January4 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Matthew:2:13-18 EGYPT - Events and situations are already beginning to form around the young child before He says or does anything; before his first steps most likely. These movements are based solely upon what He might represent to others. The faith of Jesus here is seen in what He had consented to before hand. Unlike any other religious icon Jesus came to be tested and to be proven to/by those who He came save. He would not become savior just because He declared Himself so, not because of some vision under a tree meditating on nothingness or some collection of thoughts gazing into the vastness of the night sky, but, because the Father submitted Him to our doubting suspicious manipulating tests. Anyone could portray themselves to be from God, only one could be proven starting even before He was barely conscious and absolutely powerless, totally in the hands of His Father. This is the Faith of Jesus, what He consented to. This is what makes His faith different from any other. This is what we need to find and keep within ourselves as well.
January5 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Matthew:2:19-23 RETURN FROM EGYPT - The savior of the world could have grown up or even based his ministry from anywhere, Egypt, Rome, South America, etc... It was not the Father's will though; the plan was to save the world by fulfilling the promise made to Abraham and the exact details given long ago to the prophets. Joseph is not told Nazareth specifically. Unless he himself knows of the prophecy, his own fear and protective sense leads him to the fulfillment of God's prophecy. Our Lord's faith, again by previous consent, is that He has come first as and for the children of the covenant and by that then also the rest of the world. He has also come that all prophecy may be fulfilled. No other religious icon has been prophesied to such extraordinary detail and fulfilled it thus passing the test of our scrutiny. Our faith needs to be placed in exactly that!
February27 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Matthew:13:53-58 BECAUSE OF THEIR UNBELIEF - The people of Nazareth were astonished but, not in the right way; they were astonished that the son of their well known carpenter was causing such a national disturbance. They may have even been witness or over-hearers of the burden Jesus' fame was placing on the rest of the family in these parts. Perhaps there was an embarrassment of their own. Here we see the limits of miracles, they are easy to write off, overlook or to see in the wrong light. Some would theorize that Jesus needed others to believe that He could do it in order to make a miracle happen, therefore He did few miracles during this time frame. It seems more likely that there was no point in wasting the efforts if they were just going to produce more of the same feelings of offence. Jesus limited Himself to mostly teaching, not that He didn't want to offend but, that He didn't want any progress to be set back. As always, He did what was right/given. The fact that this response from others was predicted by Isaiah (and others) should have alerted those in the know to caution or even quiet optimism. kjv@John:7:15-16 John records that Jews even marveled thinking that He was untrained. Jesus' reply was quite simple 'My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me'. The faith of our Lord is in knowing that human perception is always biased but can be swayed in some with much effort exposing falsity and truth. Others this effort merely offends. Miracles/signs can get into most doors but, not necessarily their hearts. You do what you can do with these doubters and leave it in God's patient hands for the rest.
March4 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Matthew:15:21 NOT SENT BUT - I don't think that the Lord is giving this Phoenecian gentile the brush off. There are several at least partial references to Jesus/Gospel coming to the Jew first. God in His righteous wisdom and for the sake of His covenant with Israel has foreseen the maximum benefit to the entire world will be gained through the initial and final emphasis on the lost house of Israel. In the middle of these two points is an age primarily of the Gentiles. It is because of the Jew's rejection of Christ that the Gentile is grafted into the Kingdom. Jesus signals to us herein a soon to come means of grace to all believers by drawing out of this woman a desperate but amazingly humble confession of faith. Jews should take careful note of this particular exchange. The faith of our Lord is in the entire plan for all mankind by means of a single point of injection, the rejection of the one tissue producing the antibody in the another returning in the end to immunize the fevered and rejecting tissue.
March7 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Matthew:16:5-12 TAKE HEED AND BEWARE - The Disciples have forgotten to bring bread (perhaps not even five loafs) and must think that the Pharisees are going to attempt to emulate the wonder with their own bread. In their minds I think that they feel that they've let Him down. That is an issue with their faith, Jesus is able to make bread from rocks if He has to. Instead the warning was to take heed (observe/examine) and beware (be alert to/take precaution against what has been discovered) of their false doctrines. Even a little bit of their doctrine ferments and puffs up the entire loaf. Leaven is essentially the left over or reserve from a previous batch of dough. Jesus at a latter point compares bread to His own body which is given for our sins; this is His doctrine, a new dough entirely. Anything other than this above or beyond (say legalism) produces a comparative diminishment of His doctrine and a swelling of man's. Amazing how the use of one word can describe the entirety of the doctrine held by others to such a tee. Little faith is that God does not have everything well in hand and is capable of doing whatever is most needed despite our effort or lack, corrupt faith is that salvation is anything less or more than the incarnation and sacrifice of the Son of God Jesus Christ. The faith of our Lord is that we will be able to take heed and beware of such corrupting doctrine once clued into this truth. However, it will be a constant effort and struggle against. A very small amount does change everything about what should be believed. And once altered, who do we get the loaf back to it's true unleavened form?
March26 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Matthew:21:18-22 IT SHALL BE DONE - His faith or the faith encouraged of these disciples is acting upon the fig tree. He hungers for fruit from a type of tree where there should be an over abundance. What then does this fig tree symbolize? In past parables trees, vines, wheat shafts that bare fruit have been used to illustrate faith; how it is rooted; what it is rooted along with; good tree good fruit; 30-60-100 fold; etc... Fruit has been the outgrowth of faith. We have seen good fruit and we have seen bad fruit. Now we are shown no fruit. Once support is removed from the fruitless fig tree it withers amazingly quick. The passage nearly suggests that those/some with fruitful faith have the power/responsibility to remove earthly support/continuance from the trees of those whose with fruitless faith, but at the same time they have a similar ability to move the unsurmountable obstacles to faith at the same time. Can both be asked for at the same time? That fruitless faith be ended and the voluminous task of fruitful faith begin? Too often we detach the first part of the teaching from the 'whatsoever ye shall ask'. Why then did Jesus not ask that the tree be made fruitful forever? Because only faith that abides in Him can be made to produce fruit, it is fruit that He Himself causes. The fruitless tree does not abide in Him and therefore cannot be made to bare His fruit unless made to abide in Him. Two trees perhaps within the same person and a mountain of difference between them. The faith of our Lord is shown here to hunger for one thing - fruit; good fruit, the type that the planter intended.
April12 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Matthew:26:14-16 BETRAYAL PART 1 - The betrayal of Jesus by Judas came in two stages, this stage is the arrangement, the next the actual act of leading them to His whereabouts. He has opportunity still at anytime to talk himself out of this and yet does not. In fact he goes back and congregates with the others and partakes at the Lord's table. Wouldn't you like to crawl into his head for a moment to know why he has gone as far as this first stage? Many have pondered and there are all sorts of varying theory's. In some respect it is amazing that of the primary twelve over this amount of time and under this amount of pressure and scrutiny eleven now remain intact, testament to Jesus' ability as a shepherd. I think it quite natural to have many tire out, move aside, resign to the rigors of the road. Perhaps not to the level of betrayal, but at least to a level of wanting to do something else. Given all the pitfalls and enticements and ravaging wolves along the way His achievement is substantial. Where, we must ask as well, in our own walk have we also turned aside if only in small measure betraying the Lord's faith and trust or image. In the next hours Judas will be watching on with particular interest of seeing his opportunity; surely a gut wrenching yet intoxicating en-devour. There will even be awkward moments where Jesus identifies him to the others without pointing directly at him. The faith of our Lord continues even knowing what is going on behind His back. Betrayal is but one of the many painful steps up toward the cross ahead. The road itself He sees even as from the Father. The same thorny road for Him may not end even as of today.
April27 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Matthew:28:11-15 COMMONLY REPORTED - It may illustrative of what the truth is up against all of the time. The people most important outside the actual story know only what is reported. Two parties may be in cahoots together and put a third party to blame. It is reasonably cheap when you are in a position of power to disregard the facts and bend the will of the people. Who is going to know? Some one from within these two groups might confess at some point (could have in this case) but, as long as the majority holds to the deception suspicion can be redirected. How much of this has happened in the past? Who is to say; how deep into this do you really want to go? How much of this is happening now? How much of what we know to be true is rather a cover up or deception? It would drive one crazy with the manifold possibilities and puzzling conspiracies and produce nothing but isolation and seething contempt in general (the opposite of love). One would likely still be left no closer to the actual truth for having pursued this course minus Christ as well. This is the chaos surrounding truth and who is the author of chaos? Man wanted to be like gods knowing good and evil? Well here it is to know one of the vicious clinging tentacles of evil's reach, the ease at which truth/facts/evidences can be spun and commonly misreported. The faith of our Lord is fully aware of this and yet does not get side tracked by attempting to combat these tendencies directly; they are what they are. Instead, it must be felt that by sticking to the presentation of the full gospel light that these hidden things of darkness eventually will be exposed. And who is the author of such singular faith?
May21 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Mark:6:1-6 HE MARVELLED - What is that? Our Lord marvelled? I find it interesting even in modern contexts the depths of prejudice within ethnic or racial groups themselves. We expect to see it spill out one group onto another back and forth, but, more curiously the type that never leaves it's own doorstep; it is a wickedness all it's own. Wouldn't you think that a Nazarene would have that home boy (small pond) making it big (big pond) hero coming home pride for the celebrity fellow Nazarene? Apparently not. They can't seem to get past the fact that at one point this was their town carpenter. I speculated previously that Jesus' family had sought Him out being convinced that He was beside Himself, that they had attempted to interrupt Him to draw Him back in, that I felt that they were under much pressure back home and had over reacted. Could this be the pressure that they lived under? Pressure from their own neighbours? If the works of Jesus to this point were not enough to change any minds in Nazareth then no future works while He was there would either. It almost makes you ask why did He go back home anyway? Was it to give them a final chance? Was it to minister to His mother and siblings? Was it a brief retreat? Was it for our viewing and further understanding? Was it simply because the Father told Him to? My own faith often differs from the faith of our Lord. I expect that if I am in the place God needs me then I will see the positive results and when I don't... I probably turn over/walk away from more crops than I plant because of this. But, who says that being in the right spot at the right time produces the right results? At least right as we see it?
May25 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Mark:6:45-56 IT IS I - Jesus is pushing the Disciples hard to understand something very important, something that they did not understand in the first pass with the loaves. There is a hardness/resistance there with them against this teaching that must be broken up. In order to do this He has them work frantically against the wind to save their own lives. The similarity to the message of the loaves is being intensified and personalized. It is a spiritual teaching remember where the Disciple is doing what he is told but, is long getting nowhere, barely maintaining the position to this point reached. How many times in the course of ministry are we found at the same point with our faith (even our lives at times) out on the line and the waves that could end it all are closing in all around us? Why was it Jesus was just going to walk on by? He wasn't, He was waiting for them to recognize Him. Up to now it had been their effort only, their fishes and loaves, but the situation before them was humanly impossible, improbable by nature and supernaturally unheard of. Had they simply asked Him to join on board and help the rowing effort it would still be their futile effort with an extra oarsman. Instead, had they called out to Jesus to rebuke the wind, do that which no man can do, their fulfillment of the task at hand would have gone much smoother. The few fish and the loaves amongst many, paddling against life threatening gail forces are all a part of obedience and serving this Lord. These are not meant to be lessons of learning defeat, they are meant to be moments of calling God to do the impossible; all in the course of obeying His will. The faith of our Lord is the faith of a master teacher. Certain lessons have to be learned, but, we find mere words often sell the lesson short. Teaching spiritual things often requires physical examples, physical experiences, even fearful adrenaline and sore amazement. If the Lord appears to you only as some ghostly spirit in these times you know that you are not recognizing Him for what He is and what Lord over all things He needs to be in your life. IT IS I.
May29 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Mark:8:1-21 THREE DAYS - Lost in all the miracle and parable business is the duration of three days where a large crowd has remained glued to Jesus but having not eaten. Can you imagine anyone holding a crowds attention for that length of time overcoming even their stomachs? What brought this crowd together? What was the message? Did they sleep? Is this an assembly of repentant converts? We simply are not told much about this event but, it has to weigh into our considerations just as much as the rest of the passage. Three amazing and energizing days ended by a second feed the thousand miracles, one would have to be feeling on cloud nine. There could not be a better feeling of spiritual purpose and clarity. Enter now the warning to beware of the leaven. Are the disciples especially vulnerable to pride and corrupted religious piety? The smallest bit can raise the entire loaf. Are they vulnerable to taking their new found whisp of spirituality a direction not intended by our Lord? The heart for all of it's present glee and intention can still yet be hard and become zealous for the wrong thing. With each divine provision shown there is more left over, more that hasn't been used, showing not only abundance but a responsibility to gather and account for the remainder. It is true with bread scraps, it is true with spiritual lessons remaining to be learned. The faith of our Lord is enthralling to observe, three days/three years pass by in a flash. No doubt the Lord loves for us to experience His great mercies but, is also concerned about where we go with our faith from that. It is far easier to corrupt the meaning and direction of the whole than it is to stay grounded in the humility and correction of the continued course ahead.
June10 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Mark:10:32-34 WHAT THINGS SHOULD HAPPEN - It says that they were amazed and afraid as they followed behind him. They knew something big was going on. They had been told at least two times previous and now they were marching forward towards the end. The determination of Jesus ahead leads to an odd sense of reverence the Greek suggests combined with uncertainty perhaps endangered concern within them. This is not as easy as just knowing what is about to happen, it is the struggle with why, it is the wrestling with where each of us fit into that. If Jesus is gone how does the movement continue? Who takes the lead? How do they stand against the forces building and soon triumphant over Jesus? What happens with the miracles? What happens with the crowds and adulation? Are they really ready to lead? Could this not be held off until they are better prepared? Jesus is depending on them, will they be up to the task. The lessons learned along the way of it being entirely God's power, faith the size to move mountains, eyes of a child, a pearl of great value, balanced against a faithless and perverse generation, sheep without shepherds, eye of a needle, darkness and tribulation like never seen; these things must be reconciled and brought to real and living faith. It is no wonder they are afraid and resistant. The faith of our Lord stands firm. This is the way. It must be thus. This is what He had come to do. The time is now. The rest is left in the Holy Spirit's hands.
June27 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Mark:14:32-42 SPIRIT WILLING FLESH WEAK - Would you consider falling asleep a sin? It could be if you were in trusted to post the watch. It would be if you had been commanded to (regardless of lives depending on it or not). The spirit may be ready but the flesh is weak. So how did Jesus want the three to counter act that weakness? To pray lest they enter into temptation. Temptation? What is the temptation? The pull of the flesh. What was the pull of the flesh in this case? To sleep and to take offense. The disciples had vowed to be by His side and no doubt they fully intended it. How did Jesus know that they would scatter away tonight offended? Because He would ask them to do something spiritual that they would only be able to do having received the strength to do it from the Father by prayer. The flesh pulled them away from receiving that strength. In contrast the Lord worked through the pull of His flesh by locking Himself onto a tractor beam of prayer. The sore amazement, the heaviness over the agonizing cup He was about to drink, the wrestling of His own will would perhaps have been too much had He not asked for and received the strength from the Father by His prayers. There are a great many things we've been asked to do that we fully intend to do but, the flesh has pulled us away. Maybe not in Ten Commandment kind of ways but, in deserting our post kind of ways, in dosing off kind of ways that leaves these things mostly undone. We can resolve by our own strength to do these things but, truly it is only by the strength received by prayer. Our spirit is ready for His strength to overcome the pull of flesh, but, we have not because we ask not. Jesus did ask. Jesus was able to complete His obedience. We have the feeling that He had asked us to do something He knew we couldn't do and when we fail somehow we get offended. I heard a wise man say today that "victory is not won it is received". The faith of our Lord is that when He asks us to do something near impossible (by our own resources) in the future that we will remember His similar "up against the impossible" example and pray for the strength required lest we enter into temptation, the pull of the flesh.
June30 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Mark:14:66-72 COCK CROW TWICE - How many more times in Peter's life was he greeted by the crow of the cock? Every morning likely! Don't think that this isn't what he thought of each and every time? It could have driven another man crazy had he not relied daily on the forgiveness of His Lord/Friend. Jesus knowing that he was going to do it surely forgave him before he had even done it. It wasn't giving him permission that He told him, it was simply stating where Peter was at spiritual having yet to be fully converted. So what was the point of Peter's full conversion? Perhaps it was this very thing in light of the death and resurrection he was about to witness. We, like Peter may have spent much time alongside Jesus learning by His words and His actions, we may insist that upon trouble that we wouldn't deny Him; yet, by our disobedience or doubt in small small ways we deny Him everyday. In larger ways we deny Him by pretending to be His light in our own yet corrupted ways. Now Peter could have just said "yes I am Galilean, what Galilean doesn't know about Jesus". He could have said "this man arrested tonight I know to be a good man at heart and it is up to all God fearing people here tonight to make sure that He gets the type of trial that god fearing people deserve". Or he could have said "I am here on the family's request". Why did he not say "watch closely, He has promised to raise again in three days". It was not an accusation of Jesus having foretold this, it is a spiritual fact, evidence of a spiritual condition, a condition that He is willing to use towards the fuller conversion of all of us. There is no doubt in my mind that any of us would have answered both the Lord and these maidens the same way. It is time for us to wake to the crow of the cock as well. But not to let that destroy us, not to make us all the more self determined, but, to allow His death/resurrection/forgiveness/lordship take hold of us completely as well. The faith of our Lord is that denial is not the end, once realized and confessed it is the starting point; now He can teach you. With proper counsel, the word of God can bring us forward out of what we merely think to be right. Peter was not a perfect man even years latter; he would be the first to tell you. Peter was a man saved by the grace of God and by the full and deeper experiences of serving a risen Lord.
July17 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:2:41-52 INCREASED - In just a few verses we have a wide picture of the Jesus at a very symbolic age for any Jewish boy/man. One, we see that many of His hometown were faithful enough to caravan south some 100 miles yearly from Nazareth to Jerusalem. Enough people traveled that it took nearly a day to sift the crowd to discover Him missing. Two, He was mature/trusted enough for His parents to go off on His own even in the big city, even on the road. Likely none of His siblings were not yet old enough to be in His responsibility. Three, not only are the scholars amazed by His questions but, also His answers. That He listens and ponders and probes others even while being under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit means perhaps studying more to how these men think and reason. Four, His first recorded words were in response to a rebuke from His mom for being so focused/enthralled with the intellectual curiosities as to have neglected timely obligations to the family; like many a boy. Unlike most young men of that age however, His interests were extremely spiritual; not an excuse so much as a predictable necessity if honestly judged by previous parental observation. Five, He was/remained subject to them though His mom would remember/consider this response long after; perhaps they both learned something about each other that day. Not only did He increase in wisdom and maturity, the righteous favor of God and man became central to Him as well. We do not hear about Him again for several years only that He replaced His dad Joseph at death as the town carpenter showing a patience and a waiting upon the Father's timing. The faith of our Lord is extreme in both it's eager ambition and it's temperate patience. A balance was found that gained Him stature and presence, discernment and favor. We must find similar extremes of faith and balance.
July21 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:4:14-30 THROUGH THE MIDST OF THEM - A prophet in his own country would be a well known proverb, Nazareth would be a well known prophetical link to messianic prophecy. The people of this city had to have some expectation. Jesus did not however match whatever that expectation among them was. The reaction at the synagogue goes from wonder to wrath all on the turn of Jesus' own words. While still in wonder, Jesus flips it and says 'but, you will ask me to heal myself' and then relates to two OT bible stories where only single individuals received God's grace. It is almost like saying that you are asking me to prove that I can heal you before you will allow me to heal you. In one of these stories the widow was commanded to receive the prophet and that she did. In the other story the man was under the command of the Syrian king to go to the king of Israel who in turn commanded him to visit the prophet. In this case after the healing, a servant of the prophet attempted to extort payment for the healing, breaking the prophet's command and thus as penalty received the first man's departed leprosy forever. These illustrations must be mentioned by Jesus to show to us Nazareth's heart at this time. Jesus came that all men might believe; he is not a respecter of any man over any another. The progress that He seeks however requires faith on the part of the recipient of such grace along with obedience such as these stories illustrate. One cannot first ask this particular Physician to heal Himself from the ailments that only one possess (lack of faith/obedience and over abundance of iniquity). The faith of our Lord walked into Nazareth knowing what reception awaited Him and He walked in without disciples or guard. They in turn attempted to push Him off the side of a cliff. How disappointing and eye opening this entire exchange must have been to His family and kin there in ear shot.
July22 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:4:31-37 AUTHORITY - Devils don't just relocate because they are told to no matter how stern and demanding. Exorcism requires an authority above and beyond the authority of the demonic. Authority requires either the threat of or exercise of greater power. When the townsfolk in Capernaum are are amazed and curious as to the authority exerted they are rightly familiar with these basics of this form of spiritual warfare. The question left for the ages however is where did the demons get their authority to posses in the first place? The most likely answer is from the possessed soul themselves or from someone in authority (such as a parent in the case of possessed from birth) either by permission or by blindly opening the door for them. Once authority is surrendered it seems that the authority cannot be resumed on ones own unless an authority above the authority of the demon(s) wins/brings authority back. The demons in this man believe Jesus to have the power to destroy them. Jesus does not destroy them at this time however. We must give this action/allowance the presumption of righteousness as we do not fully understand why why it is in fact righteous. Such a presumption opens up possibilities as to how all things can work for the good of those who love our Lord. The faith of our Lord exercises authority always within the framework/dictates of righteousness, not always by our understanding/self determination of such. By these actions He is by implication suggesting our need to offer Him the presumption of righteousness. It is an additional part of His faith in us.
August5 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:7:1-10 NOT IN ISRAEL - A Roman centurion with a love for Israel that is tangible and very generous, this is not commonly seen. The same man being concerned enough over his Jewish slave who is near to death to have Jesus approached, this is more rare. That the same man who is respectful enough of the elders to involve them in the process to approach the Jewish Messiah, this is unheard of. That this same man yet remains humble enough to feel, unworthy enough to have Jesus enter his house, barely worthy to meet Him along the path is most amazing. That this same man understanding the inner workings of our Lord's faith enough to it to discern it's authority is simply staggering. Even today when we make the connection of our Lord's faith to His authority it seems vague and theoretical. Authority is nebulous to us that have not ever been exposed to it; we know it is there, but not of it's substance or workings. We are not told of the slaves faith nor that of these elders (they were at least respectful enough to the man to agree to go along to get Jesus). One concerned person of the bunch being good hearted, being generous, yet being humble of self, yet being respectful of others, willing to put it all in the Lord's hands, with the discernment of our Lord's faith and authority presents the Lord with the pleasure of making this healing happen. The faith of our Lord not only has all authority, but is on the lookout for the opportunity to use it amongst the faithful. I do wonder at times what Jesus would have seen had He gone into this man's house. I speculate that like us there was particular reason(s) (not just intellectual) for him to feel unworthy. For all of this talk of authority He may not have had as much authority over himself or his household as we've lead ourselves to believe. If true, the stunning thing is that our Lord is always willing to work with such men for at least their faith is faith seldom seen in neither Israel then nor America today.
September4 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:12:54-59 THE FACE OF THE SKY - To put this in context we have the time of division flushing out the wickedness of men being used as a sure sign of the spiritual climate and times of fulfillment, a stern testing by our great adversary the accuser of the brethren, a debt owed to the last farthing if not covered by the blood of Jesus. The test of faith is not only seeing the times at hand and knowing what must be done, but being found doing what must be done when our Lord finally comes. It may be asked why in the end when the Lord knocked many did not open the door unto Him. Shall the answer be that they knew well the times, knew well the thing needing to be done, but delayed in the doing and now must face or hide from the terrible truth? kjv@Deuteronomy:32:29 "O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!". kjv@Acts:2:40 "...save yourselves from this untoward generation". kjv@Acts:13:26-38 "... be it known unto you therefore men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins". kjv@Luke:12:57 "... why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right?". The faith of our Lord sees of His Father all righteousness being fulfilled and therein the cause and direction of the turbulent weather all about us. All things work hand in hand to achieve His eternal purpose. His faith sees the Father's hand leading Him to His cross and the same hand leading His followers through the trying maze of hostile divisions and adversarial tribulations by the light of that same cross. Yet this storm to shall pass, the Sun of righteousness shall rise, the clouds of doubt shall be mightily put to rest for those that continue in His path.
September18 @ @ rRandyP comments: m[FaithOfJesus} kjv@Luke:16:19-31 A GREAT GULF - There are a great many that believe that if the evidence were strong enough their minds would be changed about the Gospel of Salvation. Perhaps a tormented soul back from the dead. Perhaps a comforted soul from Abraham's bosom. Truth be told, the mind only sees what it wants to see. Take the condition of Lazarus. We chose to see his suffering in this life as a reward for sin, a curse upon him, a proof of his idiocy. Take the rich man living sumptuously. Wealth and health are a sign of God's blessing upon him, that he is rewarded for his goodness, favor is upon him, that he is doing something right that Lazarus is not. Take the general concept of sickness and/or poverty, that if you are doing as God commands that these horrors will be kept from you. This is the way that we choose to see it. The problem with evidences and proofs is that there is always more needed. It is not a condition of the mind; it is a condition of the heart and what it is willing to hear and believe. There is plenty of evidence in Moses (his life, the Exodus he lead, the wilderness experience, the Law) and the prophets (their words, their works, their fulfillment, their reception, their establishment in the scriptures/history long after their decease) to be more than convinced of something much more than hand of man. Yet the mind does not go that direction. Even those that were their with Moses or Elijah or Jeremiah at the time, they had little conception of what was transpiring before their eyes and murmured and conspired and persecuted. The curiosity of this parable tends to draw us toward the after life side of the equation when we should rather be looking at the present living side of it; how we rationalize sickness and poverty and wealth and prominence etc...; how we testify against ourselves in the midst of divine movements and revelation. The five brethren are the many of us and this life we still enjoy is the only chance we have to resolve these conditions of our heart. The faith of our Lord is in this heart and in everything He has put forth past present and future to turn it from it's disbelieving ways. More important than knowing what happens to us after our death is how we come to perceive things in this life and learn to depend upon Him to cross the immediate vast gulf.
September21 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:17:20-37 LIGHTNING - If you are looking for the Kingdom of God don't follow where others tell you to look, that it is a place, a political/economic system, a particular denomination or cult; the Kingdom is within/inside you. If you are looking for the second advent don't think that Jesus will slowly appear in California to re-establish a group of latter day followers, He will appear as a bolt of lightening from one end of the heavens to the other. This message is spoken throughout prophecy. The second coming is nothing like the first. It will not be "I wonder if this is so". It will be sudden immediate determined judgment (and not the final judgment even). If there is the time to think back on all of the possessions you will leave behind, don't do it. If there is a brief moment to turn and look back on your city, don't do it. This is not a "pull all the data together to finally decide" moment, this is a "decisions already been made and lived forward for sometime... now it's time to go" half second. This is not the light of regular lightning as well. A ray of light from one end of the physical heavens to the other would take billions of years to travel. This is the pinnings of space and time abruptly superseded by something much more powerful, something (shall we say "someone") at the same time snatching His followers up and away. How can this then be explained by those that do not get raptured up? The message and implications will be perfectly clear to them. If this in fact happens early in the tribulation as many believe, the ugly time that follows is the workings of God condemned souls that seek to put forward a full fledged rebellion against God. Not a few souls, nearly all, and with extreme hatred. The great deception may be that they actually think that they can stage this rebellion against God and win. The Anti Christ not only becomes anticipated but welcome. The flushing out of remaining nominal Christians and Jews by economic and legal means becomes number one priority. The mark of the beast is worn with extreme pride. A worldwide celebration remember is broadcast with people exchanging gifts when the final two great prophets are executed. How can any of this be possible unless such a vile defiance and "in your face God" rebellion has not become the absolute worldwide cause. The faith of our Lord is a tremendous thing when His love and mercy for us is considered. However at this particular unprecedented moment all things change like at no other moment (save Adam and Eve's perhaps). There will be no turning back, not for Him, not for believers, not for those left behind. His lightning is not a mere line drawn in the sand, it is a vast gulf that none can traverse save the relatively few tribulation saints. There will be a final final judgment. It will not be sudden. Everyone of these evil men will look back on this rebellion, and know that He is God, and will have only to bow their knee and confess Him as God before accepting their rightful eternal sentence. It is crazy how much of the picture we don't see that Jesus does.
October5 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:20:27-40 GOD OF THE LIVING - It is amazing how many doctrines and layers of doctrine can be built from one wrong assumption. If wrong in this one area, how many other areas can one be wrong with? Add all the layers up and you can see how easy it is to live a religious life that believes in the same name of the one and only God, but is as wrong as wrong can get. Bring that truth forward into today's universalist notion that "all paths lead to God". A path derived from the assumption that there is no resurrection leads to a outlook and experience that differs from outlook and experience of others. It leads to a different perception of the necessity of Christ for salvation (salvation from what?). It is this perception and the many other possible combinations that allow one to rationalize the procedures necessary to kill off the Christ that stands today before them. How then do all paths lead to God if most paths lead to replacing Him? What the "all paths" argument is actually saying is that God is a big enough person to excuse these murderous (physically, intellectually, theologically) idolaters who blaspheme the work and testimony of the Holy Spirit, completely shun the design and plan of God the Father and disregard the sacrifice made on their behalf by God the Son. What this God is is whatever one wants Him to be; He is nothing more than a vain imagination. Do all paths lead then to a vain imagination? If even the believers of the one God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob can go astray at several essential points, what hope have the many would don't even believe that? The faith of our Lord is that man will not only be in heaven eternally, man will be on an equal footing with the angels that are already there. There is quite the transformation that has to occur between here and there. It is a transformation that only His death and resurrection can make on us. If God is the God of the living, then and now, how many of the living will have accepted Him for the God He actually is?
October8 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:21:5-38 POSSESS YOUR SOULS - At a time when all of this is happening around you the command is "In your patience possess ye your souls". It would be easy for the heart to be over charged, men's hearts failing them for fear, being distress and perplexed. This is not however the heart of the follower of Jesus. Listen to the commands stated here - go ye not therefore after them, be not terrified, settle it therefore in your hearts, in your patience possess your souls, then look up, lift hands, know that the kingdom is nigh, take heed to yourselves, watch ye therefore, pray always to be found worthy. It would be easy for the mind to chase after only the maze of prophetical details. One could ask how are all these odd un-connectable details ever connect to be fulfilled. The Jews looked upon the earlier messianic prophecies the same way and saw the near impossibility of putting all the prophetic pieces together. So much so that they missed the actual fulfillment happening before their eyes in real time. It was really quite easy to put all the many pieces together once we saw how easily God fulfilled them. These end time prophecies could very well be the same for us; illogical or impossible to see as one completed puzzle, but there is no doubt God will have an easy time preforming them all as one as well. More than the individual details revealed, we should consider that within the many details is a fairly straight forward way of keeping ones head through the time to come; obey the commandments contained therein. They are nearly the same commands that would see us through most any other trial or personal tribulation. One other thought. When this time comes what has ever happened to all the tolerant secularists and intellectuals? What has happened to humanism and pacifism and the great enlightenment? Why are they attacking the elect so? Could it be that they cannot withstand the terrors and perplexities of what is come? The faith of our Lord calls a whole lot upon the obedience of these end time saints. The things that they are asked to do and suffer is almost for to shame to us who have it so good now. It may not be their time now, but it certainly is our time now. What have we been asked to do and suffer? Should not we get to doing it before this time sneaks up unawares?
October15 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:22:66-23:25 YE SAY THAT I AM - It is said by many that Jesus never claimed to be the Son of God, that the gospels have been corrupted into claiming that for Him. Here Jesus claims that He would not be believed if He did tell it. Further He said that herefore after He would be at the right hand throne of God. Does that mean that that He was making the claim to be the Son of God? The chiefs, scribes and elders took it to mean so. How does one corrupt the fact that the well schooled Hebrew scholars and leaders sought vehemently to kill Jesus because of this blasphemous claim, that they falsified information on a trumped up charge of national perversion and sedition, that they accused him of claiming to be Christ which by prophetical necessity is the same Son of God, that neither of the state authorities could not find evidence for the trumped up charge and that the leaders still pursued the death sentence for Jesus over that of a seditious murderer? Jesus does not have to claim it at this point because everyone there knows that it is the claim that He is by implication making. The issue then (as it is now) is whether one believes the claim or not, not whether the claim has been made. Not believing that the claim has been made is cheap and lazy way intellectually of not having to believe in Jesus the Son of God. It is employed mainly by those other religions that want to borrow from the teachings/goodness of Jesus without having to take Him at His word. The faith of our Lord is in much more than words, it is also in accomplishments and reactions. What better way to answer whether you are Son of God than have your adversaries unwittingly and against their will prove it.
October17 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:23:44-49 INTO THY HANDS - His final words in Luke are a quote from David kjv@Psalms:31:5 . Was scripture like this what He was focusing on up there to get himself through this? He did always combat temptation with scripture quotes! So much of what David writes about mirrors what we'd imagine Jesus saying if He had He not kept His silence. kjv@Psalms:31 as a whole is very close in details with just a few oddities such as an iniquity that David had that Jesus would not (unless it is the iniquity of man He bore). There are several Psalms of David that Jesus could be reflecting on like this one kjv@Psalms:22 etc... David's Psalms have that kind of similarity to our struggles and are often used to empathetically encourage us. It could have been the same for Jesus as He felt His bodily functions shutting down. Perhaps these Psalms would be too focused on what He was going through and He was clinging to several of the more "Glory/Splendor of the Father" type writings kjv@Psalms:21 kjv@Psalms:104 etc... Jesus appears lucid to the end and amazingly strong to speak considering what is happening to His lungs (He is basically suffocating, drowning in edema and exhausting himself to death nJesusDeathScientific). Or could it be instead that David was reciting Jesus' silent Psalms. Our Lord has put absolutely everything on the line; there is nothing else for Him to give. If He were a gambler He would be said to be "all in". For it to be finished this way there seems to be a lot left on the table for the others yet to accept and understand and take on. The faith of our Lord is in everything now out beyond this certain death, and as to those He is leaving behind it is in the work of the Holy Spirit to tie all the pieces for them together.
October26 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@John:1:35-42 COME AND SEE - There are pivotal moments in one's life where a decision to change or start anew is stepped out on. In the case of two the one thing lead to the next. Had they not made the original decision to follow the Baptist they would not have been in a position to decide on the next. In a sense the opportunity came to them. In another sense now they have to pick up and go to the opportunity. They are asked what is it that they seek. Now you could imagine not knowing the first thing about who this Messiah actually is. You are filled with a hodge podge of bits and pieces of heresy and conjecture and interpretation, you are filled with certain hopeful expectations, but there is absolutely nothing that you know about His manner or nature or temperament. This to you is a total stranger and you are going after Him based on the word of a wild and crazy locust eater. Further, now others are being introduced to Him by your acquaintance and testimony. We are told elsewhere that there wasn't anything physically about Jesus really that would indicate or point Him out, make us to desire Him. So for these men it must have been the word or the buzz that was developing; we are not told whether He has done/taught anything spectacular yet. To often in our own lives our formulations are based everything but the testimony of people in the know, people that have been searching these details out. We wait until we are desperate, until we see the indisputable, until the evidence pounces upon us; which means we spend a whole lot of time just waiting. These men however seem much more intellectually sincere and honest about their approach. The are asking simply where is the Rabbi staying and taking it from there as it comes. The faith of our Lord doesn't need to drive men to utter desperation or into the miraculous to get their minds/hearts to follow, it is intriguing enough on it's own merit. It is observed here as spreading based upon the testimony of prophet God had firmly established who prepared the way by calling men to universal repentance. Once repentant, the heart is more likely of inquiring into the strange and unfamiliar paths of God's bolder righteousness.
November1 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@John:4:1-26 IF THOU KNEWEST THE GIFT - Jesus is apparently avoiding/postponing conflict with the Pharisee's who are now taking notice of Jesus by the numbers He is drawing away from them in Judea. He takes the most direct route to Galilee venturing through the hated Jewish half breed land of Samaria. Jesus stops outside of Sychar and sends His band of Jewish looking fellows into the town to barter with the natives for food. A woman comes to the well to draw water just as she did probably twice a day, this time to find a lone road weary Jew sitting at the step of the well. What ensues is one of the most intimate conversations recorded in the gospels. It describes how Jesus pursued His way past her many defenses to bring her into an understanding of who He really was. First defense was ethnic, though they shared a common ancestry she made it a point to draw out their difference rather than their similarities. Jesus dislodged that defense by suggesting that who He was was someone that both and Jew and Samaritan had long looked forward to and that what He had to give was much anticipated by both. Her second defense was to claim ancestral rights to the lineage of Jacob. His response was to offer her more than an old decaying inherited landmark and to point to the vast difference of the shallow mountain runoff well's water to His eternal living water. Still calling Him "sir", her third defense is to make Him prove His offer. He replies by pointing her politely to a adulterous secret she holds that could not be known by any stranger. Now that she sees Him on the level of maybe a Jewish prophet, her fourth defense is to deflect His piercing gaze into her soul by diverting it to theoretical controversy as to the true singular sacred places of worship. It is an easy answer for Him to turn back on her for it does not matter where one worships as it does who the true object of that worship is given to. Her fifth defense is to put the concept of Messiah off into the future "well when messiah comes he will". Jesus declares "I am He". She has no other defense, she has only to believe His oath or not believe. There is no doubt that Jesus had many such conversations like this with a great many people. The few that we have recorded (like the previous with Nicodemus) are much glossed over and tightly edited with purpose. This seems to be one of the most open and free flowing of them all and show us a very intimate side of Jesus. He was not pushy, but very engaged and direct. He spoke in vivid pictures and concept that could be latched onto and remembered easily with time released multilayer payloads. He was able to work through her defenses with an intriguing honesty and sincerity and passion that she would come to respect. By the time the woman reaches her kinfolk she is convinced that He is Christ. The recorded record of our Lord is fast pace and compact with good reason. The faith of our Lord however is on a much deeper one on one plane that connects with the very core of the people He presents Himself to.
November6 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@John:5:16-30 HEARETH MY WORD - This passage is an amazing display of our Lord's faith. The Pharisee's have just accused Him of thinking Himself equal to God. He reveals how that arrangement works. In His present state He will do nothing of His own self. What He see's the Father do, that is what He will do. He seeks not His own will. Think of all the things thus far we have seen Him do. Think of all the things that He is about to do. Think of the cross for which He is best known today for doing. Surely now the Father has not put Himself technically on the cross and died for sin, but literally He has shown that to Jesus. It is said that the Father has given the Son judgment, the cross is that judgment. Jesus has seen it, has understood it, has pursued it, will become it because He seeks not His own will. The judgment then for us is quite simple and straight forward. He that believeth this Son's word and He who has sent Him has eternal life. The Father is showing Him things along the way to do that will make that belief all the more believable for all men. When He makes the man at the pool whole, He see's the Father doing that. When He releases the legion of demons from the grave dwellers soul He see's the Father do that. What a clarity of vision He must have and need to upkeep. It takes constant prayer and devotion. He can see it written before Him in scriptures placed hundreds even thousands of years before Him. He can see it in the Holy Spirit moving Him from location to location. He can see it in His dreams and visions. He may be able to see the event right before the event occurs and know to do it. Whether He is shown an overview/outline/direction or the brilliance of detailed motions the effect is just the same. So not only is He equal, He has surrendered that equality in order to perform the will of the Father. He has not come to condemn any man in the way that we mean it for only the man himself by not believing in His word and He that sent Him can do that. Even the those in the graves shall hear His voice and raise up to be judged, those having done good by believing to the resurrection to grace, those having not believed to the resurrection of damnation. Many will ask "how could He do that?". The question is rather "why would man not do that?". Why would the Father do this? That the Son might be honored even as the Father is. It is an equality certainly, not though as a simpleton would think. The faith of our Lord is in a very intimate relationship to/with the Father who has given Him all things and is placing all things at His feet. As the Father has loved the Son, so the Son is loving of the Father. Not just in words and platitudes, but in actionable deeds and obedience's. Our faith then is in what the Son has shown the Father to be doing. As we love the Father, His Son having been seen by us to be sent, we see what it is we are to do likewise seeking not our own wills.
November8 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@John:6:1-15 WHENCE SHALL WE - It says that Jesus knew what He was going to do. He was going to feed over five thousand here on a grassy knoll with whatever they had present. In so doing He was going to examine the hearts of those there with Him; for their sakes. There had to be wondering among the disciples as to how this was going to happen, obviously it could not happen by any earthly means, but that did not stop the disciples from obeying the command and moving forward into the crowd with their baskets. We could say same thing about nearly anything spiritual still today, "how is this going to happen", "there is no earthly way". These things become an examination of our hearts also. Will we obey and move forward? The men could have been made laughing stalks ("What did you think was going to happen? Did you really think?"). They were not. Now is the examination of the crowd. Are you really going to reach up and grab that imaginary piece of something that the silly disciple of this strange man is going to pretend to hand you? It looks like they are handing out something however. Could it be? Now that you have eaten to your complete satisfaction what do you think? Was that fish? Was that barley loaf? Are there really twelve bushel baskets of left overs? Well suddenly, unexplainably, you think that this strange man is not so strange as it first seemed. You are thinking that He very well could be "The Prophet come in to this world". By the utter gasp throughout the crowd you know that others are thinking the very same thing. Some have taken to psalms and dancing, others to contrite prayer, as a whole there is awe and amazement. Now comes the examination of the reader two thousand years after. What, you don't believe in "The Prophet"? "The anointed One"? How could He? How is it? The gasps around you continue; different times, different people, different ways, gasps just the same. People who were once just as skeptical as you; now they too are dancing. You are right actually you know! There is no earthly way; yes. That does not mean that there is no heavenly way however. Why is it that Jesus knows what He is going to do beforehand, but chooses by doing so to examine our hearts? Because our hearts need to be examined. We need to be drawn out of our disbelief and challenged by what is bigger then we are willing to accept. What if one of the disciples just said "no"? "I don't believe in this"? "I am not going to entertain this any longer"? "I don't need to be tested in this way"? "Just say what it is you are going to say and we'll get along to Passover"? What if one of the crowd had stood up and shouted "you are all crazy"? "I'm going back down this hill and getting me some real fish, some smoked fish"? Ask yourself, was there anyone there that day that did this? Why not? We have been talking throughout about witness and testimony. How Jesus on His single testimony alone would not be legally convincing. How that with all the other testimony and the witness of all else that there was no earthly way for things to happen the case is much better made (It is that part this we choose not to believe). And with all of that the realization is made that it is God the Father pointing to this "Prophet" as if He has never before pointed or never again, the evidence is near insurmountable. That the sacrificial Passover depicting the blood of the Passover Lamb and deliverance from bondage is always close in the picture, the proving then is a test of our willingness to step out from our sin by His grace and righteous provision and to move forward. This crowd collectively decided to take Jesus by force to make Him king making the examination both wonderfully passed and horribly failed simultaneously. They are not yet willing to step out from their sin, only ready to make Him the chief of it. The faith of our Lord is that this too will one day pass, and that is why the proving. To get from where a soul is to where it needs to be takes a complete transformation, yet the soul no matter where in this process it is believes that it is already fully arrived. The proving is a reminder that this transformation is not earthly possible. It is heavenly if at all. Continually stepping out and obediently moving forward through this proving is to be our part of this transformation. Whence then shall we?
November25 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@John:11:1-16 BECAUSE HE SEETH THE LIGHT - The thing that is sure to catch the eye is the intensity of the miracle and the set up to it. There is something stated here that could slip by if not pointed out. The concern of the disciples is obvious and sincere. Without being there I believe it is hard/impossible for us to grasp just how dangerous getting to (and back from alive) this miracle will be. You and I would see the danger and we'd be able to come up with several self justifications dressed up in alternate but safer forms of ministry, a letter, an envoy, a bouquet, a tract, an evening of group prayer. If we were a messiah we could even issue the command to rise from far away. Jesus does not shy away from this. How does He know from all His options which course of action is the correct one? How does He favor the one when everyone else is convinced otherwise? How does He keep Himself from stumbling? Jesus inserts a quick illustration walking in the light of day; there being twelve hours. Though I don't claim to understand it with any certainty, at the same time I know that this insertion was not frivolous or placating. I believe that the answer He meant for us is in His answer here. So often we are faced with several immediate options only one of which we can actually take. We apply our wisdom to the discernment of which one to choose. As we process those decisions, by what light are we analyzing them by? Our Lord's decision is lit by the glory of the Father seeking to glorify the Son. Has that ever since changed? Lazarus's body was dead and decaying, his soul had not yet transitioned (nor would it this time) it was sleeping and unaware awaiting the Son to receive the Father's glory. Lazarus's condition is not a common condition of death for others, it is like being laid out on the ledge spiritually presented by the Father for the Savior to come and show Himself by. Who else's death can we say this of?. Jesus sees this presentation and knows that He must move that direction no matter what the supposed cost might be. IS this the type of presentation we should be looking for as well? If He is sent here to do the Father's work, here is where the Father's work is sending Him. We too must become more and more aware of the pathways appearing in front of us. We were created unto good works, works that He will direct us to should we be alert and not fear the assumed consequence. The faith of our Lord is that there is twelve hours in this symbolic spiritual day and that the work does not end until the lights are completely out. If the light shows another task to be done then what is to stop Him, HE SEETH THE LIGHT.
November27 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@John:11:38-44 SAID I NOT THEE - How then did the glory of the Father show upon the Son? By performing a work that made people to believe that Jesus had been sent by God to do the works of God. If you think about the many people in the gospels that confessed their faith that Jesus was good teacher, a prophet, maybe a future king, could perform miracles, they are mostly indistinguishable. If you think about the number that confessed Jesus to be the Son sent from God three stand out, Peter, the Samaritan Woman and Martha. Of the three only Martha believed for something as immediate and tangible as Jesus raising her brother physically from death. Now some see Martha as doubting in the end, Jesus was not going to let that stop this. I rather feel Martha had realized the horror and embarrassment that when Jesus did raise her brother he would be decayed and soiled and putrid. In other words, I believe that for her it was not whether Jesus was going to do this, it was the state that she was going to see her brother in when He did. Remember that Jesus had done this miracle (she was likely to know this) previously to the young girl. Regardless of what her comment meant, Jesus was willing to take this miracle all the way for the sake of those that would finally believe for the very reason that they should believe. You will notice that Jesus will soon die for man, there will be nothing similar to this miracle that man can do for Jesus. In this instance though, even before His own resurrection by God the Father, through Him God the Father would raise Lazarus from physical death with the intent of showing HIS Son to believers in the proper and glorious light. The faith of our Lord is shown in the form of praise "I thank Thee that thou hast heard me" and in the form of the command "Lazarus Come Forth". It is also in the understanding of how this was to be and to whom/for whom it was performed. Who is to tell Lazarus of what has happened? How to tell him? He may have heard Jesus say the time He taught at his house; he may have believed Jesus that He is the "Resurrection and the Life". Well now he and his sisters truly know! Now to tell the wailers.
November29 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@John:12:1-11 AGAINST THE DAY OF MY BURYING - It is ironic that Jesus in large part is being sentenced to death for raising a man from the dead. Name me another such case. Now the reasoning behind the sentence will quickly evolve into more, but at this point the fear is that Jesus is now performing things that have serious internal and external consequence. Lazarus is also marked out (sentenced to death for once being dead). There are many aware of Jesus' whereabouts. They are commanded to report it to the leaders, not many did. They could be held as duplicitous cooperatives (knowing that the dead man raised and the man who raised him were meeting). You can see just how ridiculous the leadership has gotten. Then there is Mary, Martha's sister. We have already spoke of Martha's uncommon faith; it appears that it has rubbed off on to Mary. Mary and Martha had kind of gone back and forth with the lead of obtaining the fullest measure of faith, Mary having been the un-distracted pupil first and Martha recently having accepted the Lord's omnipotence first. Mary now comes forth with nearly a years worth of common wages to pour over her Lord's head, intuitively realizing that He is about to die for mankind's sins. The men folk are not this far along yet as some are swayed (or confused) by Judas' reasoning. They do not yet know Judas as the Lord knows him, nor do they know the road that has been leading him to betrayal. Judas will betray Jesus. He'll be the one to tell Sadducee where Jesus will be at. We suspect that it will also be about the money, but the money may just be the gateway drug to something much more determined. Judas trips up here and crosses Jesus and nearly brings the other men crosswise along with him. Surely he knows that. There is more than just ointment that has been stored up that is about to be broken open and spilled out. There was a prophecy given to the young mother Mary that the Christ child she bore would one day cause her great pain because that He would reveal the hearts of many. See then the hearts revealed. Feel her pain amongst otherwise anticipation and excitement. The day now is soon coming and is already. How much more do you need to see to be convinced? Not enough revelation yet? The faith of our Lord is that none of this trouble is by accident, it is raised by His presence. A son cannot do any of the works of his father in this darkening light without the whole world coming to pieces. And why this? Because of the hearts of man. A hundred billion hearts all with such busyness to do. How crucial this quiet personal moment of sincere personal homage by a long haired woman of such great compound yet simple faith. A moment saved up for against the day of His burying!
November30 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@John:12:12-19 THY KING COMETH - It had been said that "no man taketh" the Sons's life that He "gladly giveth it". The Sanhedrin watched on powerless and self defeated. The disciples watched on not understanding. The effect of the raising of Lazarus is stunning even months latter. The part of the crowd that awaited waited to see what blessing the miracle man would bless them with next. The part of the crowd that had followed Him in were following expecting Him to be their King immediately just as a year before (and Jesus had refused). A part of the crowd gathering just to not to miss a good commotion. Jesus on the one hand, the perceivable side was boldly defying the Sanhedrin and political elite. On the other hand, the one not to be understood till after, He was giving Himself over to His death; not by anyone's power but His own. Hosanna is to say "Come save". Only He at this point understands what to "save" means and from what. "He that comes in the name of the Lord" is taken by the crowds in many different ways as well; only He knows from just how far He has come and for what. He has come and entered in and it will take days before anyone in power will know what they are going to do. They won't know till it walks up to them in the form of a betrayal. The faith of our Lord is that in the weeks after to come the true understanding will closely follow. There wont be the understanding actually until it walks up and fills the room in the form of tongues of fire, The Holy Ghost. It will walk up to us because of Him, the one who freely gave His life that we might live. It will draw us in because of Him, the one that took Life back. This is for our salvation and that is our King and that will be the fold of His kingdom. THY KING COMETH... COME SAVE.
December1 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@John:12:20-36 IF I BE LIFTED UP - There at least three objectives I see stated; that the Son of Man be lifted up, that the prince of this world be cast out, that men while they have light be drawn to follow Christ. Think of man's state as being compressed and flatted as if by a mechanical press where everything is at the same level. Look around and it all seems about the same including the person and works of Jesus. Slight variations, He (maybe another) might have been a better man, may have done some miracles and such, but near to our human level. Now think of Him as being lifted up off our compressed level by His resurrection and witnessed ascension. Our understanding is no longer as flat and perceptually relative, there is space between us and Him and we are drawn towards Him from out of our tight quarters. With that space we look back on His miracles, His healings, His parables, His teachings, confirming voices and testaments and we now see that God the Father was trying to show us something much bigger at the time than we could comprehend. There becomes an expanded middle ground so to say so that even the prince of this world cannot perceptually hide in the previous flatness. Satan is exposed and forced out into the open having not the same death hold on us as before; he then, when purpose unfolds, can be extracted. It all comes as a result of one man's death and resurrection; His uncommon lifting up. There have been those like Lazarus that have slept and been raise from sleep back into this earthly dimension. There is no one other than Jesus that has raised fully into His previous glorious state having conquered both sin and death, shown Himself tangibly to us glorified and ascended up through a parting of heaven and earth to the right hand throne of God His Father. Okay, so see how different that is, see how uncommon and not flattened that is, allow for what is expansive and drawing about that. "If any man serve me, let Him follow me" He says "where I am, there also my servant will be". Is Jesus in our flattened/compressed sphere or is He lifted far above it? There may be additional significance that there are Greeks in this audience with the Jews as well as they would more closely resemble us Gentiles today. For the moment they see the signs and hear the voices, but they as of yet do not know who the Son of Man is or what it means for the Son to be "lifted". The "Light" is amongst them also for this short preliminary time. Take notice of this time He tells them, remember what is said and done while I am here, it will help you to see how dark things are at my passion and death, how glorious and expansive things have become once I have raised and lifted up. The faith of our Lord is in the way things actually are that we cannot yet see and in the way they better need to be if we can just be made to see it. The first spiritual sight from our blindness we will ever see is Jesus Christ the Son of the Living Father God high and lifted up. These men are yet to see that, but then the act has not yet been physically performed. Today the act has been performed, are we willing now to see that? Are we willing to follow in the sense that He means for it?
December3 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@John:13:1-17 THOU SHALT KNOW HEREAFTER - What information is it that Peter is without that He will come to know shortly that will make this lesson of the master washing the feet come to full light? He doesn't know that one pair of those feet has already put plans in place to betray our Lord. Another of those pairs of feet will deny Him. Other's eyes will drift to sleep when they should be on watch and pray not to enter temptation. One of those pairs will refuse to believe the other's testimony till he sees the resurrection with his own two eyes. Like Peter there are many things that we do not know about ourselves or those around us that the master knows and yet He does what He does because it is the right thing to do. Remember this because soon the role we are to play changes. Instead of our master washing our feet it will be us washing other's feet. There likely will be things that you come to know about the others that they may not even know about themselves that would cause a less Christ like person to simply walk away from. Perhaps it is people in your congregation, persons in your family or community, even key individuals within your ministry, perhaps it is not just one but all of them, because of what you know about them you may feel above humbling yourself to this level of service with. Our Lord went ahead with it; so should we. If anyone should be above this it would be the one whom all things had been given, who came from the Father and is going to the Father. Yet, Jesus loved His own which were in the world and loved them to the end. Let's ask it this way, these men have been with Jesus more than three years, at what point were they perfected? At what point did they fully believe to the complete saving and cleansing of their soul? The faith of our Lord put into this light is truly amazing. For three years the completion of this work upon these men has always been out into the future. It could even be said that the true work has only just begun. These men have loyally followed, they have some information, they have many amazing experiences, they have been made to feel part of the group and future of this ministry, however, it has all gone to help Jesus show Himself to the world as the Messiah. Now comes the individual transformations and the transformed group taking shape. Now it it comes to what a faithful believer in this Messiah is looks like and doing and why he is doing it. The faith of our Lord has been a total investment into what these men could be after He departs from them. So the investment comes round to us; it is now our holding. There is what you know about yourself and other people. There is what our Lord has faith that we will become. There is a lesson as to how best we show that we understand that lesson and how we show it forward to those whose weary feet like our's may need a little refreshing.
December4 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@John:13:18-30 TO WHOM I GIVE SOP - Why didn't Jesus out Judas right then and there? Let's put ourselves in the mind of Judas for a moment. Whatever it was that made him to inquire with the Sanhedrin in the first place he has probably carried in his heart long before that; one doesn't just jump to such a decision. Now he is carrying all of that plus the anxiety of it all now coming together into this supper attempting to disguise it. The disciples there with him are looking at one another sizing each other up. Peter the courageous spokesman is even timid about asking who Jesus means. Jesus though is leaving it hang out there over the room. Judas and He both know who He is talking about, yet it is left for everyone to ponder and search out for themselves. Judas has to be thinking "Master just tell them". Orelse maybe Jesus is thinking "Judas just tell them". The truth is Jesus is man enough (has better purposes) to not out Judas to the others and Judas is coward (disturbed) enough not to confess either to Jesus or the others. How odd it must have been to dip the morsel in the Lord's bowl and still not be noticed by the rest of the attendees. It is nearly impossible to get into the mind set of Judas. The faith of our Lord however sees this as a moment that they/we will all look back on with breathless amazement/confusion. As this event continues to hang over the crowd of believers today, what message exactly does the Lord's faith wish us to look back on? How easy it is to miss what is actually going on in any moment let alone the few epic ticks. One first sees Judas go out the door and thinks nothing of it (or finds another explanation for it). Next thing Judas is approaching with a platoon of temple guards. Suddenly one looks back and remembers that Judas did take up the sop. Days later one recalls Jesus never outed Judas, but then again He did; no one else was close enough to the moment though to know any different. If not close enough to this moment, what other moments are we too distant in?
December14 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@John:17:6-19 THEM WHICH THOU HAST GIVEN - I am overwhelmed this morning with the sense that I have long misinterpreted this prayer of Jesus. The consequences to my theology will have to be sorted out, but I have the feeling that this prayer is meant for the eleven men there directly (us only indirectly). There are more than eleven disciples within miles of Him tonight, they are not mentioned. There are many that have followed and even hosted Him these three+ years, they are not mentioned. There are many that will believe on Jesus because of these men, they are mentioned later on but not yet. The fact is that these eleven are the humans that He has invested everything into. They are certainly spiritually weak and frail at this point despite their blessed experiences and discipleship so far, but their meekness is exactly what He is looking for. He refers to them as the "given". He refers to us as "those that will believe because of them". I have a feeling the He refers to His other many devoted followers in the region as the nucleolus of "those" or us. What about Martha then? What about Mary and Lazarus and the blind man? What about Nicodemus and the others this night being shunned by the Sanhedrin? Evidence now suggests that there is a mission much bigger than our personal beliefs and sacrifices that our Lord needs these eleven hand selected men to proceed with. A mission or calling that the remainder of us are barely spectators/receivers of. Jesus begins by praying not for the world, but for these eleven men for they are "THINE"; He is glorified in "them". He prays that they be one, that they have His joy fulfilled in themselves, that they be sanctified through HIS truth/word, that they be kept from evil. He prays this because they are not of this world, they are hated, they are sent by Him into this world. Now these words could certainly be applied to us as we are often in similar (lesser) situations. The spiritual warfare that would surround these eleven men would be perhaps beyond compare. It is because of them however, their being given, their meekness and their being used of the Spirit to the extent that they were that we even have opportunity to follow their steps. We call these men today Apostles; the pillars of our faith. This is who this prayer is for directly. Men like this Apostle John. If not for them we would not know that this prayer was even made. The faith of our Lord barely needs to be said here. It is a tremendous thing to consider that all of this is bestowed upon them for our benefit and for those that will follow after us. The mission spreads out and takes us in and we pass it on to the next each in our smaller ways. Our thanks to "those which THOU hast given". Our praise to HIM who meant this to the continuation of our Lord's ministry after His heavenly glorification.
December30 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@John:21:1-14 AND YE SHALL FIND - There are just certain moments in a life time that guys will always and fondly remember. That moment away from it all with your buddies doing what you want to do, no pressures, everything in the universe suddenly just clicks. It is usually times like a fishing or hunting trip, a dusk or a dawn, concluding around a fire, a simple meal of the day's catch. You can remember Peter out of nowhere, totally unexpected jumping of the boat almost as to John's beckoning swimming to shore; oh how we laughed at him. You can remember John at the hearing of another's voice saying "it's the Lord"; oh how our hearts lightened up. You can remember Thomas and the other's looking at each other as if to say "well someone better hang on to this net or esle we loose all these fish"; oh how we smiled and the fish nearly pulled us to shore as if to get a glimps of our Jesus. It was a crazy crazy night, but one that each one of you will fondly remember, perhaps even to your last awkward moments together, perhaps even to the moment of hearing of the passing of another of these friends much later on. It is a bonding moment, a life long bond, and the taste of fresh fish smoked over dried beach wood will never taste so good. Women have these moments. Men have these moments. We could of course try to make more out of it for ourselves, you know Peter with all of his professional skills could not catch a fish that night, you know this is the second time Jesus has surprised Peter in this same manner, you know ministry is often the same with our own resources verses the Lord's. You just know there are some lessons that we could take out of this. I choose this time to believe that this was a moment for these men in particular, with everything that has recently happened, all of the pressure they've all been under, a time to just be "buds" with our Lord. It was a perfect moment. Yea there is more to it; there always is. The faith I have in our Lord is that He is just as real and just as pleasurable as any body that you would ever hope to meet, that He enjoys the simple moments because often they are the longest lasting, that He enjoys hearty conversation and joyous song and dance by a fire sometimes until dusk. The faith of our Lord is in our deeply bonded fellowship, Him to us, us to Him, us to one another, all with the Father. Certainly there is much work to be done all the time, but there must also be within that these moments of fellowship and communion to partake of as well. I bet our Lord cooks a mean mean fish!
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