Commissioned

Jesus' teachings on the Living Bread and the True Vine teach us that if we eat of this living bread we will have eternal life, living forever. And once we’ve eaten of the living bread we can be sustained by staying attached to the branch that will feed us the true vine. When we rely on ourselves and not on the living bread and the true vine we will find ourselves weak and powerless to withstand the evil of this world and it could lead us to forfeit eternal life. True, it is sometimes hard for us to remain grounded in the place where we fully depend and trust in the Word of God and believe that all of His promises are yea and amen and that they are for us. We need only BELIEVE.

Jesus is the true light because He is the light that brings life and is a light that can never be extinguished. As we follow Christ we can never walk in darkness because He is the true light, inextinguishable. This is the light of the world that gives life. Every man who seeks eternal life can have it as they believe and receive the true light, Christ Jesus. Believers, in Christ, will live in the light of Christ and as they continue the journey the world, will see the light exuding out of them in their everyday life. The world resist Jesus’ light, his truth, his view of the Father and the only way to eternal life because they refuse to accept the life that goes along with accepting the True Light and the call to living a holy life. They prefer to live a lie, that they too have a light, called philosophy; that brings them to the edge of truth and veer off in a distorted darkness where light is forever hid. Until there is radical repentance that person will never enjoy living in the light of Jesus, the light of this world.

In this broken world Jesus is the only answer for healing every kind of brokenness. I am blessed and thankful that whenever I need a healer Jesus has already seen my brokenness and given me physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually healing. Through Him I am made whole. Thank you Jesus!.

In light of the many religions in the world today, we are assured that Jesus is indeed the only way to God, the exclusive door or gateway to eternal life because He alone is the Son of God who came to earth to die on a cruel cross for the forgiveness of the sins of mankind. He is the only only one who died to redeem man back to God. the scripture tells us in John 14:6, "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." The offends the world because they'd like to chose their own path to heaven. Thank God that we need not fear spreading this truth to our generation because the Spirit of God is with us to declare the gospel and He takes it and makes it pliable to the heart of the hearer.

These rock images of Christ are attractive to our world because the world loves the strong and rock depicts strength that is not easily broken. The "rock images" repel people because it calls men into obedience to the commandments of God. They are repelled because they refuse righteousness. In my life Jesus is the firm irremovable strength of the powerful eternal word which has laid a foundation for me to live by and to live upon. He is my choice of Savior, Deliverer,Friend, Master, Lord and God.

The assertion that Jesus is the “head of the body, the church” affects the way we conceive of the church because He is the One that our worship, our entire living should be pleasing. The universal Church, which includes all servants of Chirst, should assert that Jesus alone is their Head. Since we believe that Jesus is the head of the church, we should conduct our life and ministry as the church in obedience to His law as given to us in the Testaments. As the invisible Church we represents the "head" in living out Truth. God's Word is truth and nothing outside of His Word should take priority or cause us to live beyind the scope of His ordained will for our lives. As the body, we follow his leadership by His grace and daily seek to follow His Truth.

To be “a light to the nations,” God's people must show the world the love and purity of God the Father and Jesus Christ His Son. It is only when we live in righteousness and holiness that our light shines. Those around us will tell that we've been with Jesus by our love. The light that we bring to the world is the perfect love of God, agape love, that impels us to teach all men the way to the cross.

These verses teaches us that God is dlighted in the Messiah. He is fully pleased with Him. The Messiah will have the indwelling Holy Spirit with Hime during His minstry on earth. He will bring justice to the world. He will bring a ministry that is peaceful and though they tried to frme Him as one who would overthrow the King, he continued to preach the gospel and heal the sick. His actions characterize him as the Prince of Peace. He is a just God and will always be just. and tender towards all men. As He is a just and teder God, as His servants we ought to emulate Him as we journey amon our fellowmen.

Isaiah 40 teaches us that it is necessary for us to repent and live in a state of righteousness while preparing for the return of our Lord. Isaiah 40:11 teaches us that God cares for His own like a shepherd tenderly watches over, protects and cares for His sheep. Verses 15-17 tells us that God’s glory is superior to the glory of nations. There is nothing that the world has to offer can ever be comparable to God's soverenignty. We get enamored by the glitter and glory of the world when we take our eyes, focus, off of our Lord. According to verse 31, we can draw strength from the Lord by resting in the strength of our God.

The “Good Shepherd” provides for his sheep, He cares for his sheep, protects them and lays down his life for the sheep. The “hired hand” does not own the sheep. He does only what he's contracted to do, not necessarily out of love for the sheep he guards. God calls us to shepherd others as pastors, small group leaders, teachers, mentors, etc. we can demonstrate that we are “good shepherds” rather than “hired hands” by serving them with a genuine heart of love.

Jesus serve (like Boaz) as a Kinsman-Redeemer to us by giving his life to redeem us. The idea of needing a ransom imply that we, as sinners, of ourselves are inadequate to offer the sacrifice necessary to purchase our salvation. The redemption-price that the Father paid for us was His Son, Jesus Christ, slain like a lamb for the sacrifce of a world lost in sin.

As disciples we assist in Jesus’ mission to seek and to save the lost by sharing the good news as evangelist. Because we love our family members and friends we are constrained to share the gospel with them to save them regardless of them wanting us to back off.

Personally I am happy that Jesus answered the call and came to the earth to be Savior of the world and that includes being my Savior as the Friend of sinners. Saving me from my sins and giving me the inheritance of eternal life. Beause of what Jesus has done for me and the gift to the whold world, I am called to present the oospel to people who re deep in sin.

These verses brought hope to their first readers at a time when there was holelessness. The promised here is prtection, provision, joy, redemption, freedom and salvation. Isaiah relies on heavily figurative language to communicate these promises at the time to get the people to relate there present live with the vision. He describes the “highway of holiness” as a place where only the righteous can enter. The redeemed of the Lord will walk on it. The wicked and unclean cannot walk on it. To be redeemed and ransomed is to have receved Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as your Savior. Believing the the blood of Jesus cleanses us from our sins and he paid the price for us to be forgiven.

Ethical behavior displays love for God through obedience to Him. It display love for man by loving them enough to lead them to know Jesus Christ as Savior. The corruption of taking bribes destroy righteous government by causing the officials to live in a sinful state beholden to the person with the purse.

We tend to seek help from every source except the Lord because we are not living and expecting His involvement n our personal ives. The is similiar to idolatry in that it leaves God out and the dependency is on another. When Jesus recognized this tendency he taught his disciples in Matthew 6:31-34 not to worry about the material things that they would need to survive. He told them that our heavenly Father will see to it that those things are available when needed. Matthew 6:31-34 31Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ 32“For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34“So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

God long to show us grace (30:18) because He is a compassionate God. It says that God’s just. God's grace is prevented from being experienced by us when we chose to ignore His sovereign presence and that He is always giving to us good gifts; in many varied forms. I have experienced the kind of guidance Isaiah mentions in verse 21. It is easy to miss or ignore when God is directing you. To hear God's voice we must be still and at rest in His Presence. Just knowing that He is always with us and we can always talk to Him should help us to listen for his voice.

I've seen a religious person go through all the religious motions, but whose heart is far from God. We can detect this in ourselves if it applies to us when we find ourselves following the traditions of man and not in true worship unto God. The remedy for this is to repent and do as Jesus told the woman at the well. Jesus told her te Father is seeking those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. We can you tell if our practice of religion is merely following “rules taught by men” by examining our heart and sensing God's presence in the midst. The danger of a rule-based faith is that it restricts you to man made traditions. This differs from a love-based faith in that there is liberty to worship as the spirit gives grace.

Hezekiah asks for healing on the basis of his faithfuly serving God. Personal righteousness and holiness is important in getting your prayers answered because it is the pure in heart that receives of the Kingdom of God. Unrighteousness can prevent answered prayer if all gifts from God are by grace anyway, because God first seeks the repented heart.

Hezekiah’s healing was important for his nation because at the time of the death pronouncement there was no heir to the throne. God had promised David that He would establish the throne of David's heir and his kingdom will be for ever. In 2 Samuel 7:16 God told David, "And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever."

The first two sentences of Hezekiah’s prayer (verse 16) correspond to the first sentence of the Lord’s Prayer in that it recognizes that he is praying to the God whose thron is in heaven and He is on his throne. He continues by affirming that God alone is God and He is to be exalted as the God that is creator and sustainer over all the earth. This opening sentence in prayer to God is important because we recognize God as He is, Sovereign; and we recognize that we are His servants. As His servants God will take care of us. So when we pray we have this confidence that He hears us and He will give us every good and perfect gift.

The significance of Hezekiah spreading out the enemy’s message before the Lord shows that he knew that the suituation was beyond his ability to resolve so he presented it to the one that he knew could solve the problem. The underlying principle illustrated here is that when faced with an insurmountable situation we can rest assured and have confidence that our omnipotent God can take us through. In our own lives we too can apply this principle by recognizing that in every situation we can trust God to bring us out victorious. When we don’t apply this principle we find ourselves creating bigger problems for us and those who depend on us.

We persist in being stubbornly unteachable and remain i bondage instead of being freed by the freedom the Word of God brings. We hold on to lies when we are comfortable with what the lies do for us. People stumble over Christ, the tested foundation stone, and His righteous standards because they love sin and do not want to give it up. These people can olny be helped by sharing with them the Word of God and allow the Sirit of God to deal with them. If the do not turn from their sinniing ways The LORD will come as he did against the Philistines at Mount Perazim and against the Amorites at Gibeon. He will come to do a strange thing; he will come to do an unusual deed. He will give the opportunities before turning them over to a reprobate mind.

We are to follow Jesus’ example as the Servant by humbling ourselves and render our total life to serving God. Humility is difficult because we see it as being weak, not a character we wer taught to desire. When we see humility through the eye f our Lord and emulate Him, then we would embrace being holy and rightous as He is. Obedience is hard when we see obeying as taking away from our right to do as we please. As I live from day to day I struggle to live in being both humble and righteous. It is by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit that from day t day I live pleasing God and bringing Him glory.

The purpose of the Lord’s Supper is for us to remember the sacrifice that Jesus made for redeeming us and reconciling us to the Father. We should partake as He require f us to do so in remberance of the work He dis for us. It is so easy to forget what Jesus has done for us on the cross because we ourselves did not partake nor witness the actual crucifixion; or it could be that we do not read and meditate on the scripture sufficiently.