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DO YOU GIVE THANKS FOR YOUR BLESSINGS?
Prophesy - To Build Up The Body
Luke 22:64 'And when they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face, and asked him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote thee?'
Teaching and learning in the scriptures, are much more than academic. It involves being guided by God's principles in relationship to others, as well as knowing and responding to God. It calls for the learner to put the Word of God into practice, not just hear it (Jas. 1:22). It involves hearing a word from the outside and putting it on the inside, so that it may be expressed in our every action. Proverbs 2 tells us to incline our ear unto wisdom, apply our heart to understanding, cry after knowledge, lift up our voice for understanding, seek her as silver, search for her like hidden treasures, and...
WHY I DO, WHAT I DO
The Silence Of The Son
Luke 22:63-64 'And the men that held Jesus mocked him, and smote him. And when they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face, and asked him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote thee?'
Here is the account of God's own creation mocking and insulting His Son without Him intervening. The pain that this must have caused the Father defies description.
Those who struck Jesus and told Him to prophesy who it was that struck Him, must have taken Jesus' silence as proof that He was not who He claimed to be.
The natural mind could not conceive that Almighty God would take this kind of abuse from His creation. But this was the plan of God.
Isaiah prophesied that, as a lamb before its shearers is dumb (Isa. 53:7), so Jesus...
Hide The Word In Your Heart
Matthew 26:75 'And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly.'
There are several Greek words used for 'word.' The Greek word used here is RHEMA and it literally means, 'a spoken word; an utterance, a saying, but specifically a spoken word appropriate for the situation.' It's not the Bible lying on your coffee table that makes the enemy flee, but the Word of God hidden in your heart, activated by the power of the Holy Spirit, and spoken in the appropriate situation. It's similar to what Jesus says in John 6:63, that 'the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.'
The words that we speak from the written Word of...
WILL YOU FORGIVE?
Circumcision Is A Matter Of The Heart
John 18:14 'Now Caiaphas was he, which gave counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient that one man should die for the people.'
The physical nation of Israel still has a very important part to play in God's plan. They have a prominent role in end-time prophecy. However, the physical nation of Israel has been displaced in importance by the spiritual seed of Abraham, that is the church of Jesus Christ.
Christians are the true circumcised people of God. In Romans 2:28-29, Paul reveals that true circumcision is a matter of the heart, not the flesh, and that true Judaism is through new birth, not physical birth.
In Colossians 2:11, Paul says that spiritual circumcision was done by God without the hands of man. This...
Fight The Battle In The Spirit
John 18:10 'Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus.'
JOHN 18:10-11
It is the apostle John who reveals Peter as the one who cut off the servant's ear and also identifies the servant. It is very doubtful that Peter was aiming for Malchus' ear. It is more probable that he was making a horizontal swing at the servant's head and as the man ducked, Peter cut off his ear.
Peter was very vocal about never denying the Lord, and his actions proved that he meant what he said. There were only two swords among the disciples, yet Peter was willing to take on these six hundred soldiers. This spelled certain death or...