Week 28 Day 1

The Daily Take 10

The Gospel of John

Week 28 Day 1

Introduction…The book of John was written between 85-90AD by John the Beloved, a close disciple of Jesus Christ. After Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension to the Father, the disciples ministered the Gospel and thousands were saved. The new believers and the disciples went into all the world with their testimony of faith and the world was coming to Christ. But this spiritual revival came with the price of great persecution. See Acts 8:1. John was exiled to a remote island of Patmos because of His faith. The persecution the early Church faced was fierce. The first century believers were threatened, tortured and martyred for their faith and yet the Church of Jesus Christ flourished because it was built upon the truth and the fact, they had seen Jesus live, die for them, rise again and ascend to the Father. Their faith was not in fables nor did they give their lives in vain.

Read John 15:18-23 “If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own, but the world hates you because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. Remember the word which I spoke to you. The servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours. But they will do these things to you because of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken unto them, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have no excuse for their sins. He who hates me hates the Father too.”

Bible Study

• The disciples were not stopped when threatened or surprised when persecution came because Jesus warned them clearly and repeatedly…it will happen.
  • “They will deliver you up to councils and you will be beaten in synagogues and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear testimony before them…and they will put them to death and you will be hated by all for my name sake.” See Matthew 10:17-29, Mark 13:9-13, Luke 12:2-9,51-53.
• The Roman government and society of the day, hated the Christians, in fact it became illegal to be a Christian in the first century. Why were they hated?
  • The Christians would not call Caesar, “the Lord.” That title was rightfully reserved only for the Lord Jesus Christ.
  • Christians moved to the beat of a different drum…that of God and the Word. They were not impressed by Roman rule or moved by their threats.
  • Christians were hated because they did not conform to the world around them and appeared as rebels fearlessly living out their faith.
  • Christianity’s Godly lifestyle and higher standards espoused by the believers made non believers uncomfortable and resentful.
• The world that hates the Christian can be defined as…human society organizing and establishing itself while disregarding God and His Word.
  • Be it known, the source of the hatred and disregard for God is Satan and the object of the hate and disdain is focused on the way, truth and life…our Savior Jesus Christ.
• In Matthew 10:28 Jesus offers perspective saying, “Fear not them who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Application

• Two notable ministers of the 20^th century made these true statements:
  • J.C. Ryle… “A man’s religion may well be suspected when he is content to go to heaven alone.”
  • C.H. Spurgeon…“Better for us to die than to live if souls be not saved.”
• When we pray for the Church of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven…remember those believers today who are facing persecution and pray… “God give your Church courage, great faith and put your angels about us as your Church boldly ministers your Gospel.”

Tags: Take 10

Week 28 Day 2

The Daily Take 10

The Gospel of John

Week 28 Day 2

Introduction…The book of John was written between 85-90AD by John the Beloved, a close disciple of Jesus Christ. After Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension to the Father, the disciples ministered the Gospel and thousands were saved. The new believers and the disciples went into all the world with their testimony of faith and the world was coming to Christ. But this spiritual revival came with the price of great persecution. See Acts 8:1. John was exiled to a remote island of Patmos because of His faith. The persecution the early Church faced was fierce. The first century believers were threatened, tortured and martyred for their faith and yet the Church of Jesus Christ flourished because it was built upon the truth and the fact, they had seen Jesus live, die for them, rise again and ascend to the Father. Their faith was not in fables nor did they give their lives in vain.

Read John 15:18-23 “If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own, but the world hates you because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. Remember the word which I spoke to you. The servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours. But they will do these things to you because of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken unto them, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have no excuse for their sins. He who hates me hates the Father too.”

Bible Study

• The disciples were not stopped when threatened or surprised when persecution came because Jesus warned them clearly and repeatedly…it will happen.
  • “They will deliver you up to councils and you will be beaten in synagogues and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear testimony before them…and they will put them to death and you will be hated by all for my name sake.” See Matthew 10:17-29, Mark 13:9-13, Luke 12:2-9,51-53.
• The Roman government and society of the day, hated the Christians, in fact it became illegal to be a Christian in the first century. Why were they hated?
  • The Christians would not call Caesar, “the Lord.” That title was rightfully reserved only for the Lord Jesus Christ.
  • Christians moved to the beat of a different drum…that of God and the Word. They were not impressed by Roman rule or moved by their threats.
  • Christians were hated because they did not conform to the world around them and appeared as rebels fearlessly living out their faith.
  • Christianity’s Godly lifestyle and higher standards espoused by the believers made non believers uncomfortable and resentful.
• The world that hates the Christian can be defined as…human society organizing and establishing itself while disregarding God and His Word.
  • Be it known, the source of the hatred and disregard for God is Satan and the object of the hate and disdain is focused on the way, truth and life…our Savior Jesus Christ.
• In Matthew 10:28 Jesus offers perspective saying, “Fear not them who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Application

• Two notable ministers of the 20^th century made these true statements:
  • J.C. Ryle… “A man’s religion may well be suspected when he is content to go to heaven alone.”
  • C.H. Spurgeon…“Better for us to die than to live if souls be not saved.”
• When we pray for the Church of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven…remember those believers today who are facing persecution and pray… “God give your Church courage, great faith and put your angels about us as your Church boldly ministers your Gospel.”

Tags: Take 10

Week 28 Day 3

The Daily Take 10

The Gospel of John

Week 28 Day 3

Introduction…Missionary to Africa, E. Stanley Jones is quoted saying, “The call of the Christian is not to do extraordinary things, but to do ordinary things in an extraordinary way.” Living life for God, our Creator, with the courage to be different, with the willingness to swim upstream while the world floats and swims downstream is extraordinary. Christians should have the inner strength and boldness to be different. Yes, being different can be uncomfortable and even dangerous, but no person can be a disciple of Jesus Christ unless they accept that risk.

Read John 15:24-27  “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have no excuse for their sins. He who hates me hates the Father too. If I had not done deeds among them, which no one else had ever done, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen and they have heard both me and my Father. But it has all happened that the word which stands written in their law might be fulfilled. They hated me without a cause. When the Helper comes, the Helper whom I will send to you from my Father, I mean the Spirit of Truth who comes forth from the Father, he will be a witness about me. And you will be witnesses about me because you have been with me from the beginning.”

Bible Study

• God expects us to live up to the light, the understanding we have been given.
  • What is expected from a child is less than an adult who knows better.
  • What is expected from a primitive Aborigine is less than that of a priest or pastor who is knowledgeable of God and His Word.
  • At the same time, God is just. He will judge us according to the knowledge, to the light we have been given.
  • Romans 1 tells us God reveals Himself to all people of all times with the purpose of giving them the opportunity to respond to Him.
• All Jesus did and said while on earth precisely exposed who God is and expects of us and fully manifested God’s love for us.
  • Jesus exposed sin. He told, taught, explained and showed the way to live.
  • Jesus remedied sin. He opened the way to forgiveness for sinful mankind.
• People rejecting Jesus Christ are refusing God and His love.
  • The person rejecting Jesus is rejecting God’s diagnosis of sin and certain death and only cure through acceptance and belief in Jesus.
  • Rejecting Jesus is man’s prerogative, but it will become God’s judgment.
  • “They hated me without a cause,” was prophesied by David in the Psalms 2x in Psalms 35:19 and 69:4 and it was fulfilled with Jesus.  Think of it…what is the cause of hating Jesus? There truly is none!
• The Holy Spirit repeats, yes He plays back to us what Jesus said until the truth dawns upon us. The Holy Spirit…
  • Moves us to respond to God’s drawing…”come unto me” says Jesus. “Behold I stand at the door and knock. If any man open, I will come in.”
  • Nudges us back to God when we go astray. “If you confess your sin, I will forgive and cleanse you,” says God

Application

• It is our honor to work with God, our task given to us as disciples of Jesus Christ and privilege to be co laborers with Him to be witnesses of Jesus Christ…
  • From many years of fellowship with Him. We have known Him with personal intimacy for years and found Him totally faithful and true. We can say factually and convincingly as witnesses, “I know Him.”
  • From an inner conviction of the Holy Spirit that speaks to us. Telling us this is the way, right from wrong, and counsels us to do the right things and do them the right way.
  • From what we outwardly state as a testimony of our faith and life in Christ. We want to let others know of His faithfulness and truth. Since we are forgiven and found the way, we share the secret, the way, with others.

Tags: Take 10

Week 28 Day 4

The Daily Take 10

The Gospel of John

Week 28 Day 4

Introduction…The first Christian Martyrs were those who suffered under the persecution of the Romans in the early ages of the Church. For 240 years, or from about the year 64 after Christ to the time of emperor Constantine in 306 AD, the cruel punishments inflicted upon the Christians by their heathen enemies are described by the ancient historians as being as various and horrible as the mind of man, inspired by the devil, could invent.” Foxes Book of Martyrs, page 11.

Read John 16:1-6 “I have spoken these things to you in case you should be caused to stumble in the way. They will excommunicate you from the synagogue. Yes, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think that he is rendering a service to God and they will do these things because they did not recognize the Father or me. But I have spoken these things to you so that when their time comes, you will remember that I spoke them to you. I did not tell you these things at the beginning because I was with you. But know I am going away to him who sent me and none of you asks me, ‘where are you going?’ But grief has filled your hearts because I have spoken these things to you.”

Bible Study

• From the beginning of time God revealed Himself to be the Creator, a good God, merciful and wanting a relationship with His Creation. God has chosen us and loves us, but many have not chosen God.
• Some people, who did respond to God’s love, later fell away for various reasons, especially for reasons of persecution. Revelation 21:8 condemns those who are unbelieving and fearful.
• While some in the early Church showed such courage and spiritual heroism, there were those whose faith was shown to be weak, failing to endure persecution.
• Jesus spoke of 2 ways in which His followers would be persecuted…
  • Excommunication from the synagogue, which was difficult for the Jews.
  • Being killed by people thinking they are doing a “latreia,” service for God. This word is used for the work of a priest rendering at the altar for religious service.
• The Apostle Paul, formerly Saul of Tarsus, who wrote many of the New Testament Epistles, was a Jewish Pharisee, a religious leader, who tried to eliminate the name of Jesus, Christians and the Church in the years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. See Acts 26:9-11.
  • Saul/Paul consented to the first martyr of the Church, Stephen. See Acts 6:5-8:2
  • Saul/Paul “made havoc of the Church, entering into every house and haling men and women, committed them to prison.” Acts 8:3
  • Saul/Paul, “yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord,” Acts 9:1
  • And then God intervened with a light from heaven that blinded him, knocking him off his horse to the ground, and then Jesus speaking to him saying, “Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” See Acts 9:2-31 where Saul’s life amazingly changed by Jesus Christ.

Application

• Joan of Arc was quoted as saying regarding loneliness, “People have sometimes learned, it is better to be alone with God. It is the price of fellowship with God.”
• Anyone thinking they have a monopoly on God’s grace and truth is dangerous and does not have the mind of Christ or the heart of God. We are to love the people of the world, not kill them!
• Regarding denominations…there are many, but as long as they believe it is the shed blood of Jesus Christ that saves us and in the Word of God…we are brothers.
• Have you ever prayed for someone who persecuted you? Jesus encouraged this. Matthew 5:10-12 says, “Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice, and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven…”
• Pray for the vilest sinner and the most vocal person who comes against God because once saved, they make great Christians when Jesus gets a hold of them.
• Jesus said to His disciples that He would make them fishers of men. It’s our job to catch them/people, but it is God’s job to clean them. We don’t have to tell new believers what a Christian does and doesn’t do…God will speak to them through His Word.

Tags: Take 10

Week 28 Day 5

The Daily Take 10

The Gospel of John

Week 28 Day 5

Introduction…Have you ever had something happen to you and think it was bad, only later to find out it was good? Jesus’ disciples were bewildered after hearing Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God, was leaving them and God sovereignty was changing things. Contrary to the disciple’s bleak outlook, Jesus said if He left this earth with the physical limitations it placed upon Him, it was going to great for them. How could this be possible? The omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient Comforter, the Holy Spirit would come. Do you know the Holy Spirit?

Read John 16:7-11 “But it is the truth I am telling you, it is to your interest that I should go away, for if I do not go away the Helper will not come to you. But when he has come, he will convict the world of sin and convince it of righteousness and judgment of sin, because they do not believe in me. Of righteousness, because I go to my Father and you no longer see me of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

Bible Study

• The Helper, Comforter, Holy Spirit is the 3^rd person of the Trinity.
  • The Triune God is made up of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
  • Each person of the Trinity has a different role, but each is God.
  • “God is one” yet like H2O can be a liquid, vapor or solid, so God is 3 in 1.
• The Holy Spirit can be everywhere at all times with all believers, everywhere.
  • The indwelling Holy Spirit is with us, in us, and upon us…as He counsels, enlightens, leads and guides us.
  • Jesus’ promised in Matthew 28:20 “Lo, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” This was fulfilled with the coming and uninterrupted fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
• The Holy Spirit convicts of sin. See Acts 2:37
  • A strong sense of sin and personal responsibility dawns upon a person.
• The Holy Spirit convinces of righteousness. See Matthew 27:54 and Acts 9:1-9
  • The sheer righteousness of Jesus becomes clear to a person
• The Holy Spirit convinces of judgment
  • The assurance that we will give account someday for our lives before God.
• The Holy Spirit assures of our salvation
  • The confidence and hope that in Christ we are forgiven and made righteous

Application

• The Holy Spirit is a person. The person of God who indwells us as believers, disciples of Jesus Christ.
• The Holy Spirit thinks, decides and has feelings. That is why in Ephesians 4:30 we are warned, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit by whom you are sealed unto the day of redemption” with our resistance of His work in us, perfecting us to the image of God.

The anecdote for moving from a sinful life and habits and moving to a life that is pleasing to God is found in Galatians 5:16, 18 encourage us to “Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.” And “if we are led by the Spirit, we are not under the law.”

Tags: Take 10

April 26, 2010 – Worship, Part 4

We were made to worship…we are made by God for God.  Like Jesus explained to the Woman at the well we are to worship in spirit and in truth.  Worship isn’t a place or just an action it is a lifestyle.

We all know how easy it is to worship God when the feeling is there.

We all know that when we get a revelation of who God is or what He has done in our lives that worship automatically flows out of us.  Its easy to worship then – we are worshipful beings, but if we all now know that we are to worship God with our lives – all the time, in spirit and in truth, for who he is and what he has done what do we do when the feeling isn’t there?  What are we to do when we are hurt or in pain?  When the answer hasn’t come yet?  We all know that dry times come in our spiritual journey – what do we do when he feels far away from us?  When we are confused or worried or stressed?  When we are in the valley – how are we to worship

Ps. 88 says this…1 O LORD, God of my salvation, I cry out to you by day. I come to you at night.  2 Now hear my prayer; listen to my cry. 3 For my life is full of troubles, and death draws near. 4 I am as good as dead, like a strong man with no strength left. 5 They have left me among the dead, and I lie like a corpse in a grave.  I am forgotten, cut off from your care.  6 You have thrown me into the lowest pit, into the darkest depths.  7 Your anger weighs me down; with wave after wave you have engulfed me.  8 You have driven my friends away by making me repulsive to them.  I am in a trap with no way of escape.  9 My eyes are blinded by my tears.  Each day I beg for your help, O LORD;  I lift my hands to you for mercy… 13 O LORD, I cry out to you.

How are we to live a life of worship when life sometimes brings us to these places – the valley.  Three things I want you to do to be successful at living a life of worship in every season, including the valley.

#1 – Reach out

Reach out to the Lord? Yes, of course but the first thing that you and I should do when walking through a dark time in our lives is to reach out to someone else.  To find someone else who may be going through a valley and help them through it.  Now we can sit and wait for God to deliver and He will because He is faithful but the whole time God is looking for you to live worship.  The best way to do that is to look for the pain and hurt all around us.  When we get our eyes off of us and our circumstances and reach out to others our freedom comes.  Your freedom is found in bringing other people freedom.

#2 Look up

Ps. 121:1 I will lift up my eyes to the hills – from whence comes my help

It is important to point out what the Psalmist is really saying – he is looking up because he knows that is where his hope is coming.  There is faith in lifting up his eyes – there is anticipation and expectancy.  I am looking to those hills because that is where the cavalry will arrive, where my reinforcements are coming.  Like Peter while he was walking on water with Jesus as long as his eyes were fixed on Him he was ok – it was when he looked at what he was doing (the storm, the waves, the water, his circumstances) that he got into trouble.  In fixing our eyes on him – 2 things happen – One, he stays big on our display screen and two looking up does is it brings you peace.

Is. 26:3 – You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is focused on you because he trusts in you

#3 – Praise anyway

The children of Israel on more than one occasion where instructed to bring praise to God before the victory even came.  Now that takes some faith.  I mean sometimes, like Jericho, it was the strategy to victory – to bring praise before the answer was ever there.  That is looking to the hills with expectancy.  Begin thanking God for deliverance, the answer, the victory before it arrives.

Reach out, look up, praise anyway,

Jonathan

Tags: Jonathan Spuler

Week 27 Day 1

The Daily Take 10

The Gospel of John

Week 27 Day 1

Introduction…Everyone is searching for something. Remember the story of the Wizard of Oz? The search in that story led to the direction… “follow the yellow brick road.” They were told exactly what they needed to do to get there. They reminded themselves by singing the instruction,  “follow the yellow brick road,” until they actually got there. We need to remind ourselves and keep ourselves focused on where we are headed. We must follow Jesus…right into eternal life and be with Him forever!

Read John 14:4-6 “Jesus said: ‘And you know the way to where I go.’ Thomas said to him: ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How do we know the way?’ Jesus said to him: ‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Bible Study

• Jesus said He was going to prepare a place for us. Think of it…Jesus, who created the world we live in, was going to create another, an eternally great place for us to live together forever with God…heaven! See John 1:2 and Revelation 4:11
• Jesus tells His disciples they know where He is going…to the Father. Again and again, Jesus said He was returning to the Father. See John 7:33
• Jesus tells His disciples they know the way to get there…through Jesus the Son
• The disciple, Thomas, the honest, pragmatist, thinker who on occasion doubted, asks where and how he would follow Jesus to where He was going.
  • No problem, since he followed Jesus on earth, he would have entry and a place in heaven. See John 13:36
  • Unlike Thomas, we should doubt our doubts and believe our beliefs.
• Did you ever get bad directions? You don’t want to get lost seeking God or get bad directions to heaven.
  • Jesus is the Way… Jesus is the only Way to Father’s place…heaven. He is the Savior, the bridge from man to God. The mediator. All other ways to God and heaven are dead ends, wrong directions and lead to destruction.
    • Deuteronomy 5:32,33 says, “You shall not turn aside…you shall walk in al they ways which the Lord your God has commanded.”
    • Isaiah 30:21 says, “Your ears will hear a word behind you saying, this is the way, walk in it.”
    • Psalms 27:11 says, “Teach me your way, O Lord.”
  • Jesus is the Truth…He is the reason we live. What Jesus said can be trusted. He is God, spoke only God’s Word and only did the will of the Father. God’s true plan of salvation.
    • Psalms 86:11 says, “Teach me your way O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.”
    • Psalms 119:30 says, “I  have chosen the was of truth.”
  • Jesus is the Life…He is the life giver. Living for Christ is the essence of the purpose driven life.
    • Philippians 1:16 says, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
    • Proverbs 6:23 says, “The commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life.”
    • Proverbs 10:17 says, “He who heeds instructions is on the path of life.”
    • Psalms 16:11 says, “You showed me the path of life.”

Application

• Did life on earth ever become so distressed that you longed for heaven?
• Did people you know ever let you down to the extent you realize the truth that there is no better friend than Jesus and long to be with Him? What a friend we have in Jesus!
• Did you ever come to the realization that what is most important to you is not so much the location or place you are located, but who you are with that makes all the difference in the world?
• Heaven is our home. It won’t be long that we are going home and Jesus is there to welcome us! Oh Happy Day!

Tags: Take 10

Week 27 Day 2

The Daily Take 10

The Gospel of John

Week 27 Day 2

Introduction… If someone said to you, “I don’t know God, but I want to know Him” What would you tell them? How would you describe God? There are 5 senses…seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, and tasting. Can one experience God through the 5 senses? And then there is knowing. Can knowing be accomplished without the 5 senses? How can we know God?

Read John 14:7-11 “If you had known me, you would have known my Father too. From now on you are beginning to know him and you have seen him.’ Philip said to him: ‘Lord show us the Father and that is enough for us.’ Jesus said to him: ‘Have I been with you for so long and you did not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say: ‘Show us the Father?’ Do you not believe that I am in the Father and that the Father is in me? I am not the source of the words that I speak to you. It is the Father who dwells in me who is doing his own work. Believe me that I am in the Father and that the Father is in me. If you cannot believe it because I say it, believe it because of the very works I do.”

Bible Study

• 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 speaks of knowing and God. “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for them that love Him. But God has revealed them unto us by His Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, yes the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of man…or of God?”
• No man had ever seen God, until in Exodus 33:12-32 it tells of the only time God revealed Himself. In this case it was to Moses. It was an awesome event, but Moses had already known God for years.
• Psalms 34:8 says for us to spiritually…“taste and see that the Lord is good.”
• Philip the disciple, asks the incredible, or the impossible…show us the Father, as if seeing Him would result in knowing Him.
• Jesus says with utter simplicity, “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” You have seen me in action, my heart intentions and purposes. You now know God.

• Jesus reflected God. To see and know Jesus, is to see and know God. See Hebrews 1:1-3 where it says, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past by the prophets, has in these last days, spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds, who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person…”

• Because we “see Jesus”, we can say and know about God that He…

• • Knows ordinary life, as He experienced human birth, the home, family and childhood.
  • Knows the necessity and honor of work. Not ashamed to do man’s work.
  • Knows what it means and is to be tempted.
  • Knows the joy and wounds that comes from loving others.
  • Knows the sacrifice, pain and suffering of the Cross.
  • Came here out of the love He had for His creation longing to bring back the relationship He had with mankind before the fall.
• The claim and test Jesus put forth relating to God was for one to look at…
  • What Jesus said…His words. They were wonderful words of life. He spoke as one with authority, wisdom, insight and like none other.
  • What Jesus did…His deeds. They were acts no one else ever did. Supernatural and yet done from a heart of love, the very heart of God. See Matthew 11:1-6.

Application

• Would your explanation speak well for God? Would your life be able to be used as an example? Do you reflect God?
• Does your life produce the fruit of His spirit alive, active, changing you from the inside out?
• Pointing people to Jesus and saying…listen to Him, look at Him, know Him and believe in Him is to see and know God.
• From the right and from the left, may we draw them by His Spirit to the straight and narrow way of God that states, Jesus is the way, truth and life and no one comes to the Father but by Him.

Tags: Take 10

Week 27 Day 3

The Daily Take 10

The Gospel of John

Week 27 Day 3

Introduction…Jesus said to all of us, to those who would be His disciples…“listen to me, look at me and believe in me.” If we do this, we become enabled believers and effective disciples. Throughout the Scriptures there are some amazing challenges and tremendous promises. The ones found in these 3 verses are quite stimulating because they, like all Scripture, are true.

Read John 14:12-17 “This is the truth I tell you, he that believes on me will do the works that I do and he will do greater works than these because I go to my Father. And I will do whatever you shall ask in my name that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. If you love me, keep my commandments and I will ask the Father and he will give you another helper to be with you forever, I mean the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot receive him because it does not see him or know him. But you know him because he remains among you and will be within you.

Bible Study

• What did Jesus mean when He said His disciples would do what He did and even greater works?
  • 1 Corinthians 12: 9, 28 and 30 speaks of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that are gracious bestowments given to certain members of the Church to be used for and within the Church to bless and build it.
  • James 5:14 tells us that Christians should pray for each other with faith for those who are in need and God would heal them.
  • But Jesus saw the sea of humanity and the plethora of need they represented throughout the ages and said there is much more to do.
  • It would be His disciples in every decade and around the world that would do greater works by virtue of sheer numbers than Jesus did in His short 3 year ministry that took place only in Israel.
• Jesus taught us to pray. He taught us to pray to the Father. See Matthew 6
  • In the passage we study today, Jesus teaches us to pray in His name.
  • Pray in the strong and mighty name of Jesus, our mediator and intercessor who is on the right hand of the Father.
• If we love the Lord, we will obey Him and His Word and not our selfish desires
  • We use the word ‘love’ in too many situations. We love Dr. Pepper, nachos, surfing, baseball and God! Something is wrong here.
• Jesus would not leave His disciples or us today all alone without Him when Jesus ascended and returned to the Father, He sent the Holy Spirit.
  • Jesus would ask the Father and He would send ‘another of the same as Jesus’, the Holy Spirit, not someone different that we must get to know.
  • Parakletos is the word used for ‘helper or comforter’ that is called in for the purpose of God being with us, in us and upon us to guide and help us.
  • Jesus was limited by time and space because He had a physical body, but the Holy Spirit, the 3^rd person of the Triune God, is omnipresent.
  • We are not to grieve the Holy Spirit, but cherish His presence in us.
  • The Holy Spirit reveals to us Truth. Reveals to us Jesus, who reveals to us the Father.

Application

• We as disciples of Jesus Christ and Christians everywhere recognize and believe Jesus is the Son of God, the Savior of the world.
• With the power of Jesus name and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, we are enabled to take His Gospel into all the world.
• Jesus lived His life as the greatest Servant Leader the world has ever known. Why can we say that with certainty?
• He was…
  • Born in a stable
  • Worked as a carpenter
  • Ministered for only 3 years
  • Wasn’t a king or political figure
  • Developed 12 disciples
  • Washed people’s feet with humility
  • Served the needs of others before His own
  • Died for His people when other leaders required their people to die
  • Influenced people for all time and eternity for good and for God
• We too can lead like Jesus and do the work He did loving this world as an ambassador of God.

Tags: Take 10

Week 27 Day 4

The Daily Take 10

The Gospel of John

Week 27 Day 4

Introduction…Joy and Peace! What wonderfully descriptive words that are so intertwined that when you have one, it seems you have the other too. Joy and peace flow from the inside of us and pour out over our life. Joy is mentioned in the Bible 166 times and peace nearly the same amount of times. Half of those in the Old Testament and half in the New. Joy emerges from the peace of God that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7), and like springs of living water within us, they flow up and over us. Ephesians 2:14-18 tells us, “He, Jesus, is our peace…reconciling us to God”.  So the source of joy and peace is God and we are one with God, having “access by one Spirit unto the Father”.

Read John 14:25-31 “I have spoken these things to you while I am still with you. The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of all that I have said. I am leaving you peace. I am giving you my peace. I do not give it to you as the world gives peace. Let not your heart be distressed or fear stricken. You have heard that I said to you: ‘I am going away and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to my Father because the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you about it before it happens so that whenever it does happen, you will believe. I shall not say much more to you because the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me. His coming will only make the world know that I love the Father and that I do as the Father has commanded me. Rise, let us be going.”

Bible Study

• A Christian and a disciple of Jesus Christ is a learner. The good news is the Holy Spirit is our teacher and reveals to us the deep and even deeper things of God.
  • In Jeremiah 29:13 God challenges us to be hungry learners. “And you shall seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.”
• The Holy Spirit brings to our remembrance all truth pertaining to Jesus and the Word that builds us up, encourages our belief and perfects all that concerns us.
• The Holy Spirit keeps us living and acting right if we listen to the Spirit within us, He will guide and give course correction to us.
• Jesus promises His gift of peace, shalom, which is not the absence of war or trouble, but beyond that He makes things work out for our highest good and we can sense…it is well with our soul.
• My prayer is “Oh Prince of Peace, visit me with your Presence and give me your peace that is beyond my ability to muster or comprehend!”
• Jesus was returning to the Father and would be released from the limitations of this world, ascend on high, be restored to glory and become our advocate and mediator to the Father.
  • Philippians 2:8-11 tells us Jesus was obedient to death on the Cross for us and then was highly exalted by the Father with a name above all names.
• Jesus conquered death so that all believers who die enter the blessedness of His Presence and eternal life.
  • Psalms 116:15 says, “blessed and precious are the death of His saints.”
  • 1 Corinthians 15:55 says, “oh death where is your sting oh grave where is your victory?” Indicating death is defeated by Jesus’ death/resurrection.
• Jesus speaks of the final battleground that He would win at the Cross. Sin and death were defeated, thus fulfilling the 1^st prophecy found in Scripture.
  • In Genesis 3:15 after mankind sins, God speaks to Satan saying, “I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed (fulfilled in the virgin birth of Jesus, the Messiah) He shall bruise your head (Rosh –leadership/rule) and you shall bruise his heel.”

Application

• The words to the song “At the Foot of the Cross” say it all.

At the foot of the cross

Where grace and suffering meet.

You have shown me your love

Through the judgment you received.

And you won my heart

Yes, You’ve won my heart, now I can

Trade these ashes in for beauty

And wear forgiveness like a crown

Coming to kiss the feet of mercy,

I lay every burden down

At the foot of the Cross

Where I am made complete.

You have given me life

Through the death you bore for me.

Tags: Take 10