authority

October 1, 2022

“What Are You Doing?”

18 But the Jewish leaders demanded, “What are you doing? If God gave you authority to do this, show us a miraculous sign to prove it.” – John 2:18 NLT

John 2:18-25

The Jewish leaders questioned the authority of Jesus and asked Him for a sign that God had given Him the authority to cleanse the temple. Jesus agreed to their demand, but with an answer that completely baffled them. No one could build this temple in three days, it would take years. They eventually saw the sign that Jesus was referring to, but the leaders probably didn’t know it because of their unbelief. Human nature hasn’t changed, people are still looking for a sign. How often do we miss what God is doing because of our “little faith”? Jesus knows whether we really believe or not when we ask Him for something. We know the “temple” that Jesus was speaking about was rebuilt (resurrected) in 3 days. Is the Cross and the Resurrection enough for us or do we still need a sign?

37 Don’t believe me unless I carry out my Father’s work. 38 But if I do his work, believe in the evidence of the miraculous works I have done, even if you don’t believe me. Then you will know and understand that the Father is in me, and I am in the Father.”–John 10:37-38 (NLT)

When Jesus completed the work His Father had sent Him to do, He said “It is finished”.

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” -Anonymous

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June 6, 2022

“Encourage and Rebuke…”

 15 These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.— Titus 2:15 NIV

Titus 2:11-15 NLT

The very moment that we repent and turn to Jesus for salvation, we are saved. Don’t let anyone deceive you, if you died the very moment you accepted Jesus, you would go to heaven. But for us who live, we are continually being saved as long as we walk on this earth in these tents of flesh. We are looking for the day when we will be completely saved. That is our hope and His appearance is what we are waiting for. God has given us His Spirit to train us to live godly lives so we can live self-controlled, moral lives today. Jesus died to cleanse us from all sin and make us a special people for His glory.However, you are chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, people who belong to God. You were chosen to tell about the excellent qualities of God, who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

9 This is our belief and our hope. We are called to stand firm, encourage and correct others. If they choose to ignore our words, they are ignoring God’s words and they do so at their own peril. –1 Peter 2:9 (GW)

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” -Anonymous

April 7, 2022

“For the Benefit of the Church…”

22 God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church. — Ephesians 1:22 NLT

Eph 1;20:-23 NLT

God has made Christ the head of all things and has put all things under the authority of Christ for the benefit of the church. We are the body and the body is a transport, if you will, to carry the head around and to use its various parts to do what the Head commands. Because we are connected to the head, we have access to The Source of knowledge, wisdom and power. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead. Since the body was made imperfect by sin, in the transmission of these things from a Perfect Head to an imperfect body, there is a great loss of power, wisdom, and knowledge. As we meditate on God’s Word, we find an increase in the flow of these things from the Head to the body. That is why we don’t do the miracles that Jesus did, It isn’t that we can’t, it is that the flow is inhibited by sin. As we grow closer to Jesus by allowing God’s Spirit to lead us, we find that we have access to more and more of God’s power, wisdom, and knowledge. We can choose to stay on the edge of the River that flows or we can choose to do our best to get to the current and enjoy more of what God has for us. The choice is ours.Do we really have access to this power?

Romans 8:31-34 NLT

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous

October 7, 2020

“Be Honest In Your Evaluation”

3 Because of the privilege and authority[c] God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. – Romans 12:3 NLT 

Romans 12:1-3 NLT

When Paul says “bodies” here, he is talking about more than just the physical body that we see.The Greek word is “soma” which can mean “a sound whole” In other words, Paul is referring to the same things that Jesus listed in Luke 10:27, when He said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind“.  We, like David, need a “heart after God’s heart” and we need “the mind of Christ”  If we have these two things, then we can be sure that our soul is secure in Jesus Christ and it will be our desire to worship God with all of our strength.  Our heart’s desire will be to daily ask God to “create a clean Heart” and “renew a right Spirit” within us. If we do this, our minds will be continually renewed by the Holy Spirit. If we stay in communion with the Holy Spirit who stays in communion with the Father, then we will know God’s will for our lives for this moment. And when you think about it, that is probably all we can handle. We won’t need to know what tomorrow is going to bring, if we don’t make it through today. Stay humble and walk in faith.

8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.—Micah 6:8 NI​V

​“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous

May 13, 2020

“It’s Better For You”

50 You don’t realize that it’s better for you that one man should die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed.” – John 11:50 NLT

Prophecy

After seeing Lazarus come out of the tomb, some of the people believed and others went to tell what they had seen. When they told the Pharisees and the leading priests, this group called a meeting of the whole Jewish council. The council was afraid that if Jesus kept doing miracles, He and His followers might become too powerful and upset the Romans. Then the Romans would remove them from the Temple and take away the authority they had been allowed to exercise over the Jewish people. Without realizing what he was saying, Caiaphas, the high priest for that year, prophesied that Jesus would die for the redemption of the Jews and other nations to make them into one body, the Church. But, since they could not sentence anyone to death, they needed the Romans to do that for them. God uses people to fulfill His plans and He has a purpose for every life. Some are willing agents. Isaiah, Moses, Daniel, David and the apostles are good examples. Others are used by God, even if it is unwillingly and unwittingly, to accomplish His purpose. Pharaoh, Caiaphas, Judas and Pilate are examples of this type of agent.

Col. 1:15-20 NLT

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” -Anonymous

Post 05-13-2020

March 22, 2020

"Life In Himself"

26 The Father has life in himself, and he has granted that same life-giving power to his Son.  ​– John 5:26 NLT​

Power and Authority

God the Father has honored His Son by giving Him complete authority to judge us. It is the Father’s desire for us to honor His Son just as He has honored Him. If we dishonor the name of Jesus, we dishonor God our Father as well. God breathed life into us, when He created us, He is the source of our physical life, as well as our spiritual life. The Father has given this life-giving power to His Son. Because of His obedience, even unto death on the cross, Jesus has been given all authority in heaven and on earth.

18 Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.—Matt. 28:18 (NLT)

Now that we are in Christ and Christ is in us, we have access to the Name and the authority of the Name of Jesus. Just as Jesus only did what He saw the Father do and only said what the Father said, we must speak only those words that we hear Jesus speak and do only those deeds that the Holy Spirit leads us to do.

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” -Anonymous

Post 03-22-2020

November 20, 2019

“The Source of Eternal Salvation”

9 In this way, God qualified him as a perfect High Priest, and he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him.— Hebrews 5:9 NLT

Hebrews 5:5-10 NLT

​As a man, Jesus had no authority to take the office of our High Priest. But because he was obedient, even to death on a cross, God appointed Christ Jesus as our High Priest. He was tempted and suffered just as any human would, but He resisted the fleshly urge to sin. He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane for the “cup” to be removed from Him. His prayer was not that He would be spared physical pain and physical death. The “cup” He wanted removed was His separation from the Father. He knew that while the sins of all other humans was poured on Him at the cross, He would be separated from His Father. Sin always separates us from God. But because Jesus was the perfect sacrifice, now when God looks at us, He sees us through the blood of Jesus. Because of that perfect sacrifice, we will never be separated from God again. To reject us, after we have accepted Jesus and been cleansed in His blood, would be to reject Jesus Himself.

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” -Anonymous

Post 11-20-2019

November 6, 2019

“The Things You Should Teach”

  15 These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.— Titus 2:15 NIV

Titus 2:11-15 NLT

The very moment that we repent and turn to Jesus for salvation, we are saved. Don’t let anyone deceive you, if you died the very moment you accepted Jesus, you would go to heaven. But for us who live, we are continually being saved as long as we walk on this earth in these tents of flesh. We are looking for the day when we will be completely saved. That is our hope and His appearance is what we are waiting for. God has given us His Spirit to train us to live godly lives so we can live self-controlled, moral lives today. Jesus died to cleanse us from all sin and make us a special people for His glory.However, you are chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, people who belong to God. You were chosen to tell about the excellent qualities of God, who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

1 Peter 2:9 (GW)This is our belief and our hope. We are called to stand firm, encourage and correct others. If they choose to ignore our words, they are ignoring God’s words and they do so at their own peril.

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” -Anonymous

Post 11-06-2019

September 27, 2019

“The Head Over Every Ruler and Authority”

10 So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority. – Col. 2:10 NLT

Col. 2:6-10 NLT

Accepting Jesus as our Savior is the first step in our journey to heaven. The next step is to allow Him to be Lord of our lives. This means being obedient to His teachings and following His example. If our roots are to grow down into Him and our foundation is to be built on Him, then we must spend time getting to know Him. As we study and meditate on His Word, our faith will grow stronger each day. This knowledge of the truth of Jesus should cause our hearts to overflow with joy and our lips to sing His praises. We must guard our hearts and our minds. The world is full of people spouting vain philosophies and nonsense. They are possessed, obsessed or influenced by evil spirits. They speak of religion and try to compare it with Christianity, which is a relationship with Jesus. Religions are based on man’s thinking and can change every time the wind blows. Our relationship with Christ is built on the Solid Rock and will withstand every storm and fiery dart that the enemy hurls at us. We are in Christ and He is in us, so we are complete with Christ as our ruler and authority.

John 15:1-5 KJV

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” -Anonymous

Post 09-27-2019

April 24, 2018

“All Glory, Majesty, Power and Authority”

even-smaller-bug-light1

11 All power to him forever! Amen. -1 Peter 5:11
 
1 Peter 5:8-11 NLT
​We must remember that we are in a war at all times. We must continually resist the devil and not give him any hold on us in any way. That means that our daily lifestyle should be one that “shuns the very appearance of evil”.  We must stand firm in the faith, not murmuring or complaining about the situations we find ourselves in. If we are where we are because of our own bad decisions, we certainly don’t need to complain. If God has put us where we are, there is a reason for it and we should endure it with joy.  We are not experiencing anything that thousands before us have not already experienced and remained faithful. Our sufferings are to make us strong and steadfast and to bring glory to God. As Paul said.

18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. — Romans 8:18, 19 NIV

Our suffering here is but a very short time, then God will deliver us from it all.  He has all power and authority to do so and He has never failed on a promise to us.
24 To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— 25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.— Jude 24, 25  NIV


“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous

Post 04-24-2018