"BUT HE ANSWERED HIM NOT ONE WORD...."

"But He answered him not one word, so that the governor marveled greatly."  (Matthew 27:14)

What so many do not realize is that neither Pilate nor the mob had anything to do with this.  Jesus earlier had said, "....I lay down My life that I may take it again.  No one takes it from me....I have power/authority to lay it down, and I have power/authority to take it again."

This is the day in the quarter when I am in Matthew 27, a most sobering time.  Yesterday was good Friday, tomorrow Easter/Resurrection Sunday.  We have salvation, hope and strength for life only because of the faithfulness of our King and Savior Jesus Christ going to the Cross for our sin and forgiveness.  "Glorious things of Thee are spoken...."

The Hebrews were once being stricken, and many dying when serpents were roaming the camp.  "The Word of God," Jesus, instructed Moses to mount a serpent on a pole and said that anyone who looked to that would be healed.  

Jesus embraced this foreshadow of His surrender to death on the Cross when He said, "....As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."

Father, in Jesus' Name, I so embrace this "old, old story."  Amen.

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

Hebrews 12:2

IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A "WORD FROM THE LORD," THIS IS IT

This video is the context for the clip which I sent to you yesterday.  It is, without a doubt, the Word of the Lord Jesus Christ for the Church, for the nations, for our time.

https://youtu.be/SL8mJQ39zjw?si=PPa7oOe60QA2OaGZ

ALISTAIR BEGG: "THE MAN ON THE MIDDLE CROSS"

The Man on the Middle Cross Said I Can Come | Alistair Begg 

"I THANK MY GOD I SPEAK IN TONGUES"-- PAUL--- AND ME :)

"I wish you all spoke with tongues....For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understand is unfruitful.  What is the conclusion then?  I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding....I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all...."  (The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 14)

There are those who believe that praying in other tongues is not necessary "at best," or of the devil, at worst.   They are people who prefer to live in their minds, viz., "the understanding."  I prefer to live in the spirit/Spirit, with whatever our Lord Jesus Christ provides for any "understanding." 

 

Father, in Jesus' Name, I thank You for any "understanding" which You give to me.  I desire so much, however, to also walk in what I cannot understand.  Amen.

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

Hebrews 12:2

"A PRAYER OF THE AFFLICTED"

"Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come to You."  (Psalm 102:1)

Our text is in a Psalm which is described as, "A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed and pours out his complaint before the Lord."

At one point the psalmist says that he felt like, "....a pelican of the wilderness; I am like an owl of the desert.  I lie awake, and am like a sparrow alone on the housetop."

Anyone with any humility will admit that we have been there.   Later, however, after the psalmist felt, "....alone on the housetop", he nevertheless declares, "But You, O Lord, shall endure forever....[You] shall regard the prayer of the destitute, and shall not despise their prayer."  Jesus is, "Faithful and True."         

Father, in Jesus' Name, I thank You that you do, "....not despise [my] prayer."  Amen. 

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

Hebrews 12:2