Glory of God and the Dead

 

John 11:17-44……………...17 So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away. 19 And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother. 20 Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house.

 

21 Then Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You." 23 Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." 24 Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." 25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" 27 She said to Him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world."   NKJV

 

28 And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, "The Teacher has come and is calling for you." 29 As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to Him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met Him. 31 Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, "She is going to the tomb to weep there."

 32 Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died." 33 Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. 34 And He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to Him, "Lord, come and see." 35 Jesus wept. 36 Then the Jews said, "See how He loved him!" 37 And some of them said, "Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?"

 

38 Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, "Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days."

 

40 Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?" 41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying.

 

And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me." 43 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!" 44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Loose him, and let him go."  

A favorite passage of mine. It is a favorite of the power of Jesus revealing God's glory!

Seen in Mark 9:1-2: And He said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power." Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them.

Jesus tells them they will see the Kingdom of God present with power, and within a week they see Him transfigured. His being revealed to them in glory was a demonstration of the power of God's Kingdom.

The Kingdom of God had come upon them. Jesus was and is the central figure. Taking it a step further.....where the King abides in any person, you or me, where a person is in Christ, the Kingdom is also present.

 

John records, "He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him" (John 1:11). Jesus stood  before His own and they knew Him not.

The gospel message was not popular. It bore fruit in those who were being called (Isaiah 55:11). Others hoped that the kingdom of Judah would be restored, and they were probably content to wait and watch this Man as He went about—as curiosity-seekers rather than opponents. However, for those who had a vested interest in maintaining the political and religious status quo, the gospel was seen as a threat, and those linked with the Kingdom of Jesus Christ were the object of all manner of resistance and persecution, both before and especially after His death. It holds true through this day and hour!

In verse 40 Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?"

The power of Jesus in the Kingdom of God found in people willing to participate there. Odd, a cemetery....yet here Jesus told them to take away the stone from the place Lazarus, the dead man was lying.

Take away the stone....remove a stony heart from those still alive but lacking faith in the truth Jesus spoke!

And then Jesus spoke this:And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me." 43 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!" 44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Loose him, and let him go."  

He spoke in relationship to the Father. Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.  He spoke loudly so others could hear Him speaking to the Father of glory. Those who held positions of religiosity, those who held to know God but only held a world view, Jesus spoke loudly. He wanted people to hold faith in their hearts....He crying out.....with a loud voice....."Lazarus, come forth!" 

And Lazarus came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes. He came forth. He, Jesus then spoke, " Loose him and let him go."

Those angry at this event of raising the "dead" would head into Jerusalem, and tell many what had happened. Heretics would run wild with loose lips about the Lord.  Jesus stayed in Bethany. He had time with Lazarus and then ultimately would Jesus make His way to Jerusalem.

Loose him and let him go. Loose him you spirit of death. Loose him....light and power of God's word was given....and power broke the bondage of death loose. The man Lazarus walked out!

Jesus gave these words in Matthew 23:13: "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in." Some were then in the process of entering the Kingdom, and the resistance and oppression of the scribes and Pharisees were obstacles to that entrance. John 9:22 records that "the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue." The scribes and Pharisees, as well as those influenced by them, persecuted those God was drawing into His Kingdom. There was such animosity that the King Himself suffered the most awful violence that has ever been perpetrated: a mob of creatures wantonly crucifying their sinless Creator.

1.   Today even nominal Christians suffer Muslim persecution in one part of the world, while others are blocked, ridiculed, and constrained by secularists and humanists in another. True Christianity is denounced as being heretical and cultic, and its adherents suffer violence in various ways. This violence does not have to be physical violence. It can be verbal. It can be passive. It can be persecution or opposition in any number of ways.

2.  College campuses are overflowing with those who choose the persecutors over the those who have chosen life in Jesus.

3.   Do we believe but are unwilling to accept His offer of life? John 5:40

Wherever the spirit of Satan is present, his children make the way difficult for those who are in Christ Jesus or those who are being drawn to Him. They reject the royal law of the Kingdom and ridicule God's sovereignty. They sneer at His inspired Word. The violence that the Kingdom suffers will vary by degrees, but it is found wherever the ruler of this world has influence. There will always be some Pharisees and Sadducess. There will be kings and leaders who bow to idols, but light is to shine in the darkness. And light shined that day outside of Bethany. Light came in with the presence of God, and the Lord spoke with glory. 

Will we speak with glory? Times are changing. Those prepared are prayed up, have worded up and stand ready. They hear the quiet voice of God and declare loudly the word of God that sets captives free. Hear and Obey, the Lord is returning ......

                                              Teaching at: Voice of Prayer 

Uphill with Jesus Christ: The Witness that Glorifies God

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Deceit and Deception

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What Great Love

My sister had sent me this video that was recorded in that which was Sodom and

Gomorrah. It was where the five cities were to be destroyed. ( but Lot had to have a city to run to for refuge, so only four were rained on by fire of an erupting volcano which included brimestone containing sulfur)  In this video two gentlemen were looking for those sulfur balls that had rained down on the wickedness of the people of that time.  And as this man walked through and showed the formations of a former city that housed many people, the one thought I had was what a terrible way to die and yet they died according to how they had lived. Perversion will bring that which occurs suddenly, without any notice that death is on the pathway and God never wanted that for those He created! He continued to look for "that sulfur ball" and when found, it spoke of lighting it up. It was turning from an ash white to a yellow color instantly and then it started to expand with the gas and heat. It expanded like a black sheet over the ground. Smoke poured from the top of the mound of this stone and when finished....it was a flat black cover over the ground where it was a stone before.

I like history! I like knowing the history of our nation and the state of which we live. I loved the history of the state I was born in within this nation of America. And I know that is why I love the history God gives to us to know the greatest love ever found within the pages He presented to us to know. But there are those who want to exploit history, change it, cancel it and make something else up! But that is wrong!

The Bible reveals to us the lineage of Jesus in the book of Matthew. Matthew 1: 1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:

Then it continues with the "begots"!

Matthew 1:15-17 Eliud begot Eleazar, Eleazar begot Matthan, and Matthan begot Jacob. 16 And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ. 17 So all the generations, from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generations.

The history given through the Old Testament gives detail to those of a nation that would at times love God and other times choose to do their own thing! There is even given some detail of those who knew God was with Israel and how they aligned themselves to do what God asked them to do for that nation. Hey, they wanted to live and so they did all to see God had His way in them. ( Genesis 20 Abraham lied about Sara being his sister) ( Genesis 26 Isaac lied about Rebekah being his sister),

Deuteronomy 7:7-8 — "The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt."

Like Israel, God has brought us out of bondage! He has brought us into life in His Son!

John 14:31 — "But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do."

Jesus displayed His love for the Father by His obedience to Him.

Romans 5:5, 8 — Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

We have the Holy Spirit in us. His golden scepter is always extended to us and as the believer we can rejoice in whatever circumstance nor afflictions for the Father is with us. It is God's love that assures us by the Holy Spirit ministry within our hearts!

Romans 8:35, 39 — Who shall separate us from the love of God? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? [Neither] height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We are victorious! We are victorious not by ability but because God loved us! Accusers may be many but God's verdict is the final one! Nothing separates us from Him and His love for us!

1 John 4:8,16 — He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God abides in him, and who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

Not all love is of God nor has anything to do with God. Love is the attribute of God. In the relationship with Him, knowing Him and hearing Him speak appears in those who share His passions and His heart. That is God's love! It is not taking the bandwagon with a thousand others to feed people. It is hearing God's heart how those may reached for His glory and not ours!!!

Certainly the Lord has brought us out with a mighty hand. I know not of your life but I certainly had attitude that was wrong most of the time when I was growing up! And yes, my mother had me and my sister in church, Sunday School and every other kind of school as well. And I have also related there was three times my mouth got washed out with Lava soap. Yuck! And no I was not cursing, it was more like a " smart attitude" thing which is not good.  In that I am thankful for a God who loved me and sent the son of His love in ransom for my life and for those of my family. He brought us out of bondage and how He did it, was that which revealed a great love that Jesus spoke about continually while He walked on earth of His father!

You and I have been given the Holy Spirit who daily reveals that love for us. Who shall separate us from the love of God? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution or famine, or nakedness or peril or sword? [ Neither] height nor depth nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Jesus told us in John 14:6 "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father expect through Me."

We must know Jesus to know God the Father. When we know God sent His son for us then we will certainly remember that Jesus spoke of the Father as Jesus obeyed the Father. Jesus was instant in obedience and His dependence was on the Father. In John 14:7 If you had known Me, you would  have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.

Jesus spoke in John 14:10 "The words that I speak to you,I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. 11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves. 12 Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. 13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son."  

What great love displayed in the life of Jesus! What great love the Father displayed by sending His son for us that we would receive Him as Lord and Savior and become Jesus' hands to reach others. To become the born again for God's glory and display that which Jesus presented to us while He walked with His disciples is a miraculous thing indeed! Just for a moment think where you were thirty or forty years ago, and have we not changed for His glory?

Are our lives worthy of that crucified Jesus? Are we those who know the great price given for us? Do we know the love of the Father who loves us even in our sinful nature but gives grace to those who will receive it? Yet there are those who are refusing that great love! There are those revealing names and saying the 'name' but it is not the right name that should be spoken: Acts 4:11-12 This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone. 12 Nor is there salvation in any other for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

You cannot get to the Father by saying many hail Mary's. You only get to the Father through Jesus Christ. It is possible that Israel might have stayed in Egypt without the oppression. Yet, the cries of the people were heard and God chose  Moses, a Jew, to bring them out oppression. Moses, raised by Egyptians, became powerful in his speech and  yes in his actions. God was with him. ( Exodus 3:1- Exodus 4:17; 5-12) In Acts 7, it is Stephen who presents the picture of Moses and Jesus. He gives detail to Israel rejecting Moses ( Acts 7:33-40) but it was God Himself who affirmed Moses and the same for Jesus. Jesus came in powerful ways, speaking powerfully and highly visible in the affirming the Father. Yes, What great LOVE!

This love displays wonder! It displays nothing I had ever seen before! We had never met, yet He died for me. And when I became aware of Him, yes awakened to Him and His grace, my life is forever changed. I cannot turn back to what was before. I must be about His business, what about you?

You and I have this opportunity to speak out about His great love. We have been given an open door to display His truth and will we in this hour of chaos? For I am not a professional business person, but I do have that ability within me that has come from God. It is a spiritual power and ability to present the Gospel as Jesus did. It is freedom in speech with no opinions. It is truth of the divine of God that His love can flow through us when we willingly accept His great love and even step out to further display it to others. Do we exhibit Him and His love our 'smart self'?

Jesus influenced others in that love. He called out those needing healing: like Matthew 12:13 where there was healing on the Sabbath. Matthew 12:10-14 NKJV And  behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked Him, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"---that they might accuse Him. 11 Then He said to them, "What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out?" 12 " Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." 13 The He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other. 14 Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him how they might destroy Him.

This reveals those who plot against "love". They plot to destroy. But Matthew continues in verses 15-21 of chapter 12 that Jesus is the fulfillment. (seen in Isaiah 42:1-4) Jesus is God's Son/ God's Servant. He is chosen and loved by God. He is obedient and He bears God's Spirit. He will rule over a universal kingdom. He is the humble. He brings the Gentiles into His redemptive plan!

Jesus carried the Cross that would lift Him high above the crowd. They saw it as "shame" and He saw it as a joy in His heart!  Hebrews 12:2 ...looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become wary and discouraged in your souls.

He was delighted to regain His place with His Father in heaven. He set everything in place so that we could run this race and endure! He taught us that the Father of spirits does not discipline to harm but to bless those who follow Him, who fellowship with Him in His holiness to receive His peace and His righteousness.

In Romans 8:35-39 there are 17 things that are unable to separate us from the love of Christ. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation (1), or distress (2), or persecution (3), or famine (4), or nakedness (5), or peril (6), or sword (7)? 36 Just as it is written, “For Thy sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death (8), nor life (9), nor angels (10), nor principalities (11), nor things present (12), nor things to come (13), nor powers (14), 39 nor height (15), nor depth (16), nor any other created thing (17), shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Love is the pathway to victory and victory is not even possible without the love of God. Take a look around you, are you victorious today?

   New teaching at: Voice of Prayer  

When God Gets the Glory

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New teaching at: Life Giving Wells

Lowering Our Standards Will Not bring God’s Strength

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Committed to Life

1 John 5:14-16     NKJV  14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

John 11:38-44  NKJV  38 Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, "Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days." 40 Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?" 41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me." 43 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!" 44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Loose him, and let him go."

Having confidence that we have in Him…..asking anything according to His will, His word….He hears us…..that…..whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions, that we ask…..In that confidence….yes spending time in His word that speaks to us, we hear it declare to us what we have right now…..and it declares who we are and what is His plan according to that word!

Going to Lazarus, His friend who lies dead in a tomb…..and the professional paid mourners are on the scene. Yes the crowd is growing as they near the tomb. And then Jesus speaks above the noise, that fervor over death. And among those present He speaks loudly, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me, and I know that YOU have heard Me, and I know that You always hear Me…..but because of these people who are standing here I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me,” Now when He had spoken these things, He cried with a loud voice….”Lazarus, come forth!” And Lazarus walks out….still bound hand and foot with grave clothes and his face was not seen. But the dead man walked out alive. Jesus said, “Loose him and let him go.”

Getting a firm foundation is imperative for us to live the way Jesus did here on earth! We are to speak and believe just as He spoke. We are to speak to situations and circumstances and believe God has gone before us and prepared a smooth path for us to walk. It is a dry place where high waters are held back by His powerful hands that allows us His children to move forward for His plan and to His glory.

May we speak with a faith confession that is established by prayer and commitment of heart to hearing God speak His will to us by His word for us. Knowing what the Father’s desire is for a situation is that which brings dead things to life and give them legs to move. Be committed to keep your eyes on His faithfulness, look to His goodness and have a heart set on Who HE Is to you in the valley.

For when we look for life, we will find it….and it will look like and sound like Jesus!

New teaching at: Voice of Prayer  

Good Shepherd: Is it Resounding In Us

https://youtu.be/miUEGmNYqHU

Also visit my You Tube channel Voice of Prayer for more teaching 

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New teaching at: Life Giving Wells

To Be Divinely Inspired: Continuing in the Gospel in the Face of Increased Evil

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Also visit Life Giving Wells You Tube Channel for more teaching

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