Sunday, July 22, 2007

Matthew 21 Today w/ Lena's Journalin'

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God Bless You Today, Lena B


Matthew 21The Triumphal Entry
1As Jesus and the disciples approached Jerusalem, they came to the town of Bethphage on the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two of them on ahead. 2"Go into the village over there," he said, "and you will see a donkey tied there, with its colt beside it. Untie them and bring them here. 3If anyone asks what you are doing, just say, 'The Lord needs them,' and he will immediately send them." 4This was done to fulfill the prophecy,
5 "Tell the people of Israel, F109 'Look, your King is coming to you. He is humble, riding on a donkey — even on a donkey's colt.'" F110
6The two disciples did as Jesus said. 7They brought the animals to him and threw their garments over the colt, and he sat on it. F111
8Most of the crowd spread their coats on the road ahead of Jesus, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9He was in the center of the procession, and the crowds all around him were shouting,
"Praise God F112 for the Son of David! Bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Praise God in highest heaven!" F113
10The entire city of Jerusalem was stirred as he entered. "Who is this?" they asked.
11And the crowds replied, "It's Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee."

Jesus Clears the Temple
12Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the merchants and their customers. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the stalls of those selling doves. 13He said, "The Scriptures declare, 'My Temple will be called a place of prayer,' but you have turned it into a den of thieves!" F114
14The blind and the lame came to him, and he healed them there in the Temple. 15The leading priests and the teachers of religious law saw these wonderful miracles and heard even the little children in the Temple shouting, "Praise God for the Son of David." But they were indignant 16and asked Jesus, "Do you hear what these children are saying?" "Yes," Jesus replied. "Haven't you ever read the Scriptures? For they say, 'You have taught children and infants to give you praise.' F115 " 17Then he returned to Bethany, where he stayed overnight.
Jesus Curses the Fig Tree
18In the morning, as Jesus was returning to Jerusalem, he was hungry, 19and he noticed a fig tree beside the road. He went over to see if there were any figs on it, but there were only leaves. Then he said to it, "May you never bear fruit again!" And immediately the fig tree withered up.
20The disciples were amazed when they saw this and asked, "How did the fig tree wither so quickly?"
21Then Jesus told them, "I assure you, if you have faith and don't doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, 'May God lift you up and throw you into the sea,' and it will happen. 22If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."
The Authority of Jesus Challenged
23When Jesus returned to the Temple and began teaching, the leading priests and other leaders came up to him. They demanded, "By whose authority did you drive out the merchants from the Temple? F116 Who gave you such authority?"
24"I'll tell you who gave me the authority to do these things if you answer one question," Jesus replied. 25"Did John's baptism come from heaven or was it merely human?" They talked it over among themselves. "If we say it was from heaven, he will ask why we didn't believe him. 26But if we say it was merely human, we'll be mobbed, because the people think he was a prophet." 27So they finally replied, "We don't know." And Jesus responded, "Then I won't answer your question either.
Story of the Two Sons
28"But what do you think about this? A man with two sons told the older boy, 'Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.' 29The son answered, 'No, I won't go,' but later he changed his mind and went anyway. 30Then the father told the other son, 'You go,' and he said, 'Yes, sir, I will.' But he didn't go. 31Which of the two was obeying his father?" They replied, "The first, of course." Then Jesus explained his meaning: "I assure you, corrupt tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the Kingdom of God before you do. 32For John the Baptist came and showed you the way to life, and you didn't believe him, while tax collectors and prostitutes did. And even when you saw this happening, you refused to turn from your sins and believe him.
Story of the Evil Farmers
33"Now listen to this story. A certain landowner planted a vineyard, built a wall around it, dug a pit for pressing out the grape juice, and built a lookout tower. Then he leased the vineyard to tenant farmers and moved to another country. 34At the time of the grape harvest he sent his servants to collect his share of the crop. 35But the farmers grabbed his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. 36So the landowner sent a larger group of his servants to collect for him, but the results were the same.
37"Finally, the owner sent his son, thinking, 'Surely they will respect my son.'
38"But when the farmers saw his son coming, they said to one another, 'Here comes the heir to this estate. Come on, let's kill him and get the estate for ourselves!' 39So they grabbed him, took him out of the vineyard, and murdered him.
40"When the owner of the vineyard returns," Jesus asked, "what do you think he will do to those farmers?"
41The religious leaders replied, "He will put the wicked men to a horrible death and lease the vineyard to others who will give him his share of the crop after each harvest."
42Then Jesus asked them, "Didn't you ever read this in the Scriptures? 'The stone rejected by the builders has now become the cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous to see.' F117
43What I mean is that the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation that will produce the proper fruit. 44Anyone who stumbles over that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone on whom it falls. F118 "
45When the leading priests and Pharisees heard Jesus, they realized he was pointing at them—that they were the farmers in his story. 46They wanted to arrest him, but they were afraid to try because the crowds considered Jesus to be a prophet.
FOOTNOTES:
F109: Greek Tell the daughter of Zion. Isa 62:11.
F110: Zech 9:9.
F111: Greek over them, and he sat on them.
F112: Greek Hosanna, an exclamation of praise that literally means "save now"; also in 21:9b, 15.
F113: Pss 118:25-26; 148:1.
F114: Isa 56:7; Jer 7:11.
F115: Ps 8:2.
F116: Or By whose authority do you do these things?
F117: Ps 118:22-23.
F118: This verse is omitted in some early manuscripts.


Lena Jounalin'
We might read this: “because Jesus was humble this is why He, as a man of earth, could ride an untrained donkey.” His humility, which put God first, which placed His trust in God above trust in training, and placed reliance of God first and thus was obedient to God in loving trust , unleashed supernatural abilities in our natural world.
Why would the crowd recognize this as something to gaze upon?
Rebellion & stubbornness were instantaneously tamed through obedience to God.
Prophets, those who speak the words of God, must also have living proof of their words. Words are powerful tools, especially when confirmed by actions.
What kind of business are you busy with? If a Christian, Kingdom of God being established on the earth business is what everything everyday is all about.
Prayer is the first action of a kingdom citizen. We give thanks and praise to God and ask Him what He needs and desire s for us to do, then we do it, each and everyday. We live by permission rather than trial, error and mistakes with forgiveness.
Thank God for forgiveness when we make a mistake in what He has told us to do, but man also goes gung-ho on his own good ideas and later on finds out they were not of God they were just good works, the repentance there and forgiveness is about doing our own wills in comparison to seeking His for the earth, and going wholeheartedly after it.
There’s also a difference between seeking God for what we should become and seeking Him for what He wants done. We could spend our whole lives wondering what our personal purposes are, all the while what He wants isn’t even touched upon in those conversations.
The point is whoever we are, do His will, which is save souls and disciple people.
Why did Jesus curse the fig tree? No fruit? Yes and no.
The fig tree is like church people who should have fruits and so they look as though they do, they smile at church, seem happy, say all the right things, but when you look closer there is no spirit life being given to others and nurtured towards growth. That does not sit well with God, to look good and not really be good.(meaning on a daily venture to do as he pleases and change who we are without that venture going on)
An example of this is being faithful in church goings, but not taking the words preached and studying them, fellowshipping them with others and getting understanding of them in order to become them, in day to day life, taking them home and practicing them.
It’s Listening because you plan to do them. Being accountable and submissive to others in Christ and allowing people to help us see what we do not yet see for ourselves that desperately needs change.
If just we go to church, get inspired, feel like we did our duties and then live our week as we are, with no God required changes being the important goals of the week, and we live like we want to, do what we want to, etc. Then we go back to church on Sundays and hope it is only 1 hour long…. we are that fig tree with no fruit. It is a put on and God knows it better than anyone.
This is quite possibly why Jesus was angry. That we’d actually think in deception, that we can put on an act, and God wouldn’t know what’s going on, on the inside! Then to really think that God is ok w/ it!
Do we not know Him and that God sees what no one sees, even ourselves, because we deceive ourselves, especially when we live religiously and do not do the words we hear. If we live like we know God knows all and we cannot hide anything from His eyes we honor Him.
Jesus did not feel honored in His own house that day. What did Jesus curse of hat fig tree? Phoniness, and the thinking that we can get by w/ it.
The Lord would rather we not say a thing and do it, than to say things we not do.
Then there comes a stage of growth where he wants us toi say and do our words, even to our own hurt. In this we will win in the struggles of life.
It’d be better to “turn one’s self in” humbly before God and confess phoniness and rebellion to the true ways of the Lord, than to hide one’s whole life and it be revealed in the end!
God have mercy on the religious soul.