Give God Time.
Prayer and Worship.
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…God so loved the world
A Word in your ear.
John 3:14-18 God’s ‘Agape’ love
14 Just as Moshe (Moses) lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up;15 so that everyone who trusts in him may have eternal life.
The bronze age was about 3200 BC to about 1200 BC. Moses would have learned the method for making bronze in Egypt. In the desert, people were being punished by dying from snake venom and crying out to Moses to ask God to save them. That is the picture Jesus selects in order to convey the meaning of His imminent crucifixion. They were all familiar with this story from the time of Moses, with him posting a bronze metal serpent.
16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only and unique Son, so that everyone who trusts in him may have eternal life, instead of being utterly destroyed.
The word “so” here, literally means “in that same way…”. What Jesus is saying is “God, in that same way, showed His love to the world, in that He gave his only and unique Son…” So it is in the same way that God provided salvation for the Israelites under Moses – with the bronze serpent in the wilderness that Jesus was to be crucified; ie By looking up to the bronze serpent, Israelites showed that they believed, and by that simple act, they stopped dying;- so people can look to the cross of Jesus now and live… only this time, forever. What is more, the word ‘love’ here is ‘Agape’, meaning God’s altruistic action – not the human love we like to think it means. The word ‘love’ was used by Bible translators for everything from God’s Agape to brotherly affection, to friends and neighbors sentiment, and even forbidden relations. The Greeks were far more accurate by using specific words, which may be why God had the New Testament written in Greek, which was also the common language of the day.
“… so that everyone who trusts in him may have eternal life, instead of being utterly destroyed.”
17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but rather so that through him, the world might be saved.
This first coming of Jesus is to enable peace with God to come about – before His Second Coming, when it will all be too late.
18 Those who trust in him are not judged; those who do not trust have been judged already, in that they have not trusted in the one who is God’s only and unique Son.
The next time Jesus comes it will be to judge.
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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;-
- The world. (ie ‘For those in authority.’)
- The ‘suffering church.’ https://barnabasfund.org/nz/pray/daily-prayer/#previous-dates
- Your own situation. (Suggest ‘needs’ rather than ‘wants’.)
- Today’s Verse…
John 3: 14-15 Just as Moshe lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up;15 so that everyone who trusts in him may have eternal life.
- Today’s Challenge
…is to ‘Look & Live’ …
“… so that everyone who trusts in him may have eternal life, instead of being utterly destroyed.” John 3:16
Today’s challenge is on this video!
‘Look & Live’ by William Ogden (1841-1897) sung by Lilian Kirui
1 I’ve a message from the Lord, Hallelujah!
The message unto you I’ll give.
’Tis recorded in His Word, Hallelujah!
It is only that you “look and live.
Refrain:
“Look and live,” my brother, live.
Look to Jesus now and live.
’Tis recorded in His Word, Hallelujah!
It is only that you “look and live.”
2 I’ve a message full of love, Hallelujah!
A message, O my friend, for you.
’Tis a message from above, Hallelujah!
Jesus said it, and I know ’tis true.
[Refrain]
3 Life is offered unto you. Hallelujah!
Eternal life your soul shall have
If you’ll only look to Him. Hallelujah!
Look to Jesus, who alone can save.
[Refrain]
4 I will tell you how I came, Hallelujah!
To Jesus when He made me whole:
’Twas believing on His name, Hallelujah!
I trusted and He saved my soul.
[Refrain]
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