Faith vs. Sight

Category: Uncategorized

  • Dispute Over Who Jesus Is

    We must look past our own eyes to see Him…

    John 8:21-30
    21 Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.”

    22 This made the Jews ask, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ‘Where I go, you cannot come’?”

    23 But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”

    25 “Who are you?” they asked.

    “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,” Jesus replied. 26 “I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is trustworthy, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.”

    27 They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. 28 So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up[a] the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. 29 The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” 30 Even as he spoke, many believed in him.

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    I do not doubt who Jesus is. But I often wonder if I would have if I were alive then. Would I have followed the crowd? Would I have fearful of persecution and retribution? Many men were. Many great men were. Those that stuck with Him. The Disciples of Jesus were marked and died horrible deaths, yet they persevered. They spread the Gospel and were killed because of it.

    So here I stand, alive and blessed. God knows what I would have done, He wants me to learn about myself. This happens through reading the Bible. As I read, I see so much of myself in so many of the people that He loved and taught. So many, that even though they did not believe in Him, He loved them and without fail He taught them. So many times He would speak and be questioned and doubted, but He spoke and taught anyway. Thank God for the unbelievers, for they give us the chance to learn of Him.

    Throughout the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Jesus teaches the doubters, the sinners, the lovers of this earth what it means to believe. He is speaking to us. He is teaching us. As He does, as he speaks, new believers are joining the Kingdom of God. He came and got me. He pulled the wool from my eyes and showed me TRUTH. He showed me love and forgiveness. He cane and got me. Just the way He has come for you.

    So, with that, let us move past the doubt and speculation. He died for us and forgave all of us. We are now cloaked in His righteousness. Forever free of sin. Hallelujah! #JesusSaves

    Amen
    DK

  • Dispute Over Jesus’ Testimony

    His own witness…

    John 8:12-20
    12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

    13 The Pharisees challenged him, “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.”

    14 Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. 15 You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. 16 But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. 17 In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. 18 I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”

    19 Then they asked him, “Where is your father?”

    “You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” 20 He spoke these words while teaching in the temple courts near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come.

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    If all we do is search in the perceived light of this world for verification, we will remain blind. However, if we look to His light, the light of the Creator, we will find understanding, acceptance, and love.

    This is another example of the “learned” not being able to see Him. They could not tell who He was. They were searching this world for answers as to who he was. They would not be found here. The are only found in faith and belief, both of which were lacking. They were lost.

    The testimony of two witnesses is true. Words spoken by Jesus Himself. Stand with a friend today, and both of you go forth and witness for Jesus. Just as He said it would, your truth will be believed.
    #JesusSaves

    Amen
    DK

  • Jesus Saves!

    Jesus lived a sinless life…completely void of all sin.

    John 8:1-11 (NIV)
    1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

    2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

    But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

    9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

    11 “No one, sir,” she said.

    “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

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    The only one without sin, to have never sinned, was Jesus. He was the only one left standing with the woman. He then showed great Mercy and Grace as He pardoned her and forgave of this sin. But, He left the choice with her.

    Jesus was a brilliant teacher and person. He was God in the flesh. He is a direct reflection of the love that God has always had for us, even in the beginning. He has so much love for us, that without fail He will make a single decision that is good and perfect  for millions. That is who He is. That is God the Father.

    Let me ask you a question. Are you saved? Are you going to Heaven when your heart stops beating and you are no longer breathing? Of your answer is, “I don’t know.”, that’s ok. Then my question be, “Would you like to know?” I bet I know your answer. I am saved. I was saved in 2003, and just surrendered last year. Read this with me:

    God in heaven, I come to you in the name of Jesus. I acknowledge to You that I am a sinner, and I am sorry for my sins and the life that I have lived; I need your forgiveness.

    I believe that your only begotten Son Jesus Christ shed His precious blood on the cross at Calvary and died for my sins, and I am now willing to turn from my sin.

    You said in Your Holy Word, Romans 10:9 that if we confess the Lord our God and believe in our hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead, we shall be saved.

    Right now I confess Jesus as the Lord of my soul. With my heart, I believe that God raised Jesus from the dead. This very moment I accept Jesus Christ as my own personal Savior and according to His Word, right now I am saved.

    Thank you Jesus for your unlimited grace which has saved me from my sins. I thank you Jesus that your grace never leads to license, but rather it always leads to repentance. Therefore Lord Jesus transform my life so that I may bring glory and honor to you alone and not to myself.

    Thank you Jesus for dying for me and giving me eternal life.
    Amen.

    Welcome to the family. He will answer your call. Begin to read. Start where I did in the New Testament and the Gospels. Enjoy Him. He is coming for you. #JesusSaves

    Amen
    DK

  • Unbelief of the Jewish Leaders

    We are forgiven…

    John 7:45-52
    45 Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”

    46 “No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards replied.

    47 “You mean he has deceived you also?” the Pharisees retorted. 48 “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? 49 No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them.”

    50 Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, 51 “Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing?”

    52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.”

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    “A mob that knows nothing of the law. There must be a curse on them.”, that was the statement from the religious knowledge base present as Jesus spoke at the festival. From what I have gathered, I would rather rely on Jesus than the law. Grace and Mercy have certainly saved my life and the life of my family. There is only death in law.

    One Pharisee that did know that Jesus was the Messiah is Nicodemus. This man begins to allow God to grow in him and a relationship is being birthed. He knows that Jesus is special and that He has something no other “prophet” had. He brought truth and confirmation found in the Old Testament.

    As believers in Christ’s finished work on the cross, we no longer lol lol to law to be qualified. Jesus has qualified us, and as such the Holy Spirit lives in us and is our basis for all action. It is our standards, values, and principles. With this being true, we need not worry about the law for the reason that if we believe and Hoky Spirit is in is, then we will not concern ourselves with the law. We are all destined to sin. When son becomes a roadblock preventing us from acting in the Will of God, Mercy and Grace step in. A free unearned and unmeroted gift from God in the form of Jesus Christ. #JesusSaves

    Amen
    DK

  • Division Over Who Jesus Is

    Jesus is Messiah…

    John 7:25-44
    25 At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill? 26 Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him. Have the authorities really concluded that he is the Messiah? 27 But we know where this man is from; when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.”

    28 Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own authority, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, 29 but I know him because I am from him and he sent me.”

    30 At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. 31 Still, many in the crowd believed in him. They said, “When the Messiah comes, will he perform more signs than this man?”

    32 The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him.

    33 Jesus said, “I am with you for only a short time, and then I am going to the one who sent me. 34 You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.”

    35 The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? 36 What did he mean when he said, ‘You will look for me, but you will not find me,’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?”

    37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”[c] 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

    40 On hearing his words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.”

    41 Others said, “He is the Messiah.”

    Still others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee? 42 Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?” 43 Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. 44 Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.

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    Confusion and unrest. Law had blinded so many people  that they couldn’t see Him. They couldn’t see Jesus. They just kept reaching for understanding on this earth. They searched for proof and distorted it when they found it. The wool had been firmly pulled over their eyes. Sin blinded them. Jesus knew it. He tried to tell them, but they would not listen. For this reason, I am saved. For this reason He turned to the Gentiles and saved all.

    I know you have experienced sin. You are human, and whether you know it or not you are cloaked in sin. Just as I am. More importantly, we have been covered in the blood of Jesus and cleansed of that sin. This happens when we believe in Him who God sent o save us. He has delivered us. The Jews that were confused by Jesus believed that if they followed the distorted law that they would be saved. Jesus came to earth as man and saved us, lifting the cloudy laws and clarifying it for us… He simplified it.

    I don’t know what I would have felt on that day that Jesus stood up and announced that He was sent by God. I don’t know. I can tell you that I would have jumped on board with Him right away and believed, but I don’t know. I firmly believe in Him now. I know what He did for me. I know He saved me and that I will stand face to face with Him in Heaven and fall to my knees to worship for eternity. I do know that. But some days are difficult.

    Somedays it takes all I have to pick up my Bible and read. Not because I don’t love Him with all of my heart. I do. But I get distracted by this world. By things that don’t mean anything. It takes discipline on those days. It’s starts with great fervor and energy, then comes the drudgery, then the discipline, then habbit. I know He is always with me, but honestly there are some days that I can’t feel Him with me and I have to go searching for Him with all I have. He has never failed to let me find Him. He knows just where to be so that I will find Him just at the end of my rope. That’s where the growth is. Hang on…He is on His way. #JesusSaves

    Amen
    DK

  • Jesus Teaches at the Festival

    John 7:14-24
    14 Not until halfway through the festival did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. 15 The Jews there were amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learning without having been taught?”

    16 Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me. 17 Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. 18 Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him. 19 Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?”

    20 “You are demon-possessed,” the crowd answered. “Who is trying to kill you?”

    21 Jesus said to them, “I did one miracle, and you are all amazed. 22 Yet, because Moses gave you circumcision (though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs), you circumcise a boy on the Sabbath. 23 Now if a boy can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing a man’s whole body on the Sabbath? 24 Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.”

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    His ability, knowledge, and all that made Him a great teacher came from God, the one who sent Him. He knew where His gifts cane from, and He knew that they were given to I’m to glorify the Father. The gifts that are given to us, which are manu, are not meant to place you in high esteem among man, rather they are given to you to glorify God.

    As the people chose to pick on Jesus’ great work on the Sabbath, they failed to notice that they had done the same many times before. They could not see their own faults and wrongdoings because they were stuck on law and trying to please man. Trying to please each other.

    In this world it is commonplace to rely on the judgement of man, and base our understanding of what is right on the judgement of our peers. What we are supposed to do is weigh what we do against the way that Jesus lived His life. As you know, we will always find someone that will agree with us even when we are hurting ourselves or those that we love. We need His example to live by. It is is given to us in the Bible and it needs to be read…daily. #JesusSaves

    Amen
    DK 

  • Jesus Goes to the Festival of the Tabernacles

    All in Gods time, not ours…

    John 7:1-13
    After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He did not want[a] to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders there were looking for a way to kill him. 2 But when the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles was near, 3 Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do. 4 No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” 5 For even his own brothers did not believe in him.

    6 Therefore Jesus told them, “My time is not yet here; for you any time will do. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil. 8 You go to the festival. I am not going up to this festival, because my time has not yet fully come.” 9 After he had said this, he stayed in Galilee.

    10 However, after his brothers had left for the festival, he went also, not publicly, but in secret. 11 Now at the festival the Jewish leaders were watching for Jesus and asking, “Where is he?”

    12 Among the crowds there was widespread whispering about him. Some said, “He is a good man.”

    Others replied, “No, he deceives the people.” 13 But no one would say anything publicly about him for fear of the leaders.

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    Jesus always acted on the direction of the Father. He did not take any action unless it came directly from God. The reason for this is that this world can ensnare all of us, and Jesus was to live the perfect and blameless life so that our sins would be taken to the cross. He is the Messiah.

    Those that were fearful of speaking about Jesus were fearful because they did not yet fully believe in Him. Even His own brothers did not. Jesus understood that, and loved them all the same. Their disbelief did not change His love for them. Many of them thought He was a good man. Many of them thought He was deceptive. Nonetheless, Jesus would remain steadfast and strong in His journey.

    Jesus is our example to live by. Our standard. We can never love the perfect life that He did, but because of Him we do not have to. It should be our goal to give the perfect effort in trying to live up to the standars that Jesus set for us. He knows we will stumble and fall, and He does not hold that against us. As a matter of fact He uses the stumble to bless others. It’s a wonderful equation in the end, but it’s difficult when we try to work it out ourselves.

    Today, let us focus on today. Not tomorrow. Not yesterday. Not next week. Today! Ask God to reveal exactly what He wants from you today. There is something He can do for others through you. As for that. #JesusSaves

    Amen
    DK

  • Many Disciples Desert Jesus

    John 6:60-71
    60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”

    61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life. 64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. 65 He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”

    66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

    67 “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.

    68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”

    70 Then Jesus replied, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!” 71 (He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)

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    The gate is narrow. It takes discipline, devotion, commitment, and love, to be able to live right by God. It also takes trust. We must belive and have faith in the the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe it happened the way the Word says it happened…it’s not easy.

    Many did abandon Jesus. They were fearful and could not understand what was happening. They left. The Twelve stayed. They stayed with Jesus. The trials they would face are insurmountable. To the very core this world rattled these men. I can only imagine. What faith they possessed. I pray for that now.

    I want to be one of the Twelve. I want their faith and loyalty. I want it to be new every day. I don’t want to rest on yesterday’s blessing. I ask God to give us this day our daily bread. Just enough for today. Let tomorrow be taken care of by You, as it always has been. Perfectly.

    As we grow closer to God, and you begin to see His light in your life, at that moment you need to praise Him. That blessing you are to give away. You are to pour it out on all who come close to you. Cups need filling. We are to fill them with the overflowing blessing of Living Waters. From our hearts the blessing will pour from Him to us and on into the entire world. Speak it today. #JesusSaves

    Amen
    DK

  • Jesus the Bread of Life contd.

    John 6:41-59
    41 At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”

    43 “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. 44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’[d] Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. 46 No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. 47 Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

    52 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

    53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

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    Jesus came to earth to save us with His perfect life. He lived the perfect sinless and blameless life so that He could take  our place on the cross. Through this our sins were carried away and forgiven. It is His body that was given up for us.

    Those that are entrenched in law are unable to see Him for who He is. He is the Savior of the world, and it is necessary that He is acknowledged as such through the way that we speak with Him daily. As we pray to the Holy Spirit, we are empowered and given the strength necessary to overcome all obstacles in our lives. If we only look to what feeds the flesh yet ignores the spirit, then we will only be temporarily satisfied.

    Through Jesus we find a bottomless well of life, love, and forgiveness that is devoid of fear. In Him we find rest from the trials of this world. In Him we find peace. In Him there exists every good thing. We must go to Him every day and receive His gift. #JesusSaves

    Amen
    DK

  • Jesus the Bread of Life

    We have to look past what we see and see with our heart…

    John 6:25-42
    25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

    26 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. 27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”

    28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

    29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

    30 So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’[c]”

    32 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

    34 “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”

    35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

    41 At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”

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    We can all very easily get caught up in only seeing what is isibke with our eyes. These men that were with Jesus wanted signs so that they could believe. They wanted proof, even after this proof was already given. They wanted more. Sound familiar?

    No worries…He has you. He does not mind that you ask. Spiritual maturity will happen as you walk with Him. He will show you when it is time, but you must submit to the will of the Father and not your own. You cannot allow your eyes to be fixated on this world. It is a process, and one that can be used against you of you let it.

    To day, let’s ask for all things that we need and want, like a child does to his/her father. Begin a conversation with Him, and allow Him to grow in you. He will send you where you need to go if you ask Him. It may take some time. That is where faith will become evident to you and you will see the fruits of your faith. People may doubt you or question, that is good. People may say that you are not worthy, that is good. Have FAITH. He see you. #JesusSaves

    Amen
    DK