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timewithgod.blog-city.com — April 2008
John 2 -- Trusting HIM So that He Can Entrust Himself To Us
The last three verses snagged me today. The Jews who'd watched in amazement as Jesus cleared the Temple of moneychangers and merchants had just asked Him to show them a miracle to prove He had the right to clear out the temple. Yet al
The last three verses snagged me today. The Jews who'd watched in amazement as Jesus cleared the Temple of moneychangers and merchants had just asked Him to show them a miracle to prove He had the right to clear out the temple. Yet all through His public ministry, He did miracles yet they would not believe!
While He was there over the next several days, many people "believed in Him," probably mostly out of curiosity or a need for entertainment, about the same way we "believe" in magicians we see. But something wasn't quite right about how they believed. Listen to the last two verses:
"But JESUS did not entrust HIMSELF to them because He knew them. He didn't need anyone to tell Him about people, because HE knew what was in people's minds."
On the surface, it sounds like someone believed in Jesus but He refused them. But that's not the case. The kicker is that He knows all men -- our thoughts AND our motives. He knows why we act the way we do, and whether our faith is real or only an imitation.
And that word "entrust" took some looking up. Jesus won't begin the process of fully revealing Himself to an unbeliever until He sees that commitment has been made, that we are in with Him hook, line, and sinker, for if we are any less, His teachings will run only skin-deep, and He wants them written on our hearts.
Father, I can so testify to what a skin-deep faith is like, and it makes me want to kick myself when I think of all the years I'd wasted by not being willing to let Jesus be my Lord as well as my Savior. I cannot change the past, but I thank You for giving me the desire and the "want-to" to make sure that the young men whom I teach know that they too will be missing out on much if they don't know You deeply and let You control their lives. Help them to believe, Father!
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
John 3 -- The Greatest Mistake Of Your Life
I could write for days on the many things God showed me today, but His Will is almost like divine pressure on my hand to copy what I read in one part of my commentary today:"God is not a harsh, cruel ruler anxious to pour out His anger on mankin
I could write for days on the many things God showed me today, but His Will is almost like divine pressure on my hand to copy what I read in one part of my commentary today:
"God is not a harsh, cruel ruler anxious to pour out His anger on mankind. His heart is filled with tenderness toward man and He has gone to the utmost cost in order to save men. He could have sent His Son into the world to condemn the world, but He did not do so. On the contrary, He sent Him here to suffer, bleed, and die in order that the world THROUGH HIM might be saved.... Now all mankind is divided into two classes: either believers or unbelievers. Our eternal destiny is determined by the attitude we take toward the Son of God .... If a man will not believe on the Lord Jesus, God can do nothing else but condemn him."
How I once struggled, being mad at God and misunderstanding Him to be a condemner instead of a lover of our souls. I know why unbelievers are hostile towards Christians, because they see themselves as being put into a category not of their choosing. But in fact, it is entirely of their choosing when they choose to reject Jesus and what He did for them.
My commentary concludes: "God says here, clearly and distinctly, that anyone who believes in His Son has everlasting life. To accept this promise is not a leap in the dark. It is simply believing what could not possibly be false .... Our eternal destiny depends on what we DO with the Son of God."
Father, my mind was blocked to this simple truth for so long. Please unblock the mind of anyone who reads this so that they will not make the greatest mistake of their life.
For more, check out http://3minutestory.com/
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
John 4 -- What NOT To Skip
The story of the woman at the well teaches us much about leading people to Christ. Jesus first asked her a favor to stir her interest and curiosity. When He spoke of never being "thirsty" again, He helped her recognize that the
The story of the woman at the well teaches us much about leading people to Christ. Jesus first asked her a favor to stir her interest and curiosity. When He spoke of never being "thirsty" again, He helped her recognize that the world could never satisfy her.
My commentary mentioned one of my favorite quotations about this, from Augustine's Confessions: "O Lord, You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts will not rest until they find rest in You."
"Before she could be saved, she had to acknowledge that she was a sinner, coming to Christ in true repentance, confessing her guilt and shame, for only those who know themselves to be lost CAN be saved.... In seeking to win people for Christ, we must never avoid the sin question. They must be brought face to face with the fact that they are dead in trespasses and sin, need a Savior, and cannot save themselves," my commentary said.
That fear of opening up and bearing our souls can be a huge thing for an unsaved person, and it can be lessened if they know this: "The Lord never used His complete knowledge of all things to needlessly expose or shame a person. But He did use it in order to deliver a person from the bondage of sin," according to my commentary.
I also liked what Jesus said about true worship. "True worship means that a believer enters the presence of God by faith and there praises and worships Him ... The Jewish people had reduced worship to outward forms and ceremonies. They thought by [doing this], they were worshiping the Father. But theirs was not a worship of the spirit. It was outward, not inward. Their bodies might be bowed down to the ground, but their HEARTS were not right before God... There must be no sham or hypocrisy. There must be no pretense to being religious, when inwardly one's life is corrupt. There must be no idea that in going through a series of rituals, God is thereby pleased .... He still insists that man approach Him with a broken and contrite heart."
Father, help me as I encounter those You wish me to speak with about Your Son. Help me not to shy away from the critical sin question. Father, I also pray that our worship will be genuine and heartfelt, that we remove all pretense and come before You as sinners with broken hearts, so that we may praise You for what You have done and are doing in our lives.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
John 5:1-5:18 GOD'S Standard Of Holiness
Jesus used the healing of one man to tell us a lot about God and Himself. After being unable to walk for 38 years, the man certainly was willing to obey Jesus' instructions, despite the fact that picking up his mat would fly in the face of
Jesus used the healing of one man to tell us a lot about God and Himself. After being unable to walk for 38 years, the man certainly was willing to obey Jesus' instructions, despite the fact that picking up his mat would fly in the face of the Pharisees' interpretation of the Sabbath. This set up a public opportunity for Jesus to clarify just Who He was.
It's important that Jesus told him to sin no more so that something worse didn't happen to him. His health problems must have originated with sin. But my commentary added:
" 'Sin no more' expresses God's standard of holiness. If He had said, 'Sin as little as possible,' He would not have been God. God cannot condone sin in any degree."
What a telling commentary for our lives today!
Another thing it brought up: "It is a more serious thing to sin against grace than against the law." The healed man basically had a choice -- he would leave his mat on the ground to comply with the Pharisees' interpretation of the law, which hadn't been able to heal him, but in doing so, he would be choosing to sin against grace which had led to his healing.
On another note, we have to be careful not to ever find ourselves in the position of the Pharisees. "They were cold-blooded religionists, more interested in ceremonial observances than they were in the blessing and welfare of their fellow men," my commentary says.
Verse 18 was hugely important as well, because this is when the Jews became more determined to kill Him, not because of this "Sabbath breach" but because He had claimed equality with God, and the rest of the chapter will flesh that out. Many unbelievers believe the lie that Jesus never said He was God. This verse refutes that claim.
Father, probably more than anything else today, You spoke to me about Your standard of holiness. I humbly admit that all too often I find myself trying to apply the watered-down standard the commentary mentioned -- "Sin as little as possible." Help me never to compromise on that, Father. I want to obey Your Son, striving to sin no more.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
John 5:19-47 The Proof Is IN The Pudding
And what a great mix God put together here!There were so many echoes of Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby here. I remember at the time thinking about the close connection spiritually that was implied here between Jesus and God. But as I
And what a great mix God put together here!
There were so many echoes of Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby here. I remember at the time thinking about the close connection spiritually that was implied here between Jesus and God. But as I read it along with my commentary this morning, I began to see much more than that. Thee is powerful logic here that proves to doubters that Jesus is who He says He is.
By saying what He did in these verse, Jesus was telling them in no uncertain terms that He was equal with God, my commentary says. "It would be absurd for a mere man to claim to do the very things which God Himself does."
For instance, "Jesus claims to see what the Father is doing. In order to make such a claim, He must have continual access to the Father, and complete knowledge of what is going on in Heaven. About verse 23, my commentary said, "This is one of the clearest proofs in the Bible of the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Throughout the Bible, we are taught that God ALONE should be worshiped. In the Ten Commandments, the people were forbidden to have any God but the One true God. Now we are taught that all should honor the Son just as they honor the FATHER. The only conclusion we can come up to from this verse is that Jesus Christ is God.
Father, I know for so many years I was struggling with Satan's lie that Jesus never claimed directly to be the Messiah. I just didn't read it all right. I pray that others will read this same great proof in order to dispel any notion that Jesus is anything less that the Son of God and the Lamb of God.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
John 6:1-24 So That Nothing Is Wasted
It started with a little boy, five loaves of barley bread, and two little fishes (Maybe they were sardines!) Everyone else had been so caught up in seeing miracles that they'd not even bothered to provide for themselves. Whether he
It started with a little boy, five loaves of barley bread, and two little fishes (Maybe they were sardines!) Everyone else had been so caught up in seeing miracles that they'd not even bothered to provide for themselves. Whether he'd obeyed his mom or his appetite, he'd come prepared to feed himself.
Yet when the crowd was surveyed and only his food was found, he never thought about saying "no". Instead, he turned over everything he had to the Master. All four gospels tell his story. I'll bet that he stood wide-mouthed in wonder as Jesus continually broke the bread and probably even winked at him as He did so.
My commentary reminds us that "little is much if God is in it," and that our motto should be, "You do what you can do; I'll do what I can do; and the Lord will do what we CANNOT do." God simply calls on us to participate with Him using what He's given us and He'll do the multiplying.
Everyone ate as much as they wanted; not just a little. Jesus is sufficient to meet all our needs.
Only John mentions this though: Jesus told His disciples to gather up the leftovers in baskets. The other gospels just mention that they gathered it up. It happened to work out to be one basket per disciple. His words were, "so that nothing is wasted."
My commentary noted that "if Jesus had been a mere man He would never have bothered to think about the remaining fragments. Any man who can feed 5,000 men [plus women and kids] does not worry about a few leftover crumbs! But Jesus is God and with God there must be no wasting of His bounties. He does not want us to squander the precious things He has given to us."
The disciples ended up getting into a boat that night, but no mention is made of the 12 baskets. Most likely the crowds took them and were nourished even more.
So what's happening with our leftovers? Not food leftovers, but resources such as time and money. If God has given them to us, would we also have a duty to see that none is wasted? It's left for each of us to decide what "wasted" means in our lives. That's a whole other question, isn't it?
Father, give me guidance on my checkbook and my change. Help me to teach my sons about not wasting and about how to make godly decisions about utilizing what You provide for us.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
John 6:25-71 Doing The Math
Jesus really lays it all out here, but our tendency to think in human terms can cause a lot of trouble. Even as I read it, the physical side kept trying to crawl into my thoughts. If we think of only physical life, these verses can become
Jesus really lays it all out here, but our tendency to think in human terms can cause a lot of trouble. Even as I read it, the physical side kept trying to crawl into my thoughts. If we think of only physical life, these verses can become offensive, because it almost sounds like cannibalism.
The crucial proof that it is not comes from verses 47 and 54.
Verse 47 says: "He who believes in Me has everlasting life."
Verse 54 states that whoever eats His flesh and drinks His blood has everlasting life."
Just like a math equation, we can substitute like terms, and we get left with:
"Eating His flesh and drinking His blood = Believing in Him"
But these folks couldn't see it. My commentary quoted Augustine about the equation: "Believe and you have eaten."
The thought of "eating" simply highlights the intimacy with which we must take in what Christ did for us. What my commentary said of Jesus would be a most worthy goal for us:
"His life was lived in closest union and harmony with God the Father. God was the center AND circumference of His life. His purpose was to be occupied with God the Father."
Father, I continue to try to keep You as the center of my life. Help me to make You the circumference of it as well. Let my purpose be to stay occupied with You.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
John 7:1-31 Why The HATE?
It's hard to imagine Jesus being hated. Here we're told that His own brothers hated Him and did not believe in Him. With sarcasm, they attempted to persuade Him to make a big splash at the upcoming Jewish feast. How it must
It's hard to imagine Jesus being hated. Here we're told that His own brothers hated Him and did not believe in Him. With sarcasm, they attempted to persuade Him to make a big splash at the upcoming Jewish feast. How it must have broken His heart to hear their unbelief!
My commentary: "The perfection of Christ's life showed how imperfect everyone else's life was ... Man resented this exposure of himself. Instead of repenting and crying to God for mercy, he sought to destroy the One who revealed his sin."
The leaders were hating Him to such an extent that no one dared to speak openly in favor of Him at the feast. They considered His clear claims to divinity to be blasphemy.
When it became clear that their hate had begun with the healing of the man at the pool of Bethesda, He told them that they did work on the Sabbath every time they circumcised a male child when the 8th day fell on a Sabbath. He then asked them why total healing of a man on the Sabbath was wrong in their eyes.
My commentary: "Man loves religious rituals because he can observe them without any real heart interest. But bring him face to face with the Person of Christ and he is ill at ease" -- so much so here that they were considering breaking the commandment against murder in plotting to kill Him!
Father, what an absolute shame that the world seems to take everything You say or do and find fault with it. By extension, we'll also encounter the world's hatred when we follow You. I pray that You will help me never to give up as I encounter it, and that You will help me react to it as Jesus did.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
John 7:32-53 Uncovering The REAL Meaning
In verse 33, Jesus said to the Temple guards, the Pharisees, and indeed everyone, "I will be with You a little while longer. Then I will got back to the One who sent Me. You will look for Me, but you will NOT find Me. And you cannot come where I
In verse 33, Jesus said to the Temple guards, the Pharisees, and indeed everyone, "I will be with You a little while longer. Then I will got back to the One who sent Me. You will look for Me, but you will NOT find Me. And you cannot come where I am." I guess that every time I've ever read that, I've thought of it covering maybe up to a week past Pentecost, after Jesus had ascended back to heaven -- that He was speaking in a purely physical sense about them being unable to locate Him in His physical body because He would not be physically present on the earth anymore. But boy, did my commentary change the way I thought about it! It said: "In a coming day, the Pharisees would seek Him and would not be able to find Him. There would come in their lives a time where they would need a Savior, but it would be too late. He would have gone back to Heaven, and because of their unbelief and wickedness, they would not be able to meet Him there. The words of this verse are especially solemn. They remind us that there is such a thing as the passing of opportunity. Men may have the opportunity to be saved today; if they reject it, they may never have the opportunity again....They did not want to accept the Lord Jesus, and therefore they could not..... In verse 37, He invited them to come to Him for spiritual satisfaction .... But notice the condition .... 'If anyone thirsts.' Thirst speaks of spiritual need. Unless a person knows he is a sinner, he will never want to be saved ... Unless one is conscious of a great spiritual lack in his life, he will never want to go to the Lord to have that need supplied." Father, I don't want there to ever come a time when anyone I love seeks Your Son and is not able to find Him. Help me to show them that they do need a Savior. Help them to recognize their spiritual needs and to come to the only One who can satisfy them. Give me the courage and the desire to show them the way. Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
John 8:1-11 The Sound Of GRACE
This is one of the stories in the Bible that touches me so much. I suppose there are people who could identify with the Pharisees and scribes in the story -- ready to publicly condemn and send to hell anyone who "does the big sins".&n
This is one of the stories in the Bible that touches me so much. I suppose there are people who could identify with the Pharisees and scribes in the story -- ready to publicly condemn and send to hell anyone who "does the big sins". In my commentary, it quotes J.N. Darby as saying,
"It comforts and quiets the depraved heart of man if he can only find a person worse than himself: He thinks the greater sin of another excuses himself; and while accusing and vehemently blaming another, he forgets his own evil. He thus rejoices in iniquity."
Here, it seems we find the depraved hearts of the Pharisees and scribes brought up against the hopeless heart of the woman caught in adultery. I can't remember ever feeling like those Pharisees, but how I do remember feeling like that woman! I too deserved punishment. I too found grace. How awesome it was to hear our Savior say, "Neither do I condemn you."
I'd jotted a sermon note in the margin of my Bible here. It said that the sound of each individual stone being dropped from the hands of the Pharisees and hitting the ground was the sound of grace. It hadn't been willingly offered by them, though, for the only accusation Jesus made that day was to accuse every man there of having sinned themselves. My commentary says that this story really condemns those who are guilty even though they have never been caught.
Jesus hadn't picked up a stone, so He didn't have one to drop. Instead, He simply said, "Go and sin no more." He didn't say, "Go and sin as little as possible." That wouldn't be God's standard, but that seems to be what we want to hear. But God wants and expects far more from us.
Father, I've been in that woman's place -- facing You with my sin, totally guilty and deserving no grace or forgiveness. Through Your Son, I heard instead, "Neither do I condemn you." I, too, heard "Go and sin no more." I honestly don't think I wanted to hear that part. It's against my nature. But how badly my spirit wants to live out that command. I'm so sorry that my flesh can be so against You. It's not me, yet it is. Thank You for the sound of grace. Help me not to presume on it or to compromise on this in my life.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
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