Good day dear friends.
We had a wonderful candlelight service last night as we blessed our Mozambique team as they prepare to go and share Jesus in that country in the next few weeks. We're so proud of them and what they are to be doing and we pray God's blessing and protection on them.
We continue to study that which we proclaimed on Sunday, Jesus was more than just a great moral teacher, myth one of ten we will be exploring in the upcoming Sundays.
Here is our study guide for today:
Thursday: Look again at the claims that Jesus made about His being God. These are found in Matthew 16:15-16 and in 26:63-64 and John 8:58. Please read these and note your beliefs or doubts about these. Remember this is what distinguishes a great moral teacher from one who is in deed God. Reread the C.S. Lewis quote from Sunday. Add that to your mix as you reflect on what God may be saying to you.
Here are those two biblical references:
Matthew 16:15 "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" 16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17 Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.
and from Matthew 26:63 But Jesus remained silent. The high priest said to him, "I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God." 64 "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied. "But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."
Do you believe or doubt these claims? In the first passage, after the disciples talked about what others were saying about Him, Jesus asked Peter, the chief disciple as it were, what about you, who do you say that I am? Peter's answer, as Jesus noted, inspired by God is "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." In the second passage, Jesus being tried for His very life is asked by the high priest, chief among those who should be believers, "I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God." What a question and what an answer Jesus gives, "Yes, it is as you say."
Two claims. Both saying Jesus is God. Something a great moral teacher would never say. Jesus made the claim He was God. Here's the C. S. Lewis quote: “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
"You must make your choice," Lewis tells us. Of the options given to us by Lewis, which do you prefer? To shut Jesus up for a fool, spit at Him or kill Him as a demon? OR to fall at His feel and call Him Lord and God?
What do you choose you in your life today?
PRAYER: Come, Lord of Lords, King of Kings and be Lord and King of my life. Let my life be one that radiates Your love and light to all. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Have a great and blessed day!
e.v.
