Luke 13

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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Luke 13:1-35
Unless You Turn to God
1About that time some people came up and told him about the Galileans Pilate had killed while they were at worship, mixing their blood with the blood of the sacrifices on the altar. 2Jesus responded, "Do you think those murdered Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans? 3Not at all. Unless you turn to God, you too will die. 4And those eighteen in Jerusalem the other day, the ones crushed and killed when the Tower of Siloam collapsed and fell on them, do you think they were worse citizens than all other Jerusalemites? 5Not at all. Unless you turn to God, you too will die."
6Then he told them a story: "A man had an apple tree planted in his front yard. He came to it expecting to find apples, but there weren't any. 7He said to his gardener, "What's going on here? For three years now I've come to this tree expecting apples and not one apple have I found. Chop it down! Why waste good ground with it any longer?'
8"The gardener said, "Let's give it another year. I'll dig around it and fertilize, 9and maybe it will produce next year; if it doesn't, then chop it down.'"
Healing on the Sabbath
10He was teaching in one of the meeting places on the Sabbath. 11There was a woman present, so twisted and bent over with arthritis that she couldn't even look up. She had been afflicted with this for eighteen years. 12When Jesus saw her, he called her over. "Woman, you're free!" 13He laid hands on her and suddenly she was standing straight and tall, giving glory to God.
14The meeting-place president, furious because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the congregation, "Six days have been defined as work days. Come on one of the six if you want to be healed, but not on the seventh, the Sabbath."
15But Jesus shot back, "You frauds! Each Sabbath every one of you regularly unties your cow or donkey from its stall, leads it out for water, and thinks nothing of it. 16So why isn't it all right for me to untie this daughter of Abraham and lead her from the stall where Satan has had her tied these eighteen years?"
17When he put it that way, his critics were left looking quite silly and red-faced. The congregation was delighted and cheered him on.
The Way to God
18Then he said, "How can I picture God's kingdom for you? What kind of story can I use? 19It's like a pine nut that a man plants in his front yard. It grows into a huge pine tree with thick branches, and eagles build nests in it."
20He tried again. "How can I picture God's kingdom? 21It's like yeast that a woman works into enough dough for three loaves of bread--and waits while the dough rises."
22He went on teaching from town to village, village to town, but keeping on a steady course toward Jerusalem.
23A bystander said, "Master, will only a few be saved?"He said, 24"Whether few or many is none of your business. Put your mind on your life with God. The way to life--to God!-is vigorous and requires your total attention. A lot of you are going to assume that you'll sit down to God's salvation banquet just because you've been hanging around the neighborhood all your lives. 25Well, one day you're going to be banging on the door, wanting to get in, but you'll find the door locked and the Master saying, "Sorry, you're not on my guest list.'
26"You'll protest, "But we've known you all our lives!' 27only to be interrupted with his abrupt, "Your kind of knowing can hardly be called knowing. You don't know the first thing about me.'
28"That's when you'll find yourselves out in the cold, strangers to grace. You'll watch Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets march into God's kingdom. 29You'll watch outsiders stream in from east, west, north, and south and sit down at the table of God's kingdom. And all the time you'll be outside looking in--and wondering what happened. 30This is the Great Reversal: the last in line put at the head of the line, and the so-called first ending up last.
31Just then some Pharisees came up and said, "Run for your life! Herod's on the hunt. He's out to kill you!"
32Jesus said, "Tell that fox that I've no time for him right now. Today and tomorrow I'm busy clearing out the demons and healing the sick; the third day I'm wrapping things up. 33Besides, it's not proper for a prophet to come to a bad end outside Jerusalem.
34Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killer of prophets,abuser of the messengers of God!How often I've longed to gather your children, gather your children like a hen, Her brood safe under her wings--but you refused and turned away!
35And now it's too late: You won't see me again until the day you say, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of God.'"

Copyright Statement: THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language

~ Lena’s Journalin’
These first verses (1-5) have a wealth of truth in them that should be extracted.
People are continuously tempted by the evil one, to weigh and measure sin’s value. Thinking like this, this sin is of greater value than that one, and if we measure some sin as not so great and other sin as great then somehow we can justify ourselves, even exalt ourselves as ok in our own eyes.
These shared with Jesus a grave sin (as all sin is). When we share the gravity of sin we must watch that we are not trying to magnify ourselves or cover ourselves with someone else’s magnified wrongs. We can never be covered by a wrong, ever.
What is wrong with any sin, in any range, from speaking curses over your brethren, to murder, is sin separates us from being one with God through the covering of the blood of Jesus, it brings the potential of eternal separation from God and THAT fact is what is grave. Jesus said it so plainly to the perceived “saved” and the perceived “unsaved” alike, “unless YOU turn to God you too will die”.
The point of any revealing of sin, would be to uproot it out of our own lives and expose it by confession and repentance. Pointing out other’s sins is a tool in the enemy’s hand to keep us covered in our own righteousness.
Being in and going to the church is not enough to save you, you must continually walk in the light as He is in the light, allowing no work of personal darkness to overshadow the light in you, that means continued exposure to His light-life.
Jerusalem is the church, don’t be deceived into thinking that if you go to church you are ok. You’re ok if you stay exposed to the light. Going to church, listening and doing should help keep you there.
Our pastor has stood in the gap and has petitioned the Lord for another year for our congregation to bear fruit. Praise the Lord for a man who would intercede. Who do you intercede for? Being continually exposed to light puts you in a place to be able to be used by God to ask for another “year” for someone! To dig around the roots and fertilize means we get dirty, we expose where others have hidden. The kingdom of God cannot go on in fruitfulness unless this is done one way or another. It would be better to become uncomfortably exposed before a loving Father God here, than to later burn in hell! It would be the grace and mercy of God to show us our sin now and lead us into the provision for our sin now, than to wait for judgment later on. Also where the tree is concerned, it represents us, not just me, yet it takes a me to make a we, and we to make a complete picture of Him in the earth. So, I must interceded for those who have yet to see what I’ve now been graced by God to see, so we can all come, now ya hear?
I just recently heard the word Sabbath defined as “celebration”. God’s celebration over what He had made and the use fullness of what He had made. Not a rest as in relax and do nothing. He’s watching and waiting for His creation to do what they were created to do. Some of us have not been able to do what we were created to do, because of hurt, pain, lethargy, illness, etc. Healing on the Sabbath? As though healing is work. Yes, heal, so God can have what He’s ready to celebrate, which in part is us walking out our created purposes. THAT is why we have to get healed in Him, and all provision for our healing is had through the outpouring of the sacrificial blood. Giving Him the glory due His Holy name. Now THAT is true worship, being willing to go all the way in wholeness and giving God something to celebrate in us.
To be religiously minded is the same as being carnally minded, it is based on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and not the tree of life. Even in Christianity, we can study our religion and not live the words we’ve studied or entered into bringing life to the words we’ve recited, by applying them. If we only know the words we’ve studied, yet do not make changes by the power of the spirit of the words, then we live in deception and really we could as easily study any history book or any other religion of the world. God is not looking for students of knowledge, but students who are disciplined to change. They are wise in respectful honor of Him and because of that loving respect for His word and how it leads them into greater love for God and to be in love with those whom He loves, they come to know Him, His heart, His mind, as a person, not a black word on a white page in an understandable language.
It is so important to shake your religious mind up, become uncomfortable, do a word from today’s word, Change!
Get to know Him, and don’t fool yourself and justify yourself. He’s not deceived by behaviors or acts. He’ll know who He personally knows, who through personal relationship and love did the impossible for His sake, because of their great love they changed, by His grace they moved mountains with faith in who they knew. They refused to allow any ungodly excuse to tell them His death was not good enough to provide for my participation in His celebration. His provision for us makes the impossible happen, His purposes expressed through me preserve my life, give length of my days, and cause me to bear fruit each year. I believe and receive, and live in Him- everyday. I know Him and so I make Him known.
One of the best evidences of true salvation is I speak of Him. If I know Him I am also wiling to make the changes that will make Him further known, even my life change is evidence of knowing Him and the visibility of the change to others is shown in my life and my new lifestyle. They are able to believe what they see.

Daily Meditation/Recital/Question
Ask myself daily: “What Page Am I On?”