Spiritcode

RESURRECTION AND AGE TO AGE LIFE

RESURRECTION AND AGE TO AGE LIFE

As Jesus was dying on the cross he said ‘Father into your hands I commit my Spirit’ The Bible says that he then descended - in his Spirit - on a mission of great purpose. Below him was a place called Paradise, and next to Paradise was a place called Hades. Jesus had spoken about these places when he told the story in Luke 16 of the rich man and Lazarus, the beggar. The rich man who lived sumptuously in arrogant self-indulgence all of his life ended up in Hades and Lazarus who lived the life of a humble beggar at the gate of the rich man’s house ended up in Paradise, with Abraham. 

Jesus had now descended to these places. Paradise was where there were millions of souls who had been waiting for him from the beginning of time. These had lived their lives on earth in hope, many of them guided by the Commandments through Moses, but many simply by a good conscience. They were locked away from eternity till Jesus would now come to get them. Jesus would also visit Hades the prison of lost hope.

The bible says that Jesus then preached to all those prisoners of time the message of the Gospel, the plan of the Father to send Jesus into the world to set people free from the captivity of sin and to bring his New Creation life to humanity (1Peter 3:19). Jesus would have sat with Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, and many others in Paradise as well as his newfound friend that hung next to him on the cross and to whom he said, ‘Today you will be with me in Paradise’! He spoke to with them and he rested with them. He was to wait there until the end of the third day when he would ascend into Heaven and set the captives free. (Ephesians 4:8) from the captivity of time, as they had waited till heaven came to get them. Jesus also declared the message of the Gospel to those in Hades who had resisted God and refused to listen to him, including those who were destroyed in the flood of Noah. 
1Peter 3:18 He died once for the sins of all sinners although he himself was innocent of any sin at any time, that he might bring us safely home to God. But though his body died, his spirit lived on, and it was in the spirit that he visited the spirits in prison and preached to them-- spirits of those who, long before in the days of Noah, had refused to listen to God, though he waited patiently for them while Noah was building the ark. 

The Book of Revelation also tells us that Jesus was given the keys of ‘Hell and death’ at this time, and with the key of freedom he was able to unlock those prisoners of the past  and take them into an age to age existence to await an eternal destiny.
Revelation1:17,18 Fear not; I am the first and the last: -- I am he that lives and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and I have the keys of hell and of death.

On the third day when Jesus turned the key of freedom in the prison gate a tremor hit the universe. Power from Father and Holy Spirit in heaven was released into and through Jesus to overcome death and the grave. His resurrection changed the nature of every atom of matter in existence. God had joined himself to his own creation in the person of Jesus Christ and now humanity could become a ‘New Creation Being’, joined in the Spirit with Jesus (2Corinthians 5:14). 

The time had now come for them all to leave, and Jesus led some on a triumphant upward journey, to their new home, his home in Heaven, while others to a place reserved to await an age to come. A company of them was escorted by hosts of angels, ascending ever upwards until they first reached the earth, (Psalm 68:18, Ephesians 4:8, Psalm 24)), and there they stopped for a brief period of time, because there were things for Jesus to do there. The first thing that he had to do was to go to his tomb where his earthly body lay in its shroud. The Archangels Michael and Gabriel went ahead of Jesus to the tomb and found the guards there that the temple priests had appointed to stand watch at the tomb. As the angels alighted the ground shook and the massive stone rolled away as a huge burst of lightning hit the place sending the guards reeling headlong to the ground. They leapt up in fright and bolted. Jesus entered his tomb and united himself again to the wounded shell of his body, leaving the shroud lying separated from the headpiece which had been folded away neatly (John 20:7). 

Michael and Gabriel waited inside the tomb while Jesus walked bodily from that temporary resting place, out into the garden. He walked about and would have recalled vividly the events that had so recently taken place nearby, and his time of kneeling in an agony of prayer when he accepted his cup of unbearable suffering. 

At that same time some women had prepared oils and spices according to the custom, to anoint the body of Jesus. On their way to the tomb, they were discussing the problem of how to move the huge stone that covered the entrance. When they arrived, they were astonished to see that it had been moved and the guards were nowhere to be seen. They peered inside the tomb and were met by the majestic appearance of Michael and Gabriel, sitting in the place where Jesus had been laying.

‘Are you looking for Jesus?’ Gabriel said. ‘He has come back to life as he said he would. Go and tell the disciples that he will be coming to see them, and that they are to wait for him in Galilee.’
The women ran to tell the disciples but one of them dropped behind and walked slowly through the garden, still confused and weeping. She almost collided with Jesus who was also walking in the garden, and she apologized, not recognizing him, thinking he was the gardener. This was Mary Magdalene. And he called her by her name and said, ‘It’s alright Mary, it is me.’

She ran towards him, but he held up his hand and said to her, “Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God’. Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord,’ and she shared the things that he had said to her.’ (John 20.17)

And now Jesus had to fulfill the offering of his blood to his Father in Heaven. The blood of animal sacrifice had been offered for the sins of the people by the High priest of Israel in the holy place of the temple for the last fifteen hundred years for the nation of Israel (Leviticus 16, Hebrews 9) but Jesus had just marked the end of blood sacrifice for sin for all time by sprinkling his innocent blood on the ground at Golgotha for the forgiveness of the sins of the whole earth.
Hebrews 9:11 But Jesus came as High Priest of this better system that we now have. He went into that greater, perfect tabernacle in heaven, not made by men nor part of this world, and once for all took blood into that inner room, the Holy of Holies, and sprinkled it on the mercy seat; but it was not the blood of goats and calves. No, he took his own blood, and with it he, by himself, made sure of our eternal salvation. 

A strange phenomenon then occurred in Jerusalem. Hundreds of souls who had just accompanied Jesus from below and who had recently died were making the briefest of appearances to their loved ones. And when the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. Many bodies of the saints who had died were raised up and came out of the tombs after his resurrection, and they went into the holy city and appeared to many. (Matthew 27:52) After the very brief visit to their astounded friends and relatives on earth in their new recognizable forms, they then had to regroup with Jesus and resume their journey to Heaven (Imagine the strange reality of this spiritual world). The magnificent procession began to ascend from their graves to the sky in glorious splendour with its escort of glorious angels. As their ascension took them closer and closer to the throne room a mighty voice could be heard proclaiming his majestic entrance.
Psalm 24:7-10 Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle!

At this command the heavenly music began. The sounds of pipes and trumpets, the voices of hundreds of harmonies, and a beautiful range of stringed instruments created a majestic symphony. Jesus had come home, and the Bible trumpets his victorious homecoming. 
Hebrews 1:3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he sustains everything in the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. 
This was the moment - purification for the sin of all mankind had been made and now everything in the Universe was integrated into his glorified New Creation Being of power. Ephesians 1:19-21. how powerful is that divine energy that comes from God to us when we simply believe that he is the creator and generator of this supernatural power which exploded into reality when he raised Jesus from the dead and took him into heaven to sit next to him at his right hand. 21. This heavenly place and position took Jesus as God and man above any other force or realm of authority that can be named, whether on earth or in the heavens…and he has become the centre of all consequence and meaning in the universe.
All the angels and all those who had come with Jesus on the upward journey beheld their king in his place of honour and joined in the magnificent celebration. His time in heaven for these celebrations was momentary, as he had left the tomb just before dawn and had to return to earth that same day, still bearing the marks of the cruel wreath of the crown of thorns from his flogging from the guards of King Herod, and the wounds to his hands and feet and side from the cross. 
The reason that Jesus had to return to the earth on that same Resurrection Sunday is that on the Sunday morning after the Passover Sabbath there was another feast that was part of the Passover Feast being celebrated by Israel. This was called the wave offering of the firsfruits – the sheaves or bunches of wheat or barley shoots that were the firstfruits of the harvest season. This festive day of the Passover feast was prophetic of the resurrection of Jesus on that day. The Bible twice declares to be the firstfruits of the resurrection (1Corinthians 15:20,23) 
After the Passover Sabbath when you reap your harvest, bring the first sheaf of the harvest to the priest on the day after the Sabbath. He shall wave it before the Lord in a gesture of offering, and it will be accepted by the Lord as your gift… Fifty days later on the Feast of Pentecost you shall bring to the Lord an offering of a sample of the new grain of your later crops. (Leviticus 23:9-15). Jesus became the prime sheaf of the wave offering on that Sunday and the other company of people who also rose and appeared to many people in Jerusalem made up the rest of the sheaf. So Jesus returned to the earth that same day in a resurrected body that could never ever die again. He would now spend forty days on earth as a witness to his resurrection, and meeting with his disciples and being seen alive again by hundreds of people This resurrected body was without the constraints of a limited physical body, but it could be seen and recognized as a natural body.
The remarkable certainty of how only Scripture can interpret Scripture is seen in this astounding eternal prophetic narrative of the Only One God the Father sending his Only One Son Jesus to bridge the gap between Divinity and humanity - through the sending of the Only One Holy Spirit to all of humanity. This means that there is an Only One way to live life on this earth with purpose and meaning and fulfillment. Any other narrative of life on this earth, no matter what it promises the human soul, is fraught with anxiety and uncertainty and helplessness and even despair. God has lovingly offered us his Gift of life – it is done – it is finished. It awaits our ‘yes’ of believing Him and putting aside any other philosophy or ideology. That is called repentance and faith – Thank you for the Cross Lord.

 

CALVARY 2025

 

CALVARY 2025

After the Last supper Jesus led his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he asked them to sit close by while he prayed. He took Peter, James, and John with him and told them about how much his soul was overwhelmed with sorrow, even to the point of death. He asked them to stay close and to share his prayer watch with him. A little farther on he fell to the ground in his agony, sweating drops of blood, and he prayed ‘Father, if it is possible for you, take this cup of suffering from Me. Yet not my will, but Your will be done.’ He returned to find the three disciples sleeping. “Simon, are you asleep?” He asked. “Couldn’t you keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so you won’t fall into temptation - your spirit is willing, but your flesh is weak. He went away and prayed to his Father again, and again He returned and found them sleeping, and they had no words for him. The third time this happened he said, ‘Are you still sleeping? Enough—the hour has come, so get up and let us go. My betrayer is here. The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.

 

Judas then arrived with a large crowd sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people and armed with swords and clubs. Judas had arranged to identify Jesus to the guards by embracing Jesus as the man to arrest and Jesus was then betrayed by a kiss from Judas as Jesus had predicted. Then men stepped forward to arrest Jesus, and Peter drew out his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. But Jesus picked up the severed ear and placed it back on the guard’s ear and he was miraculously healed. Nonetheless Jesus was arrested and dragged away, and this dramatic turn of events was all too frightening for the disciples and they all scattered and ran – just as Jesus had predicted.

Jesus had also predicted that Peter would deny him three times. and it was not long before Peter’s time of trial came to pass where was accused by a woman outside of the courtyard where Jesus was being tried by the priests for blasphemy. The woman said to Peter that he had been with Jesus and Peter denied the accusation three times with curses and swearing and then he heard the dreaded crowing of a rooster. And Peter then knew that what Jesus had predicted he would do in denying his beloved Lord had been fulfilled, and he wept bitterly.

 

Jesus was then tried and found guilty of blasphemy by the Jewish leaders and then taken to Pontius Pilate to be executed. Pontius Pilate could find no wrong as far as Rome was concerned about Jesus being accused of blasphemy, but the Jewish leaders said that he was also stirring the people against Rome by saying he was the new King of the Jews. And they charged Pilate as being accountable for punishing that by crucifying Jesus as a criminal. Pilate caved in to the crowd because he feared a riot, but deep in his heart, he believed Jesus was innocent, and also that he was their King.

Pilate told a Centurion to arrange for a squad of guards to escort Jesus to Calvary. The already large crowd continued to grow as Jesus staggered and buckled under the weight of the beam but he continued to drag it behind him. It was the custom to write a description of the crime committed on a clay plate and fix it to the top of the cross. Pontius Pilate had written an inscription that read, “THE KING OF THE JEWS”

An angry voice called out above the crowd “Who wrote that inscription? – it’s wrong”, and one of the temple priests had protested that It should have said that ‘He said he was king of the Jews’. However, Pilate had made it very clear to them earlier that he had written that inscription and it had to stay as it was.

 

When the trek to Calvary was completed, it would take six full hours on Calvary for Jesus to die. Two criminals were already hanging on crosses either side of the hole where Jesus’ pole was to be fixed, but these two men were tied to their crosses, not nailed. Jesus was finally hoisted up and then the pole was crudely dumped into the hole prepared for it, evoking stifled cries of shock and dismay from the crowd. But overriding these noises was the swelling chant of taunts and slogans coming from the crowd. Then the priests and the leaders of the Jews joined in telling Jesus to come on down from that cross and prove himself as the Son of God.

As Jesus hung there the criminals beside him were weakening, groaning in their pain, when one of them turned to Jesus. He now wanted to have his last few words of bravado heard in this dark prison of life and death he had made for himself. “they’re telling you to get yourself down, but how about us? That would be a real miracle, even I would believe you.” He was delighted with the impression this made on the crowd, as they clapped and cheered him. But the man on the other side shouted at him angrily.”

“Are you mad? Don't you even fear God? Don't you know who this is? We deserve to be here, but he doesn’t. He has never done a wrong thing.” He then turned to Jesus and said

“Lord, will you remember me when you are in your mighty kingdom?” Jesus turned his head and looked at him with love, saying “Today you are coming home with me to Paradise.” Jesus looked down at his mother standing next to John and he spoke to her through parched lips.“Mother let him be your son.” His head then turned towards John.  “Son let her be your mother.” John stood with her as she watched her son's life draining from him. High noon surrendered to a deep darkness which remained for three full hours. Darkness took over that day in those last hours, and put a stop to some things. Shouts of bravado that just moments ago would have roused bold echoes now hung hollow in the still air, and those mockers that had stood close to the action at the foot of the cross now slid back into the crowd.

 

The gigantic spirit of Jesus absorbed the full impact of Satan as all hell's hateful fury hit him, and as every vile thing ever done by countless millions of crippled hearts down through the ages and for the ages to come assailed his being. Thunder cracked and the earth began to shake. The great spirit of Jesus swallowed every vile accusation that Satan hurled at him, and he took them all into himself and locked them safely within his vault of perfect love. He was completely innocent of any one wrong deed. He rallied his strength once more, but another missile of horror careened into him more powerfully and more deadly than anything before. He was living out the prophetic fulfilment of the first verse of Psalm 22 spoken by David. ‘My God My God why have you forsaken me?

’The source of this horrific thought was not Father God. Darkness had assailed the human heart of Jesus, the Son of Man, of the lineage of David, and in an instant, he knew the answer to his question. He had not been forsaken by his Father, but in his humanity, he had experienced forsakenness for a moment, so that no living soul from this time on would ever have to feel forsaken by God again because of their human weakness.

God did not forsake Jesus, and he did not forsake Adam and Eve and he does not

Forsake us. people forsake other people but God does not forsake us. Jesus was always aligned with God's will and throughout his entire life he could identify exactly with what we go through but he never deviated from God's will. The Bible says that Jesus was tempted in all points just as we are, so he was tempted to feel forsaken here just like we would be, as that is a human feeling.

Instead of departing from his Father, Jesus, on the cross begins quoting Psalm 22: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He turns to the Word—to truth itself. Jesus, who inspired the psalm through David, knows the full story it tells.

Though it begins with a cry of abandonment, the psalm moves from hopelessness to hope, and finally to praise and gratitude. There’s a shift amidst the pain and chaos of mocking and the dividing of garments where Jesus proclaims the turning point and what began in sorrow ends in victory. Jesus declares in the psalm “I will praise you in the great congregation; I will sing your praises among my people.”

This shows that Jesus never departed from his Father in spirit. That connection strengthened his soul. He faced every temptation and triumphed—not by escaping pain, but by holding fast to truth. His journey shows us how to move from feelings of abandonment to faith, from despair to healing. We are not alone. We walk the path of restoration with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—not separated, but deeply united.

 

Jesus had something more to say but his throat felt parched so a soldier put a sponge up on a pole to Jesus, who could now say loudly and clearly what had to be said in his last moments “Father into your hands I now offer my Spirit.”

Then in one last gasp he shouted loudly for all about him to hear. “It is finished!”

Then he died. And he and we were placed securely in The Father's loving hands.

At the moment of his death the cosmos convulsed. An earthquake tore a searing gash into the mountainside and people were toppled off their feet. Rocks split apart and the graves and tombs on a nearby hill cracked open. People ran in fear from the place, but they did not know where to go. At that moment there were priests in the temple about to sacrifice the Passover lamb, and when their knife pierced the sacrificial animal the true Lamb of God offered himself on Calvary as the final sacrifice for all sin. The priests were thrown off their feet by the earthquake. The temple shook as huge stones fell from the parapets and the great veil in the temple proper which separated the place of God’s presence in the holy place from the rest of the temple, was lightning torn, top to bottom.

 

When that veil was torn it signified that Christ as both man and God had not only done away with the separation of mankind from God in the temple, but he had done away with the separation of mankind from God in all the earth. He had gone ahead for all of us to live in his abiding presence. We can now have faith to come confidently into this holy place in our own hearts because of his mercy upon our imperfect humanity and we can receive the power of his life within us to do what is right and pleasing to God.

The veil that was torn when Jesus died on the cross on that awesome day was a declaration of the certain hope of our salvation and loving forgiveness and has become the anchor for our souls.

 

The moment Jesus died the cosmic law of sin and death was being overturned to make way for a new cosmic law to come into effect - the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, and that new cosmic law did not exist in Eden with Adam and Eve. It would occur only after Jesus rose from the dead and sent the Holy Spirit to give us the risen life of Jesus within, and a new heart like his own. Our hearts can now be fulfilled with a new desire that freely chooses to fulfill the desires of God’s heart. Thank you, Jesus, for overturning the law of sin and death, and for giving to us the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. May we enter through that torn veil and live that life with your heart towards the Father. Amen

Paul O’Sullivan – pauloss@icloud.com

PREPARING FOR THE PASSOVER

PREPARING FOR THE PASSOVER 
After Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead Caiaphas the High Priest unintentionally prophesied that Jesus’ death would not be for Israel only, but for all the children of God scattered around the world, and from that time on the Jewish leaders began plotting the death of Jesus. The Bible says that Jesus then stopped his public ministry and left Bethany, near Jerusalem, and went to the edge of the desert, to the village of Ephraim, and stayed there for a while with his disciples before returning to Bethany. Reading on now in the next chapter of the Gospel of John.
John 12:1 As the Passover approached, many people came to Jerusalem early for the cleansing rituals, and in the Temple they whispered, “Will Jesus come?” And hearing this the chief priests and Pharisees warned everyone to report him so they could arrest him. Six days before Passover Jesus arrived in Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom he had raised from the dead. A dinner was held in Jesus’ honour and while Lazarus reclined with Jesus Martha served, and Mary came and poured expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet, wiping them with her hair, with the fragrant aroma filling the house. 
Judas Iscariot objected to Mary doing this, pretending to care for the poor, though he often stole from the disciples’ funds, and Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. She’s preparing me for burial. The poor you will always have with you, but not me.” Crowds gathered, wanting to see both Jesus and Lazarus, while the chief priests even plotted to kill Lazarus, since many were believing in Jesus because of him. The next day, news of Jesus’ arrival spread, and as Jesus entered Jerusalem for the Passover week the whole city was stirred. People in the crowd were saying “It’s Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee, and the large crowd came out to meet him waving palm branches and shouting, “Hosannah. blessed is the King of Israel!” 
Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a young donkey, fulfilling the prophecy from Zechariah: “Don’t be afraid, people of Israel. Your King comes, riding on a donkey’s colt.” But the disciples only understood this later, after Jesus was risen in glory. 
Jesus then went into the Temple into the court of the gentiles and drove out the Temple money changers, angrily overturning their tables while they were selling doves at exorbitant prices to the visiting Jewish pilgrims. He said, “The Scriptures say, ‘My Temple will be a house of prayer,’ but you’ve turned it into a den of thieves!” And the blind and the crippled came to him in the Temple, and he healed them, but when the chief priests and religious leaders saw the miracles and heard children shouting, “God bless the Son of David!” they were angry. “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked Jesus. “Yes,” Jesus replied. “Haven’t you read the Scriptures? ‘Even children and infants will give praise.’
Those who had witnessed the raising of Lazarus spread the word, which drew even more people, and the Pharisees were getting desperate and said, “We’ve lost, everyone’s following him!” Some Greeks who had come for Passover asked Philip if they could meet Jesus and Jesus responded, “The time has come for me to be glorified. Like a grain of wheat, I must fall into the ground and die in order to produce a harvest of new life in the earth. Those who cling to life will lose it; those who give it up for my sake will gain eternal life, and anyone who wants to follow me must go where I go, and the Father will honour them.” Jesus prayed, “Father, glorify your name,” and a voice from heaven replied, “I have, and I will again.” Some thought it was thunder; others said an angel spoke. But Jesus told them, “The voice was for your sake, and now is the time for a time of crisis that will test and assess the world. When I’m lifted up, I’ll draw everyone to me,” referring to his death.
 The crowd was confused. “Isn’t the Messiah supposed to live forever?” Jesus answered, “Walk in the light while you have it. Then you will become children of light.” After saying this, he left and stayed out of sight for a short time, and despite all his miracles, many still didn’t believe. But Isaiah had prophesied this, saying their eyes and hearts would be hardened so they wouldn’t turn and be healed. Yet some leaders did believe, but kept silent, fearing the Pharisees would expel them from the synagogue because they valued human praise more than` God’s. Then Jesus came back to speak once again to the crowd and cried out, “If you trust me, you’re trusting God who sent me. I’ve come as light into the darkness. I didn’t come to judge the world but to save it. But those who reject me and my words will be judged by the truth I’ve spoken. These are not my own words—they’re from the Father, who gives eternal life. And I say exactly what he tells me to say.” Reading on into the next chapter of John – Chapter 13:1
On the evening of the Passover supper, Jesus knew his time on earth was ending and he would soon return to the Father, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot to betray him during the supper. Jesus, fully aware of his own divine origin and destiny, showed his deep love for his disciples by getting up from the table, removing his robe, wrapping a towel around himself, and beginning to wash their feet. When he reached Peter, Peter protested, “Lord, you shouldn’t be washing my feet! Jesus said, “You don’t understand now, but you will later.”
Peter insisted, “Never! “Jesus replied, “If I don’t wash you, you can’t share life with me.”  Then wash my hands and head too!” Peter said. Jesus told him, “A person who has bathed only needs their feet washed to be fully clean. And you are clean—though not all of you,” referring to Judas who would betray him. After washing their feet, Jesus put on his robe and asked, “Do you understand what I’ve done? You call me ‘Lord’ and ‘Teacher’—and rightly so. And if I, your Lord, have washed your feet, you should wash one another’s. I’ve just given you an example of what serving means —you know that I have served you so serve one another, and you’ll be blessed. “I’m not speaking to all of you; I know whom I’ve chosen. But the Scripture must be fulfilled: ‘The one who shares my bread will betray me.’ I’m telling you now so when it happens, you’ll believe. Anyone who welcomes my messenger welcomes me—and the One who sent me.” Deeply troubled, Jesus said, “One of you will betray me.” The disciples were all stunned, and each one said to him ‘Is it I Lord, except for John who leaned in and asked, “Lord, who is it? ” Jesus answered, “It’s the one I give this piece of bread to.” Then he dipped it and gave it to Judas Iscariot. As soon as Judas ate it, Satan entered him. Jesus said to Judas, “Hurry—go and do what you must do.” 
The others didn’t understand—some thought Jesus was sending Judas out to buy food or give money to the poor. Judas left quickly, stepping into the night. Once he was gone, Jesus said, “Now the time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified, and God will be glorified in him. Dear children, I’ll be with you only a little longer. You’ll look for me, but you can’t come where I’m going. “So I give you a new command: love one another as I have loved you. Your love for each other will show the world that you are my disciples.” Peter asked, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus replied, “You can’t follow me now—but you will later. “But why not now?” Peter asked. “I’m ready to die for you!” Jesus answered, “Die for me? Before the rooster crows tomorrow, you’ll deny three times that you even know me.”
The Last Supper was the last time Jesus would gather with all of his disciples in one place and teach them and model to them the way of serving and loving one another. When he broke the bread and drank the cup with him he said ‘do this in remembrance of me’. He was telling them of his expectation of how they would live for him with loyalty and unity and sacrificial love for one another and for the world. But he also told them the reality that in the hours to come one of them would betray him and one of them would deny him and that all of them would scatter and desert him when he surrendered himself to those who would take him and kill him.

The disciples were incredulous to all of this, still not understanding the meaning of the things Jesus did and said, and this was what Jesus had expected. But the actions and words he expressed that night were immortalised, and would be lived out, serving as a remembrance for his disciples and for all of humanity who would believe. Heaven would soon bestow faith and the grace upon the earth through the Holy Spirit, and the events of that evening would encourage and inspire and challenge every soul that hears this story.

The man Judas allowed darkness to take over his being because of his wilful anger and resentment because of his lost hopes to bring about his idea of justice. He regretted what he did immediately after his treachery.  Judas was unable to surrender the demand of his self-centred justice that drove his life. Instead of letting Jesus die for him and give him a new life he took his own life in his despair. Nevertheless, Jesus still died for him and said to his Father on the cross ‘forgive them Father they know not what they do.’ Not one of them knew what they were doing. Perhaps Mary his mother understood because it was the sword that continually pierced her heart, which was prophesied to her by Simeon when Jesus was dedicated as a baby.

The man Peter denied him just as Jesus predicted but his sin was not angry or resentful but a fear of being associated with the shame of what he saw as the failure of Jesus’ mission. He lived to receive the forgiveness and repentance and faith in the totally committed love of Jesus for him. He received the commission to live in partnership with Jesus as a witness of his resurrection. 
When we can believe in the totally committed love of Jesus for us and we can accept our imperfect selves as being loved with so much compassion, we can then allow that love and compassion to flow out from us into the imperfect lives of the people in our personal world. We, like Peter receive that commission to be in partnership with Jesus in reconciling people to God for forgiveness and receiving the faith and the grace to be transformed into his likeness as a New Creation. Amen

NOT UNTO DEATH

NOT UNTO DEATH 
Jesus and his disciples had fled Judea where the Jewish leaders had tried to stone him and had gone out to the rugged mountainous area far from Judea. It was only a few weeks till Passover and Jesus had set his course to be in Jerusalem for the Passover feast - where he would become the Lamb slain for all Mankind from before the foundation of the world. He had been doing many signs and wonders and crowds were following him everywhere and the Jewish leaders were becoming more and more agitated and threatened by his fame and popularity. While they were out there a messenger came to Jesus that his good friend Lazarus was sick and in need of help. The message was sent by the two sisters of his friend Lazarus in Bethany, which was close to Jerusalem in Judea.
We read the account of this in John’s Gospel.
John 11:1 Lazarus, who lived in Bethany with Mary and her sister Martha, was sick. So the two sisters sent a message to Jesus telling him, “Sir, your good friend is very, very sick.”
But when Jesus heard about it he said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” 
Although Jesus loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus, he stayed where he was for the next two days and made no move to go to them. Finally, after the two days, he said to his disciples, “Let’s go to Judea.” But his disciples objected. “Master,” they said, “only a few days ago the Jewish leaders in Judea were trying to kill you. Are you going there again?”

But that did not deter Jesus, and he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has gone to sleep, but now I will go and awaken him!” The disciples, thought Jesus meant Lazarus was having a good night’s rest and said, “That means he is getting better!” But Jesus meant that Lazarus had died. Then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. And for your sake, I am glad I wasn’t there, for this will give you another opportunity to believe in me. Come, let’s go to him.

It seems that Jesus had to remind himself that what he often said was not understood or even heard by those who heard it. And two days later when Jesus knew the time was right, he took his disciples to the place where Lazarus had been buried.
When they arrived at Bethany, they were told that Lazarus had already been in his tomb for four days. Bethany was only a couple of miles down the road from Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish leaders had come to pay their respects and to console Martha and Mary on their loss. When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary stayed at home.
Martha said to Jesus, “Sir, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. And even now it’s not too late, for I know that God will bring my brother back to life again, if you will only ask him to.” Jesus told her, “Your brother will come back to life again.” “Yes,” Martha said, “when everyone else does, on Resurrection Day.”
Jesus said, “I am the one who raises the dead and gives them life again. Anyone who believes in me, even though he dies like anyone else, shall live again. He is given eternal life for believing in me and shall never perish. Do you believe this, Martha?”
“Yes, Master,” she told him. “I believe you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one we have so long awaited.” Then she left him and returned to Mary and called her aside from the mourners and told her, “He is here and wants to see you.” So Mary went to him at once. Jesus had stayed outside the village at the place where Martha met him and when the Jewish leaders who were at the house trying to console Mary saw her leave so hastily, they assumed she was going to Lazarus’ tomb to weep; so they followed her.
When Mary arrived at where Jesus was, she fell down at his feet, saying, “Sir, if you had been here, my brother would still be alive.” When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jewish leaders wailing with her, he was moved with exasperation and deeply troubled. “Where is he buried?” he asked them. They told him, “Come and see.” Jesus wept. And some of the Jewish leaders saw that as a sign of how much Jesus loved Lazarus 
But some said, “This fellow healed a blind man—why couldn’t he keep Lazarus from dying?” And that caused Jesus to feel deeply troubled and he groaned inwardly at their unbelief in him.

Jesus indeed wept. This was a moment of deep and mixed human emotion for Jesus, not just for the grief that his beloved friends were suffering but also because he had agonised deeply within his spirit many times because of how little his disciples and other followers and critics understood what he said and did in bringing a new Kingdom Age to the earth. And not least he was confronting the reality of his own imminent torturous death and resurrection. He was creating a new spiritual age of faith and love and divine power, not one of human ability and materialism and political power. Noone realized that Jesus did not make up his own mind about when Heaven’s power would touch the earth, and whether someone would or should be healed. It was not done by his own reckoning. He had told his disciples on more than one occasion that he could do nothing until he heard his Father tell him to do it, but people interpreted his supernatural acts as being for people who in their opinion deserved them or were worthy of them. 

Then they came to the tomb. It was a cave with a heavy stone rolled across its door.
“Roll the stone aside,” Jesus told them. But Martha said, “By now the smell will be terrible, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said, “But didn’t I tell you that you will see a wonderful miracle from God if you believe?” 
So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me – I know You always hear me, but I said it because of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me”. Then he shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” And Lazarus came out, bound up in grave cloths and his face muffled in a head swath. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!” And so at last many of the Jewish leaders who were with Mary and saw it happen, finally believed on him. But some went away to the Pharisees and reported it to them.
Then the chief priests and Pharisees convened a council to discuss the situation.
“What are we going to do?” they asked each other. “For this man certainly does miracles. If we let him alone the whole nation will follow him—and then the Roman army will come and kill us and take over the Jewish government.”
And one of them, Caiaphas, who was High Priest that year, said, “You just don’t understand - let this one man die for the people—why should the whole nation perish?”
This prophecy that Jesus should die for the entire nation came from Caiaphas in his position as High Priest—he didn’t think of it by himself but was inspired to say it. It was a prediction that Jesus’ death would not be for Israel only, but for all the children of God scattered around the world. Then the Jewish leaders began plotting Jesus’ death.
The death of this man Jesus would bring divine life into the world.
The Bible says Through the disobedience of one man, Adam, death came to all men, but through the obedience of one man Jesus life has come to all mankind. (Romans 5:18)
People had a wrong perception of what true faith was, and this constantly troubled Jesus - the Bible says ‘consider Him who endured such contradiction from sinful flesh against Himself, (Hebrews 12:3). Their thoughts were not God’s thoughts nor their ways God’s ways. People followed him out into the fields to hear this greatest teacher and prophet of their time. Many said that he was The Messiah and that he would set up the kingdom of God on the earth. But to the materially and politically minded Jews this meant an army with a leader sent from heaven that would overthrow the Roman Empire and free them from its oppression over them 
Jesus knew something about the resurrection of Lazarus that nobody else knew because his Father had revealed it to him by the Spirit. The consequence of the illness was death. But the purpose of the illness was not death, but glory to God – God on display for all to see - Resurrection. Jesus had spoken the words of life into the spirit of Lazarus and his spirit heard the voice of his friend Jesus saying to him ‘Lazarus come out ‘and his body received that lifegiving word and he came back to life. And something came to life in the spirit of all who believed in Jesus at that moment. The offence of Adam resulted in a mindset of separation from God for all of mankind and that is the pain that every human soul suffers throughout life. Spiritual death is the inner suffering of feeling separated from God. Jesus came to banish the curse of the separation mindset and he bring us into oneness with his life, resurrection life – the joy of the presence of God with us.

Jesus banishes all sense of separation between us and himself in our minds and hearts. There is no more spiritual death and no need to feel separated from the powerful resurrected life of Jesus within us. Jesus waited for his Father to speak from Heaven to call forth human life from Lazarus, and we listen for Jesus to speak from Heaven to call forth his spiritual life from within us. The Holy Spirit helps us pray our heartfelt prayer and Jesus intercedes from his heart and the Father brings about his good and perfect will. No prayer is wasted or discarded. From such a humble and heartfelt prayer healing and salvation for spirit, soul and body flow to us - and through us for others - and nothing is impossible with God.
So bless you all and I just want to pray now that as you go through this week when you feel that inner conflict, that is simply a little signal saying I'd like you closer to me. It's God allowing that to happen because we can't live with an inner peace if we're separated from the source of peace and love. He welcomes us home and it doesn't matter who we are - we say I'd like to be there, and he starts showing you that he is there - it's a miraculous thing. You just know all of a sudden that things change and you say to yourself, that couldn't have been a coincidence – but you think it must have been coincidence, and it happens again and God says that was a God incidence - keep asking and you will receive keep seeking and you will find. We're living in days when God is drawing us closer and closer from his big yes to our yes - as little as it might seem, our little yes, and that just needs to be a ‘thank you Lord for being there’. So thank you Lord for being with us this morning and drawing us closer to you. You are the resurrection and the life, and you live within us. Amen

 

THE PHARISEE AND THE TAX COLLECTOR

THE PHARISEE AND THE TAX COLLECTOR

This parable compares the prayer of a proud Pharisee with the prayer of a humble tax collector, and the parable highlights the fascinating mix of power and social status between the different groups that Jesus moved amongst on his journey into Jerusalem. The Roman governors and soldiers held the ultimate and most enforceable power base and made their powerful presence felt by everybody with their unforms and swords and spears. Next on the list were the Pharisees and Sadducees and other Jewish religious leaders who had a religious tribal power base, and they made their power status felt by their robes and rituals and blatant virtue signalling of their righteous adherence to the ordinances and commandments of the Jewish Law. 

Then there were Jewish landowners and traders and slave owners whose money gave them a self-satisfied sphere of influence. Then there were the general labourers and slaves in the community who went about their business of making ends meet. Then there were the poor and needy and lame and blind who were powerless and lived just to survive. Another group that was strangely alien to everyone were the tax collectors. They were Jewish men who acted as the puppets of the Roman officials under strict orders to glean as much revenue as they could and they were disliked and unpopular with the entire Jewish community – their only power base was intimidation. A unique group that had a peesence within the community were the disciples and followers of Jesus, which included his mother and other women who provided support and provision for Jesus and the twelve. 

Jesus had a particular relationship and influence with each of these groups. His relationship with the Romans was a little awkward and indifferent on their part but they sensed his inner power and authority and he had gained their respect because of his character and integrity, that brough supernatural healing and comfort to many people, even amongst their own, including a centurion whose son he had saved from dying. But in the end, it was a Roman governor that admired the stature and goodness of Jesus who came under pressure from the Jewish leaders and reluctantly ordered him to be crucified on a cross at Calvary.
To the Pharisees and other Jewish leaders Jesus was not just a rival but an enemy and a threat. They too saw his upright character and integrity, and they too sensed his inner power and authority that brough supernatural healing and comfort to many people, but this only made them feel more threatened and they were out to get him, to disempower him one way or another. And this was especially so because of the admiration and awe of the general Jewish community towards Jesus whom many believed was the Messiah they had been waiting for. The Pharisees were out to trap him at every turn and to prove themselves more righteous and knowledgeable of the Law and more approved of by God than Jesus was.

And Jesus had a strange but telling relationship with tax collectors. They were in a bind, caught in the middle of having to serve the military might of Rome and trying to hold their heads up in front of their fellow Jews who resented them as traitors or turncoats. But someone had to do the job, and Rome had all the say. Jesus saw into the hearts of some of these men and knew their shame and guilt and confusion and saw miraculous transformation in the hearts of three of them. Jesus called Matthew the tax collector to become one of his twelve disciples who loyally recorded the living words of Jesus for the whole world to read. Jesus touched the troubled heart of Zacchaeus the tax collector who climbed up a tree to get a glimpse of Jesus passing by. Jesus told him to come down from his tree and said he wanted to come into is home and called him a son of Abraham, which offended the crowd. But Zacchaeus then repented of any cheating and intimidation of any people in the crow and personally repaid them four times as much as they had paid in their taxes. The next tax collector that Jesus honours is the one who humbly prays his prayer to God in the temple – in this parable in Luke Ch 18.

Luke 18:9-15 He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed this about himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you that this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

This very straightforward parable speaks of how God despises pride and honours humility, and the power conscious Pharisees to whom it was directed would have felt resentful that Jesus was not honouring their religious virtue signalling. The things that they performed in accordance with the Law were in order, as was their criticism of the sinful acts of extortion and adultery and injustice. But after they heard this parable, they hardened their hearts and doubled down on finding a way to do away with Jesus as we see written in the following chapters of Luke.

Jesus is teaching us here that the greatest sin was their pride that compared themselves with others that they esteemed as less spiritual or honourable than themselves. The Pharisees who heard the parable not only despised the tax collector as being less spiritual than themselves, but they judged him as despised in the eyes of God as well. 
And Jesus knew they even judged himself in the same way. Pride can end up judging God as well as other people, just as the pride of Lucifer judged God and then caused Adam and Eve to judge God, telling them that God had deceived them and deprived them by withholding the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil from them. 

The humble tax collector in the temple was honest about what he had done and judged himself and not God. He took responsibility and asked God for mercy, humbly trusting God’s goodness and loving mercy and giving God the right place in his life. He got his relationship with himself and with God aligned with truth and with reality – totally unlike the Pharisee. That is why Jesus said that that man went home justified – true to himself and true to God.

The proud person lives in deception and the humble person lives in enlightenment.
When a humble person takes a lowest place God raises them into just the right place for their life. They come into alignment with God and are more likely to hear his truth and to understand it and to do it. They don’t have to compare themselves with others or judge them because they can leave that with God – that is having faith in a just God, and that is living a contented life.
In the Old Testament God calls himself the High and Lofty One. He is not being proud in saying this but simply stating the relationship between Almighty God and humanity. He says in Isaiah 57:15 For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

Jesus is the prime example. The Bible says he made himself of no reputation. He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death…Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every name. (Philippians 2:5)

The apostle Peter says to us Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. (1Peter 5:6-7)

That does not only mean he cares for you but that he is doing the caring so that you don't have to become full of care - not careless but carefree. And now bring all these things to God knowing that you're in alignment with him and see yourself as he sees you. That's not being proud, that's being grateful. He came down to hit that horizontal line and he says just go there - don't try and get up higher yourself and don't put yourself down so low that you feel too unworthy to connect with me. Get horizontal and be a human being as my son was and I'll meet you right at the middle and I'll align you with me vertically and everything around you on that plane in which you live will start working out for the things that I want for you. I have the final say and I bring all things together for good to you and you'll hear the truth and you'll know that you’re loved and you'll get understanding. And you’ll receive the healing that you need in spirit soul and body amen. 
How ignorant and unaware were those who put Jesus on a cross as the most shameful dishonourable death there was - that they were actually making an illustration of God as the vertical and the horizontal for all life - a place where God’s will cuts across the will of man, and there is a place in the centre of that cross where God meets us. When Jesus was on the cross the place where the vertical met the horizontal was right at his heart and that is his heart for us. He says all I desire is your heart for me at that spot and I'll get you there. Ask him to take you to that place and he will – Amen.

 

ENTITLED LABOURERS IN THE VINEYARD

ENTITLED LABOURERS IN THE VINEYARD 

We are looking at the parable of the labourers in the vineyard who all get a full day’s wages whether or not they worked a full day or just a part of the day. This caused some workers to get offended because they felt entitled to receive more than they were given.
We will study this parable of Jesus in a moment in Matthew Ch.20 that shines a light on today’s culture of entitlement.

We live in a world where many suffer at the hands of selfish and entitled power brokers. Disillusionment runs deep as political and corporate leaders make promises then fail to deliver. And while some leaders genuinely seek solutions, the complexity of societal issues and political manoeuvring leaves people uncertain about who they can trust.
Take Argentina as a present-day example. Years of soaring inflation (up to 100%) and massive government spending on healthcare, education, energy, and food led to a bankrupt nation with 40% poverty and unemployment. The new government responded with austerity—cutting subsidies and cash payouts—but now police are cracking down on raging riots as properties get burned and destroyed. Once entitlements are given, they are difficult to revoke.

Entitlement funding is not right or wrong – it’s a matter of how appropriate and how wisely they are applied. In many Western democracies also, governments pour billions of public dollars into entitlement programs, often seen as tools to secure votes yet these expenditures are unsustainable. Too many power-hungry factions and empty promises can end up causing cycles of corruption and overcorrection. And when drastic corrections are made, they trigger chaos, and amid the turmoil, loud voices clash, but real dialogue is rare, and solutions seem elusive.

To break this spiral, we need honesty, transparency, sound policies, and competent leadership—especially at local levels—to restore order and trust. The politics of the world respond to power - not logic, so follow the logic. If logic is being applied things will work wisely and problems will get solved and there will not be the waste of billions of dollars of public money. Power not only corrupts, it also creates confusion. 
In the Bible Jesus is called the logos - the logic - and when he is given the rule in our personal lives, things can get done wisely and caringly and effectively.

And therefore people who know their God can pray for the power of the Kingdom of God to be seen in the earth to reorder the chaos of a self-serving global culture. The Bible says Pray for one another and for rulers and all others who are in authority over us, or are in places of high responsibility, so that we can live in peace and quiet, spending our time in godly living and dignity (semnot??s) (2 Timothy 1:7). 
Our faith in this prayer can bring God’s grace into action for us and allows God to reorder our lives personally. Everything starts with us and God’s grace.

So let us read the parable of the labourers in the vineyard in Matthew Ch.20. 
Matthew 20:1 For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire labourers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them one denarius a day and sent them out to work. A couple of hours later he was passing a hiring hall and saw some men standing around waiting for work, so he sent them also into his fields, telling them he would pay them whatever was right at the end of the day. At noon and again around three o’clock in the afternoon he did the same thing.
At five o’clock that evening he was in town again and saw some more men standing around and asked them, ‘Why haven’t you been working today?’ Because no one hired us,’ they replied. ‘Then go on out and join the others in my fields,’ he told them.
That evening he told the paymaster to call the men in and pay them, beginning with the last men first. When the men hired at five o’clock were paid, each received a denarius. So when the men hired earlier came to get theirs, they assumed they would receive much more. But they, too, were paid a denarius also.
“They protested, ‘Those fellows worked only one hour, and yet you’ve paid them just as much as those of us who worked all day in the scorching heat.’
‘Friend,’ he answered one of them, ‘I did you no wrong! Didn’t you agree to work all day for a denarius? Take it and go. It is my desire to pay all the same; is it against the law to give away my money if I want to? Is your heart evil because I am good?’ That is why those who put themselves last end up being first and those who put themselves first end up being last. I desire to include everybody, but not everybody desires to be included.
What he is saying here that he wants to give his goodness and grace to everybody but not everybody wants to receive it. 
His response to the complaints of the early workers in the parable is to address their sense of injustice and entitlement. This parable of Jesus also speaks into the kind of self-serving confusion we see all around us today. His answer reveals the simple but deep eternal truths about God’s grace, and sovereignty, and the nature of his Kingdom.

Jesus forgave sinners and healed the sick and fed the poor in the name of his generous and sovereign Father. The leaders of Israel were resentful of this and felt entitled as having special claim on God and his kingdom because they had been performing and outperforming one another in the outward works of the Law for centuries. Who was this Jesus person to be so gracious to non-performers or even outsiders?
Jesus was preparing Israel and the world to receive the magnificent sovereign grace of God and become partners with him in his vineyard. And his word and his kingdom were about to come to everyone as a free gift. In Jesus, all has been accomplished, and we can confidently expect all good things from him. 

This parable teaches us that God speaks to us and makes faith and grace available as his gift, but it is our task to listen, and the word heard becomes the word received and then faith allows that word to be lived through us by God’s enabling grace. Grace is the power of God at work in our partnership with him, where God works far more powerfully and competently and productively within us than we could ever do on our own and we are entitled to receive his grace - Come confidently to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace in time of need Hebrews 4.16. We are actually the entitled labourers in the vineyard – what a twist that is – it is God’s Divine logic!

Jesus said to the complainers Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you.” The early workers were not upset because they were treated unfairly, but because others received generosity that they didn’t think was deserved, and this exposes a deeper issue - resentment towards God for extending his grace to others. 
Jesus said Is your eye (heart) evil because I am good?’. H is saying here ‘is your eye - your view or perspective of God - hateful because God is good and generous to everybody whether they deserve it or not. We can all tend to limit God’s goodness and grace.

Whoever receives the gift of grace spends time working together with a loving Jesus and not making comparisons or complaining about it. When we know that this grace is on offer from God through Jesus for everyone then we begin to rejoice and pray for it to abound everywhere. Where grace abounds in people there is more wisdom in the way they work and more agreement about how they work together. In the parable the workers received exactly what they were promised and so do we. God is fair and just, and his grace overcomes our human tendency to compare ourselves with others and makes us grateful to be working together with him. Our greatest reward comes from trusting in the goodness of what we have received and from trusting in the one who gives it to us. Be courageous and bold - we have an entitlement because we come under the title of our Lords name. We are entitled to work together with him. People might ask ‘what's your privilege in life? Our privilege is to work through the strength of Jesus. That may not sound logical to many people, but I don't believe that deserving it makes any difference to God. It is about believing it and asking. It is confidently saying Lord I need to know your mercy because I know I'm not I'm not there yet but your mercy is covering my insufficiency - but one thing I know that I can have from a heart that is as true as it can be to you Lord is your enabling power within - your life to do a thing that only you can do through me that I can enjoy doing. And not comparing - even compared to my own aspirations. We have a great and loving God, so never never limit that entitlement to his grace. Amen

 

 

GOD'S CHOSEN PEOPLE

 

GODS CHOSEN PEOPLE 

This parable sits between the parable of the cursed fig tree and the parable of the King who brought people in from the highways and byways to his son’s wedding - when the privileged guests rejected his invitation.
Today’s parable tells the clear story of how Israel ceases to be the expression of the Kingdom of God on the earth as a holy nation that was chosen and called to be a light to all the nations of the earth. They were to be the reflection of God’s love and goodness and salvation to the Gentiles. The parable show us how the New Testament Church was to become the holy nation chosen to express the Kingdom of God in the earth and to invite the rest of humanity to enter in. Holy means consecrated to God and set apart to reflect his love and goodness and uprightness in the earth.

Matthew 21”33 “Jesus spoke another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. He then sent another larger  group of servants, and they treated them the same way. Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. 
Jesus then asked the chief priests and Pharisees “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?” They said to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.” Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.
It was God who brought all this about, and it is a wonder in our eyes’
I’m saying to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of the kingdom. And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.” Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard this parable, they realised that He was speaking about them. But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet.

That verse says that the stone that the builders rejected becomes the cornerstone upon which a holy and heavenly life on earth can be built. That is reflected in many places in the Bible, in Psalms, in the Gospels and in Acts, and in Isaiah and in Ezekiel. God’s desire was for people in the earth to bear the fruits of his Kingdom and to partake of his Divine nature and to have Jesus on display in their lives. This was available to happen through Israel and even to Israel, but they rejected Jesus as the cornerstone. 
God first spoke this plan to Abraham when he chose Israel to be a light to the nations, a people set apart to reflect his Divine nature and guide the world toward him. He also confirmed this through Moses, telling them “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession… you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”(Exodus 19). But he made it clear that this calling was never just for Israel’s sake - “It is not for your sake, people of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name… Then the nations will know that I am the Lord.” (Ezekiel 36:22-23). Yet Israel made it all about their name and not God’s name, and history shows that Israel struggled to fulfill this mission. Instead of looking outward, they mostly turned inward, focusing on their national identity rather than their divine purpose. They fell into idolatry and disobedience and ended up in exile and suffered under the tyranny of Assyria, and later Babylon, both of whom God used in judgement upon them (2 Kings 17:7-23).
But God was merciful, and he continually reaffirmed this calling through the prophets, because Israel was meant to serve as a spiritual bridge between God and the world as a priestly nation. A priest mediates between God and people, and Israel’s role was to bring His truth and his justice and his presence to all nations. “I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles. to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from prison those who sit in darkness.” (Isaiah 46). 
So God’s plan to bless the nations through Israel would still come to pass, despite their failure in that mission because God’s eternal master plan was for Jesus as a Jew to be the true light to the world. “The people living in darkness saw a great light.” (Matthew 4). Jesus embodied everything Israel was meant to be as the Light of the world (John 8), revealing God’s kingdom not only to the Jews but to all people, and before he ascended to heaven, he gave this commission to his disciples – not just to speak the Gospel but to Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28).
The Church, made up of all who follow Jesus now carries Israel’s original calling—to bring the awesome light of God’s kingdom to the world. The Church is the new priestly nation as the apostle Peter writes in1Peter 2:9 – They are the new vinedressers in the parable of the vineyard and the mission has passed from Israel to the Church. But although the Church is now the messenger of the Gospel, Israel still remains significant in God’s prophetic plan, which speaks of a time when Israel would once again be at the heart of global events – and the Bible says that that all Israel will finally know their Saviour (Romans11). God’s promise to use Israel as a light to the nations was never abandoned—it was fulfilled in Jesus and expanded through the Church and today both Israel and the global body of believers have a crucial role in preparing the world for what is to come. Israel’s very existence today remains a testimony to God’s faithfulness, and despite intense opposition, they endure as a nation and the world’s attention is fixed on Jerusalem as they continue to fulfill prophecy. Zechariah prophesied concerning Israel that in the last days all the nations of the earth will gather against it (Zecharia 12)– as the Gospel continues to spread across the earth through the Church.
In this time of global upheaval, of wars, moral confusion, and a deepening divide between truth and deception God’s plan is still unfolding, and the Church is called to shine brighter than ever, bringing the message of Jesus to a world in desperate need of hope. As darkness increases, so must the light of God’s people. His kingdom will become more fully established and history will unfold and move toward the return of Christ in God’s good time. Until then, both Israel and the Church are called to be a testimony of God’s faithfulness in a broken world.
There was one thing Jesus said in the parable that held both warning and great promise both to Israel and the Church – ‘It is not for your sakes, people of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name… Then the nations will know that I am the Lord.’ (Ezekiel 36). Israel made it all about their name and not God’s name, and history shows that Israel always struggled to fulfill their mission. Instead of looking outward, they mostly turned inward, focusing on their national and religious identity and privilege and entitlement, rather than on their divine purpose. The same thing serves as a warning for the Church
The Church has been invited to live in the name of Jesus and that means more than adding his name to the end of our prayers – it means reflecting his life within us. Our name is in his name because our identity is hidden with Christ in God. We don’t do things in the name of our personal spiritual identity, or religious affiliation or reputation, or fame and success or in the name of the Church. We do things in the name of Jesus. God’s name portrays his nature and goodness and power to bless all those we know in our world. If we truly bear his name, we are empowered by his grace to reflect his nature, and when we do, he assures us that we will live the most fulfilled and meaningful life that can be lived – an abundant life. Amen

A FIGTREE LIVES AGAIN

A FIGTREE LIVES AGAIN God’s people Israel are mentioned many times in the Old and new Testament as his fig tree, and it reflects the spiritual and physical health of Israel, and we read in John Ch 1 where Jesus says to Nathanael, a young man who was sitting under a Figtree you are an Israelite indeed, without guile. And today’s parable is of Jesus cursing a fig tree because there was no fruit on it, only leaves, and this made a distinct impression on his disciples. We read the first part of this story in Matthew Ch 21  Matthew 21:18 Now in the morning, as Jesus returned to the city, He was hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, “Let no fruit grow on you ever again.” Immediately the fig tree withered away. and then the story is followed up the next morning as we see in Matthew Ch 22. Matthew 22:20-22 Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter, remembering, said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.” When Jesus said Let no fruit grow on you ever again’ Jesus was prophesying here that in that age in which they were living the time was soon coming for the nation of Israel to cease to exist and to be scattered, and to exist only as communities and Orthodox religious Jews among the nations of the world. The prophesy of Jesus about the fig tree withering did happen in that age, and Israel were scattered and remained scattered and persecuted through the age that followed. But in 1948 after the most desolate of tribulations that came upon the Jewish people in World War 2 when Israel was able miraculously to return to their land. The nation of Israel was reborn and remains to this day against all odds. That fig tree miraculously began to live again. That miraculous coming back to life for the nation of Israel was also prophesied by Jesus in the same gospel of Matthew in Ch 24 where Jesus links the time of that fig tree living again to the to the signs of his coming at the end of the age.  Matthew 24:3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you (he is speaking to Israel here), and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake (happening now). And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another (happening now). Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many (happening now). And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold (happening now). But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations (happening now), and then the end will come. He was speaking to the nation of Israel then, but these apocalyptic events would come upon all nations. Jesus then says in verse 22 Matthew 24:22 Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things (all of those global trials and events happening now), know that it is near—at the doors! Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place Today Israel lives again as a nation, but there is another extraordinary facet to this prophesy. It states that there will be a generation alive in and after that time. If we take the year 1948 to be the time of Israel being re-established as a nation it leaves open the possibilities of those things happening in these days. Many people have lived and died since 1948 and there will be many more that are yet to live and die before those major significant global events are over. The time frame of the finality of these things is left wide open because the final phrase that Jesus says is ‘and then will the end come’ the words ‘and then’ mean ‘and after that’ and nobody know how long ‘after that’ means. So I can only speculate on that aspect. All I can see is that our current global apocalyptic ‘now and not yet’ events are unprecedented. The only perspective I can take about living a here and now life in these days is to be living a prepared and ready life for God in Christ, through the truth and power of his Holy Spirit. Our times are in his hands, and we are in the protective care of his loving embrace. I sent out over 120 scriptures of the goodness of God recently and here are three of them –  The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in Him.” Nahum 1:7   How great is Your goodness, which You have stored up for those who fear You, which You bestow in the sight of all, on those who take refuge in You.” (Psalm 31:19).  He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings, you will find refuge. (Psalm 91:4) And there are many, many more. If God has allowed difficult things to happen in your life it is so you can show the people in your world that your God is great and that knowing Him brings peace and joy, even when life is hard.  It is also tempting to become disillusioned with the circumstances of our lives compared to others but in the presence of God, he gives us a deeper peace and joy that transcends it all. If life was stable with no needs and problems, we would never need God’s help. But since it’s not, we can reach out for Him regularly and be thankful for the unknowns and that we don’t have control, because it makes us run to God. David said in the psalms, I saw the prosperity of the wicked.… Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure.… When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God” (Ps. 73)  David went into the face-to-face personal presence of God and found refuge and strength. We can live in that place of refuge and strength, not only for ourselves but also to give comfort and hope to others in our world.
Paul O'Sullivan - pauloss@icloud.com

HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS

PARABLES 17 HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS 
Today I’m sharing the parable of the king who invites many privileged guests to his son’s wedding feast, but they are all too busy attend. This is one of many end times parables that Jesus taught, after finishing two years and some months ministry in Galilee and then heading towards Jerusalem to begin the second part of his ministry. In Jerusalem he would begin to teach about his death and resurrection and ascension into heaven and his return to earth in the last days.  

This parable is prophetic of the wedding feast of Jesus and his bride the Church in the last days. It tells the story of a King who was arranging a wedding feast for his son and had invited certain privileged guests, and many of those guests did not honour the king with their acceptances but made excuses for why they could not come. Both Matthew (Ch.22) and Luke (Ch.14) tell the story and the stories each complement one another emphasising certain attitudes and values in one story, and not in the other, and giving detail in one story to supplement the other.
Matthew defines the man who was inviting the guests as a king, which makes the refusal to attend, a grave insult or rebuff. Luke makes the emphasis that the dinner tables were already set and just waiting to be occupied by the guests, which means that there was little or no notice for the guests to plan the event in their calendar, because the date of a wedding was never announced a long time beforehand as they are today. In those times the bridegroom would have to prepare a home for he and his bride to live in, and only then would he let people know when he was ready. And this all had to meet with the parents’ approval and when it was determined that the home was ready, the groom would gather his friends and go to retrieve his bride—often at night, with lamps and great celebration.
The bride and her companions had to be constantly prepared (as seen in the Parable of the Ten Virgins), and did not know the exact day or hour of his arrival. Once the groom arrived, the wedding celebration began and could last for seven days or more and unprepared, or unresponsive guests who were not ready for the announcement missed out on the feast.
When the king heard of the rebuffs to his invitation, he was furious, and he punished those privileged people firmly. Matthew writes. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore, go into the highways (Luke adds the byways – (or hedges), and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ So those servants went out into the highways and byways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests. 
In the Gospel of Luke, the servants are to firstly go to the streets and lanes to the poor and disabled and the blind and the crippled. And when these had come in the servant said to the master that there was still lots of room left still n as room.’ Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. And those people came in, and they would have brought their friends with them. Compel may seem to be a forceful word, but the Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5 that the love of God ‘compelled’ him to reach out to bring others into the Kingdom of God.
God the Father wants a full house for the marriage feast of his Son Jesus to his Bride which is the Church, and this will occur at God’s appointed time, but if those in the Church are not prepared and ready, God will still get himself a full house. He will be sending the Holy Spirit (his servants in the parable) into the world to open peoples’ hearts to receive his invitation. There will be highways and byways people out there and streets and lanes people out there, that may be at different stages of spiritual growth or have some weird and wonderful ideas about God, but if they have hearts to know God they will be taught of the Lord and hear and receive the full message of Jesus, and their souls will be saved. And they will also bring their friends with them. 
The following words about God that we are about to hear are from two people who in recent times have become listened to by millions of people around the world day after day, and they influence people in the political culture or the philosophical or even alternate cultures. They are sincerely grappling to understand the mystery of faith, and I believe God has given them a voice as a trumpet sound to awaken unbelieving hearts to the goodness of God. And these people already proclaim Jesus as God and as our resurrected Lord and Saviour.
These two people are Jordan Peterson and Russel Brand who preach Jesus, and the transforming work of God in their lives. You will hear these if you listen to the podcast and in the PDF file of the notes you can click on the links to the video clips that we saw in church. 
Jordan Peterson – video clip
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PbKxMnoCao&list=PLKki_g3WkrNeYJr2mUzjFh4B1lOzRp8bH&index=1
Russel Brand – video clip
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQhznYoCeOc&list=PLKki_g3WkrNeYJr2mUzjFh4B1lOzRp8bH&index=2

God is speaking to us from Heaven in these days more than ever before in history. The Bible says in Acts Ch 2 that on the Day of Pentecost ‘Each one heard God speak in their own language’. 
This is not merely a spoken national language or dialect but it is the uniquely personal way that God has created the individual human spirit of every person on the planet to hear the Holy Spirit speak to them in a deeply personal way, using all kinds of communicational frameworks.  Many hear The Holy Spirit by reading in the Word of God, and some by hearing the heart of God through a song, whether spiritual or secular, and others see God in the awesomeness and beauty of his creation or even in a dream or a vision. For others it may be the prompting of God through a meaningful phrase that comes into our mind and that only we could personally interpret. When we have faith in the work of the Kingdom of God in Heaven, we begin to understand the spiritual reality that God’s will in Heaven is always waiting to happen on earth in our lives. That spiritual reality becomes our new reality for our hearts and minds – what we think and what we believe. And if we ask for the Holy Spirit to become active in our lives, we will be guided by the Holy Spirit to hear what God is saying to us though Jesus and see with eyes of faith what he showing us to do. We will pray prayers of surrender to receive God’s answers and get his results rather than our demands for our own wishes. 
In the days of Jesus, a wedding was not planned with a calendar. And a wedding feast will be prepared for God’s people before Jesus returns, and we don’t have a calendar for that either, but the same principle applies about being prepared and ready for the anticipated event – Jesus said that only the Father knows the day and the hour. This parable emphasizes faithfulness, and the expectancy of the joy of final oneness together, making marriage a powerful metaphor for God’s covenant love. God is stirring this love response in peoples’ hearts through familiar and unfamiliar ways and voices in these days. The Holy Spirit can use all of us as doorkeepers that can open the doors of peoples’ hearts to hear the voice of Jesus personally and offer their lives to him as he has done for us. Be open to engaging with the highways and byways people in your world - so that you can help them understand the hope that lives in your life concerning the reality of Jesus.

 

THE FACE OF GOD'S PRESENCE

THE FACE OF GODS PRESENCE 

When we look in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, we see that the word ‘face’ also means ‘presence’, and the same word also means ‘person’, and that word in Greek is ‘prosopon’ – beholding the eyes or beholding the look or gaze. And we’ll start with the following scripture
2 Corinthians 4:6 For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face (prosopon – the presence and person) of Jesus Christ
Jesus said ‘When you have seen me you have seen the Father (John 14:9). 
The word ‘prosopon’ in Scripture ties together physical reality (face), relational reality (presence), and personal nature (Identity). ‘Prosopon’s is God’s gift of connection between himself and us, and it is our gift of connection between another. When Jesus lived on earth, he was the prosopon of God, fully revealing God’s presence and personal nature. The Bible also says For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; (Colossians 2:9)

The Holy Spirit who is the ‘Third Person’ of the Godhead unveils for us the face and the presence and the personal nature of the Father and Jesus, as persons that we can come to know. That means that our lives can flow together with God’s, with an inner peace and expressing a Godly quality of life in our outward behaviour, as the Apostle Peter says ‘we become partakers of the Divine nature’ (2Peter 1:4).

THE FACE OF THE FATHER shining upon us means not just His presence but His nearness and favour and relational engagement. Numbers 6:22“The LORD bless you and keep you, The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you, The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace. “‘
The Father’s face reveals him as a person of loving care and provision and protection as he brings all of our circumstances together in the right and perfect time for his good will to be of greatest blessing for our lives.
There was an occasion when Moses asked God for assurance that he would be with him when he took Israel into the promised Land. God said to him “My presence (paniym) will go with you, and I will give you rest.” (Exodus 33:14)   At this time also Moses asked God  if he could see his glory – his ``face of radiant glory - and God told him that no one could see the face of God and live (Exodus 33:20) and he said to Moses ‘Here is a place by Me, stand on that rock, and, while My glory passes by I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.” Moses stood on the rock and then God hid him in the cleft of the rock and Moses was allowed to see his ‘back, which means he saw that God had been with him and was doing ongoing wonders in his life. 
That was a prophetic picture of our lives in the New Testament where we stand on the Rock of Jesus and we are hidden in him as Moses was in the cleft of the Rock, and like Moses we also see his ‘back’ which means we also see that the Father has been with us doing ongoing wonders in our lives. 
But in two places in the Bible it also oddly says that God spoke to Moses ‘face to face’ (Exodus 33, Numbers 12). What does this mean? Here God was saying that he spoke to him ‘person to person’ so that he could experience an intimate relationship of love and trust with him. An example of this is as person to person phone call but not a Facetime call.

The Face of the Father can also express his wrath. The word wrath here means intense indignation. It is the firm face of the Person of the Father that looks with just judgement and grief upon the damage that sin causes, bringing harm and destruction to his children. The wrath of God is expressed in both the Old and the New Testament. God’s wrath is a protective strong disciplinary action upon harmful evil doers on behalf of those who are harmed, so that wrath is an act of love – and it  is ultimately redemptive for evil doers, which means that through that discipline they are made aware of their opportunity for repentance unto life and faith.
The Bible says that we who believe in the saving power of Jesus on the cross, will be saved from wrath through Jesus (Romans 5:9), We will be disciplined in a firm but loving way by our Father God while knowing his mercy upon us and his closeness to us through the times of trial as he reveals to us what needs to be transformed in our lives.   

THE FACE OF JESUS is joyful and encouraging and compassionate, unveiling his dedication in sharing who he is with us as being human as well as divine. Jesus has experienced every trial and test of faith and every temptation of sin that we have, and he knows our human weakness and limitations. He stands by us and he walks with us and he speaks his Words of life to us in times of trial and testing and in times of guidance and blessing, to increase our faith and trust in him and in our loving Father. ‘He will save, he will rejoice over you with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over you with singing.’ (Zephaniah 3:17). The Bible says that Jesus is not only a brother to us but also a loving friend who enjoys our friendship. 

THE FACE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 
The Holy Spirit’s love and goodness are seen throughout the Bible in His comforting presence, intercession, guidance, and empowerment. He is not just a force but a personal being who grieves, loves, prays, and works for our transformation.
He is the person who is in and through the Father and Jesus and he flows from them to us. The Holy Spirit is the person who unveils the face of Jesus and the Father to us and he brings us into person-to-person unity of the spirit and one accord with each other. 
He also unveils our own face to ourselves as our true self that was created by God before the foundation of the world, as he transforms our nature into the likeness of Jesus.  
2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. 

The Apostle James said that if someone hears the life-giving Word but does not allow it to shape their life, they are like a person who glances into a mirror and catches a glimpse of their face — the face of the true self that God designed for them before they were even born. But if they get distracted by outward things they wiil forget who they really are. However, if they remain steadfast to the truth of the real self that they were shown, and live it out, they will experience blessing in all they do. (James 1:22)

The face or presence or person of the Holy Spirit is always unveiling God’s love, life, beauty, strength, and order and justice and mercy.  But the Holy Spirit also unveils the disorder in the world and everything and everyone in it. He makes clear the difference between darkness and light and of falsehood and truth. 
The Holy Spirit has been dividing light from darkness from the very beginning. 
Genesis 1:2 … The Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters (the dark disordered chaos). Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.

The Holy Spirit is always inviting us to enter into the presence of God. That does not mean secluding ourselves in isolation like some other meditation practices, where people detach themselves from everything to find the mystery of who they are through nothing else but an exercise of their own imagination. 
And with material things going on around us spiritual contemplation can seem for many people like holding their breath under water, but it is not hard at all if we know that we are coming person to person into God’s real presence. This becomes a simple practice of engaging with the real persons of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, all of whom are totally focused on us at all times. It is not hard for them to enter into our presence because we are vitally important to them. We are who they live for and they invite us to do the same. 

So what can we do? We can start by welcoming their real presence with us. The Bible says we enter into the presence (face and person) of God behind the veil of our own self-consciousness – our flesh (Hebrews 10:19-22) and we go into the place and space of God consciousness. The Holy Spirit weaves that gift of connection together for us by revealing the faces of Jesus and the Father, and then as we are touched by their presence and personal reality, he reveals to us our own unveiled face of thanksgiving to God. That becomes our true face. We share that face with the person (face) of the Holy Spirit. It is at that moment that our face and the face of the Holy Spirit become the same face.  

A THREE MINUTE REFLECTION
Our lives can become fruitful in the transforming work of the Holy Spirit by starting with a simple three-minute reflection where we spend one minute contemplating the face or really, the person behind the face of the Father and then doing the same with Jesus and then with the Holy Spirit and we keep saying thank you till we mean it. If our life before God can be one big thank you, we will know that we are in the faith. Our thanks in all things is our repentance and our acceptance of his will. It is our hope for his mercy and grace and our faith and trust in his goodness.

I have included a selection of about 120 Scriptures that speak of the love and goodness of the Father and Jesus and the Holy Spirit - and they take up eight pages. Read them and choose ones that speak to you, some more than others at any particular time. The Holy Spirit will guide your choices, and you will come to know your God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. (Paul O’Sullivan – pauloss@icloud.com)

 

1. Father’s Love for Us
• Exodus 34:6 – “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth.”
• Deuteronomy 7:9 – “Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; He is the faithful God, keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments.”
• Psalm 136:26 – “Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever.”
• Isaiah 54:10 – “Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed, says the LORD, who has compassion on you.”
• Jeremiah 31:3 – “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.”
• John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
• Romans 5:8 – “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
• Romans 8:38-39 – “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
• Ephesians 2:4-5 – “But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”
• 1 John 3:1 – “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”
• 1 John 4:7-10 – “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him.”
2. Father’s Goodness Toward His People
• Psalm 23:6 – “Surely Your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”
• Psalm 27:13 – “I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.”
• Psalm 31:19 – “How great is Your goodness, which You have stored up for those who fear You, which You bestow in the sight of all, on those who take refuge in You.”
• Psalm 34:8 – “Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him.”
• Psalm 52:1 – “The goodness of God endures continually.”
• Psalm 86:5 – “You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call to You.”
• Psalm 100:5 – “For the LORD is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations.”
• Psalm 107:1 – “Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His love endures forever.”
• Nahum 1:7 – “The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in Him.”
• Matthew 7:11 – “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!”
• Romans 2:4 – “Or do you show contempt for the riches of His kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?”
• James 1:17 – “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
3. Father’s Compassion and Faithfulness
• Lamentations 3:22-23 – “Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.”
• Micah 7:18-19 – “Who is a God like You, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; You will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.”
• Luke 6:35-36 – “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
• Deuteronomy 33:27 – “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.”
• Isaiah 41:10 – “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”
• Zephaniah 3:17 – “The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in His love He will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”
• John 15:9 – “As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Now remain in My love.”
• 1 Peter 5:7 – “Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.”

1. The Love of Jesus
• Matthew 9:36 – “When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”
• Matthew 11:28-30 – “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
• Matthew 14:14 – “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them and healed their sick.”
• Matthew 15:32 – “Jesus called His disciples to Him and said, ‘I have compassion for these people; they have already been with Me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.’”
• Mark 10:21 – “Jesus looked at him and loved him. ‘One thing you lack,’ He said. ‘Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.’”
• Luke 19:10 – “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
• John 3:16-17 – “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.”
• John 10:11 – “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.”
• John 13:1 – “Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.”
• John 15:9 – “As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Now remain in My love.”
• John 15:13 – “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
• Romans 8:35-39 – “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? … No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”
• Galatians 2:20 – “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
• Ephesians 3:18-19 – “That you may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
• Revelation 1:5 – “To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood.”

2. The Goodness of Jesus
• Matthew 4:23 – “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.”
• Matthew 12:15 – “Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. A large crowd followed Him, and He healed all who were ill.”
• Matthew 19:14 – “Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.’”
• Mark 1:41 – “Jesus was indignant. He reached out His hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ He said. ‘Be clean!’”
• Mark 6:34 – “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So He began teaching them many things.”
• Luke 4:18-19 – “The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
• Luke 22:32 – “But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
• Acts 10:38 – “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and He went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with Him.”
• 2 Corinthians 8:9 – “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.”
• Hebrews 4:15 – “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet He did not sin.”
• Isaiah 53:5 – “But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed.”
• Mark 15:37-39 – “With a loud cry, Jesus breathed His last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how He died, he said, ‘Surely this man was the Son of God!’”
• John 10:17-18 – “The reason My Father loves Me is that I lay down My life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord.”
• Romans 5:6-8 – “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
• Colossians 1:13-14 – “For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
• Hebrews 12:2 – “For the joy set before Him He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

The Holy Spirit, as the third person of the Trinity, is described in Scripture as loving, good, compassionate, and deeply involved in the lives of believers. 

The Love of the Holy Spirit - The Holy Spirit’s love and goodness are seen throughout the Bible in His comforting presence, intercession, guidance, and empowerment. He is not just a force but a personal being who grieves, loves, prays, and works for our transformation. Below is a collection of passages that highlight His love, goodness, and personal attributes, including His ability to grieve and intercede for us. 
• Romans 5:5 – “And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”
• Romans 15:30 – “I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me.”
• Galatians 5:22-23 – “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
• 2 Timothy 1:7 – “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self-discipline.”

The Holy Spirit actively expresses love—both through His work in our lives and by filling us with divine love.
2. The Goodness of the Holy Spirit
• Psalm 143:10 – “Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; may Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.”
• Nehemiah 9:20 – “You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold Your manna from their mouths, and You gave them water for their thirst.”
• Acts 10:38 – “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and He went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with Him.”
• John 16:13 – “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come.”

The Holy Spirit’s goodness is evident in His guidance, instruction, and empowerment of believers.
3. The Holy Spirit as a Person Who Feels Emotion

The Holy Spirit is not an impersonal force but a living divine person who experiences emotions such as grief, joy, and intercession.

The Holy Spirit Grieves
• Ephesians 4:30 – “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”
• Isaiah 63:10 – “Yet they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit. So He turned and became their enemy and He Himself fought against them.”

Just as a person can feel sorrow, the Holy Spirit grieves when believers sin, reject His guidance, or live in ways contrary to God’s will.

4. The Holy Spirit as the One Who Intercedes for Us
• Romans 8:26-27 – “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.”
• Zechariah 12:10 – “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a Spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on Me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son.”

These verses reveal that the Holy Spirit actively prays for us—even when we don’t have words—expressing our needs to God with deep, heartfelt groaning.

5. The Holy Spirit as Our Helper, Comforter, and Helper
• John 14:16-17 – “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you.”
• John 14:26 – “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”
• John 15:26 – “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—He will testify about Me.”
• John 16:7 – “But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.”

The Holy Spirit is our personal Helper, Counselor, and Helper, always working on our behalf.

6. The Holy Spirit Gives Life and Power
• Genesis 1:2 – “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”
• Job 33:4 – “The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life.”
• Ezekiel 37:14 – “I will put My Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.”
• Luke 4:18 – “The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free.”
• Acts 1:8 – “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
• 2 Corinthians 3:17 – “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”
• Galatians 5:25 – “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”
The Holy Spirit is the giver of life, power, and freedom, actively working in creation, salvation, and the daily walk of our lives as believers.