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When Jesus Takes the Lead (and restores)

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Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and WALKED. (John 5/8-9 NKJV) The remains of the Pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-9) are in Jerusalem today, just north of the Temple Mount. Excavations have discovered that it had five porches, just as John described (John 5:2). This pool was surrounded by a multitude of hurting humanity. They waited for an angel to come down and stir up the waters – believing that the first person in the water after the stirring would be healed. We don’t know if the promise of healing was real or merely a hopeful legend; nevertheless, people believed it. Coming to a well outside Sychar, Jesus sent His disciples into the village to get some food. When the disciples left, Jesus had an amazing conversation with a Samaritan Jesus asked the lame man an unusual question: “Do you want to be made well?” (John 5:6) Jesus knew that not every sick person wants to be healed,...
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The radically "New Man" {dictionary}

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from "the lectionary" blog pre The following excerpt is intended to assist those who wish to better understand the restored status of the New Testament and the new status of believers, which is radically distinct from the Law and Jewish traditions. Apostolic terminology is under constant attack due to the biases found in postmodern culture and politically motivated theological trends. Surprisingly many people believe that Christian identity is somehow a "reformed" form of Judaism. But that is not the case: living in Christ is an identity and a sense of belonging, a spiritually extraordinary "brand new" status & ID — not some kind of religion or philosophy. This ongoing distortion can only be countered in a concrete way, through linguistic and cultural instruction, by contrasting it with the original status given from heaven—which the apostles themselves achieved through hard work, much suffering, and persecution. Kainos ...
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The River of Life

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meditation This article is part of the "Vitalize" pack By the grace of God, by the mercy of God we, Christians get Life and ID! This is crucial in the New Testament! Did you receive Holy Spirit? - was asked by the apostles. (Act 19:3) Why did they ask this? Because the Newborn Christian lives-out a life, like a tree, rooted into the soil next to the River of Life ! Here the believer brings fruits! He is like a tree planted beside streams of water that bears its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Psalm 1:3 .. he brought me back to the entrance of the temple and there was water flowing from under the threshold of the Temple toward the east, for the Temple faced east. The water was coming down from under the south side of the threshold of the Temple, south of the altar. Next he brought me out by way of the North Gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate that faced east; there the water was t...
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Praying for Others

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"We have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly, and rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances... We have not listened to Your servants the prophets... Open shame belongs to us, O LORD... because we have sinned against You... Indeed all Israel has transgressed Your Law and turned aside, not obeying Your voice... Your people have become a reproach to all those around us" Dan. 9:5-16 In verses 5-16 Daniel identifies with his people and intercedes on their behalf. That's a common practice in Scripture. For example, Moses interceded for the Israelites after they sinned by worshiping the golden calf (Ex. 32:11- 13). All Paul's recorded prayers are intercessions. In Ephesians 6:18 he instructs us to "be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints." In 1 Timothy 2:1-4 he says, "I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for k...
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Pure in heart

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John MacArthur — Grace to You Blessed are a the pure in heart, forthey shall see God. Matthew 5:8 Throughout Scripture the heart is used metaphorically to represent the inner person, the seat of motives and attitudes, the center of personality. But in Scripture it also includes the thinking process, particularly the will. Proverbs 23:7 says, “As [a man] thinketh in his heart, so is he” (KJV). The heart is the control center of the mind and will, as well as emotion. Jesus said that it is in the inner person, in the core of our very being, that God requires purity. This was not a new truth but an old one long forgotten in ceremony and tradition. “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life,” counseled the writer of Proverbs 4:23. God has always been concerned above all else with the condition of a person’s heart. When the Lord called Saul to be Israel’s first king, “God changed his heart” (1 Sam. 10:9). Until then Saul...
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