Week 18 Day 1

The Daily Take 10

The Gospel of John

Week 18 Day 1

Introduction…The saying, ‘timing is everything’ is especially true when the timing includes God’s perfect will. In Galatians 4:4 we see, that Jesus came in the fullness of time, meaning the precisely right time. God’s will is exactly what we would choose if we knew all the facts as He does. God’s ways are the opposite of our natural inclinations, unless we are led by His Spirit. And God’s work can be identified as what would Jesus do if He were in our situation.  The Bible teaches us that “the mind of man plans his way; the Lord directs his steps.”

Read John 7:1-9 “After these things Jesus moved about in Galilee for he did not wish to move about in Judea because the Jews were out to kill him. The festival of the Jews which is called the Festival of Tabernacles was near. So his brothers said to him: ‘Leave here and go down to Jerusalem so that your disciples will get the chance to see the works that you do. For no one goes on doing things in secret when he wishes to draw public attention to himself. Since you can do these things, show yourself to the world.’ For even his brothers did not believe in him. So Jesus said to them: ‘the time of opportunity that I am looking for has not yet come, but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I bear witness about it that its deeds are evil. Go up to the festival yourselves. I am not yet going up to the festival because my time has not yet come.’ When he had said these things to them he remained in Galilee.”

Bible Study

• The Festival referred to in this passage happens at the end of September and beginning of October for 8 days. It was an obligatory event that every adult Jew living within 15 miles of Jerusalem was to attend. Thousands of others attended.
• At this time in their life (they did after the death/resurrection), Jesus’ brothers did not accept Him as, the Son of God. They did not follow His leadership/ministry.
• Jesus frequently spoke of ‘his time or hour’. The words used denote the meaning of Jesus’ destined hour of God. But in this passage Jesus is simply telling his brothers that for Him, it was not the opportune time to attend the Festival.
• Jesus could not be manipulated, nor could He be forced to do something that was not right to do, that was sinful, or was not God’s plan for His life.
  • The timing of when to do something is an important item to check with God about.
  • See Acts 17:28 “…in Him we live, and move and have our being.”
  • See Psalms 16:7-8. “I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel, my heart also instructs me in the night seasons. I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand and I shall not be moved.”
• The Bible says, “the steps of a righteous man are ordered by God.” Meaning that we as disciples of Jesus Christ should be a person that is Spirit led, not led by trends, popularity or by pleasing people. See Psalms 37:23-25.

Application

• Consider this…does our presence in a room, event or situation…does it have an effect or impact? Is it a positive affect?
• Are we being light and salt, meaning we are having a positive impact for God, in our world, where we are located, with those we come in contact?
• Today let’s keep our focus upon God. When we do the confusion in our lives clears and untangles as we become focused upon Him and His Word.

God’s Word “is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.”

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Week 18 Day 2

The Daily Take 10

The Gospel of John

Week 18 Day 2

Introduction…Still today, people are divided about Jesus. While the vast majority of people polled believe in God, Jesus is the issue that still divides people. Why? Because He claims to be and is the only way, truth and life and no one goes to the Father God, but through the door of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. God’s plan and provision for a sinful world to be redeemed and mankind to be reconciled with God, so that whosoever will, may come to Him, is through the Son of God, Jesus.

Read John 7:10-18 “When his brothers had gone up to the festival, then he too went up, not openly, but as it were, in secret. So the Jews searched for him at the festival and kept saying, ‘where is he?’ And there was many a heated argument about him among the crowds. Some said, ‘he is a good man.’ But others said, ‘no, far from it, he is leading the people astray.’ But no one spoke about him openly because of their fear of the Jews. The Jews were amazed. ‘How,’ they said, ‘can this fellow read when he is quite uneducated?’ ‘My teaching,’ said Jesus, ‘is not mine, but it belongs to Him who sent me. If anyone is willing to do his will, he will understand whether my teaching derives from God, or whether I am speaking from no source beyond myself. The man who speaks from no other source beyond himself is out for his own glory. He who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true and there is no wickedness in him.”

Bible Study

• There were several verdicts on just who was Jesus.
  • Jesus was a fame seeker. This was the thought of Jesus’ brothers. They thought Jesus’ ambition was to ‘wow’ the crowds. Actually untrue since He came to give His life and die for our sin.
  • Jesus was a good man. This is true at first blush, since Jesus elevated the lives of His disciples, forgave, healed, and helped others. The reality is Jesus was not a good man if He wasn’t all that He said He was. He either was the Son of God or a liar!
  • Jesus was a prophet. This is true in part since prophets speak for God and certainly Jesus spoke for God, but prophets were fallible, sinful people and Jesus was not.
  • Jesus was a lunatic and deceiver. The religious leaders who were protecting their place, prominence and prestige promoted this. True Jesus caused many to leave ‘dead’ religion and elevate to a higher calling of a living relationship with loving God.
• The ultimate truth is…Jesus is the Christ, Son of the Living God, Savior of the world, King of Kings. Jesus does not fit into human categories or descriptions.
• To the religious and political leaders, Jesus was uneducated in their system, schools or their normal path. Offended…the leaders discounted Jesus.
• Jesus didn’t quote other rabbis or teachers. He spoke with authority, God’s!
• Jesus made it clear who should come first and take the preeminence in Matthew 10:33-39 where He calls forth true disciples of Christ, “whoever denies me before people, will I deny before my Father in heaven. Think not that I am come to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against His father and the daughter against her mother…he that takes not his cross and follows after me is not worthy of me. He that finds his life shall lose it and he that loses his life for my sake will find it.”
• With Jesus saying He was THE way, THE truth and THE life, THE only way to get to heaven – He was saying, “Its me, God.  I am the only one who has come here to this place for you!  I am the way – the only one who has come for you to make a way for you.”
  • Some view this in the negative as a narrow way to get to heaven and it is narrow.
  • But view it as I believe it was intended.  Out of love, He was telling us that He came for us to give us the way – the only way!

Application

• No one ever came into this world like Jesus. He was born of a virgin. No one ever lived as did He…the miracles, the amazing words and the supernatural acts of God that He did. No one ever came to die for our sin, lay down their life and then resurrect and ascend into heaven. He deserves our love and service as the Lord of our life.  The one who came here for us to rescue us.

Tags: Take 10

Week 18 Day 3

The Daily Take 10

The Gospel of John

Week 18 Day 3

Introduction…We should seek to glorify God with our words, actions and life, as did Jesus. When Jesus healed the man on the Sabbath, it was to glorify God. See Galatians 3:24, where it tells us that the Law of God, given to Moses, was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ. Why? Because “by the deeds of the law, no person will be justified (declared righteous) in God’s sight…” See Romans 3:20. No one, not one of us can keep the law and thereby be saved, be acceptable to God. So we all need forgiveness, salvation and we all need Jesus.

Read John 7:19-24 “Did not Moses give you the law and not one of you really keeps it? Why do you try to kill me?’ The crowd answered,  ‘You are mad! Who is trying to kill you?’ Jesus answered them, ‘I have done only one deed and you are all astonished by it. Moses gave  you the rite of circumcision (not that it had its origin in Moses, it came down from your fathers) and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. If a man can be circumcised on the Sabbath, without breaking the law of Moses, are you angry at me for making the entire body of a man whole on the Sabbath? Stop judging by appearances and make your judgment just.”

Bible Study

• The Jewish faith, like all religions, added requirements to God’s expectations of us, making it difficult and confusing to please God. Religion is all about ‘do’.
• But Christianity is not what we ‘do’ but what has been ‘done’. Through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. What God wants is a relationship with us of mutual love. Where we recognize Him for who He is…Creator and the Living God, so thank and praise Him.
• It was God who said keep the Sabbath Day holy. What does that mean? It was a day God set aside for us to rest and remember Him. What the Jews made it was a stringent and difficult day that burdened people instead of freeing them which is what God intended. “God desires mercy, not sacrifice…” Matthew 12:7. Healing a person on the Sabbath was indeed work, but it was the work of mercy!
• Because Jesus challenged the established religion and religious practices with what was truly the heart of God, the religious leaders who had power and prestige became defensive, hated Jesus and wanted to get rid of Him.
• In Mark 7:6-7, Jesus responded to the religious leaders and at the same time spoke to the crowd, when Jesus quoted from the prophet Isaiah saying, “these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.”
• Jesus condemned people worshipping God based upon human rules and regulations. Jesus went on to say, “you have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.” Mark 7:8.
• Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”
• Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
• Every person that has ever lived has sinned before God. Because of Christ, when we confess our sin, God is faithful and just and will forgive us.

Application

• Are we listening to Jesus?
• In the natural world all around us, He is speaking. In the universe, the worlds are sustained by His Word. Yes, He is speaking with power. The Church, the true believers, are sustained by His voice and Jesus will return for His Church and call them to Himself. So listen and know His voice. Teaching that does not have His sound is not sound doctrine, or the true teaching of Jesus.
• Spiritual Discernment is the true test of spiritual maturity.

Tags: Take 10

Week 18 Day 4

The Daily Take 10

The Gospel of John

Week 18 Day 4

Introduction…Jesus knew human nature very well and was aware of how people were thinking about Him. He knew the people of His day with their rituals, fears, disdain for Roman rule and hunger for hope for freedom and prosperity. Jesus also recognized the mounting tension, hatred and jealousy of the leaders to whom He was a threat. His liberating words of being set free developed hope within the people. The miraculous acts of God’s power and mercy amazed them. The departure from man’s ways and religion in exchange for knowing God personally was appealing. However, in spite of all this good, Jesus was considered dangerous and anti establishment by the religious, wealthy and powerful of that day.

Read John 7:25-30 “When the festival was now half way through, Jesus went up to the Temple precincts and began to teach. So some of the people of Jerusalem said: ‘Is not this the man whom they are trying to kill? And look! He is speaking publicly and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities have really discovered that this is the Anointed One of God? But he cannot be because we know where he comes from. When the Anointed One of God comes no one knows where he comes from.’ So Jesus, as he taught in the Temple, cried: ‘So you know me? And you know where I come from? But it is not on my own authority that I have come, but he who sent me is real and you do not know him. But I know him, because I have come from him and it was he who sent me.’ So they would like to have found a way to arrest him, but no one laid a hand upon him because his hour had not yet come.”

Bible Study

• Jesus did not fear man and the obvious threats. He was in the hand of God the Father. He came to this earth at an appointed time and He would leave at the precisely right time.
  • For those that hated him and wanted to murder Him, realize that Jesus taught that if you hate, you are guilty of murder.
  • Consider those in religious power were filled with this evil, this sin, to hate and murder!
  • These were the same people that were intent on declaring Jesus’ healing of the sick on the Sabbath as violating God’s law. What hypocrisy!
• The Anointed One could not come from Nazareth, the son of a carpenter
  • The people thought they knew where Jesus was from…Nazareth, and who his parents were…Joseph and Mary, when in fact Jesus came from God the Father, was born of a virgin, born in Bethlehem…all of which fulfills prophesy describing the Messiah. Those along with 300 other Messianic prophesies Jesus fulfilled proving He was and is the Anointed One of God.
  • The people of Jesus’ day assumed and thought wrongly that the Messiah had to supernaturally appear out of no where quite amazingly.
  • We must not miss God ourselves, as those in Jesus’ day missed God and missed out. Make Psalms 119:125 your prayer to God, “I am your servant, so give me discernment that I may understand your statutes.”
  • God is here, with us. He is in the mundane and everyday life activities. Remember the revelation of Elijah
• Jesus knew His time was short so He taught and spoke with urgency, passion and purpose. His words challenged authority that led wrongfully, religion that led people astray, claims about God that were untrue, and the futility of people without hope.
• Jesus knew God because since the beginning He was with the Father and now He was God in the flesh. So His claim to be the only one who God as He did was true. Now it is up to us as it was up to them to believe these bold claims or consider what Jesus said as blasphemous.

Application

• Meditate on the great truth found in Isaiah 30:18 from the Amplified Bible

“And therefore the Lord (earnestly) waits (expecting, looking, and longing) to be gracious to you and therefore He lifts Himself up that He may have mercy on you and show loving kindness to you. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are all those who (earnestly) wait for Him, who expect and look and long for Him (for His victory, His joy, and His matchless, unbroken companionship).

Tags: Take 10

Week 18 Day 5

The Daily Take 10

The Gospel of John

Week 18 Day 5

Introduction…”To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”…So says the Bible in Ecclesiastes 3:1. The Word also says, “Today is the day (or time) of salvation”…meaning there is an urgency and God is saying why not begin to know me now! The prophet Isaiah saw the great value of seizing the moment, of taking full advantage to find God while the opportunity avails when he writes in Isaiah 55:6, “Seek the Lord while He may be found.” Why? Because time is fleeting, life is short and there is nothing more important than to find God, “it is appointed unto men (a time) once to die, but after this the judgment.” Hebrews 9:27

Read John 7:31-36 “Many of the crowd believed in him. ‘When the Anointed One of God comes,’ they said, ‘surely he cannot do greater signs than this man has done?’ The Pharisees heard the crowds carrying on these discussions about him and the chief priests and Pharisees dispatched officers to arrest him. So Jesus said, ‘For a little while I am to be with you and then I go back to him who sent me. You will search for me and you will not find me. You cannot come where I am.’ So the Jews said to each other, ‘Where is this fellow going to go that we will not be able to find him? Surely he is not going to go to the Jews who are dispersed among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? What can this word of his mean, ‘you will search for me and you will not find me’ and ‘you cannot come where I am?”

Bible Study

• Jesus proved by His words, works and life that He was the Christ, but to believe and follow Him you will always need faith and exercise faith in serving Christ.
• To the people sincerely following Christ, believing He was the Messiah, it was increasingly obvious to them because no one had ever done the amazing works of Jesus before or since.
  • Jesus used His supernatural works of God as His proof positive.
  • When John the Baptist was imprisoned, he asked if Jesus was the Messiah and Jesus responded, “tell John what you hear and see.” Read Matthew 11:1-6.
• Jesus was just in ministry as the Messiah for 3 years. What a short time, but remember Jesus came to die, to take upon Himself the sin of us all, to be a ransom for many. He came and laid down His life for our salvation. No one took His life.
• No casual seeker finds God by mistake. It takes God’s consistent drawing of each one of us and our will that says yes to His love.
  • Jeremiah 29:11-14 teaches us about our relationship with God.  “For I know the thoughts that I have toward you says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end. Then shall you call upon me and you shall go and pray unto me and I will hearken to you and you shall seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.”
• The role of Holy Spirit is part of the strong effort God makes toward us to save each and every person. His Spirit convicts of sin, convinces of judgment and part of the drawing process, so there is no excuse for any person who rejects God’s love. His purpose, plan, process and person of Jesus. See Romans 1.
  • God warns us to heed the work of the Spirit of God to bring us to Him. Genesis 6:3 says “And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man…”
  • If and when we resist the work of the Holy Spirit, He is grieved. See Ephesians 4:30

Application

• John 14:1 “Let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions, if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, there you may be also.”

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