Thoughts on the Cross & Temptation of Jesus

[GodsGrace]

Emotional reality.

I have been shaken up through grief, and am back again in one piece.
It makes you begin to question "Who am I and where and on what do I stand?"
We think our positions make sense and we have some strength is which to judge aright.

But who declares His people and calls His own to His will?
It is always hard to put ones trust in another and to wait for their call.

Jesus did. He awaited the Fathers testimony. When Jesus as baptised. When Jesus was transfigured.
He could have taken what was His, yet he waited for the Father to declare it, which is why the apostles wrote about this.

The term right, has the implication of wrong on its flip side. The term my heart sings and declares my love of Jesus and His work in my life, is the testimony Jesus calls us to declare. Each has to work this out with Him, and in the end each will see the fruit of their walk.

We trip up over who we are, while we believe we have grasped so much and barely can walk a few steps.
A road of a million steps, a few hundred is almost none at all, yet better than 1 or 2.
But our pride from the world declares I have so much more than you, so I can put you in your place.

But the more we see and know, the more we see we neither see or know aright, and barely grasp His love and ways.
Jesus and His walk, the proof of maturity and perspective, was shown in His response to satan.
Slow but fast. Each lesson learnt deep, so when needed is appropriate and in its place.

God bless you

I have been shaken up through grief and am back again in one piece.
Praise God.
❤

 

[Rollo Tamasi]

I have been shaken up through grief and am back again in one piece.
Praise God.
❤

October in Florida 80's to 60's and no humidity
Perfect relaxing summer weather
All you need is an invite

 

[PeterJens]

Who has any reason not to be humble after being saved?
What is there to be proud of? Our good deeds, our mighty acts are nothing but what we put in the toilet.

This is an extreme view of works mean nothing in life.
Cornelious was recognised by God as a God fearing man through his good works.

The good works are the fruit of a good heart touched by God, eternal gifts given by God to others through the worker of a good work. Jesus said to the sheep, you feed me, you clothed me etc. to the people he chose, and they asked when? His reply was when you feed people, clothed them, helped them they were helping Jesus.

Jesus and the fruit of good works cannot be separated. The whole of the old testament is the blessing that comes from walking in Gods ways, and the judgement that follows by disobeying them. We often think the judgement is Gods judgement alone, rather than the fruit of our deeds coming back on us, but Jesus is literally saying these evil deeds, sin, destroys us and everything we value.

To believe or think Jesus and the fruit of the Holy Spirit can exist in a believer with no love or resulting actions does not know Jesus. It is like saying a swimmer will drown in water, but they are still a swimmer, or going to a wedding and drinking the wine will not have any affect on oneself. These are all excuses for a hard heart, an unforgiving spirit and not listening to Jesus and letting His love transform us.

There are people who behave well and do not love, and by doing claim to know Jesus, but this is just words.
Hurt individuals from one church often go to another church which gives them comfort and their revenge for the hurt is to condemn the others to hell. Emotional stories rule our lives, which we glimpse when our lives get shaken up through loss or trouble. We often see the "facts" we held on to, were barriers to seeing where we are and where we need to get to. Facts do not change, but how we feel about them and others certainly should and does change.

God bless you

 

[Quantrill]

For 40 days in the wilderness, Jesus was tempted by Satan. The "theme" behind the various temptations was essentially to achieve power (through exercising His miraculous abilities or taking over the political mechanisms) by avoiding the Cross. If we could imagine the unthinkable, this would have meant that Jesus became a political dictator who would rid the world of overt sin through the exercise of Law but still leave the root cause of wrongdoing (our alienation from God and "sin within") unchanged. The temptation returned in a milder for in the Garden on the night before His crucifixion when He prayed to the Father for "this cup " to be taken away "if it be possible". If the Father had another plan, that was the time to reveal it. But no revelation came. There was nothing to reveal. There was NO OTHER way for mankind to be saved except through the Cross! Jesus submitted to the Cross as the greatest act of love that has ever been and can ever be displayed. No Person ever suffered so much - not only the physical pain and the humiliation, but the separation from the Father of One who had always been at the heart of God; a separation caused by His taking on our sin and its punishment!
People who say that there are many ways to salvation should remember this. If another way was possible, would not the Father have revealed it to Jesus on that night and would not Jesus have taken it? Think about this. The Cross is truly central to our understanding of what Jesus did for us.

Yes, no other way is possible. Only in Christ.

I have often used this illustration. A court is in session with a judge presiding. Several defendants are in line waiting their turn to go before the judge as he hears their case and plea.

You are one of those defendants, guilty of a serious crime. Doesn't matter what it is, but it is a serious crime. While in line you are talking to others and find out that the man directly in front of you is guilty of the exact same crime....and he is the judges son.

You think, what luck. The judge will have mercy on his son. And then when I approach he has no choice but to have mercy on me also.

But then the judges son goes before the judge. And you hear the pronouncement of 'guilty' and the full sentence given out, as the gavel sounds.

What hope is there for you now when you approach the judge? Absolutely none.

(Rom. 8:32) "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us...."