Giving God Time.
Prayer and Praise.
Jesus said, “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” Matthew 26:40, so we start our journey of giving God time to work in us, by praying this hymn… STAND UP, STAND UP FOR JESUS
A Word in your ear.
John 2:18-25 ‘Who do you think you are?’
(With thanks to the Complete Jewish Bible.)
18 So the Judeans (Judah’s Jews) confronted him by asking him, “What miraculous sign can you show us to prove you have the right to do all this?”
This follows our last message where Jesus cleared away the traders in the temple court. Now the Jewish leaders challenged Jesus for clearing the Temple Courts. Why? They had all been shown up! They had monetized forgiveness, prayer and worship. So they demanded Jesus explain Himself! They demanded to see a miracle to prove He had the authority to overrule their ‘racket’!
19 Yeshua (Jesus) answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again.”
Jesus answered with a prophecy! He knew they were going to kill Him and prophesied the end result!
20 The Judeans (Judah’s Jews) said, “It took 46 years to build this Temple, and you’re going to raise it in three days?”
Their answer showed that they had missed the point!
21 But the “temple” he had spoken of was his body.
John wants to underline this point for his readers so it is not missed by anyone else, so it must be important.
22 Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his talmidim (disciples) remembered that he had said this, and they trusted in the Tanakh (Scriptures) and in what Yeshua (Jesus) had said.
This helped the disciples to later go on to be His witnesses.
23 Now while Yeshua (Jesus) was in Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) at the Pesach (Passover) festival, there were many people who “believed in his name” when they saw the miracles he performed.
The people remembered the miracles and believed.
24 But he did not commit himself to them, for he knew what people are like — 25 that is, he didn’t need anyone to inform him about a person, because he knew what was in the person’s heart.
Summary. John finishes this section with an indictment on humanity. Jesus already knew everything about everybody. Here John notes that Jesus would NOT trust Himself to anybody, as He knew what was in the heart.
Worship and Prayer.
“… He went up on a mountainside by himself to pray.” Matthew 14:23.
Jesus taught His disciples what we call ‘The Lord’s Prayer’; (Luke 11). Listen here to Albert Malotte’s ‘The Lord’s Prayer’.
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever;- Amen.
Suggestions for prayer;-
- The world. (ie ‘For those in authority.’ Pray that the Indian President will soften towards Christians.)
- The ‘suffering church.’ https:/71/barnabasfund.org/nz/pray/daily-prayer/#previous-dates
- Your own situation. (Suggest ‘needs’ rather than ‘wants’.)
Today’s Verse…
John 2:23 Now while Yeshua (Jesus) was in Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) at the Pesach (Passover) festival, there were many people who “believed in his name” when they saw the miracles he performed. (Complete Jewish Bible.)
Today’s Challenge
Jesus often tested the hearts of people with questions He knew the answer to, but He wanted to see if they would lie to Him, as Peter did – at first. Do you see yourself as you really are? Paul called his self-righteousness, ‘dung’. Isaiah said something similar. So do you think of your self-righteousness any differently to St Paul and Isaiah?
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