Wished we all been ready

Jan 8, 2010

The life of Jesus. Read Today: People afraid to speak publicly of Jesus; John 7:11-13

John 7:11-13 BBE

(11) At the feast the Jews were looking for him and saying, Where is he?

(12) And there was much discussion about him among the mass of the people. Some said, He is a good man; but others said, No, he is giving people false ideas.

(13) But no man said anything about him openly for fear of the Jews.

We often wonder why the first thing any angel does when the first see a human is to say 'Fear Not'. These people, who lived with and knew Jesus were afraid to talk about Him.

As I am writing this I had a song playing on my computer. The late Larry Norman's song, 'I Wished We All Been Ready".

I Wish We'd All Been Ready

Life was filled with guns and war,

And everyone got trampled on the floor,

I wish we'd all been ready

Children died, the days grew cold,

A piece of bread could buy a bag of gold,

I wish we'd all been ready,

There's no time to change your mind,

The Son has come and you've been left behind.

A man and wife asleep in bed,

She hears a noise and turns her head, he's gone,

I wish we'd all be ready,

Two men walking up a hill,

One disappears and one's left standing still,

I wish we'd all been ready,

There's no time to change your mind,

The Son has come and you've been left behind.

Life was filled with guns and war,

And everyone got trampled on the floor,

I wish we'd all been ready,

Children died, the days grew cold,

A piece of bread could buy a bag of gold,

I wish we'd all been ready,

There's no time to change your mind,

How could you have been so blind,

The Father spoke, the demons dined,

The Son has come and you've been left behind.

There is no time to be afraid, there is a world that will be lost if we do not help them get ready.

Read for next time: Jesus in the temple mid-feast; John 7:14-15

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Dead bury the dead

Jan 7, 2010

The life of Jesus. Read Today: Unfit followers; Matthew 8:19-22; Luke 9:57-62

Luke 9:59-60 GNB

(59) He said to another man, "Follow me." But that man said, "Sir, first let me go back and bury my father."

(60) Jesus answered, "Let the dead bury their own dead. You go and proclaim the Kingdom of God."

WOW! Heartless it sounds like. Jesus will not even let this man bury his dead father. Except that is not what is going on.

You see, in those days people might linger in a deathly state for a while, much like many people do today. The man was not asking to bury his dead father, but to wait till his dad died, then he would bury him and follow Jesus.

Jesus reply was to tell him that the dead (spiritually) should bury their own kind. It might be years before this man could break free and do what God has called him to. In my own life I could have made my son stay stateside and let me see my grandchildren grow up. In stead, I have let him know that though I miss being a part of their lives, he is doing what God has called him to do in Indonesia, half a world away from me.

Do not take time when God tells you to do something. It may be that you need a training time, but when God tells you it is time to move, it is time to move.

Read for next time: People afraid to speak publicly of Jesus; John 7:11-13

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Calling Down Fire

January 6, 2010

The life of Jesus. Read Today: James and John rebuked for attitude; Luke 9:54-56

Luke 9:54-56 BBE

(54) And when his disciples, James and John, saw this, they said, Lord, may we send fire from heaven and put an end to them?

(55) But turning round he said sharp words to them.

(56) And they went to another small town.

Well it makes sense to me, doesn't it to you. Jesus needed the Samaritans to help Him with a place to stay and they refused. Shouldn't fire be called down upon them.

Look at yourself if you were in that day. Would you want to help an itinerant preacher who claimed to be the Son of God? Most likely not. Jesus however knew that if they were dead they could never come to accept Him as savior. Calling down fire to destroy them was counter productive to what he wanted to do.

While many may be against you, do not dismiss them. They may come to be followers of what you do eventually. If not, they have the same free choice to follow Jesus that you do.

Read for next time: Unfit followers; Matthew 8:19-22; Luke 9:57-62

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Scope creep

Jan 5, 2010

The life of Jesus. Read Today: Messengers sent to Samaria to prepare way; Luke 9:52-53

Luke 9:52-53 GNB

(52) He sent messengers ahead of him, who went into a village in Samaria to get everything ready for him.

(53) But the people there would not receive him, because it was clear that he was on his way to Jerusalem.

Do not expect everyone to be sympathetic to you when you plan to try to do something for the Lord. Most will be neutral but many will stand either for you or against you. If they do not see any gain in it for them they will most likely be against you. In these verses it is clear that Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem but he will have to pass through Samaria to get there. While He had done many great things here it was pretty clear to them that Jesus did not plan anything great this time around and was just passing through needing a place to stay. Since they got no benefit they were not willing to help.

It is easy to get sidetracked on your purpose for the Kingdom. In any project that you may do in a business this is usual called scope creep. Because it is possible to add something to a project to get someone on board it waters down the original project.

Keep focused on the project at hand.

Read for next time: James and John rebuked for attitude; Luke 9:54-56

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Time to move

Jan 4, 2010

The life of Jesus. Read Today: Jesus sets his face to go to Jerusalem; Luke 9:51; John 7:10

Luke 9:51 KJV

(51) And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,

So, after all this talk the past few days of preparation time and all, Jesus now has the time to go ahead and do what He needs to do. When the time is ready for you to do what God wants you to do, you will know. And all the things that you can do to try to speed it up or slow it down will not help. The thing to do is more on it when God tells you to. Jesus knew how to do that.

Read for next time: Messengers sent to Samaria to prepare way 9:52-53

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Preperation Time

Jan 3, 2009

The life of Jesus. Read Today: Jesus stays in Galilee; John 7:9

John 7:9 CEV

(9) Jesus said this and stayed on in Galilee.

There are times in your life when you may say one thing but plan for another thing. Jesus knew what was in His brothers hearts, but the time had not Come for Him to be known of the people the way that they wanted. So he sent them on their way.

This became a time of preparation for Jesus. He knew He was to go but He needed preperation time. There will be a time in your life when you feel the call to do some ministry. Do as Jesus did and take some time to prepare.

Read for next time: Jesus sets his face to go to Jerusalem; Luke 9:51; John 7:10

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God's Time

Jan 2, 2010

The life of Jesus. Read Today: Brothers advise Jesus to go to Judea: John 7:3-8

John 7:6 GW

(6) Jesus told them, "Now is not the right time for me to go. Any time is right for you.

It is a funny thing about time. We want to wait many times till the time is right to do something. In reality, the time is right when God says it is. In this case Jesus' brothers wanted Him to show himself. Maybe they had some gain in Him doing this. They were expecting a more rewarding life being the brothers of the Son of God I am sure. So prove yourself they told Him.

The problem is that it was not time to prove Himself.

Many times people will ask you to prove yourself, or maybe try to tell you that you are not proving yourself and are looking for attention. If you flow in God's time, you will never have to worry about what they say.

Read for next time: Jesus stays in Galilee; John 7:9

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