The Bottom Line on Profit, now this is Good!

John 5:25 (NAS) Truly, Truly, I say to you an hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear shall live.


John 5:25-28 (NAS) “For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; and He gave Him authority to execute judgment…because He is “Son of Man”.

We all love Guarantee’s don’t we? That lets us off the hook, no buyer’s remorse. “I can guarantee this truth: Those who listen to what I say and believe in the one who sent me will have eternal life.”

So today, let’s ponder a couple more things.

The scriptures yesterday stated that the Father doesn’t judge, He entrusted judgment entirely to the Son so that everyone will honor the Son…as they honor the Father. There is so much meaning in that scripture. God loves and trust Christ so much that He doesn’t think Christ will mess up the whole judgment thing. Wow, can you honestly say you would just let your older sibling take over disciplining your younger child - You would be hands off no questions asked?

Well if we look beyond the surface we will see that in this way of thinking we will never get it. In John 5:21 Christ was quoted as saying, “ For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes, “For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given ALL judgment to the Son.” God does not judge so Christ does not judge. He trusts that Christ will not judge anyone. Believing this we are honoring Christ as we are honoring God.

Christ also says if we listen to what He (Christ) says and believes in God we will have eternal life. Why? – Because He won’t judge you. Why? Because you bypassed death and made it to life. How? God made Christ to take on death. There was a battle between life and death and Christ fought it to the death. But God has life in Himself and gave to the Son life in Himself. What Christ was doing was “executing” judgment which leads to death. In doing this He himself became the bridge of Life for us all to walk across that great divide. He laid across the void where the bridge to Death was. His hands were anchored on one land, nailed into the rocks on that shoreline; His feet were nailed securely on the other rocky shore. We simply have to believe it is secure and take the step, move across. (Go back and read the segments on fear of bridges if you would like more details here)

Then in verse 28 which we will close out “there is Good and there is good”, Christ states Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs shall hear His voice and shall come forth; those who did the good to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil to a resurrection of judgment.

If Christ was the executer of judgment it is best to know the Greek word in which we translated it from. Poieo means to make, it is derived from the root word poios which means quality. Poieo means to endow a person or thing with a certain quality (such as life, strength, courage, health etc) and to qualify it at the same time. It also means to appoint or constitute. It is the opposite of a Greek word prasso, which would bring out the means in which something was obtained, (all the steps etc.)

If we believe that Christ executed judgment then that would refer to it being done once for all. It would also make sense that in doing this there is no more great divide. We have now this same life within our self and although we are an independent creation we walk in the same love that God has endowed us with.

Agathos in Greek means good, however it is a good with benevolence it is useful while being profitable. Good if it does not benefit another, is not profitable, it is evil and you have chosen to take a bridge that might look wise, but it leads to an island. Christ states in verse 31 If I bear witness to myself MY testimony is not true. We will pick up here tomorrow.

I pray that “today” we all hear what the spirit of the Lord is telling us, receive it and be healed of our unbelief. Let’s cross this bridge together.

With the Love of Christ,
Candace

There is good and there is GOOD

That You May Marvel

from Experiencing God Day by Day devotional

"The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel." (John 5:19-20)




Jesus, realizing that His role was that of a servant, never sought to initiate activity for the Father (Matt. 20:28). The servant never sets the agenda—the master does. The servant must be so alert to what the master is doing that whenever the master begins to move in a direction the servant quickly joins him. Even the Son of God did not assume He knew the best thing to do in a situation. Instead, He looked to see the Father’s activity and then joined Him. Jesus knew His Father so well that He was keenly sensitive to divine activity around Him, immediately recognizing His Father at work.



It is possible for us to be so busy trying to bring God into our activity that we don’t even notice Him at work around us. He seeks to redirect our attention so that we might join Him, but we tend to be self-centered, evaluating everything by how it affects us. We must learn to view events around us from God’s perspective. Then we will see our world very differently. When God brings someone across our path, we will look to see if God is convicting that person of his need for salvation. Perhaps God is comforting someone in her sorrow. God might be encouraging your friend as she faces a challenge. We will then adjust our lives to join God as He works in that person’s life. We ought to live each day with tremendous anticipation as we look to see where God is working around us. As our eyes are opened to His activity, we will marvel at His great works. -By Blackaby


When I read this the first thought was "So when things are not flowing I must have stepped out of God's work and into MY work". I wish it were as simple as that. It is as if we are in a thick rain forest of distraction trying desperately to discern where God is and God is not. Our world is so filled with people who know how to walk the walk and hide the agenda. Yet if we stick close enough, for long enough their true intentions will finally be revealed. Isn't that what God promised? Light will shine into darkness and show it for what it is. But how dark is that darkness? We desire to put it on a scale from 1 to 10. This distorts our perception, dark is dark and light is light.  There is no scale, except on our eyes.  That is why we are in the rain forest isn't it? We see how lush it is. We are drawn to its color, sound, it is very surreal from the exterior. We know that there is a high possibility that IT has to offer the experience we have been looking for, the place we are to be. So let us ponder, what if...we ARE looking for God in the rain forest and not simply a vain experience to grow "our person". What if..we think the reason it is so surreal is due to the supernatural outpour of God's essence? Wouldn't that be the most wooing of all? Isn't that what we desire to experience? And there it is again...that is a self experience. If you have ever listened to more than 5 of Joyce Meyer's segments you will hear her drone "What about me, What about me, What about me!" The reason we have to laugh is because it is real...some times it is a nervous laugh =D. Okay, let's try this one more time..What if... we see it, think it is surreal so surely we will find God there? Well, maybe what we should have been asking is why am I not with God before I get there? God is everywhere...He is not in an experience..he is the experience.

Further down in John 5:22-25 which I will close with and pick up here tomorrow it states:

"The Father doesn't judge anyone. He has entrusted judgment entirely to the Son so that everyone will honor the Son as they honor the Father. Whoever doesn't honor the Son doesn't honor the Father who sent him. I can guarantee this truth: Those who listen to what I say and believe in the one who sent me will have eternal life. They won't be judged because they have already passed from death to life. "I can guarantee this truth: A time is coming (and is now here) when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who respond to it will live. The Father is the source of life, and he has enabled the Son to be the source of life too. "He has also given the Son authority to pass judgment because he is the Son of Man. Don't be surprised at what I've just said. A time is coming when all the dead will hear his voice, and they will come out of their tombs. Those who have done good will come back to life and live. But those who have done evil will come back to life and will be judged.

I thank God that He doesn't judge anyone and that the Son has promised we are saved from what we do not understand. I thank God he has mercy on us and give us the grace to stick in every time we miss it. I pray for us all to extend this Kindness in God's love to everyone, knowing all things are common to us. And this was even the work of God so that none of us could boast.

With the Love of our Christ covering each of you,
Candace