Walk With Me #Deararn.

Every one of them had their own unique relationship with Him. These women were eternally committed, they had been saved and rescued from much. He made so much difference in their lives that committing to Him was their grateful act. But now, they don’t even know what to believe. He held so much hope and now… 

 His deposits in their lives demanded their loyalty even in death. They loved Him so much they were willing to go take care of his dead body.

How far are you willing to go for Jesus. Where did he pick you?

They get there and he is missing and even then would not give up. Their desire was to see Him and to care for His body, they loved Him so. As they were wondering what to do, how to roll away the stone so they could get to him, an angel makes an appearance….see what loyalty does… they get an angel delivering God’s message to them and beyond that, they get the good news, He is not here, He is risen, Hallelujah!

Life is in the blood; when we take or observe communion, we take on the life of Christ. It is called the power of exchange. Since the cutting of the covenant makes one of the two parties involved, the believer has access to everything Christ has. He is transformed, forgiven, revived, renewed, healed, delivered, protected, preserved, enlightened and at peace with God. The terms of the covenants are blessings; when we adhere to them, we reap the benefits. When we don't, we attract the consequences.

When life throws curve balls, our escape is the place of covenant. The everlasting covenant in the blood of Jesus cut with the disciples the night before He went to the cross. That He was betrayed by one of His did not change the terms of the covenant. He was still the Son of God, one with the Father, even in the hour of darkness. Beloved, what is betraying you in your walk with God? Is it health, wealth, power, or whatever? Get back to the place of communion with God. Go back home. Into the courts of heaven, your plea is the blood of Jesus, and your advocate is the Risen Christ, the initiator of the new covenant. There is no better place to stand. Please take full advantage of it.

The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? 1 Corinthians 10:16 NKJV.

There were seventy; then there were twelve and three and one. How close would you come? Jesus had them at different levels. When he needed the crowd effect, then the seventy came in handy. Then there was the everyday mission, and the twelve was just enough. Finally, He had His three buddies when the need for heart matters arose. With them, He was comfortable with vulnerability. With them, He could bare all His heart's burden. It was them that He begged to pray for Him. It was them that saw Him and a glimpse of His glory. It was them that He went into the garden with. 

But He had the one He loved the child enough to put his head on his chest and man enough to be responsible for caring for Jesus' mother. It was John that went with him all the way to the cross. It was John who stayed close through thick and thin. 

It didn't mean that the others were bad or not good enough; it just meant that relationships have levels. How close you are willing to go will determine what secrets you are kept in charge of.   What value you place on your relationships will determine what depths you reach. 

How loyal are you, or are you willing to be? What kind of friend are you, and what kind of friend do you value?

It sits true to our lives today; relationships are on various levels, and the demands placed on them determine how valued this affinity is or could be. 

They would rather fast 100 days than say sorry to the one they have wronged

they would pray loud, and sit in the front pews but take bribes in the office

They would pay tithe but neglect their parents

Have you met them?

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started!

“You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation. Mathew 23:23ff

Every crossroads of life is an invitation to let go of the past and embrace the future. But, unfortunately, every time we hold on to the past, we imprison the present and delay the future. 

Every decision is our declaration of the relationship we are willing to pursue. There are only two forces in life, light and darkness, God or the devil. Our decisions reveal who we have voted to rule our lives. 

Every decision is a display of the working of the heart. Therefore, the believer must regularly check his heart to be sure they are still in the faith and not actively or otherwise working for the devil.

Whilst it is not advisable to wait till the dying minute to decide to follow Christ, no man should presume to let a moment go. It is our choice where or how we live our future. We can make it with God or with the devil.

One thief made it to heaven with Jesus, and the other made it to hell with the devil—both outcomes of their choices when they came in contact with Jesus.

For three years plus, Jesus devoted Himself to the disciples. Men who got the seat primarily so they could be with Him. He took time to teach, provide, lead, shield, care, defend, inspire, secure, and give them a sense of purpose. They were illiterate folk who held no real promise until they hobnobbed with Jesus. They got to taste and handle the power of the world to come. They learnt many lessons and even got to handle the keys to the Kingdom. 

They should be eternally grateful, and their allegiance should be top-notch, right? So their place in history was forever, sure? Ideally, yes, but the men buckled in the face of pressure. Peter, the “chief of staff” even promised to stay glued no matter what, only to find they could not last the night. 

It only took a rough couple of days, and grown men scurried away like chickens. Then, fearful that they do not fall into a similar fate to their Master, they made a rendezvous with their feet, hoping for better stead.

Jesus needed His people, but the indignation of the religious leaders was too much fire for them to stick around. 

The leaders had preoccupied themselves with the desire to nail Jesus. Even though his message was good news to mankind, the religious leaders, saw Him as BAD business—someone who made nonsense of their essence.

Pontius Pilate, the self-serving coward acting tough 5th Roman governor of Judea. His appointment was by Emperor Tiberias, and he ruled for ten years. He needed to belong, had to please the people, and would convict an innocent man so that he would be friends with headquarters. 

He knew the drill but was hungry for acceptance. He got the warning, and his wife sent him a word, but he was far too drunk with his self-seeking power-hungry desire. 

What is, has been and will forever be. Put another way; there is nothing new under the sun.

The elders of the council had gotten desperate. They needed to be rid of the man Jesus. He made nonsense of their ideologies, and to make matters worse, the people loved Him. Why won't they? He solved their problem and charged nothing in return. The Sanhedrin never did anything without laying a further burden on the people. They envied the man. He effortlessly got the job done so effortlessly. 

Then came the Passover weekend. Twas a good time to nail their sworn enemy. The only problem was they needed evidence, and they had none. Hence t they resorted to bribing folk to bear false witness. 

Like in Hadjia's clime, they found willing vessels amongst the crowd. Every witness came with a bogus claim. “He claimed to be God; He said he would bring down the temple that took forty-six years to build and reconstruct in three days. He healed on the Sabbath,  would not pay taxes and engineered his followers to do the same.” The claims were many, but the bearers needed to be more consistent—another problem for elders who needed to be rid of their enemy in a few hours. Time for them was of the essence. Their activities had to be concluded before the Sabbath.

The elders of the council had gotten desperate. They needed to be rid of the man Jesus. He made nonsense of their ideologies, and to make matters worse, the people loved Him. Why won't they? He solved their problem and charged nothing in return. The Sanhedrin never did anything without laying a further burden on the people. They envied the man. He got the job done so effortlessly. 

Then came the Passover weekend. Twas a good time to nail their sworn enemy. The only problem was they needed evidence, and they had done. Hence their resort to bribing folk to bear false witness. 

Like in Hadjia's clime, they found willing vessels amongst the crowd. Every witness came with a bogus claim. He claimed to be God; He said he would bring down the temple that took forty-six years to build and reconstruct in three days. He healed on the Sabbath,  would not pay taxes and engineered his followers to do the same. The claims were many, but the bearers needed to be more consistent—another problem for elders who needed to be rid of their enemy in a few hours. Time for them was of the essence. Their activities had to be concluded before the Sabbath.

Simon Peter, the reed, renamed 'the rock', was the feisty one amongst the disciples. His zeal put him in front of activities in the group. Whilst the master did not appoint anyone to any unique position, Peter stationed himself as the number one among the disciples. He had an opinion about almost everything. 

Peter was sure of his loyalty to Christ even if others denied Him. It did not take long before he learned it was not about self-will. It was all of grace. The man who boasted about staying true to the Master no matter what confronted them found himself failing at the slightest provocation, even before a servant girl, a grown man swearing before a servant.