God's Messiah. 4/7/15

Day 97 - Reading the New Testament in one year.

https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/dramatized/niv/Luke.9

Luke 9:18-36
Peter Declares That Jesus Is the Messiah
18 Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?”19 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.”20 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

Peter answered, “God’s Messiah.”

Jesus Predicts His Death
21 Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. 22 And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? 26 Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27 “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.”

The Transfiguration
28 About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. 29 As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. 30 Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. 31 They spoke about his departure,[a] which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. 32 Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. 33 As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what he was saying.)
34 While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and covered them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35 A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” 36 When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves and did not tell anyone at that time what they had seen.

Supplied Life Devotional by Bill Freeman

April 7th Participation, not imitation

“Let the same disposition be in you which was in Christ Jesus.”
PHILIPPIANS 2:5 (Weymouth)
The Christian life is not imitation. It is participation. God has not called you to imitate Christ as if you were a person detached from Him. God has called you to participate in Christ as one attached to Him. “The one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him (1 Cor. 6:17, NASV). To join ourselves to the Lord is to merge with Him. It is merging our mind, emotion, and will with the Lord, who is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17). This merging is for our mind, emotion, and will to have direct participation in His life, nature, and disposition.

Paul does not mean to imitate Christ’s disposition. He means to let or allow yourself to merge with Christ’s disposition. There is a big difference. To imitate depends on coming up with “the goods” to perform. To merge is the exact opposite. It is receiving “the goods” by direct participation in them. For example, if an actor tries to play the part of a drunk, that is imitation. However, if he actually drinks wine and feels its effects, that is direct participation. In Ephesians 5:18 Paul says, “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit.” In the same way that there is direct participation in wine, there is direct participation in Christ as the Spirit. This participation in Christ is for us to live Christ by merging with His disposition. Paul says in Philippians 1:21, “For to me, to live is Christ.” This is the one unique goal of all our participation in Christ — to merge with Him and live Him.

Pray Until Something Happens (PUSH)

Ariana, and Willie.

Health and Healing

Vonetta's mom and Willie

Support and Comfort

Praise Alert
Blanca is in rehab….improving.

National
Conflict between citizens and  police officer. 

International

Israel and Palestine
Iraq

Syrians

Ukraine

Missing plane and passengers.
Missing Nigerian Christian girls.
Families of slain Kenyans.
Families of all the recent plane crashes.

Song(s) of the Day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBZvEjDkQw0https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG8JLqcRRIg

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