“I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knows me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them must I also bring, and they shall hear my voice: and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.”
In John 10:12, Jesus referred to “hirelings.” “Hirelings” were people who just took a job to look after sheep and were not real shepherds. These are the bad shepherds as opposed to good shepherds who really cared for the sheep. Jesus refers to Himself as the “good shepherd.” A good shepherd is one who cares for the sheep. Jesus is our good shepherd, because He certainly cares for us. We are told all over the New Testament that Jesus loves us. In fact, He invites us to come to Him with our problems and troubles and He will “give us rest.” Jesus is our good shepherd because He knows us. A good shepherd knew each one of his sheep. He knew their good and bad qualities. He knew those that were sick and those that needed special care. The good news is that Jesus knows us, and He knows us by name. He doesn’t just know us as statistics but as living, breathing people who have needs – and He knows every need. There is nothing that Jesus does not know about us. He knows our good points and our bad points. He knows our thoughts, hears every word that we say and sees everything that we do, yet He truly cares for us. Jesus is our good shepherd because we can know Him. We sometimes miss John 10:14b: “and am known of mine.” Our relationship with our good shepherd is not a one-sided relationship. Jesus opens Himself up to us in order for us to know Him better. To know Jesus better we have to stay in daily contact with Him through Bible reading, prayer and experience. We have to be conscious of His presence in every aspect of our lives. In all other world religions, God is remote and “out there somewhere.” This is certainly not true of Jesus. We can have daily fellowship with Him and we can get to know Him better each day. Before He ascended Jesus assured His disciples, and us, “Lo I am with you always, even unto the end of the ages.” He is the good shepherd who can be known by His sheep. Jesus is our good shepherd because He laid down His life for us. A good shepherd was willing to put his life on the line for his sheep. In 1 Samuel 17, David made his appeal to fight Goliath to Saul by telling him about having to kill a bear and a lion in order to protect his sheep. The bear and the lion could have easily killed him. Jesus did not just put His life on the line to save us; He literally gave His life to save us. He died on the cross to save us from sin. As Paul wrote: “He who knew no sin became sin for us.” He allowed Himself to be crucified so that we could be saved from our sins. Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for us. In verse 16, Jesus said: “And other sheep I have which are not of this fold.” That’s us! Jesus knew that He would rise again, and that He would rule and reign from the Father’s right hand. He knew that we would be born and that we would need Him as our Savior and that we would become His sheep. Thank God for the good shepherd, who knew beforehand our need for Him. He wants to be your good shepherd, and He can be when you put your faith and trust in Him. Bro Joe
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“The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delights in his way.”
It is human nature to think that our destiny is on our own hands. We believe that if we carefully plan our lives they will be full and fruitful. But Jeremiah 10:23 reminds us: “It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” The simple fact is that when we seek God’s direction, He will “direct our steps.” Why is it wise to seek God’s direction in life, and why will we delight in our way if we allow Him to do so? God should direct our steps because He sees all. It is an understatement to say that our vision and our perception are limited. James 4:14 warns us that: “You know not what shall come on the morrow.” We just cannot see far enough ahead to direct our own steps. Let the One who sees all direct them for us. 2 Chronicles 16:9 reminds us that: “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth.” We only see what is directly ahead of us, and very little of that. If we were going on a trek in the jungle, we would surely want the services of someone who knew all of the pitfalls and traps ahead. We would need someone to guide us. Life is like that. We need a guide who has perfect vision and knows what is ahead. Do not try to direct your own steps without consulting the Lord, because you will certainly fall in the devil’s trap along the way. God should direct our steps because He knows all. In the past few years we have seen a great leap forward in knowledge, but that does not mean that we have seen a great leap forward in wisdom. All of our knowledge seems to be getting us into deeper and deeper moral and political trouble. It is true that even the smartest person is ignorant about more things than he or she is knowledgeable about. There is no way that the human brain can encompass all knowledge and wisdom. That is why we need God. He knows everything about everything. That is one reason why He is God and we are not. Since this is true, doesn’t it make sense that we should follow His leadership through life instead of trusting only our knowledge and insight? God not only knows what is ahead, He knows what is best. If we make decisions in this life based only on what we know, we are bound to fail. What we need to do is to put our hands into the hand of the all-knowing, all-seeing God and let Him guide us. We need to remember the encouraging words from Romans 8:28: “And we know that all things work together for good to them who love God, to them that are called according to His purpose.” Perhaps the disciples saw this when they made the decision to follow Jesus. To family and friends their decision might have seemed foolish, but it turned out to be the best thing for them. God should direct our steps because He has all power. Whether we want to be or not, we are at war with a very powerful enemy –the devil. Peter warned that “the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.” (1Peter 5:8) Paul warned the Ephesians that the war is not against flesh and blood, “but against principalities against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wicked in high places.” (Ephesians 6:12) If the steps that we take in this life are to be wise steps, we must depend on the One whose power is far beyond our own. We cannot fight this battle in the flesh. Only Jesus is able to defeat the devil. When Peter tried to defend Jesus in the flesh, he only cowered in the face of adversity. Later, when Peter depended on the power of the Holy Spirit he was able to preach and to live for Jesus. Jesus does not need us to defend Him; we do need to depend on Him. If we want to “delight in our way,” we will let the Lord direct our steps. Bro. Joe “But if we hope for what we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.”
This text reminded me that when we focus on what God has for us instead of all of our troubles and worries we will have a better life. If we only focus on the negative we will be become cynical. Cynicism does not help us in our relationship with Christ, with our fellow Christians or people that we encounter every day. An anonymous writer made this important statement: “The way you choose to view the scenery around you will have profound impact on the quality, the tone, and the direction of your life. The more you focus on the beauty that surrounds you, the more beautiful your own life becomes.” Max Lucado wrote: “We don’t give up. We look up. We trust. We believe. And our optimism is not hollow. Christ has proven worthy. He has shown that He never fails.” Do not lose your focus on Christ and on the good things all around you. I know that this is not easy with the bad news that just keeps pouring out each day. It seems that everybody wants to fight somebody. But these things cannot be what we focus on. They might be of concern to us, and a matter of prayer for us, but not what we focus our minds and hearts on. Jesus gave us a good word along this line in Matthew 6:31-33: “Therefore take no thought, saying, what shall we eat? Or, what shall we drink? Or, wherewithal shall we be clothed. 32. (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek) for your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things. 33. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Jesus was speaking in the context of seeking things, calling the focus of His listeners, and us, away from “things” to His kingdom. Jesus said that we should first seek, or focus, on His kingdom and all of the other things will be added to us. I have found this to mean in my life that when I focus first on the kingdom all of my other wants are more easily satisfied. When we focus on the kingdom of God, we focus on that which is higher than us, that which is eternal. When we focus on the kingdom, we focus on Jesus, the Bible, prayer, Christian fellowship and our responsibilities as Christians. Think about what your focus is on right now. Is there something that is worrying you and sucking all of the joy out of your life? You have not put your focus on Jesus, but on that which is worrying you. Why not turn that worry over to Jesus and ask Him to deal with it for you. I have discovered that the things in my life that I have worried the most about proved, in the final analysis, to be of no consequence. Somehow, the Lord works it out without our realizing it. We forget the great word for us from Romans 8:28: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” Notice that “all things work together for good.” This means that all of the bad things and all of the good things serve a good purpose in our lives. When we sit around and worry about those things, we fail to put our faith and trust in the God who is working these things out for our good. That is why we need to put our focus on the Lord and not on events that are taking place in our lives. I know that a lot of things that happen to us seem overwhelming, but we need to remember that, while they overwhelm us, they do not overwhelm God. Nothing on this earth, or in heaven, can overwhelm God. He has promised to be with us and to usher us through all of the good and bad in life. Stop focusing on the negative and focus on the positive – on Jesus. Jesus promised us: “Come unto me all ye who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) Take a minute now and focus on Jesus. Focus on His promise to give you rest, and He will do it! Where is your focus? What you focus on will decide the quality of your life. Think about it. Bro. Joe “And whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.”
The people in Colossae lived in a pagan society in which there was no moral compass. It was much like our society is becoming today: “If you can imagine it, you can do it and it will be alright.” In Colossians 3:17 Paul reminded them that this was not the case. He told them to do everything that they did “in the name of the Lord Jesus.” It is certain that if we do “everything in the name of the Lord Jesus,” we will be careful what we say or do. Paul mentioned“whatsoever you do in word…” This means that if we are speaking in the name of the Lord Jesus, we will be careful about the words that we use. We will clean up our vocabulary, but beyond this, we will clean up what we say to people and how we say it. In Colossians 4:5-6 Paul wrote: “Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time, 6. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man.” The words that we use with people should used with grace. This means that before we give them “a piece of our minds,” we will remember that we are to speak with grace, i.e., speak gently. Paul wrote that our words should be “seasoned with salt.” My interpretation of this is that we want our words to be in good taste and not be bland. When we speak to people we need to remember that we are not speaking just for ourselves but for Jesus as well. This will really make us take heed what we say to people. There is a dire need for Christians to heed this admonition today. People need to experience the love of Jesus through what we say to them. Paul also mentioned “whatsoever you do in deed…” I think that this means, among other things, that we will watch our interactions with people. What we say and what we do in front of people has consequences. When we are mean-spirited, it does not reflect well on the name of Jesus. Colossians 4:12-14 reminds us of this:“Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; 13. Forbearing one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do you. 14. And above all these things put on charity (love), which is the bond of perfectness.” You might be thinking: "Bro. Joe, you are telling me that if I do everything in the name of Jesus I will become a doormat for everybody else." Would you call Paul a doormat? Would you call Peter a doormat? These men practiced love and compassion toward people, either Christian or non=Christian, and maintained their strength and their sense of self. Their security was in Jesus, not in themselves. If you want a healthy sense of self, put your “self” in Jesus hands and remember that you are His servant wherever you are and whatever you are doing. Another aspect of this is that if we “do everything in the name of Jesus,” we will watch what we do on daily basis. We will be careful about the habits that we develop. We will be careful to develop a daily devotional life in which we spend time in Bible study and in prayer. If we are to live according to this admonition, it will take more than human strength. That’s why we need to thank God that He has given us His Holy Spirit. We are not in this thing by ourselves. The Holy Spirit will help us in our endeavor to do all things “in the name of Jesus.” I want to caution you that you will not do it perfectly. You will need to seek forgiveness when you slip and say a wrong word or do a wrong thing. Thank God that He knows our imperfections and is willing to forgive us. But we do not need to use these imperfections as an excuse not to try. Let’s be careful what we say and what we do in order to be effective witnesses of Jesus Christ. Bro. Joe When we become Christians, the word of God becomes an integral part of our lives. The word of God becomes food for our souls. God’s word can show us how far we have come in our Christian growth and how far we have yet to come. We are going to look at various texts that reveal to us symbols of God’s word for our lives.
The word of God is a mirror to show us ourselves. James 1:23: “For if any be hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass (mirror).” James’s idea was that if we are not “doers of the word,” we are not being honest with ourselves. The Bible will reveal our shortcomings to us. Who can read Paul’s letters, for example, and not see his or her faults, or maybe find some strengths? The word of God is a fire to melt our hearts. Jeremiah 23:29a: “Is not my word like a fire? Saith the Lord…” Fire melts things. (Now there is a profound statement.) I watched my Granddaddy Cooper, who was a blacksmith, melt steel and shape and mold it into whatever he was making at the time. In the same way, the Lord uses His word to melt our hearts in order to mold and shape us into what He wants us to be. If the word of God can’t melt our hearts and keep us from sin and error, what can? The word of God is a hammer to break our stubborn will. Jeremiah 23:29b: “…and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces.” Our hearts are sometimes like stone. It is difficult to get through to a person who has a hard heart. The Lord uses His word to hammer away at us, break our hearts and turn us to His will for us. He uses the preaching and teaching of His word for the same thing. That’s why Biblical preaching and teaching are so important. Perhaps a lot of church members stay away from the Bible because they want to maintain their will instead of bending to God’s will. The word of God is a sword to pierce our hearts. Hebrews 4:12: “For the word of God is quick (alive) and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” God uses His word to get through to our hearts. Hebrews 4:12 illustrates the word piercing our hearts like a Roman soldier’s sword piercing a body. If God’s word, read, preached, taught, or however it is presented, cannot pierce our hearts it just cannot be done. When we do not know our own hearts, which is often, the word will straighten us out. The Gideon’s tell stories of people picking up a Gideon Bible in a hotel room, reading it and being converted just on the basis of the word. If there is nobody there to interpret the word, the word of God will speak for itself. The same Holy Spirit that uses a witness to tell about the word will interpret the word for the seeker. The word of God is a light to show us the path. Psalm 119:105: “Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” It is easy for even followers of Christ to lose their way in the world. God has given us His word to give us light for us to follow and stay on right paths. The sad fact is that many people, even Christians, do not read the Bible as they should. For a Christian to fail to seek the word of God in this dark world is like a spelunker (cave explorer) going into a cave without a light to show the way. We need to walk daily in the light of the word. Take out your Bible, and in some cases, shake the dust off of it (lol), and actually read it and let it help you with your life. Do not treat God’s treasure li Bro. Joe “If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.”
Adversity means that things are not going our way. Sometimes adversity means suffering or disaster. More often, it will be simple aggravation, but it is still adverse. No matter the seriousness of adverse situations, how we handle them, and with what attitude, will make a difference. We can overcome adversities, or we can be overcome by them. John gave us a promise along this line in 1 John 4:1: “You are of God little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world." How do you handle adversity? Do you quit when you face adversity? When we encounter trouble the first human instinct seems to be to quit. We call this “giving up.” During my years in the ministry, I have seen many people quit serving the Lord because of adversities. In fact, I have wanted to quit a few times myself. I haven’t quit, but I have surely wanted to. What does quitting mean? It means that the devil has either caused or taken advantage of our adversities to stunt our Christian growth. It also means that we do not believe the Bible when it reminds us: “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.” Our faith grows or shrinks, based on how we handle adversity. If we quit, we give the devil the victory and we give our faith a major hit. Do you get bitter when you face adversity? Hebrews 12:13-14 gives us a warning about bitterness: “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man will see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail to the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble, and thereby many be defiled.” We need to be careful about the “root of bitterness.” To use what has become a cliché:“Adversity will make us bitter or it will make us better.” We become bitter when we blame others for our adversities. Worse yet, we become bitter when we blame God for our adversities. I have learned through experience that bitterness can sneak up on us and raise its ugly head before we know it. If we want to be close to the Lord bitterness is anathema to us. I thank God that in those times when bitterness has tried to sidetrack me the Lord has led me to pray and give the situation to Him before bitterness took over. It is not always simple, but we must give what is making us bitter to Jesus and let Him handle it. Do you seek God when you face adversity? Write this on your heart: The Lord is our only source of strength when we face adversity. We do not have enough human strength or kindness to overcome adversity. John wrote: “And this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.” When we face adversity, we need to run straight to Jesus just like we ran to mama when we were children. Only Jesus can keep us from quitting or growing bitter. The best thing to do is to pray until God gives us the victory. It is not a matter of whether or not we will face adversity in this life, for It is inevitable. What we need to ask ourselves is: “What can we do with this adversity?” Do not turn it inward and let it gnaw on your heart or your spirit. Depend on the Lord to help you overcome it, because He is the master at overcoming adversity. When you face adversity, do not quit, do not get bitter, rather seek God and He will help you through it. Believe it! Bro. Joe "But grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever.”
We are reminded throughout the New Testament to grow in grace and in our faith. This means that we are to mature in our faith in Jesus. Charles Swindoll reminded us that: “When it comes to walking with God, there is no such thing as instant maturity. God doesn’t mass produce His saints. He hand tools each one, and it takes longer than we expected.” We like to think that if we could produce a graph of our Christian growth it would be ever onward and upward. If we could really see the graph, at least that’s true in my case, it would look like a roller coaster. Our problem is that we live in the Kingdom but at the same time we live on the earth. These two clash quite often and we have to deal with it on a daily basis. If we are not careful, we will stunt our growth. How can we do this? First, I think that we can neglect our prayer lives and stunt our growth. I often think that Peter was not “prayed up” when he told Jesus that he would not deny Him. He boasted in his self-confidence that he would protect Jesus. When it comes to growing in grace and maturing in the faith, we have to approach it with faith and not self-confidence alone. We need to totally depend upon God. In order to do this, we must make it a point to “cease not to pray.” Second, when we neglect our Bibles we can stunt our growth in Christ. We cannot stay away from the Bible and expect to live victoriously for the Lord. Each day I read from the Old and New Testaments. I do not just skip around and read the Bible, I start at the beginning of a book and read it to the end. This means that I read the Bible through every year. I do not mean to boast about my Bible reading habit, I would just hate to think what my life would be like if I didn’t stick close to the word. I’m erratic enough as it is. Without the Bible I would be out of control. Third, when we neglect fellowship with our fellow Christians, we stunt our spiritual growth. We need to be held accountable and our fellow Christians are the ones to help us with this accountability. This is why Paul reminded churches to be in unity with each other, and to be “of the same mind.” Christians are supposed to work in sync with each other, not bounce off of each other. If we just tolerate each other and do not love and encourage each other, we cannot grow in our faith. I’m not just writing about “going to church” here. It is possible to go to church every Sunday and not have real fellowship with the people there. I see going to worship services and Bible studies at the church on Sunday as “refueling” for all of the other days of the week. It is important that we worship and study in fellowship with other Christians. Proverbs 27:17 illustrates the importance of Christian fellowship: “Iron sharpens iron; so a man (or woman) sharpens the countenance of his (or her) friend." In order to grow in the “grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,” we must keep each other sharp. We do this through fellowship with each other. Fourth, we can stunt our growth in Christ by not being a witness for Him to the world. We grow in our faith when we share it with others. We need to share our faith by word of mouth and by the way we live our lives. People will be drawn to a winsome Christian example. They will be ready to listen when they know that we live what we say we believe. We grow in faith when we share our faith with others. I hope that this short article will be an encouragement to you to pay attention to your own growth in Christ. Bro. Joe “I beseech Euodias and I beseech Syntyche that they be of the same mind in the Lord. 3. And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life.”
We sometimes think that we should return to things like they were in the early church, when people got along and merrily served the Lord. It wouldn’t hurt us to return to some early church practices, but we need to also be reminded that the early church was made up of human beings who had opinions and ideas that occasionally clashed. Philippians 4:2-3 is a case in point. Two powerful and influential women in the Philippian church were, evidently, having a major fuss about something. Whatever the problem between them was it probably did not have anything to do with the gospel, for Paul admonished them to “agree in the Lord.” Paul was suggesting, or demanding, that they put their personal difficulties aside and remember that they both served the Lord. When Paul wrote that they be of the “same mind in the Lord,” he did not necessarily mean that they could come to agreement on the problem, but that they put the problem aside for the sake of the Lord’s work. We need to learn this lesson in churches today. I think that it is impossible for any organization made up of human beings to be in total agreement about everything. Obviously, the church is no exception. I think that Paul is reminding these two ladies that they will just have to learn to disagree like Christians. What does it mean to “disagree like Christians”? It means that we realize that there is something, or someone, more important than our opinions on certain subjects. It also means that there is something, or someone, more important than our feelings about certain subjects. I have decided that the most important thing in a lot of Christian’s lives is their feelings, because if you hurt their feelings, they can just walk away from God’s work. Evidently, the work of the Philippian church was stalled because of the disagreement between these two powerful women. Euodias and Syntyche just needed to get themselves out of the way in order for the Lord’s work to continue. I don’t know what this disagreement was about, but it was hurting the work of the church. I would really hate to think that I was standing in the way of the progress of Christ’s kingdom because of my own stubbornness. Furthermore, it appears to me that others were joining in this disagreement. In other words, it appears that people were beginning to take sides. Some might have said, “I am on Euodias’ side. Come on let’s fight.” Paul reminded the Philippian believers that they were to “help those women who labored with me in the gospel.” If they really wanted to help these two women, they would not join them in their disagreement, but that they would encourage them to get over whatever it was that was causing the problem. This is a good lesson for us. Instead of saying “come let’s fight,” we should say that this fight is not as important as the work of the Lord. If something, or someone, is keeping your church from going forward in the work, you should lovingly, “speaking the truth in love,” remind him or her that the church’s work is more important than his or her opinions or their feelings. I think that a good old-fashioned prayer meeting with the people would be in order so that the real work of Christ’s church could get back on track. I guess that as long as the church is made up of human beings, and it will always be, there will be disagreements to sidetrack the work. But we shouldn’t settle for that. We should heed Paul’s admonition and help those men or women to be of the “same mind in the Lord.” Bro. Joe “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: 10. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth.” 11. And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
People look at Jesus in different ways. To some people He was merely a good man. To some He was only a prophet. To some He is what is referred today as a “weenie,” meaning that He has no strength and no charisma. The fact is that Jesus is more than the human mind can conceive, or explain. To put it simply, He is what the New Testament says He is. Philippians 2:9-10 gives a great analysis of who and what Jesus is. The text tells us that the name of Jesus is the highest name. No other name could possibly be higher or better. He came to earth from His high place in heaven and lived a perfect life. The Bible tells us that He never sinned. “(He ) was in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15b) “All points” means that He experienced every type of temptation that we receive on a daily basis, yet He rebuffed all temptations. The name of Jesus is the highest name in every sense of the word. I want to illustrate this from Philippians 2. First, the name of Jesus is the highest name in servanthood: “But (Jesus) made Himself of no reputation , and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. (2:7) Jesus, who reigned over the angels in heaven, came to earth and lived the life of a servant. His whole life was wrapped up in service to God and to people. Jesus went about doing good, healing people, feeding people and just generally helping people. The Son of God literally became a servant. Second, the name of Jesus is the highest name in obedience: “And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” (2:8) A lot of people in the Bible obeyed God, but none as completely as Jesus. The first thing He did in obedience was to “humble Himself.” He did not strut across Palestine bragging about who and what He was. He did not tout His great abilities, He just used them for the good of mankind Finally, Jesus humbly did the greatest act of sacrifice known on this earth, because He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” Though Jesus had committed no crime and certainly did not do anything worthy of being executed, He submitted to the cross. I call this “the ultimate act of obedience.” Third, He is the highest name in sacrifice. Why did Jesus submit Himself to the cross? He did it to save all of humankind who would come to Him by faith from sin. Jesus literally sacrificed Himself to keep us out of hell. He willingly did this. Look at what Jesus said in John 10:17-18: “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. 18. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.” These verses make the sacrifice of Jesus all the more wonderful, because He willingly did it by His own volition. Fourth, the name of Jesus is the highest name in Lordship: “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth. 11. And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory God the Father.” Jesus is Lord of all. Think of it, Jesus went from the cross to eternal lordship. He is Lord now, but it will be revealed in a dramatic fashion in due time. We can look forward to it! Do you? Bro. Joe |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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