Saturday, February 25, 2006

Today Our Daily Bread John 7 ++

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

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John 7:1-53
Jesus and His Brothers
1After this, Jesus stayed in Galilee, going from village to village. He wanted to stay out of Judea where the Jewish leaders were plotting his death. 2But soon it was time for the Festival of Shelters, 3and Jesus' brothers urged him to go to Judea for the celebration. "Go where your followers can see your miracles!" they scoffed. 4"You can't become a public figure if you hide like this! If you can do such wonderful things, prove it to the world!" 5For even his brothers didn't believe in him.
6Jesus replied, "Now is not the right time for me to go. But you can go anytime, and it will make no difference. 7The world can't hate you, but it does hate me because I accuse it of sin and evil. 8You go on. I am not yet F32 ready to go to this festival, because my time has not yet come." 9So Jesus remained in Galilee.
Jesus Teaches Openly at the Temple
10But after his brothers had left for the festival, Jesus also went, though secretly, staying out of public view. 11The Jewish leaders tried to find him at the festival and kept asking if anyone had seen him. 12There was a lot of discussion about him among the crowds. Some said, "He's a wonderful man," while others said, "He's nothing but a fraud, deceiving the people." 13But no one had the courage to speak favorably about him in public, for they were afraid of getting in trouble with the Jewish leaders.
14Then, midway through the festival, Jesus went up to the Temple and began to teach. 15The Jewish leaders were surprised when they heard him. "How does he know so much when he hasn't studied everything we've studied?" they asked.
16So Jesus told them, "I'm not teaching my own ideas, but those of God who sent me. 17Anyone who wants to do the will of God will know whether my teaching is from God or is merely my own. 18Those who present their own ideas are looking for praise for themselves, but those who seek to honor the one who sent them are good and genuine. 19None of you obeys the law of Moses! In fact, you are trying to kill me."
20The crowd replied, "You're demon possessed! Who's trying to kill you?"
21Jesus replied, "I worked on the Sabbath by healing a man, and you were offended. 22But you work on the Sabbath, too, when you obey Moses' law of circumcision. (Actually, this tradition of circumcision is older than the law of Moses; it goes back to Abraham.) 23For if the correct time for circumcising your son falls on the Sabbath, you go ahead and do it, so as not to break the law of Moses. So why should I be condemned for making a man completely well on the Sabbath? 24Think this through and you will see that I am right."
Is Jesus the Messiah?
25Some of the people who lived there in Jerusalem said among themselves, "Isn't this the man they are trying to kill? 26But here he is, speaking in public, and they say nothing to him. Can it be that our leaders know that he really is the Messiah? 27But how could he be? For we know where this man comes from. When the Messiah comes, he will simply appear; no one will know where he comes from."
28While Jesus was teaching in the Temple, he called out, "Yes, you know me, and you know where I come from. But I represent one you don't know, and he is true. 29I know him because I have come from him, and he sent me to you." 30Then the leaders tried to arrest him; but no one laid a hand on him, because his time had not yet come.
31Many among the crowds at the Temple believed in him. "After all," they said, "would you expect the Messiah to do more miraculous signs than this man has done?"
32When the Pharisees heard that the crowds were murmuring such things, they and the leading priests sent Temple guards to arrest Jesus. 33But Jesus told them, "I will be here a little longer. Then I will return to the one who sent me. 34You will search for me but not find me. And you won't be able to come where I am."
35The Jewish leaders were puzzled by this statement. "Where is he planning to go?" they asked. "Maybe he is thinking of leaving the country and going to the Jews in other lands, or maybe even to the Gentiles! 36What does he mean when he says, 'You will search for me but not find me,' and 'You won't be able to come where I am'?"
Jesus Promises Living Water
37On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, "If you are thirsty, come to me! 38If you believe in me, come and drink! For the Scriptures declare that rivers of living water will flow out from within." F33 39(When he said "living water," he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him. But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory.)
Division and Unbelief
40When the crowds heard him say this, some of them declared, "This man surely is the Prophet." F34 41Others said, "He is the Messiah." Still others said, "But he can't be! Will the Messiah come from Galilee? 42For the Scriptures clearly state that the Messiah will be born of the royal line of David, in Bethlehem, the village where King David was born." F35 43So the crowd was divided in their opinion about him. 44And some wanted him arrested, but no one touched him.
45The Temple guards who had been sent to arrest him returned to the leading priests and Pharisees. "Why didn't you bring him in?" they demanded.
46"We have never heard anyone talk like this!" the guards responded.
47"Have you been led astray, too?" the Pharisees mocked. 48"Is there a single one of us rulers or Pharisees who believes in him? 49These ignorant crowds do, but what do they know about it? A curse on them anyway!"
50Nicodemus, the leader who had met with Jesus earlier, then spoke up. 51"Is it legal to convict a man before he is given a hearing?" he asked.
52They replied, "Are you from Galilee, too? Search the Scriptures and see for yourself—no prophet ever comes from Galilee!"
[The most ancient Greek manuscripts do not include John 7:53-8:11.]
53Then the meeting broke up and everybody went home.
FOOTNOTES:F32: Some manuscripts omit yet. F33: Or "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38For the Scriptures declare that rivers of living water will flow from the heart of those who believe in me." F34: See Deut 18:15, 18. F35: See Mic 5:2.

Copyright Statement:
Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.

~Lena’s Journalin’ Today~
Dear ones, have you ever felt anger towards God? Being completely honest with my own soul, I have.
As I read today I realize that the very acts of obedience to God are the very core of anger towards him. Such as, If you love me you will obey Me…But if he asks us to obey Him, we get angry. If we feel the word is telling us what to do, and that things is against what our natural soul had already decided to do, or how to live, then we get upset and the request for a change of plans.
Where does that resistance come from?
It actually started in heaven long ago, when Lucifer, a created by God being who orchestrated continual worship of God, rose up, deciding he was tired of giving away praise all of the time to God, and he wanted praise himself. He wanted to make the decisions himself, rather than “someone” telling him what to do, he wanted to be god. Pride started it and rebellion led it.
Isn’t that the natural struggle we all have in our daily lives. We want to decide, we want to be praised, we want to rule and have the say, without having to be told by “anyone else”?
It’s root is from way back before man was ever created on earth.
Man struggles with the root, because the result of the rebellion came right here down to earth and lives here in this atmosphere with 1/3rd of the angelic realm helping feed it’s cause. Their dominion became the very realm we live in everyday.
Then, God set another freewill being on the planet to prove His unconditional love and the power of that love to draw men and change them into His image no matter what had been done.
Men are men and they failed and they fail, they need/needed help to take that rule in God back. Wow God actually placed that rule man so desires into his hands, and the first place to practice that rule is in one’s own life in relation to one’s Creator and father God. It’s not to rule instead of God, but to rule with God, so He’d have a plurality of ruler ship. He was giving man His desires to rule, over himself first and then if it was proven or developed in the man personally, then he would also help others to get to a place of ruling themselves also.
So these religious guys were fiery hot enough to want to get rid of Jesus, why? He was getting in the way of their backwards pride-filled rule. He was here to take back right order and to show them how to rule self first before ruling others. They’d been ruling others, but not self, and now they were mad.
I like how Jesus says, It was/is not yet My time.
Notice how Nicodemus who had heard truth spoken to him personally from Jesus, argued for Jesus?
He had a personal revelation enough to begin to change his mind. Have we?
If we find ourselves resisting any words from God through any vessels of God and saying to ourselves or to others things like, we don’t do it THAT way, and I don’t have to change, and you can’t or won’t tell me what to do, or who do they think they are judging me, or if all we can do is reason out the words of God, we need to check our measure of rule and see who is in charge, God or my ascension which rides above God nature. Good thing to correct now, before it may be too late.
He will tell us later who He knows and who he doesn’t. Those who love Him enough to change in obedience to His words, know Him, personally. Those who always serve themselves, know themselves very well. They know their own needs, their own desires, their own plans, their won ways, they rule and they are king, but there IS another King, we decided whether He rules us or not, or we de-seat Him and we get on the throne. Would you like to know a person like that and be their fine friend, if they de-seat you? If they don’t ever listen to you or disregard your advise?
We are a lot like God in our nature and He is a “gentleman”, if we don’t want Him on out thrones’, he won’t be.




Proverbs 27:17-19
17 You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another. 18 If you care for your orchard, you'll enjoy its fruit; if you honor your boss, you'll be honored.
19 Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.
Psalm 122:1
1 When they said, "Let's go to the house of God," my heart leaped for joy.