VOICE POWER +

Jesus didn’t come when His dear friend Lazarus was sick or even show up for his funeral, so now we’re all paying a visit to the cemetery...(John 11)                          

Yup... Laz is D E A D, really dead - like 4 days dead.
Everyone is sobbing, including Jesus who’s groaning... the air is heavy with grief and despair...

Huh??...He’s ordering the tombstone be rolled away!...while everyone watches aghast, waiting for the stench of death to hit them.                                             

Now what??  
Jesus is thanking ‘the Father’ for listening!             
Next He shouts out...

“LAZARUS, COME FORTH!!”


...as if Laz would hear!  

This is the same Jesus who has publicly claimed in Jerusalem:

“As the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom He will....the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.”

Is this Man really the Son of God?...can He really raise people from the dead?      

What about choosing who He will raise?...using just His voice??                            

If He can pull this off it will be the ultimate 7^th miracle – a triple witness to the Father’s approval, the power of Jesus’ Word and the power of His works....and very public!

Here he comes!!                                                                                                                           

Lazarus is the 5^th of 7 ordinary people recorded in the Bible as raised from the dead.  Wow!

Are the Jewish leaders now convinced?  No, they would rather be subject to the Romans who will put their Messiah to death than honour the Son of God with power over death. Yes, the Romans WILL soon enough ‘take away both our place and our nation’ (AD70) – not for accepting this Man but for rejecting Him!

Caiaphas loftily belittles his comrades: “Ye know nothing at all” but doesn’t realize that Jesus death will ‘gather together in one the children of God scattered abroad.’

So who is in control?  God is!


NEXT: http://guvsdesk.blogspot.com.au/2016/12/what-waste.html

TOO LATE!...HE'S DEAD AS.

Poor Lazarus! Jesus may be fond of you but you’re sick as...                                  

His devoted sisters have just the answer - call for their special Friend who can heal anybody of anything!                                                        
Ah yes, Jesus dearly loves them all…so surely He’ll race back to Bethany?         
No, nothing doing. He sits tight for 2 days, just waiting for Laz to die!           

C’mon, what sort of a friend is that? Surely He’s not scared of a few stone-throwers in Jerusalem?

At last He’s turned up… but o’oh, too late!!...                

The funeral was four days ago, so now Laz is really dead and they sure don’t mind rubbing it in:     

“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died”                                                                       

Watch those sisters of his…                                           

Martha: “Whatsoever thou wilt ask (aiteo: beg) of God, God will give it thee…”   

Is she right?  

(Actually Jesus ‘demands’ (eroteo) of God, ‘cos of who He is!)                               

As for Mary...she fell down at His feet… where she always is! - at the feet that will carry Him to His death.

Look around and listen...in John ch11...

• The place is crowded – there’s nowhere to hide. We’re only 3 kilometres east of Jerusalem, where they’ve tried to stone Him twice already!

• Thanks to Martha, this is the LAST of 7 claims that Jesus is the Son of God – don’t miss this one!
• What outrageous claim has He just made??   “I AM the Resurrection and the Life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live... (even dead Laz??) ...and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die.”      Wow  - that’s me and I hope...you!

(This is the 5^th ‘I AM the...’ claim of 7 by Jesus)

Lazarus means ‘God is helper of helpless’ but isn’t Laz beyond help?...not unlike Israel?                                                  

Jesus weeps.  
Is he finally beat at last?                               
Let's see!...


http://guvsdesk.blogspot.com.au/2016/11/voice-power.html

OVER MY DEAD BODY

The coals of the campfire barely glow in the early morning chill…the stars begin to fade...                            

Inside the fold, the sheep stir as they detect those familiar footsteps of their shepherd picking his way carefully thru the darkness towards them. After faithfully watching over the flock, the night watchman yawns and rouses from lying across the entrance. Those sheep are now ready to follow their master to a new day’s fresh pasture …                   

Is it him?  Baa!... yes, that’s his voice alright… let’s go!....

What has John told us so far?                                          

The Messiah has finally come to his own people - right on time - to find some godly Jews ready, thanks to John the Baptist’s faithful service. It might be time to light all those lamps to celebrate the re-dedication of the temple but evil darkness is palpable, the general reception cold and the dangers constant. Some Jews have even tried to stone the Son of God and are about to try again!  

The ‘flock’ hearken to the familiar voice of the Good Shepherd and keenly follow Him thru the Door to enjoy endless life in a new day.             

Yes, He’s on the move, but…                                      

“I lay down My life for the sheep” (mentioned 5 times!) There are other sheep too! “…they shall hear My voice…there shall be one fold”.  Jew and Gentile together??

Surely Jesus is speaking to His disciples in John 10?    

No, with amazing grace, Jesus is still appealing to those Pharisees… 

Twice He tells them:  

• “I AM the Door”
• “I AM the Good Shepherd”…(the 3^rd & 4^th ‘I AM the’)                                                                                           Remember the 8 souls saved by Noah’s Ark?      They entered thru that one door.

                                        

Notice the Ark Encounter replica in Kentucky USA has only 1 door!

NEXT: But has Jesus got power over death?

http://guvsdesk.blogspot.com.au/2016/11/too-latehes-dead.html

MUD IN THE EYE

They have rejected the words of Jesus, even trying to stone Him for claiming to be the ‘I AM’… so let’s see what they think of what He can do…
How about a hands-on public miracle?…on the Sabbath!...as He passes by….(John 9)

(Remember that ‘the Lord God formed Man of the dust of the ground’ but then Adam and Eve were deceived by: “your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods…”  Haven’t we all been blinded by sin since Adam’s disobedience?)

Watch what happens…                                                  

While the disciples worry about sin and penalty, the ‘Light of the world’ spits on the ground He as Creator once made, makes mud, then this man born blind cops mud in the eye.
He obeys immediately by washing in the pool of Siloam outside the city and returns seeing: the 6^th miracle!...very public and hands-on this time.

What has he got to say?                                                  
“I was blind – now I see!...here is a marvellous thing”. 
(He probably doesn’t know that thaumastos – ‘Wonderful’ – is another name for the Son of God.)

The reward was eye-sight, only to be thrown out of the synagogue??   No, better than that… Jesus searches for him!... then openly identifies Himself:                        

”Dost thou believe on the Son of God?”

He couldn’t see Jesus’ miracles happen… but now he sure can see ‘the Light of the world’…and worship the Son of God.  All he had to do??….obey the Lord!

“…was blind but now I see…”         

Yup, it sure is AMAZING GRACE!

NEXT: http://guvsdesk.blogspot.com.au/2016/11/over-my-dead-body.html

So who ARE you?

Notice all those contrasts in John ch8!...

• Last night… everybody home  / Jesus alone on the Mount of Olives
• Today… sinners accuse a woman / the sinless One shows grace

• Ye judge after the flesh… I judge no man

Now things ramp up as Jesus spells it out… (v21)

• Ye shall die in your sins… I always please the Father

• Ye are from beneath… I am from above

• Ye are of this world… I am not of this world

• the servant of sin / the Son shall make you free

• I came from God… your father is the devil…

• …he is a liar… I say the truth

• I honour my Father… you dishonour Me

They challenge Him with: “Who are you?”…                           
…but He has already told them!... “I AM [he]”                                
(The translators have added ‘he’- not in the original Greek. How many of these ‘I AMs’ are there in John’s gospel?...7 of course!)

They just don’t get it or don’t want to, so here goes…                                       

“Before Abraham was, I AM”    

Wow!!  This is just too much…                                   

These Jews have gone from ‘believing’ on Him, to insinuating He was born of fornication, to labelling Him a despised Samaritan, to having a devil, now to finally trying to stone the great I AM who appeared to Moses in the burning bush!

NEXT:

http://guvsdesk.blogspot.com.au/2016/11/mud-in-eye.html

OKAY, HE THAT IS WITHOUT SIN....

Where did Jesus just spend last night alone?   Where He will one day stand in judgment - on the Mount of Olives!                                                                           
So will He head off home to Galilee in disgust and save His skin? (Jn ch8)
No, He goes back into the city to try again…to the temple…as a sitting target for those out to kill Him.  Where He is hated and persecuted, He teaches the people!

A’hah! Here’s a challenge - a woman caught red-handed in adultery....                   

Oooo…this is going to be interesting!... but where’s the man?...who are the witnesses?  Stone her and you break Roman Law… but don’t stone her and you break Jewish Law.

“We’ve got Him now! Hey Jesus are you deaf or what? Why are you writing on the ground and not paying attention? Stuck for an answer, huh?  This is serious you know!”

“He that is without sin…let him first cast a stone at her”

O’oh…we’ve all broken God’s rules – except for this Man.

“Go and sin no more”  (Maybe she represents unfaithful Israel?)

Now they accuse the only sinless Man of dishonesty!...after He has produced double witness to His authority.

John has told us that Jesus was full of grace and truth…in fact, overwhelming grace...like now.
What about that True Light? (In this feast, large lamps were lit for all night dancing and praising)....
“I AM the Light of the world…the light of life”                                   
(The 2nd ‘I AM the…’ in John’s gospel)
Who can stand this Light?

Did you notice how Jesus keeps saying “ego eimi” or “I am…“?                                        

Perhaps Jesus is the great ‘I AM’....NEXT 


  http://guvsdesk.blogspot.com.au/2016/11/so-who-are-you.html                                                                            

HOME ALONE?

So what’s the quickest way to lose your megachurch? 
Just tell them what they need to hear – not what they want to hear…. “Oh that’s just way over the top!...this ‘eat My flesh and drink My blood’” (Jn ch6)                 

The ranks thin even more after hearing: “What if you saw the Son of Man ascend up where He was before?”          

At least Jesus’ disciples are now sure He is that Christ, the Son of the living God… with words of eternal life… but even one of them is a devil!

Surely His brothers will believe??                                                          
They just taunt Him: “Show yourself to the world” (Jn ch7)

So here we go…yet another ‘feast of the Jews’: meant to be a solemn assembly with offerings by fire, ‘a feast of the Lord’.  Well again the Lord turns up, IN PERSON!...to find everyone has an opinion… ‘He’s a good Man’ ‘He deceives’ ‘He’s never studied’ ‘He has a demon’ ‘This is The Prophet’…’This is the Christ’…                               

What does He do??   Graciously appeals to anyone!...to believe in Him, offering ‘living water’  (on the 8^th day when healing water from Siloam is not offered at the temple).



 "No Man ever spoke like this Man!”

The Pharisees are just as ignorant as the people and scorn Nicodemus’ appeal to fairness.

(Jesus was born in Bethlehem as prophesied and prophets did come from Galilee: Elijah, Jonah, Nahum… )

What’s the big problem??     Jesus’ authority.
“I AM from Him and He has sent Me”…   Could God manifested Himself in flesh?   

Finally, everyone  goes off home…leaving Jesus to go home alone?                      
No, Jesus leaves the city... to spend the night HATED and ALONE.