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January20 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Matthew:5:43-48 BUT I SAY UNTO YOU (ENEMIES) - Every man determines himself his enemies. The label enemy can also be influenced by peer pressure, religious indifference, racial prejudice, false witness, etc.. What criterion then is to be used? Justice? The common teaching has become the mentality of us against them, just versus unjust. The fuller teaching is that God makes his rain to fall upon all. There is a higher calling, to love even a much proven enemy with the love of God; to see others as God sees them. If we needed any further prompting, God added a reward for such. The faith of our Lord is much the same. Though He is surrounded by the wicked and the unjust and the foolish and the hardened and the negligent and the abusive and the timid and the disbelieving and the... (you get the idea), the core of a man's heart that makes Him at enmity with God, His love yet remains all the more. It is not just for them that we should do this, it is for Him and for our own selves.

January23 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Matthew:6:16-18 FASTING - Purpose. Why does one fast? Jesus fasted. What reason did He have to fast. The description here of the hypocrite seems obvious, but, it's implications far reaching; there are ways unbeknownst to us (less obvious) that our reverence toward God is stained deep with hypocrisy. Some things more honest like trying to set an example or encouragement for others to emulate can easily be confiscated by lesser intentions. Some group activities set off to be more pious and grandstanding are highly contagious. Truly, I don't think many start off intending to be hypocritical, it is just that it is so natural to drift off that way. The Lord is asking us to take an inventory not only with fasting but, with all of the observances and ritual we follow. Do these things by all means, but do them from the right heart. It is the Lord's faith that religion and worship and observance like fasting are ways of putting the flesh aside momentarily in order to draw closer to the Father. Being closer is reinvigorating and strengthening when done first and foremost in the honesty and reverence deserved of the Father's honour.

January27 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Matthew:7:7-12 ASK SEEK KNOCK - Let's take this in context for a minute. If we were to ask for what we have already ready, what would be asking for? His Kingdom to come and Will to done on Earth as in Heaven. Our daily bread spiritually first and for our physical needs. Forgiveness of our trespasses in like measure. To be led from temptations such as judging one another from such hypocritical eyes. What does it mean to seek this? To seek it from Him? To seek Him to develop it within us? To seek as a distant wish or as daily presentable action? To hunger and thirst for His righteousness? What does it mean to knock then? It is the faith of the Lord that you have at least this in you. That you will see the need to ask. That you will search through our darkness for His light. That you will knock for the door to be opened for you. Would He really say no to this or provide something other?

January29 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Matthew:7:15-23 FRUITS - Two lives are examined by their fruits; a third is implied. The two are extremes but produce similar corrupt fruit, false prophets and those who presume to do the Lord's work but are not. To Jesus the equation is simple: good tree good fruit, bad tree bad fruit; no in between to consider. What in life is so stark in comparison? Spirituality! It is either born of Him or not. Does that mean that we do no wrong? No that means that He is able to produce good fruit through us as we abide in His tree. Think of all the elements discussed so far in this sermon (low and meek to self/reflecting His light/having all righteousness fulfilled in Him, convicted under the fullest sense of the law, non-hypocritical/judgmental, will be done, seeking first.... ). Is there any doubt that this tree can produce nothing other than good fruit in the big picture? The faith of our Lord sees the stark division between good and corrupt, works of flesh and of spirit, fruit born of Him versus all else that is not. He is sure of our path.

March19 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Matthew:19:16-30 WITH GOD ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE - For the rich man it is his many possessions. For the criminal it is his pride. For the poor man his covetousness. For each of us there is something too hard to let go of in order to pass through the eye of the needle. It can be done, the Disciples are proof (at least 11 of them), but, even that was not by their own power; it was by God's. The rich young man approached kingdom entry by what further he needed to do. If judged by that criteria we would all be hopeless because there is always something more that we are unwilling to do, always something more that we are unwilling to give up, even more that the Law requires. However, if entry is based upon what God has done for us in Christ then there is the possibility. From that point what we are willing to have Him do through us becomes liberating. When there is nothing that we can do of our own, nothing of ours that can be given away as payment we are in a much better position of receiving His grace and therefore entry into His kingdom. These things we may be asked to leave behind after we have received His grace, but, not beforehand so as to buy into His grace. We find the faith of our Lord today displaying the perfection of the Father's grace instead of the pursuit of perfection somewhere other in man. Jesus is the evidence of the Father's grace, He Himself is in submission wholly to the goodness of that grace. This is about the Father's goodness and what the Father is able to do.

March31 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Matthew:22:15-22 WHY TEMPT YE ME - Even today men seek to catch Him in a lie or contradiction, to entangle/corner Him in His talk. They present their question with flowery praise, the good lord, good prophet, good teacher, but, it is all done to disprove Him to believers or potential believers. They counsel together on the internet, in the class rooms, in the courts and temples. They come in both religious and political varieties. Strange/unlikely bed fellows intermix to come against Him. How do we know/spot them? By just that At the core they are hypocrites You will notice that the argument is over a penny, small change when it comes to the loftier things of God. With Simon kjv@Matthew:17:25-27 Jesus had made it a point that during an captivity/occupation tribute is extracted heavily from the occupied in order to lessen the burden on the true citizen. The Jews had whistled their self sovereignty away by rejecting the Lord and were now being taxed for it by their conquerers. The coin is Caesars just as they are. kjv@Luke:23:2 Jesus is accused of exactly the opposite of what He has said at least twice now. They are utter hypocrites. They puff Him up to tear Him down, they intellectually place Him in positions that they think impossible to defend when He is not in that position to begin with, they bring questions that are of little consequence to the overall debate. Render to God what is God's? They cannot, it is no longer their's to render. The faith of our Lord is in knowing that we will be met by such people. Though we give these people too much importance given their track record, though we might think they are finally coming around to see things as we do, they are constantly there and the same regardless. He believes that the truth will be proven out, the truth about Him, the truth about them.

April4 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Matthew:23:1-39 MOSES SEAT - There is a place of honor and respect given by Jesus to Moses and the seat that remains that is to be carried on by His disciples. The life of a follower is a completely different mindset however because it is focused on Christ. Righteousness now is inputed because of His sacrifice and a new life is enabled because of His resurrection. This is what the Law had been pointing us to. Without the righteousness of Christ none of this is remotely possible. The woes described of the Scribes and Pharisees are more properly woes to any man who pursues righteousness minus Christ regardless of affiliation. In a sense these men are the most zealous and ardent of all religious men, but, this is the closest men's efforts can come to the target. Take the commandment to love the Lord your God. If Christ Jesus is God's offer of righteousness and such offer is pushed aside, how can it be said God is loved? Having justified not loving God in His entirety, what else then can be justified? Are not all the commandments broken at that point? The seat still holds authority (even if held by others) especially as schoolmaster over to those who have not received Christ, but, also to those who have. Do as they bid but, not as they do. It is almost a challenge to show them how in Christ things must be done. Remember that if God did not want them in the seat, they would not be in the seat. Today, these particular affiliations are not in power, but, others just as hypocritical often are. There is a means and a purpose in the life of the believer for this. Given all of these woes and faults the Lord's command has never been to pack up and start up anew. The faith of our Lord is firm, we must follow His lead. We don't have to know why it is this way only that He see's it as such. We are challenged considerably, we grow. We do as He see's fit in the midst of such darkness, He is honored. A rebel? no. A revolutionary? Yes!

April24 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Matthew:27:57-61 DISCIPLES - There are twelve men (now eleven) that we use the specific title Disciple for. There are many others even in high places, even secretive that we use the more general term disciple for as well. Three are mentioned early on at the tomb burying Jesus (A forth Nicodemus reported by John). The two men in particular are members of the Sanhedrin and are thereby given consent for burial and possession of the body by Pilate. Joseph is elsewhere described as a counselor, the word having direct ties to this governing body. Pilate may have seen these men as "non consenting" to the crucification but, surely not as pupils of the convicts' teachings. Had the major disciples attempted such they would have either been detained to squelch any possible uprising or they would have brought intense criticism as to the validity of the burial should something happen to the body under his watch. In these two men Pilate would find a comfortable political solution to the awkward/crucial issue of what to do with the body. These disciples are very important to birth and history of the church, as much as any other even though they were somewhat hidden away. There is very little that we have to go on to know how much of this Jesus had prepared for or how much that he had left to come about organically or by the Spirit. My guess would be all of the above. The more obvious evidence is that He had the faith to leave it to capable hands after His departure. The faith of our Lord is in the ability of His Father and His Holy Spirit. It is in peoples and places we may not have considered friendly to our cause. It is in the emotional but thoughtful obedience and effort of some loving women fearless that would attend to Him. It is in peoples two thousand years still having access to their testimonies that will come to believe. It is in a stone being rolling away, human eyes peeking in to see an Angel sitting at the foot of uninhabited burial linens and a folded napkin. It is in four women running back to the house to tell the others in the dawn's early light. Our Lord's faith is most supreme!

May9 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Mark:2:23-3:6 LORD ALSO OF THE SABBATH - How frustrating it must be to ask your accusers to engage you rationally and have them not answer you. How welcome would it be to have the opposing view point stand forth and debate matters of law and truth on logical and spiritual merits. How enlightening it would have been even of our persuasion to hear learned point and counterpoint, to battle it out to wits end. We don't have that however here and up against Jesus we won't ever have it. No one in His presence had ever seen anyone teach with such authority; if you can't beat Him then you have to trap Him; get Him to beat Himself. Plucking handfuls of corn? Healing on the Sabbath? Is this really the best that you have Pharisee? He asks you. Do you not have an answer Herodian? Or does the answer that you have weaken your position? The public's perception of your position? Jesus is angry with them. He has every right. But, anger is not going to get Him to stray off course. He will walk the mine field that you've laid out by rising above it. The faith of our Lord is that in every other thing that He is Lord over, He is also Lord of the Sabbath. He is our Sabbath literally; our peace, our rest, our praise and communion. If critics acted this way in His day how likely are they to act the same in ours?

May14 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Mark:4:1-20 WITHIN WITHOUT WAYWARD - This is a foundational parable that helps us to understand the rest. Principal one is that it is not given for others to receive the payload understanding of these parables; the revelation of said parable is a Jesus to sanctified believer exclusive, spiritually discerned. In fact, no man can come to it complete with out living and proving it out which requires a strong devotion to Christ. Theoretically, a class of college senors can analyze a Jesus parable and probably come to the same initial message that a believer can, maybe to another level or two, but that is as far as they can take it. Because they do not believe in Jesus it holds no further interest, any further meaning is stolen away. Many religions can be/have been formed from borrowing the superficial understandings of these parables; this is what Jesus has always strived to protect Himself from. However, by believing squarely in the righteousness of Jesus the desire will be to search out and grow into the message further. The message has to be applied into the daily life of a believer and experienced fully before the payload Jesus is revealing comes to fruition. The heart to apply oneself to it's growth is where the difficulty comes, as some believers lack the root, others lack the valor and fortitude, others lack the will to keep worldly influences weeded out. As hard as it is for believers to come to this knowledge without sincerity and endurance it is outright impossible for the insincere and academic critic. The faith of Jesus does not cast it's pearls before the swine and it cannot be counterfeited nor universalized. This is utter foolishness to the wise and learned, but, this foolishness is deliberately made to be our wisdom. Take this introductory understanding into the remaining parables and your efforts to live/grow into this word will yield plenty fruit.

June3 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Mark:9:14-32 FAITHLESS GENERATION - Who is faithless here? The disciples who despite their anointing to do this failed having not fasted nor prayed? The man whose faith was small and asked for more? The scribes that were using the opportunity to publicly belittle the ministry? The crowds that gather to watch the knock down drag out cage match? What if it was all of them but not just any one of them individually? There is an inclusiveness in the word generation that needs to be pondered. Disciples affect a mans faith, the two affect the fanatical scribes, the three affect the crowd's temperament. Likewise, the crowd's affect the scribes which affects the man's which affect the disciple's. Could they all be part of one larger organism? Is that what a faithless generation looks like? If so, how does one escape? The faith of our Lord is that if one can believe, all things are possible. It is not just any belief, it is not the belief in the healing itself, it is the belief in the power and authority of Christ. The person and presence of Christ instills that belief and confidence. Anointing alone cannot account for everything. Prayer and fasting are both ways to refocus on the person and presence of Christ. This instills faith and helps to quiet/counter all criticism.

June5 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Mark:9:38-41 FORBID HIM NOT - We may have to come back to this one. I have thought about this one a lot and still am not quite sure where it leads. We know that many who had casted out demons in His name will be turned away in the end, Jesus never knowing them kjv@Matthew:7:22-23. Here we see that none of those miracle workers can lightly speak evil of Him. We know that one can have the faith to remove mountains and have not charity is nothing kjv@1Corinthians:13:2 and that whether in pretence or truth Christ being preached should be rejoiced in kjv@Philippians:1:18 . Add as well that some can propose to heal or cast out in the name of Jesus only to have it turn against them kjv@Acts:19:13-16 . It seems to suggest that if John was trying to deflect his present embarrassment by showing his protective zeal for Christ, Christ was not going to let it divert the current teaching. The teaching and correction of service over rank was pointed at the disciples. This man though he was performing miracles in Christ's name did not necessarily have everything all together. The Holy Ghost was performing miracles through him but the man would still have to come to know Jesus in his heart of hearts. Maybe he did believe and was saved, Jesus alone would know this, but, that is an issue other than what Jesus was tending to right now. Disciples need to be aware of the lesson at hand and not move the discussion elsewhere. We need also to know that the Spirit is working on multiple fronts in declaring/confirming Jesus as Christ; not everyone else is an imposter. The faith of our Lord is aware of and allows for some things that we may not consider, that we might feel compelled to defend Him from. It may be that it is better to inquire into the deeper faith of these workers as to their salvation than to criticize their not being part of our pack.

July15 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:2:8-20 AS IT WAS TOLD THEM - Did anyone follow up on Luke's proposition that there were Shepherds in/around Bethlehem that could attest to this event or people that knew of these shepherds these many years later? The Apostles seem to know of them or else they would have stopped Luke from making such unsubstantiated claims. These four canonized gospels are almost dares or challenges for others/critics to attempt to disprove the facts as depicted, as there are just so many examinable points put forth. Did the Sanhedrin of 45-70 AD make any effort for instances to investigate/rebut these testimonies; and if not then why not? Could they be refuted? The faith of our Lord is putting this all detail out on the line. His story is largely being told by the people around Him describing it; multiple people from multiple vantages. If anybody at that time did make inquiry worthy of debating the evidences provided here it apparently never got long term traction. One would expect that any counter (reliable or not) information would have received much play from Christianity's many immediate/vehement critics.

July26 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:5:17-26 ARISE - I bet the room full of delegates considered this side show an intrusion at first. How are we supposed to catch this Jesus in His word with these delinquents tearing through the roof tiles, lowering some misfit into a room where we theologians are trying to get something done? But, wait a minute! This might just work in our favor. I was thinking when I first read this that I knew from Mark that this happened at Peter's house. Now I am wondering how a meeting such as this all came about. Did they approach Jesus and suggest a pow-wow to hear of His doctrine? Did they approach Peter to see if he could put something together? I noticed in subsequent readings that here were all of these delegates and there also was the power of the Lord to heal them; heal who the delegates? Then Jesus sees the faith of these men outside and because of that heals the man with palsy in front of all these faithless scabs. This passage becomes so rich in all of it's details and possibilities. The faith of our Lord is boldly in the face of His critics. He not only takes this occasion to take a swing, He knocks the ball out of the park. The intentional inter-twining the concepts of forgiveness with the concept of His healing power is a brilliant revelation of who He is and who His critics really are.

July28 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:5:33-39 NEW WINE - Notice that He never said "we're done with the old wine", He said he was preserving both old and new, just not together. This is said in the context of the bridegroom being in their presence. For the moment there is an occurrence that will only happen just this once, He is there. If the objection is prayer, why would He have the disciples pray to Him as if He were not there? If it is fasting, why would He have them seek a closer proximity to Him artificially when He is standing right there right now? When He leaves they will certainly need to do these things. The attempt is to get the old wine to see that there is a new wine; the measure of which is Himself. It requires them to see what He is doing in new ways. It is not that He will come sometime future, it is that He is here now. It is not what will He accomplish, it is what He is accomplishing and has accomplished. Even now, when we fast or pray, we do it because He has come, He has paid the dowry, we watch for Him to return for His bride. The faith of our Lord is illustrated today as two wines, everything that He poured into this before hand, everything new that He will pour separately from this point on. The two go hand in hand and are crafted for specific and distinct purposes. To criticize Him because the new wine hasn't the look and feel in it's infancy of the old is to not know the process of wines.

July30 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:6:12-16 LIST OF TWELVE - Well here they are ladies and gentlemen The twelve top human candidates for disciples of God the Son Hand picked Ready for intensive specialized training A once in an ion opportunity Cream of the crop Don't believe it? Let's review the judging criteria. Willingness to leave all behind and follow someone doing something you can't comprehend in a manner that you don't understand. The eliminates the academics and philosophics and intellectuals. Willingness to die for this somebody and His cause after He Himself has died with extreme public humiliation for the same belief/cause. That eliminates the scientific and political. Willingness to present oneself a living daily sacrifice, a bond servant of the gospel. That eliminates any with ulterior motives. We could go on, but let's count who among us is left in the running. That fact is that not one of us has chosen Him not even the disciples, He has chosen us, He has chosen them. Whatever qualities they possessed He alone saw, He alone determined. Those that may have prepared themselves would not have known what to prepare for, most likely they would have been hidden qualities that only He could bring out of us. So why did these men follow at His call? Was it a tough decision on their part or a explainable feeling of destiny? How much of their future did they know upfront? How is it that brothers and partners were just as likely join Him? Recall that Jesus prayed for those whom the Father had given Him. That He did not loose any that were given but the son of perdition. The faith of our Lord is in that which is given by His Father. He has the spiritual balance and discipline afforded (by prayer mainly) to identify where the Father's hand is at this moment, what HE has given for this, what direction HE is leading, what next step will be obeyed. That may be all we need any given moment as well.

August2 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:6:37-42 SHALL MEN GIVE UNTO YOUR BOSOM - Top and bottom: judgment, condemnation, forgiveness and a beam in one's eye. The difficulty with judging others is that we do not judge ourselves by the same measure. I am going to flip this around however to level that few are comfortable with. Let's take the example of Christians that are for the death penalty. There are many that would use these words against us; "judge not lest thou be judged". Are they not using the very words of non-judgment to judge us by? No doubt they have other words to say about Christians as well, and they are quite public about it too. Hiding behind such peaceable words in order to openly judge another is most "beamish". The measure that most all of us will be rewarded with largely has to do with the amount that we give. If a man or woman is known otherwise to be very giving of forgiveness and compassion and peaceableness, exceedingly so shall we say, the fact that they favor the death penalty in this one particular instance does not mean that there is a "mote" in their eye. Thereto, the man or woman known to be judgmental and unforgiving and slanderous in many more respects except in this particular instance and turns these peaceable words intentionally into canon fodder, here is a case for the consideration of hypocrisy. The law of Moses is filled with not only judgments about those who sin against God and society, it is judgmental against the society that does not execute judgment upon those individuals on behalf of the victims. The very ground it is said often cries out with the blood of the innocent. Prophets bemoan the times when there is no judgment, no one to stand the gap, no one to stand up against the evil. Rightly so. Has Jesus not come to fulfill the law of Moses and the prophets? A disciple is not above his master. He cannot judge and condemn and be unforgiving by his own selfish and hypocritical standard. His one allowance is as a society when the word of God so demands. Those that use the word of God, to which they have not the slightest belief otherwise, to box out those who do believe every word from the very public and very necessary debate over the death penalty are hypocrites of the highest order. This is not to say that there isn't a mote or splinter lacing our debate as well. The faith of our Lord is in the measure that we mete withall. Everyone that is perfect shall be as his master. Jesus has always been able to discern both the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. The measure that He gave has been and forever will be pressed down, shaken, running over from the sincerest of men. What better reward or compliment. Just as He wants experienced in the bosom of His disciples.

August15 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:9:1 POWER AND AUTHORITY OVER ALL DEVILS - Except it didn't work on one type of devil, that type only came out with prayer and fasting kjv@Matthew:17:14-23. So was it a problem with what Jesus gave to the disciples or was it a problem with the way they utilized it? When the disciples asked Jesus replied "because of your unbelief". Why wasn't there enough belief? He later suggested "only by prayer and fasting". So we must ask what prayer and fasting have to do with the size or implementation of faith, what prayer and faith have to do with the conduit of power and authority? Without it it certainly appears that what whatever one does believe becomes as unbelief. This is not to say that the disciples did not achieve for the most part what they had been sent out to do. You can imagine what the critics said when not one but twelve mini Jesus's filtered through the entire region. It is not just that Jesus demonstrates the power and authority, but is able to delegate that same power and authority to others. It doesn't just happen once either, a hundred more are sent out a short time later. This is beyond slight of hand or trickery or mass illusion/hysteria; this is most unheard of. This is why the unbelief/fasting/prayer issue becomes so important to address, because in a herd of good white sheep it becomes the one black sheep every critic focuses on. The faith of our Lord is shown to be massive in scope yet minute in detail. For Him it is made easy because of His obedience to familiarity with the Father. With us it takes a much more diligent focus to overcome our carnal impulse, to find that obedience and familiarity; and thus the prayer and fasting. Not just for our needs, but more importantly for His.

August24 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:10:38-42 CAREFUL AND TROUBLED - My experience would tell me that Martha is the elder sister, though there is no proof. This may not be the only time that the sisters have differed as to their priorities. And it is not to say that Martha is terribly wrong here. This is the way she has been brought up, likely the expectation placed upon her early on by her mom as the elder. In her mind receiving Jesus means providing every comfort and necessity for Him and His guests almost to obsession. It is the servants heart but to the extreme. She would be this regardless of the occasion most likely. Her sister on the other hand is wise to Martha's obsessiveness. There are certainly demands placed upon the hostess but there is also a point where the effort crosses over into obsession and near destructive hostility. I doubt that Martha really intended to criticize Jesus "do you really not care", but that was how far she had let her anger canker. Seems the more this personality type festers the more that they try to take on themselves until they explode. Jesus isn't saying don't be a hospitable host, He is saying come sit and join us, enjoy this evening and this company as well. It is not worth being a gracious hostess if being a gracious hostess means being so troubled and ugly. And it is not to say that Mary is completely in the right if it means that she has put her sister in this impossible situation. I think though in this case Martha has put herself (or that it is an ingrained part of her) that has brought this unexpected interruption to cloud over the otherwise pleasant evening. Martha is careful and troubled about many things. She probably feels that if she doesn't trouble who will? Jesus doesn't expect anyone to trouble this much over Him; if so He would have taken the meeting outside or out into the wilderness. Sometimes trouble is done for the sake of trouble; it is an adverse reaction to importance. There is a better portion, a balance that allows one to serve and care for her guests but lets her relax at the feet and be engaged with the Savior that truly graces her house with His presence. I feel like I've known this woman several times over and I feel for her(s). The faith of our Lord is not to be an extra burden on His children but to be their only burden. He has said to take upon yourself His yoke for His burden it is lite. Perhaps we all should re-examine what we think we are doing for the Lord and what it is that we have added to ourselves and are then demanding of others that is not actually required. Else, we may find ourselves blaming the Lord without intending so. I trust that Martha eventually found this balanced portion. Being aware of the problem is half of the cure. One thing... personal acquaintance/engagement with Jesus is needful.

August27 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:11:29-32 NO SIGN GIVEN - It can't just be evil to ask for a sign, it is evil that after everything that they've seen and heard that there hasn't been a movement toward repentance, that after all this they have not been convinced to turn. Those that have repented in antiquity did so based on less information from lesser sources. What keeps them from repenting? Evil. John placed it that they loved their darkness more than His light. The message is that they have seen everything that they need to see in order to believe and repent but they won't. Is this particular to this generation? Or is it a result of this generation being the one Jesus physically stood before? This is a rejection of Him and His physical presence kjv@Isaiah:53. Had Jesus stayed off in the prophetical and the theoretical distance, had He been an idea safe enough in the future tense people would not have had such an adverse reaction to Him. Even nowadays, where there is so much debate and academic criticism, it is not the same despising rejection as there was that once; He is no longer real enough to us for it to matter. Repentance today is something one offers another for having made an injurious mistake not a realization the entire direction one has spiritually been on in relation to God is wrong. We no longer hold that God has been injured or that God is any different than any of us in right or property or expectation. Oh we need repentance no doubt, but who is to say that we wouldn't have already repented had we not seen and heard the things observed by that generation while He stood in person. While we pride ourselves in our literacy and deductive reasoning, so much of what Jesus leisurely did daily so abruptly defied any explanation, we would be fish completely out of water on the occasions these crowds had. Now there will be a generation soon to come, we already see the evidences approaching (as did Paul) that men will completely be lovers of themselves, reprobate in every detail. That also will be a generation pivotal to the prophetic fulfillment. It is the faith of our Lord that during this meantime we will take every advantage to spreading His gospel, while there are ears eager and hearts accepting and directions that are turntable. There is a sign in each and everything to be seen; signs enough for a great plenty. We have this sign of Jonah completed by His resurrection. Should we still yet not believe/repent we would not be such an evil generation as a tragic one.

September13 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:15:1-7 NINETY AND NINE JUST PERSONS - There are two forms of justification here, those who are justified by Christ the Righteous Servant and those that are justified by the law. As much as the Pharisees and Scribes are convinced that they are justified by the law, Jesus has shown the Pharisees and Scribes as hypocrites and sorely missing the mark called for by the law. They often transgress the law in the very same breath that they are trying to fulfill the it. The is the position all men are in. When Jesus says ninety and nine just He is not talking about men that are justified by the law, He is talking about men whom presume themselves to have met it, whom have been proven not to have met it and yet insist that they have met it. They are in quite the predicament. Why would the Great Shepherd rejoice over their insolent unresponsive hearts? Why would He not leave them to go find the one that has drifted out of their hardened pack and rejoice? Why would He not put the new found believer on His shoulders, carry Him proudly, make a joyful proclamation to all? It is not that Jesus sits with sinners and publicans, it is that He sits with people who see the pack for what they really are, who leave or refuse to go along with the pack in the first place, that are sinners just like those in the pack, who are willing to entertain the notion of Christ, who are willing to accept the promise of His salvation, who are willing to turn from their hardened ways and become Christ's. It is a very large number of people who think that they are above this business of Christ compared that to those that become found. Notice that they did not find Him; He went out and found them. The faith of our Lord does not see justification the way most of us do; it is something that He does for them, not something they do for themselves. Try as you might not to have to need Him, one must be lost before they are found.

October18 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:23:50-56 BEGGED THE BODY - There is some guess work here to be done as to the faith of Jesus in the execution of this burial matter. One, all the arrangements could have been left in the hands of the Holy Spirit. Joseph and Nicodemus did as they were led of the Holy Spirit. Two, we had mentioned previously with securing the donkey on Palm Sunday and or the upper room at passover that Jesus easily could have made arrangements himself for these matters apart from the disciples. Knowing these two men He could have asked them to do this. Three, the men could have done this of their own volition seeing that other arrangements (or the lack of) were unsatisfactory. In this case the Holy Spirit would have supported their ambition. Four, it may have been the combination of any or all of these things that the Holy Spirit used to perform the necessary task. To one extent it wouldn't have mattered who or where that they buried him, thirty feet of cement, and He still would have come out. It could have been the vaults at Fort Knox with an entire division of Marines guarding it, it was still going to happen. What would be important is for more than just a few followers to have witnessed it in order to testify of it and I am sure that the Spirit would have made sure of that. It may even be better for the critics to know that there wasn't any set up to this alleged magic trick, that it happened quite organically. In this regard we may not fully know the faith of our Lord as to the means, I do not know of any prophecy prescribing how this played out, we can however know His faith in the outcome and results.

October20 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:24:13-35 DID NOT OUR HEARTS BURN - What is effecting the disciples at this point is the same thing that effects us in our faith. 2Peter:1 would call it a faith that is being shortsighted to the point of being blind. These men have the hope that He would redeem Israel, but do not see that to redeem Israel something much bigger and broader had to be accomplished. They sense the need for redemption, but it is a smaller redemption from Rome. By means of these smaller fields of vision these hopes perceive an entirely different course of action, say the raising of an army, the winning over of several political foes, the standing against and defending Israel from the authority of Rome. But, here exactly the opposite is apparent, Rome has come out the victor. There is no wonder that they are sad and much confused. Everyone in Jerusalem is having similar conversations, each and every one based upon shortsighted hope now dying or dead. We tend to see things reduced down to our immediate needs whether it is Rome or potential divorce or recovering from addiction. We have faith indeed, but that faith has an entirely different set of expectations (shortsighted) as to how the Lord is going to perform it. It is these expectations that blind us to the person of Christ standing before us. He can be a mighty man of deed and words, however, until we see Him as the Lord that He really is and His actions as He rather intends our faith lays dormant and unfruitful; dead. The scriptures are opened up to them, the big picture becomes visible, the broad vision burns within the heart as they begin to see the revealing of the true "Arm of The Lord". Even then until He is recognized as alive and risen, the bread broken as before, that burning is incomplete. After knowing Him as risen, how could they not get up this evening and not walk the seven miles back to the others? How could they not proclaim it to all those along the road between here and there? The faith of our Lord is that we will see Him as dead but now living. And if living, then truly the Son of God. And if truly the risen Son of God, then the "Righteous Servant" spoken of throughout the prophets. And if the Promised One, then much broader in vision and scope then just this brief occupation by Rome or this occupation by the hypocritical and murderous Sanhedrin or occupation of the problems of this single day or time or lifetime. Engaged and concerned in these items? Most certainly! Lively faith however, knows His answer and performance for that are begun in and paid for by the broader course and objective of this. Many today are still talking, how many though have the big vision living faith?

October24 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@John:1:19-28 IF THOU BE NOT THAT CHRIST - Apparently if left to their druthers there would be no baptism. One would have to be either someone that they believed in long ago that that didn't believe and persecuted at that time or one would have to be one now whom they don't believe and are going to persecute shortly. All this over a simple baptism of repentance. This is not the baptism that Jesus will provide. Those who are baptized in this manner are only being prepared for the eventual baptism for the remission of sins that will come after the cross. We are not even sure how many of these souls followed through to the real deal; likely they were swept up in the moment and faded away unaffected. The preparing the way has more to do with the timing of the prophecies, one had to happen before the other. It made for quite a news worthy spectacle; other gospels have John calling these critics a broad of vipers. The faith of our Lord we have said is in the testimony of men like John, but it is also in the testimony of the prophecies and in the testimony of these men's actions against Christ. How would you like to explain to the prophets why you killed them and their Christ believing all the time that it was what God wanted you to do. John is not Christ nor Elias nor that prophet, He is the one who prepares the way of these testimonies.

December2 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@John:12:37-50 I KNOW HIS COMMANDMENT IS LIFE - Similar to God hardening the Pharaoh's heart, He has hardened many of the chief priests. I don't know if it is meant that He enacts this upon them, rather that the thought of Him as now presented makes their hearts hard. It is like us saying "you make me sick". You of course do not make me to be sick, my guttural response to you is sickened. The thought of God dwelling in the flesh? For the hardened sickening. The thought of messiah not coming from their ranks, sickening. The thought of them not knowing God, but this unlearned fool, sickening. The thought of Him calling them hypocrites and children of the Devil and a broad of vipers, sickening. That He heals on Sabbaths, that He claims to forgives sin, that He associates with sinners and publicans, that every answer to them is a parable or puzzle to solve, that He is leading the uneducated masses and them into a head on collision with Rome; it is all just sickening to the chiefs. Worse yet, there are suspicious people among these leaders who seem to believe on this Jesus, but wont stand up for Him (which must go to show what type of people He draws). You can see how hearts can become hardened with very little external pressure from God, in fact it is likely to believed that they are doing God the favor for putting this revolting lunatic down. Here is the thing though, everyone knows that Isaiah said that all this would surround the "Righteous One"; that He would be denied and rejected and tremoved from the living. Jesus said that if a man hear His word and believe not, He (Jesus)judges the man not; His word (Jesus speaking the Father's command) judges Him. If God has forced a hard heart upon one then how can HE judge him? HE has not forced, we have responded that way in facing His truth. Why not judged until the last day? Because until the last day there remains that possibility that a person's heart can be changed; and if not changed, used to strengthen someone's that has. The faith of our Lord is that the Father's commandment equals life everlasting. Therefore He speaks what He has been told. One that believes on Him believes on the Father. That same word is eternal life to one and judgment of similar kind to another.

December5 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@John:13:31-38 A NEW COMMANDMENT - You will remember the two great commandments "love the Lord your God with all your heart/soul/mind/strength" and "Love your neighbor as yourself"? You have also heard "love your enemy"? The new commandment puts a much more practical face on all of this, to "love one another as I (Jesus) has loved you". How has Jesus loved us? While many would rightly to lay down one's life, consider this, Jesus Himself has not at the point of saying this done has not yet done that and we are not all likely to be put into that situation and Peter here is offering that very thing. While the giving of one's own life in the right situation (for the right glory) can be the greatest form of love, there must also be something much more daily and practical. The key may be in verse 31-32; the direction towards which the glory is given by Jesus. Jesus' love for us was directed toward the glorification of His Father. He did not seek His own glory; love does not seek it's own glory. Neither did Jesus glorify the people that He showed love, but pointed them to the glory of the Father. In His presence His love covered a multitude of transgressions and yet made it clear that this was not the behavior of the world to come, that the only way out from this death sentence was the answer that the Father had sent. He never criticized or convicted individuals, only the groups of religious hypocrites that held the people down. He concerned Himself with the spirit of the law rather than the letter. All this and more done for no better reason than to glorify the Father who sent Him. Compare this to the sacrifice of two opposing soldiers giving their life for country, you can see how Jesus rightly could have died and risen for the sins of both and how that His commanded form of love exceeds even this so great a human form of love. How does that apply to our love for others? There is much that has been modeled for us that all boils down to the Father's glory. Peter was ready to lay down His life for his master, true/loyal/much to the point we thought Jesus might be teaching through this passage. Despite the best of Peter's intentions, it is a love pointed toward his own glory. If the command was to love the others as Jesus loved them, how then would this self sacrifice on behalf of Jesus have servered the others? Would it not step all over Jesus' time of glorification? Peter will one day follow where Jesus now goes, but it will be in a time and manner that better illustrates a love for the others such as Jesus has shown to all believers. In it's time Peter's sacrifice will greatly serve us and glorify Father and Son and Spirit. Until his time of ultimate sacrifice (or the possibility of our's) there will be much learning on Peters part (and our's) to know the true meaning of this new command. God will be glorified in Jesus and Jesus will be glorified in HIM straightway and then by all. The faith of our Lord is that He one day will be known as our Lord by this very same type of discipled love one to another. It is a love for others that seeks to glorify none but the Holy Trinity. To love God with all heart/soul/mind/strength and others as self by loving as Jesus has loved us.

December29 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@John:20:24-31 BECAUSE THOU HAST SEEN - What would of happened with Thomas had Jesus not returned for Him? Thomas would have to come into his belief just like any other of us; by the testimony of others. The thing is that there are plenty of Thomas's out there that have their mind fixed that there is nothing in these testimonies to believe, that it is something that they will have to see and feel for themselves. Is Jesus obligated to return for them as well? The thing is that that don't really need to see and feel in so many other areas of their lives, why is it so important to them in this particular case? They will take another's word when it comes to politics. They will take another's word when it comes to economics, investments, history, future prediction, court testimony, science, global warming, etc... They will also swallow rumor and innuendo and false premise and distortion and murmuring and intimidation and unjust balance. Why is it not their intellectual creed in these cases? The point is that we try intellectually to be these things and to a certain respect we are, but the reality is that it is close to impossible to be this in the broadest respect. Truth is that we are inescapably made to rely upon the testimonies and opinions of others. Yes it is difficult and error prone and requires discernment; even trust. Yes others have their personal motives and view points and see the same event with dissimilar details. But for men like Thomas (well meaning though they think that they are) to say to the others "no, I won't allow your word even into my preliminary consideration" or "you all are liars" or "this is something so much different than what Jesus told us that would happen; I think you are all reaching" such is not much more than self inflating pride. So you won't believe until you see for yourself. Well where were you Thomas when the rest of us saw Him? How many times do you think Thomas that He has to come back when you just happen to show up? Is Jesus really obligated to meet you on your terms and with your objections? In a sense it is important for the over all record that there was dissent observed in the group, at least for us that long after would follow, but in Thomas's case it is merely a stroke of God's grace that he was given another opportunity to satisfy his hypocritical and prideful demands. What if Jesus had not come to any disciple? What if He had appeared to the common public or to Pilate and Ananias instead? Would that have changed the fact of our Lord's resurrection? The faith of our Lord is in the testimony of others testifying to the veracity of His word. He didn't even attempt to write it down Himself. He may be the only major world messianic figure that went about it this way. Such a defense would be more than proper in a court of law. Why would it not in the court of individual belief?