanding Truth!
Today's easy lesson: In reading the Scripture above we find Jesus once again "crying out" to those that can hear Him so that the Truth can be heard. All those thinking what "may be", isn't, but that the Truth is more interesting, even more important, His teaching shows them the way to the Father. Over and over again Jesus points to the Father, never to Himself as the One of most importance. Certainly He points out that He is the Son of God, but as significant as that can be, honoring and understanding the thinking and Will of the Father is the Truth of greatest importance.
How does this help you in your daily walk with the Father? How many times have you gone to church, or attended any Christian gathering that starts out with songs mostly glorifying Jesus? It is rare that it is not that way. Jesus did the Works required to allow you and I and everyone else the opportunity to become Children of God, but with the power of the Father, there is no forgiveness. In fact, without the Father there is no reason for worship, or for forgiveness. We might just as well pray to a hand made object, which many people do in the world, to try to complete their being. They can feel something is missing, and not knowing God, they make one up. What is more interesting, is that the gods that are made up are there to complete humanity, and at the same time give humanity all that it wants and desires. If things go wrong sacrifices are made, or offerings are given, all to no one so that inside people can feel they are doing right by the being that does things they don't understand. The common word for that activity of course is not religion, but instead superstition. The people make a decision, and ask god to bless their work. That sounds exactly right, doesn't it? It even sounds humble. The problem is, the decision to do something should be given to the Father, allow Him to chose the way, and we follow. It is easier to do with practice, and in the end whatever comes to be, you can find peace, for the Father's Will is done. Similar to the Creation, the people along with the Father can look at what was accomplished and say "It is good." We are made to follow, not to lead. We are not God, thus we follow Him with the hope that the proper order of the world, including each individual's life, will have purpose, meaning and create happiness. Sounds a whole lot like peace, love, and joy. Have a Grace Day!
Brother Glenn
Complete New Testament Grace Studies link: http://gracehouseministry.blogspot.com/
John 8:21-27
21Then Jesus said again to them, “I am going away, and will seek Me, and in sin will die; where I am going, are not able to come.” 22So the Jews were saying, “Surely He will not kill Himself, will He?- because He says, ‘Where Am going, are not able to come?’” 23And He said to them, “Are from below; I am from above. Are from this world; Am not from this world. 24Therefore, I said to all, ‘will die in your sins,’ for unless Believe that Am, will die in sins.”
25So they were saying to Him, “You, who are You?” And Jesus said to them, “Just what speaking to even the beginning. 26Many have to be speaking concerning and to be judging; but the One having sent Me is true, and what heard from Him, these things say to the world.” 27They did not understand that the Father He spoke to them.
28Then
Jesus said to them, “When lift up the Son of Humanity then will know
that I Am, and from Myself I do nothing, but just as My Father taught
Me, these things I speak. 29And the One having sent Me is with Me; the
Father did not leave Me alone, because I always do the things pleasing
to Him.” 30While speaking these things, many Trusted in Him.
Good Day Child of God! "Father? Your Will Be Done!" The order of the last few Studies are mixed up. The Studies are accurate, just out of order. I will be working to correct that as soon as possible. Next, I may be very inconsistent with the Studies for awhile and that has to do with how I am human, have my frailties, and our Father has decided this is the way things are going, and I follow, not lead. If He changes His mind, I will follow, not lead.
As for today's verses, we have bumped into an incredible Truth that I have personally NEVER heard a single pastor, teacher, or preacher discuss. That is verse 26, which is underlined above. It is significant in its importance, because it is the only place I can recall Jesus making such a statement.
Today's easy lesson: Chances are you read over verse 26 after seeing it outlined, and thought to yourself, what is so different about this verse that it needs such attention? It is common in our world as Christians that we believe that Jesus is ALWAYS speaking directly to us. Is He? Are we Jews? Are we Jews in Powerful Places and of the Tribe of Aaron? How many of us have even seen healing in person or experienced it, or been to Temple? You see, Jesus for the most part is not speaking to you and I. In a sense we could take some of what Jesus says at any given teaching, and generally apply the point to ourselves, such as works. But look what He has said above. He has said if you don't Believe, Trust in Me, WORLD, you are going to die (notice not go to hell, just as an aside) , in your sins. He explains what sins are in these same paragraphs. Do you see what they are? Unless you Believe or Trust in Him, you will die in your sins. Sin is unbelief. Sin is not disobeying the Ten Commandments, missing church on Sunday, eating to much and so on. Those things are signs of unbelief like a sneeze may be a sign of a cold. The sneeze doesn't mean anything in particular, the cold on the other hand makes one's life miserable for awhile. Do you get the point? Conversely, just because one may not act like a Believer, we are after all different, it does not mean you are not a Believer, it simply means you have a different way of life.
How does this help you in your daily walk with the Father? Two ways. One is that Jesus follows the Father, He does not decide what He is going to do and ask His Blessing. That seems pretty clear by now. Second, Jesus tells us at one point if you do not love your brother or sister in the Faith you are condemning yourself. What does that mean? It means if the dirtiest, hippy looking, street person walks into your place of worship, and you look away as though that one is some kind of unwelcome guest, you do not understand the Love of God and its requirement for you. God is always speaking of Agape' Love, nothing less. Which means to be committed to the good of a brother or sister. Does that mean you have to hang out with the Christians that are not of your liking, because of they way they talk, smell, dress, eat and so on? No. It means if they are there, there is a reason, and following the Father, you deal with them in the best way your Father would want you to. That is Agape' Love. Provide what is needed for their own best interest, which might just be to send them home. Or just the opposite, take them in. The Father knows what He wants, listen first, act second, Trusting all the way. Have a Grace Day!
Brother Glenn
Complete New Testament Grace Studies link: http://gracehouseministry.blogspot.com/
John 8:40-49
40Therefore, many from the crowd having heard the Word were saying, “This One is truly the Prophet.” 41Others were saying, “This is the Christ.” Others were saying, “But the Christ is not coming out of Galilee, is He? 42The Scripture said the Christ is coming from the seed of David and from Bethlehem, the village where David was, did it not?” (Psalm 132: 11; Jer 23: 5; 1Sam 16: 1,13; Micah 5: 2) 43So a division arose among the crowd because of Him. 44But some out of them were wanting to seize Him, but no one laid his hands on Him.
45Then the attendants came to the Chief Priests and Pharisees. And those said to them, “Why did not bring Him?” 46The attendants answered, “Never in such a manner spoke a person like this Person!” 47Therefore, the Pharisees answered to them, “Have not also been led deceived, have? 48No one from the rulers Believed in Him nor from the Pharisees, have they? 49But this crowd, the one not knowing the Law, is accursed.”
Good Day Child of God! "Father? Your Will Be Done!" We keep coming back to the same topic. Do you recognize what it is? Religion. The Priests, the Pharisees and Sadducees and some other well educated leaders within the Jewish Religion do not understand why Jesus is being listened to at all, let alone by so many people. It appears to the Religious Right that what Jesus says makes no sense.
Many centuries prior to Jesus showing up, the Priests had nearly every Jew under their control. You know, go to Temple or Synagog on the Sabbath, obey the Commandments, trust the rules, rights, and rituals of the original and expanded Ten Commandments, Moses Law, and the then current tenets of Judaism as they ordained it. Now comes a man from, well no one has taken the time to find out from where, and that becomes the first argument. Yet when Jesus is speaking, the words make the common people's heart sing, even though confused, which of course is caused by the Religion that ruled their daily lives. It was natural that some knew more than others, and it was also natural that they would discuss it with one another. What was not natural is that they could not come to a common agreement to find out more so they could make an informed decision.
Today's easy lesson: I know I say it so many times most of you are likely getting sick of hearing it. Never have I not learned something new, or been given a new insight into the verses we are Studying, no matter how many times I read them. The nice thing about becoming very familiar with the Bible is you become more mature, not so much in terms of how life is lived, but in how your Father thinks. That is another reason Jesus came to teach the religious and the everyday people of that time.
Have you noticed that Jesus repeatedly argues with the Religious Leaders, not the common people? The people then were like people now. They didn't understand much about God, nature, emotions, women, men, and so on. They went about their daily business trying to live the way they were taught. Many people ask, "Why did Jesus come when He did?" There is a simple answer. The Israelite community had found that instead of following the Father to victory and to Life in the land of milk and honey, they opted to live a life in accordance of the Chief Priests and Elders, which was rooted in self, formulating their own ideas of what God would like, named it Judaism, and of course the result was living in defeat and in fear. It wasn't so bad for the Jewish Leadership, but for the citizens there was nothing much to cheer about. In fact, one could barely tell the difference between a Jewish person and a non-Jewish person then, just as it is today where it is hard to tell a Christian from anyone else in the world today. Before it could get any worse and find the entire world influenced by and large by what was a grand insult to God, Jesus had to come when He did so He could put a damper on Judaism, and frankly, He did. Even so, no one anticipated how strong and how stubborn the Jewish Leadership was and how hard they held onto God's Chosen. The Farther had an answer to that as well.
How does this impact your daily walk with the Father? Many of you are good weekly, holiday, and other Holy Days of honoring God by attending church. This is not a bad thing, but who is it for? God? You? Someone else? It is only good for you. God is not impressed with your church attendance, He is more apt to want your heart to be supplanted with the Love that Jesus showed through His Completed Work on the Cross, His Death and His Resurrection. Once you receive the Holy Spirit within you, it is time to recognize that superficial works are not within God's first priorities. God wants a personal relationship with you, He wants to lead, not follow. He wants to provide your needs, not just your wants, and He wants you to realize He is not a great vending machine, but indeed the Creator God, exuding Love for the purpose of granting His Life to you, in every way that that can be possible.
If you go to church and listen to a preacher teach about sin, pleasing God by works and so on, then learn of the Freedom you actually have in Grace, how do you come to the conclusion of what God is like? It is similar in many ways to the Israelites above. They are arguing over where Jesus was born, instead of finding out. They are satisfied with rumor and wondering, but not interested enough to seek and find, knock so it will be opened, or ask so they shall receive the Truth. And what does the Truth do? It sets you Free! If you are unsure of the Truth, it is on you to seek, knock, and ask. What you read here is Truth. What you get at your local church? I will leave that to you. But please, DO NOT try to live two lives. One of Grace, one of Religion, a house divided against itself shall fall. Talk to your Father now, and discuss this with Him, He will lead you to all Truth. What a great Blessing! Have a Grace Day!
Brother Glenn
Complete New Testament Grace Studies link: http://gracehouseministry.blogspot.com/
John 8:37-39
37But on the last, the great day of the feast, Jesus had stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsting, let him come to Me and be drinking. 38The one Trusting in Me, just as the Scripture said, ‘Out of his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.” (No specific OT reference, but for general idea see Isaiah 55: 1; 58: 11; Ezek 47: 1; Joel 3: 18; Zech 13: 1; 14: 8) 39But this He said concerning the Spirit, whom the ones Trusting in Him were about to be receiving, for Holy Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Good Day Child of God! "Father? Your Will Be Done!" This is three verses, only three verses, and to comprehend them prior to the death, burial, Resurrection, and Pentecost is near impossible. That is, when the Holy Spirit not only came upon the Apostles, they were indwelled by the Holy Spirit.
What makes the verses so hard to understand is that the people wanted to Believe the Messiah had finally come. Yet all the things they thought they knew from the teaching from Old Testament Prophecy about the Christ, didn't fit Jesus perfectly. Still He was such a different kind of teacher that most of those eager for the Messiah tossed aside their religion, Judaism, and stepped forward to Trust in Jesus.
Today's easy lesson: When you read the words above it must to come to you that what Jesus had to say was so freeing, so loving, so different from Judaism's Religious Tenets, that even though the people had to choose between what they were taught, or choose Jesus, they pushed aside feelings and went with what they could see, hear, and observe in their life.
Put yourself back there. Can you imagine how tough it must have been to want to follow the One True God's Son, but the message of Jesus defied the "church" in which you were brought up, and did not support Jesus? On the other hand, given a choice of walk the line or Live and love, the reality on the ground made the choice easy for many of the early Christians. It is kind of a Reformation similar to what happened in the 1960s where traditional, church going, act nice in public Christians, were finding that their children were not satisfied with Walk the line, and it wasn't just sex, drugs, and rock and roll. There was a great awakening to the Truth that is still alive and thriving to this day. Notice, I did not say alive and well. The hippies have gone from the Freedom in Christ, granted they did take most of that Freedom to far, but instead of digging deeper into the great path they were on, they submitted to the rule of Law. Then they came up with so many odd and unusual diversities within the new church culture, finding the Truth among all the variations the old hippies produced is near impossible. Back to square one, except instead of just the Law, they add Jesus, put it all in a mixer, and I guess you could call the newest version of mankind's penchant for religion, Superstitianity.
How does this help you in your daily walk with the Father? Jesus is in the Temple yelling to the crowds of people, on this last day of the Feast, and likely the day most people attending the Temple at one time, so to be heard He had to raise His voice. What Jesus was saying could not be understood at that moment, and the Apostle John explains why. The message is that Jesus was special in the eyes of many people due to His looks? No, it was all about the message and for His care about the average Joseph and Josephine. Maybe they didn't understand it all, but Love translates in every language, and that they could understand. Notice Jesus didn't discuss sin, baptism, confession, the Laws, none of that. Going back to the 1960s, I hate to use John Lennon as a reference, but in reality, when you tell people "Love is all you need," that they understand. Your Father has given you the Holy Spirit. Above, that little while John spoke of before the Holy Spirit would be able to indwell the Apostles, was nearly three months or more away. Plus that was an issue most could not understand. All they could understand is that if Jesus was the Way, the Messiah, they were in, and by that they were not going to be easily taken from Jesus. Jesus was there and they could hear Him and be counseled by Him. That is true today as well. Your Father is right inside of you. He will do anything to lead you down the path of righteousness for your own good, not His. Please take a moment to talk to your Abba, Father, Daddy right now. I am compelled to ask to do that. This feeling tells me that you will be joyful when the conversation is over. Have a Grace Day!
Brother Glenn
Complete New Testament Grace Studies link: http://gracehouseministry.blogspot.com/
John 7:30-36~Another Perspective
30So they were seeking to seize Him, but no one laid a hand on Him because His hour had not yet come. 31But many out of the crowd believed [or, trusted] in Him and said, “When the Christ shall come, He will not do more signs [than] these which this One did, will He?” 32The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the Chief Priests sent attendants so that they should take Him.
33Therefore Jesus said, “Yet a little time I am with, and I am going away to the One having sent Me. 34Will seek Me and will not find, and where I am, are not able to be coming.” 35Then the Jews said among themselves, “Where is this One about to be going that we will not find Him? He is not about to be going to the Dispersion (Jews scattered among the Greeks) and to be teaching the Greeks, is He? 36What is this word which He said, ‘Will seek Me and will not find, and where I am, are not able to come?’”
Good Day Child of God! "Father? Your Will Be Done!" There are times that when it comes to the point that the words are to begin being typed on the page that there is a hesitation. This is one of those times. I am not sure what the Father has in mind for the lesson and message, He gave me a glimpse, but with so much going on around me I thought I would share with you the difficulty there is at times to getting the Father's Words to you.
Each day that passes as we travel through the Gospel of John is another day that is within the Holiday time that is being celebrated. Most of the references coming from Jesus are because He is teaching in the Temple. As we read it is obvious that Jesus is coming to the end of His time both teaching this long lesson, and doing so within the Temple walls.
Today's easy lesson: By and large there is one significant problem Christians have that is so significant, so large, that it is the proverbial elephant in the room. It is an identity, and I will call it what it is; crisis. Maybe some of you have been in a place of learning where you have had the pleasure to witness a particularly keen teacher. At some point, usually at the beginning of the lecture, he or she will ask this series of questions: "Who among you feel that you are as good to God as any other person in this room?" In most cases, because people don't want embarrass themselves very few will raise a hand. The instructor, if adept at this sort of teaching, will finally get nearly everyone to raise their hand, if not all. Then the next question. "How many of you feel you are as good to God as your Pastor or Priest?" Now it gets serious. No one wants to put themselves above their Pastor or Priest but again, with some explanation, the lecturer will get people to raise their hands, but not all. Then goes the next question: "How many of you feel that you are as good as, oh for the different Christians in the room, say Billy Graham or the Pope?" Wow! Billy Graham or the Pope, most will think "I am not even 'Catholic' and I am not as good to God as the Pope!" Yet it doesn't stop there, because the instructor brings out one more question. "How many of you think you are as important to God as Jesus?" Now you hear the room make a collective shocking "Oh-h-h, in a low hum. The lesson is this. Your Father sees you as important to Him even as His own Son, even though we are as one adopted, as the Apostle Paul declares in the Epistle to the Galatians. His first writing.
How does this affect your walk with your Father? Again I will state that most if not all Christians have an identity crisis. They think of themselves as just poor sinners, trying to humble no doubt. Others say they are squeezing through by the skin of their teeth, or recovered drug addicts, drunks, and whatever misery they put themselves through and find it necessary to hold onto that moniker. Yet others are much more upbeat. They will tell you they are doctors, lawyers, successful, no, sorry, very successful salesmen or businessmen, or some important executive. What do you think God thinks about who they think they are? He thinks they have a problem. The Truth is each and every one of them that Trust in the Finished Work of Jesus, follow the Father, are His Children, of which there is no higher place a human being can go. Have you noticed however if asked we all tend to forget that part of our Life? Me too! Why do we do that? Because we don't know who we are talking to. If we know that they are a Christian, we may let loose and enjoy a Brother or Sister and have a wonderful, loving conversation. This is natural, you are not condemned for this manipulated forgetfulness, but on the other hand, how wonderful it would be, if we could all just walk around with a snap in our step, a smile on our face, and greet people with genuine kindness, and when they ask, "What makes you so happy today?" You can tell them, "I am a Child of God, and it doesn't get any better than that." Have a Grace Day!
Brother Glenn
Complete New Testament Grace Studies link: http://gracehouseministry.blogspot.com/
