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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!

June11 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Mark:10:35-45 TO SIT AT MY HAND - Who will sit at Jesus' side? Not even Jesus knows. You'd think maybe Moses, maybe David, maybe Adam or Noah or Abraham or Joseph. What about Elijah or .....? You see there are a lot of people that you would think would be there long before James and John. What if it is James or John? What if is a old widowed missionary by the name of Paxton from Little Rock 2027 who more than anybody fulfilled the "servant of all" clause Jesus is talking about? You'd say I never heard of Paxton, nor Carmen from 15th century Portugal on His left side. The fact that Jesus does not know means that more than likely we will not know. That's the thing about being a servant, they are usually someone behind the scenes, someone you may have thought was a lonely old stick in the mud or an orphaned gutter dweller run over by a cart at sixteen. It could well be an assistant to someone big that everyone would have thought would be there instead. What if it was Peter's assistant Mark for writing down the words we are reading today? What if it was the Demoniac Jesus restored back on the shores of Decapolis? The faith of our Lord is that these types of honorable decisions for His followers is already being prepared for. His task is to drive onward to the cross, win the prize and spoils for all of us to partake in. The task for us is to minister to and give of ourselves enough to be in the running for "servant of all".

June19 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Mark:12:18-27 DO YE NOT ERR - It is obvious in the scriptures that the Sadducees do not believe in the resurrection and we know from encounters with them after Jesus in Acts that they were not convinced by this argument. They come like the others to trap Jesus, to shore up their own believers for the sentencing immediately ahead by means of stark theological differentiation. This also shows us why that they can be so bold in seeking Jesus death; they do not believe that He can raise again. The raising from the dead is so central to the approach Jesus is taking that it appears as a severe weakness to those who believe it impossible. Over and over the scriptures directly speak of and confirm resurrection, from Job to Ezekiel and others, and is implied in nearly everything else said including the phrases God of Jacob, God of Abraham, etc... I do not see Old Testament evidence that men and women will not marry after the resurrection; Jesus' argument almost seems to be "who ever said that they will". As the reason for marriage is for man not to be alone and for procreation and the weakness of the flesh, resurrection then is saying that man is no longer alone and no longer procreating and no longer weak; why then would there be need for marriage. As much as the Sadducees knew about the scriptures they really knew very little. They, like others have a form of godliness but, deny the power thereof. The power of God is proven in the resurrection. The power of God is proven in that what has been sown in corruption can be raised in incorruption. The faith of our Lord is firmly in not only His own resurrection but, that from His resurrection all others will be resurrected as well; some to eternal fellowship and some to eternal contempt. If Jesus does in fact raise from the dead then they do greatly err. If He does not, then the rest of the Bible they say they believe does greatly err. I guess they error either way. How great then is that?

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.

September28 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:19:1-10 IS SALVATION COME - The Son of Man is come to seek and to save them that are lost. Here is a man that was lost but is now found. He is putting Jesus' word into daily action. If it was just the works Jesus would have been more corrective. There must be something that Jesus is seeing that is encouraging about this man's faith; he is a son of Abraham in the truer sense. As for the others they are operating from the standpoint that they are already Sons of Abraham and that this tax collector and tax collectors as a whole are sinners. I suspect that Zacchaeus has heard of Jesus and is familiar with His teaching; he is now seeking to see who He is. There are people who shy away from situations where the temptations may be too great. They neither sin as such nor do anything good. Many times good is being in a position to do bad and unexpectedly do good. Good is then taking advantaged of the opportunity to do good when evil is expected. The religious heart seeks out the safe ground where the opportunity to sin is minimal but so too is the opportunity to do good. Zaccheaus remains a tax collector, chief of them in fact. Plus, remains rich; he is a camel that God has brought through the eye of the needle. He does not shy from either the opportunity or the public perception. He is intrigued with the teachings of Jesus and seeks to see Him this day as Jesus passes through on His way to the cross. The faith of our Lord is seeking these types of people for His salvation. They are animated, they are engaging, they take chances, they seek every opportunity. They take His word as directives and apply them to whatever position they were found by Christ in.

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?

November19 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@John:8:48-59 BEFORE ABRAHAM - Stones are drawn. How serious of an offence must one be convinced of if to be party to a stoning execution (and in/near the Temple). Jesus had said that men hate Him because He testifies of the evil in the world. Evil you would think would be ax murderers and rapists, thieves and the such. I don't recall Jesus testifying to this all that much.. Who would imagine evil to be the religious types seeking to kill Christ? The equality claim of Jesus to the Father seems to be the primary issue. It was brought to light by the mention of the pre-incarnate existence and work of Jesus and the use of the sacred title "I AM" of kjv@Exodus:3:14. Though Jesus physically can not be stoned nowadays the religious attitude and effort can still be just the same. It is interesting that witnesses saw both Abraham and Elijah standing with Jesus, but were sworn not to testify of this till after the resurrection. It is also interesting that Jesus doesn't go immediately to the prophecies like kjv@Micah:5:2 "whose goings forth are from old" kjv@Isaiah:9:6 "and His name shall be.. Mighty God" kjv@Proverbs:8:22-30 "possessed me in the beginning" etc.. Nor does He rebut them here with the logic of David's seed being his present tense "Lord" or the "who did Moses see if no man has ever seen the Father and lived". The question is not so much why He didn't do any of this here because He was revealing their own hearts, it is more when and whom was going to do this for Him. The faith of our Lord again comes back down to the Father's timing. This was not the time to convince, but to convict. This was not His time to die. This was not how He was going to die and nothing that they could conceive of doing to Him was going to be anything more than a insight into the evil that clings to man even to this day. Who then is to testify of the pre and post incarnate and incarnate sovereignty of Jesus? We are by the Holy Spirit When? Now To whom? The religious types that still today would stone Jesus (or us His ambassadors) for the very thought. "If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death". What saying? These sayings. What death? The second (eternal spiritual) death.

December16 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@John:18:1-11 WHOM SEEK YE - The impression I take from this passage is that Father is in control of everything and Jesus is giving Himself to the Father. The officers and guards marching on the way over surely had rehearsed the situation over in their minds as they approached and were fully aware of who it was that they were coming to get. Others had been sent on the same mission other times and had come back empty handed. The pressure was on them this time. They may have been under orders to assume control of the situation, that they fell back may have been part of that plan (or not), but there was little control for them to be had. Judas may have thought that he was in control, but when the guard fell back exposing him powerless and later when the swords were drawn exposing him to danger and even later when the purse was tossed, control was found furthest from Judas' hands. The Sanhedrin thought themselves to be in control on many occasion and ended up being shown as the fool. This could easily play against them or even explode and cause the very same public rioting they most feared against. If there is any control or settling in their hands it comes directly from their understanding of prophecy oddly enough and Jesus' own words which ties us back into the Fathers control. Out walks Jesus like the shepherd before the pack of wolves, coming between the ravenous and His fold. He asks them twice who they have come after, making certain the release of the others (except for a momentary diversion from a mis-intentioned Peter). Had anyone other than the Father been in control this event would have gone much differently. So we must ask, why is it important that the Father be in full control of this? Couldn't this have played out more dynamically? kjv@Isaiah:53:10 may be our best source for an answer stating that it "pleased the LORD to bruise Him, having put Him to grief" and again "make His soul an offering for sin" and again "see His seed and prolong His days". The "arm of the LORD" is being revealed in this and the events to come. It won't be because of the success of any certain group or person or principality. These actors will play the part that they are given, they will be used as tools and Jesus will be shown as giving Himself freely and completely as sent and directed to perform the Father's ultimate long awaited for mercy. People today see the Father of the Old Testament as harsh and temperamental despite every evidence to the contrary. They point to specific instances like Abraham and Issac with horror not realizing that it was not Abraham that suffered this sacrifice it was HIM the Father. The faith of our Lord presents the Father in a whole new light, that HE is willing to do this for us and for HIS own good name, that HE loves us to this extent and price, that for all that we've mistaken and corrupted HE is still wanting to work it all out, HE will use all of HIS power and ability to make this what it best needs to be. Not only all of this, but that it was HIS plan all along. Maybe today you are part of that guard that is marching lock step to seize our Jesus away. Maybe you are the one who is turning Him/us in. Maybe you are in the elite thinking that you are doing God's work by ordering this to be done. Maybe you are just a simple fisherman at the ready with knife and sword. Regardless, you think that you are coming at this under control. Three words Jesus will have for you... "Whom seek ye?". Think about it!

January1 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Matthew:1:1-17 - Our search begins today with the patience of God. You see the generations from Abraham whom the promise was made kjv@Genesis:12:2-3 to Mary's Joseph who received it? Further back even in kjv@Genesis:3:15 a prophecy is made that there will be a savior. In these names we likely see the impatience of man as well. It is a checkered path from there to here and here to where we are at largely because we see not the time span as God's patience but His absence. What could possibly be happening in the span that is worth the patience of either party? In the case of Israel it is the process of lifting them into the noticeable awareness and irritation of all the other nations. The establishment of Israel a nation that was not and the amplifying blessing/curse of the double measure was to make the peoples notice, the laws and sacred articles and Israel's continuous mishandling of them to prove to all their own sins, the up and down to show of God's mercy/longsuffering/righteousness. That now being irrefutably shown it was time for the promised one and here He is. We can look at the time from Jesus on as the time we have been aware of the time and process before yet remain of the mind that the length of delay equates to God's hiding or tolerance when in fact it equals opportunity for the last few to believe. In the times to come it will not be said by any that God did not give us the time, that He rushed, that He was impatient. It will be said what fools are we to think that God is anything other than righteous, that if He has given time than that time is for our soul's sake and for His name and plan's sake. we are told of the perfecting work of patience. It is time for that patience to work it's work on us. The faith of our Lord is in the totality of the time presented and the righteousness of the Father in allowing for it. He was there with HIM in before the beginning, He will be there with HIM beyond whatever end. Whatever time we have between that is a time of patiently keeping His commandment and faith; it having it's sanctifying way upon us.